Posts Tagged ‘Martial Arts Classes’

Selling The Intangible Benefits of Martial Arts Training

This month's martial arts marketing materials can be downloaded from the member's download area.

When marketing martial arts classes for children, you should be aware of what motivates parents to spend money on extracurricular activities for their children.

If you believe parents are motivated by the same motivating factors that get children interested in martial arts, you’re way off base.

In fact, parents motivations for enrolling their children in martial arts are often the exact opposite of that of their children.

Let’s examine these motivations in brief to help you better understand how to market your children’s programs to the greatest effect. Read the rest of this entry »

Marketing Martial Arts to Adults

This month's member ads can be found in the member's download area.

Most martial art school owners do a horrible job of marketing to adults… even the ones who offer programs geared toward the adult market.

The fact is, children’s martial arts has dominated the industry for so long, most of the industry has forgotten what it’s like to have a floor full of adults.

This, in turn, has led to instructors being out of touch with what the adult market wants. Further, even those school owners who focus on adult martial arts programs often get it wrong.

That’s because they are also out of touch with what the market wants, but for different reasons. These instructors are often so focused on what their needs and desires are, they forget or completely miss what the vast majority of people are looking for in a martial arts program.

So, the purpose of this month’s marketing tip is to review the basics of marketing martial arts to adults… read on and you might very well find you’ve been missing the mark in your own marketing efforts.

The Basics of Marketing Martial Arts to Adults

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The Holidays are Coming Up, So We’re Advertising… Fitness?

This month's martial arts marketing ads and fliers can be downloaded in the member's area.

There’s a good reason why we’re marketing fitness this month, and why this month’s ad is designed the way it is.

I know, I know – October to December is when everyone eats a lot of turkey and ham, watches a lot of sports on TV, eats a lot of junk food, is caught up with traveling to see relatives and attending parties, goes off their diet…

Hmmm… are you starting to see the wisdom of positioning your school as a fun place for people to get fit NOW before folks pack on those holiday pounds?

That’s right – by advertising fitness now, not only will you enroll some adults in your classes immediately, you’ll also be “priming the pump” for this January when everyone and their cousin is looking for cool, non-boring ways to keep their New Year resolutions to lose weight and get in shape. Read the rest of this entry »

Easy Online Martial Arts Marketing Methods You May Have Overlooked

All your online marketing and activity should be a sign pointing customers to your martial art school.

There has never been a better time for martial arts marketing, because it’s never been easier to get the word out about your school. Online marketing and modern technology can take the grunt work out of promoting your programs.

Still, I know that many of you may not be leveraging the internet as well as you might to market your school. With all the different ways you can market your school online, it’s easy to get caught up with the more obvious marketing methods, and overlook the subtler and simpler ways to promote your school that are sitting right under your nose.

So, with that in mind here are several relatively quick and easy ways to boost your online marketing while barely lifting a finger (well, except to hit a few keys).
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Summer Programs For Adults

Can you sell summer programs to adults? Sure you can!

Any seasonal change or event can be a reason for adults to be open to new experiences and activities, and summer is no exception. Although many parents may find they are busier during summer since their children are out of school, don’t let that keep you from marketing your programs to adults as well.

In my experience, interest in my adult programs actually tends to increase as summer draws near. This is in part due to adults wanting to get in better shape for summer.

Remember, you should also co-advertise your kid’s classes in a starburst in the corner of this month’s ad. Speak with your ad exec at your local paper, or your printer about modifying the ad with this sort of custom information.

Current Month’s Marketing Plan: Adult Summer Martial Arts Classes!

Marketing Plan for the Months of May – June 2010 Read the rest of this entry »

Start Preparing Early For The Holiday Lull…

Everyone who has operated a school for any length of time knows that things slow down from the week of Thanksgiving until after New Year’s Day. But, just because you may not be receiving the same amount of direct inquiries, it doesn’t mean your numbers need to go down during this period. Let me explain… While it’s true that people have their minds on other things during the holiday season than enrolling in martial arts classes (Note: if you think about it, that’s really true all year long), by focusing your Read the rest of this entry »

In the typical small school, the primary person responsible for scheduling introductory lessons, returning messages, and answering telephone inquiries will be you, the owner.

Therefore, it is your responsibility to turn a prospect into a student by getting them scheduled for an intro lesson the first time they call.

Just remember this: Before a prospective client actually sees your classes, and experiences the quality of your instruction, they have no reference by which to assess the value of your program. Knowing this, you can see how important it is to schedule that first lesson!

Although this sounds like a lot of responsibility (and it is), it is really not as hard as it sounds (remember, I did all this stuff by myself when I first started out).

There are three reasons why I say most people make appointment setting harder than it has to be: Read the rest of this entry »

For many martial arts instructors, teaching children is just not something that they care to do. For whatever reason, they would prefer to spend their time teaching adults, and would rather avoid opening their classes to kids.

Well, despite what you may have been told, making a living running an “all-adult” martial arts school is very do-able; in fact, I know of one martial arts studio in a small town near me that has over 300 adult students.

Another long-time school owner I know decided that he enjoyed teaching adults more than kids, even though his main market had been children for 15 years. So, he developed a marketing approach that was geared specifically for adults, and went from less than ten adults to nearly 40 adult students in a few months time.

His style? Traditional tae kwon do. I think that proves you don’t have to teach MMA or military hand-to-hand to attract adults; you just have to know how to find the adults that want what you teach.

But how are you going to attract that type of adult into your classes? By offering them what they want!

Generally speaking, adults enter martial arts classes for two main reasons:

1. To lose weight and get in shape
2. And to learn realistic self-defense skills

The key is in attracting adults who have disposable income and the time to devote to martial arts training. The schools I mentioned have been very successful in this because their ads focus on giving adults what they want.

As you might guess, in order to attract the adult market you have to get the word out that your classes can provide those benefits.

Here’s a “mini-course” in marketing that explains exactly how to attract adult students to your classes: 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 »

When most martial arts school owners think of special events, they probably envision Ninja Nights, sleepovers, and other lock-in type events for children. Rarely, however, do such school owners consider hosting special events for their adult students. The school owner may believe that their adult students are too busy or too broke to attend such an event, or that they have to bring in a “big-name” martial artist to teach in order to get anyone to come. And, we all know how much those “name” martial artists charge for their services (and rightly so; they have bills Read the rest of this entry »