Posts Tagged ‘Advertisement’

Getting Social to Get Leads and Build Your Database

Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter can help you build your email list - which in turn increases your local direct marketing reach.

Social media, social media, social media blah blah blah…

Okay – so I bet you’ve heard a lot about social media. By now you might be totally in love with it or sick and tired of hearing about it. Possibly a little of both.

Regardless of where you are with it, social media really is just ‘the internet’. The internet itself has morphed from a monologue into a dialogue and now more than ever information, news and rumors spread at a fantastic rate.

By its most basic definition, social media is a conversation, just digitized. It’s a dialogue, connecting the world in ways that have never been possible before.

And, it’s pervasive to our modern culture. That’s why you need to at least understand what social media is and how it affects your business – and your email list. Read the rest of this entry »

“Are You Nuts? You Want Me To Give Away Free Classes?”

It's easy to get focused on your current students and forget you need to attract new ones. Using guest referral passes is the second most effective marketing method among martial art school owners.

In the recent survey I posted on my blog and in the member forums, guest passes (sometimes called VIP passes) came in at number two as the most effective form of advertisement and marketing for martial art school owners. This doesn’t surprise me a bit, as I’ve been using guest passes as an effective form of marketing since I was first introduced to them in the late 90′s.

Of course, my first reaction to using them was probably similar to that of most instructors. “What? You want me to give away free classes? Are you nuts?” The thing is, I was networking with some very successful instructors at the time, and I was able to verify the effectiveness of guest pass programs firsthand by observing their results. And, soon after I learned how to effectively implement them in my own school, we found they were in fact a great way to get new students.

Basic Concepts For Using Guest Passes Effectively

A few key points about using guest passes that will greatly enhance their effectiveness as a marketing method for your school… Read the rest of this entry »

After operating various martial arts schools and programs for over fifteen years, one thing that I have learned is that my students are my best advertisement.

What I mean to say by that is, I get more people that call or stop by to join classes who say they heard about us from “a friend” than I generally get from paid advertisements.

That tells me that my students say positive things about the school (which really makes me happy). And, if you are offering a quality program and treating your students right, you’ll likely get quite a bit of new students from referrals as well.

In fact, referrals can end up being your number one source of new students. And once you start getting them, you don’t want them to stop!

So, in order to encourage referrals, it’s a very good idea to offer a referral incentive program in your studio. We’ve used one for years that has worked very well for us.

Here’s how it works: Read the rest of this entry »

Lead boxes are a good means of getting new students – if you work them right. Here are the pros and cons of using lead boxes, and some suggestions on how to use them effectively:

Cons – Read the rest of this entry »