Small Change, Big Results
A Marketing System For Martial Arts
Schools
Introduction
When
I opened my martial arts school, I did what most conventional martial arts
entrepreneurs would do; spend some significant dollars on advertising and
promotion. After all, I thought, how
else would one go about attracting students?
How will the general public know I exist? How will I compete with Kung Fu Charlie down the street?
I spent a considerable amount of money on newspaper and radio
advertising, the yellow pages, home delivered coupons and received miserable
results. I rarely broke even. I was struggling to increase my student base
so that I could take home a pay check.
The answer was to create and execute a simple marketing system
and low cost or no cost programs that work!
Martial Arts Marketing Made
Simple
Eight years ago I thought long and hard about marketing
my fitness kickboxing class and asked myself the following questions (you can
use the same questions for any class you wish to promote):
Six Questions To A Successful Marketing Plan
1. Who is my market?
2. Who are the decision makers?
3. Where do they congregate?
4. How do I reach them?
5. What will entice them?
6. How do I measure my success?
Example Of Rationale:
Marketing Fitness Kickboxing
1. Who Is The
Market?
18 - 40 year old women (average age 30).
In this case they are. (Note: If we were
talking about the Children's program, the decision makers would be Moms age 30
- 35)
3. Where Do they
Congregate?
Hair Salons
Spas
Nail Salons
Tanning Salons
Grocery Stores
Health Food Stores
(Note: Not a complete list, but good enough for
this project)
4. How Do
I Reach My Market?
I analyzed what type of woman, approximate age 30, would
want to take fitness Kickboxing. My thoughts were this . . . She is a
woman who cares about her health, wants
to look good, wants to get in shape, wants to lose weight and etcetera.
Based on my thought processes I decided that
"looking good" ranked at the top of the list. The marketing
plan evolved . . .
Take the 2 column by 6" Fitness Kickboxing ad slicks
and customize them so that they offer a free week of classes. Pad them
(Kinkos, Office Depot, Office Max, etc.) in books of 25 sheets and visit hair
salons, tanning salons, nail salons within a five mile radius of my facility.
In a nut shell-here’s your pitch!
“Hi my name is _______________, and I
own_____________________ just a short distance from here, I am starting a new
Fitness Kickboxing program and would like offer your employees and your
customers some complimentary classes . . .etc. 1. Give the
manager/owner gift certificates for a month of Kickboxing.
2. Give the employees gift certificates for two
weeks of classes.
3. In return they will put a booklet of free weeks
at their station and give them to their customers who they thought might
enjoy Fitness Kickboxing.
Here's what occurred (and still does):
Some of the owners, managers and employees came to
class. Some signed up as students. Those who experienced the class
gave out the free weeks like crazy.
I signed up 100 Fitness kickboxing students in 100
days.
5. What Will Entice
Them To Sign Up?
For $70. per month, they can attend unlimited
classes. They will receive free gloves,
hand wraps and a sport bag to carry their "stuff “ to class. My investment was $19.50. I received
$70. and I have a student at $70. per month!
Gloves $13
Hand Wraps $3.
Bag Printed $3.50
Total ……..$19.50
6. How Do I
Measure My Success?
Color code the pads; the green pads are beauty
salons, pink pads are tanning salons, blue for nail salons and so on.
Keep a tally! I hope this program works
for you as well as it has for me. Besides marketing your classes, it gets
you out and forces you to network within your community.
Use The News
Learn to read the local newspapers from a martial arts
marketing perspective. Most newspapers
have event sections that publicize engagements, weddings, births, job
promotions, charitable events and, of course, news stories that you can respond
to as the martial arts expert and business person of your town or city. Send a postcard or note with a special offer
recognizing their event.
Respond To:
·
Weddings
·
Engagements
·
Confirmations
·
Births
·
Promotions
·
New Business
·
Local News Stories
Publicize Yourself
Make certain to publicize yourself and your school at
least once per month. Make yourself the
martial arts expert in your community that the media goes to for information.
General Topics:
January - Fitness
Resolutions July - Rapid Child
Search
February - Heart Month August
- Back to School
March - Rapid Child Search September - Bully
April - Earth Day Project October
– Halloween Safety
May - Women’s Self Defense November - Kick-A-Thon
June - Stranger Awareness December
- Collecting food, etc
Reporters need publicity releases in order to do their
job. Because they are always busy and
have deadlines they need to have information presented to them in a concise and
easy to read manner.
The Perfect Publicity Release
Who
What
When/Where
How
Of Interest
Have a current media list, including all contact
information available in order to send out publicity releases to newspapers,
magazines, radio and TV stations.
Rapid Child Search
Call the National Security Alliance 1-888-750-SAFE
(7233) ask for Ed Copely, Founder, and learn about how to become a Field Agent
for the Kid-Safe Network and enroll all of your students without cost to the
Rapid Child Search Network. Hold a
safety fair in your community and have hundreds of kids come to your school to
sign up without cost. The Rapid Child
Search Network provides a step by step guide detailing actions that can be
taken prior to and in the event a child becomes missing. Every second that a child is lost or
abducted, they could be moving further away in the hands of a predator. You can also get information on marketing
your school as a Field Agent on their website kidsafenetwork.com. Make this service a part of your new student school
package and add value to your children’s program. Ask about the Women’s-Safe
Network and begin making extra profit dollars from self defense seminars to
groups, organizations and corporations.
Classified Advertising
Classified advertising is inexpensive and
very effective when run consistently.
Your classified ad campaign must be cleverly thought out and ask for a
response from the reader. Make your
classified ad “stand out” by creating a different design than the norm and give
something away such as a free uniform or a free week of classes. My classified ad campaign cost $35.00 per
week.
Your School’s Website
It is important to drive students and the
general public to your website. Many
websites are under utilized. A well
thought out website could be a potential gold mine for your school. I use a Century Direct website. My web address is BlackBeltEdge.com. The address appears on every item that is
printed about my school. I no longer
carry inventory other than student uniforms and belts. I do receive the difference between wholesale
and retail on a monthly basis from Century.
Helpful Links
The “Helpful Links” tab is an important part
of my marketing program.
·
“Wellness Assessment” - Provides a free wellness assessment for your current students
and new students performed by Nutriscan.
If your students should decide to purchase custom made vitamins based on
their wellness assessment you will receive a commission on every sale. If you are interested call Paul Sullivan CEO
of Nutriscan at 1-866-887-4722.
·
“Character Counts” - Reinforces our character building program.
·
“Random Acts Of Kindness” – Helps children excel in building character through
random acts of kindness.
·
“Kid-Safe Network” – Has information on children’s safety and Rapid Child Search for the parents of
your students.
·
“Stop Bullying Now” – A Government site that has information about bullying
for children as well as adults.
·
“Send An Ecard” –
Ecards are the perfect way for your students to communicate with others while
advertising for your school. It is the
perfect word of mouth advertising tool.
I will be available to help you implement any
of the marketing programs presented today.
Call me at 314-567-6677 or email mrtlarts@aol.com.
I hope you have noticed how a few small
changes can yield big results!
“Use The News” Postcard
