Posts Tagged ‘Martial Arts’

A Primer On Martial Arts Marketing In The Digital Age

New to online marketing? Don't worry, I've got you covered in this article.

Martial arts marketing has changed dramatically over the last several years – a fact I’ve pointed out over and over again on this site and my blog.

Without knowing how you need to market in these changing times, you’re sunk. No matter how much you long for the days when the yellow pages were king, those days are long gone.

So, what’s an old-school marketer to do?

Not to worry – I’ve got you covered. All you need to know is where to put those skills to use in today’s digital marketing age.

This article should serve as a primer to help those of you who are “old-school” to catch up with the young guns who grew up with a keyboard in their crib. Read on and see just how you can market your school using old-school techniques in the age of the internet… Read the rest of this entry »

A Quick Guide To Using Review Sites To Market Your Studio

Online review site have become all the rage over the last few years, and should be an integral part of your overall online marketing profile for your martial art school.

However, using these sites can be tricky, if you follow some of the sleazier advice being tossed around online about how to “game” these sites.

Using strategies such as posting multiple fake reviews to boost your own ratings can end up backfiring on you, potentially getting you black-listed from some online review communities.

But used properly, review sites can be a great source of online traffic, phone leads, and new potential students for your studio. So for those of you who aren’t up to speed on this yet, here’s my quick guide to using review sites for martial arts marketing.

A List of Review Sites – Where To Post Your Business Info

Here’s a list of all the major online review sites and business directories you can advertise your business on: Read the rest of this entry »

Understanding Lead Capture and Autoresponders for Online Marketing of Your Martial Art School

Martial arts marketing using autoresponders, email, and lead capture is easy when you understand how to use technology to get the most from your marketing. But what exactly is an autoresponder? And what is lead capture? For those of you who are new to online marketing for local businesses, “lead capture” refers to using an online form that provides an incentive for site visitors to subscribe to your newsletter or email list. And, an autoresponder is an automated service that uses a web-based software program to automatically send out follow-up messages to your captured leads (your email list). In addition to capturing leads and following up automatically, most paid email autoresponder services allow you to efficiently manage your contact lists and send out newsletters (called “broadcasts”) to your list with just a few clicks of the mouse. This is a useful and valuable feature that by itself makes paying $20 0r $30 a month for an autoresponder worthwhile.

Why Use Paid Services Instead of “Free” Solutions?

As I’ve often said, “free” isn’t free if it Read the rest of this entry »

Getting The Most From Your Referrals

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

Valentine’s Day means a lot of different things to different people. For some, it’s time to start looking for a date for the 14th; for others, it’s time to book reservations for dinner with the significant other or spouse…

But for martial art school owners, it’s time to market your programs using guest pass referral cards.

It’s no secret that kids have to give out Valentine’s Day cards to their friends on Valentine’s Day. They’re in the mood to give stuff away anyway – why not give them a gift to place in their cards as well?

If you’ll look in the member’s download section, you’ll find a professionally designed card template that’s perfect for this purpose. Print them on full color card stock along with your school info, and provide them to parents to use in lieu of buying cards for Valentine’s Day for their kids.

So, now you know how to use those cards to get leads and trials… But how do you convert them and keep them coming back?

Here are some vital tips and tricks to make sure you get the most from your guest pass referrals – and not just during February, but all year long. Read the rest of this entry »

Using Testimonials in Your Martial Arts Marketing

Using testimonials correctly in your martial arts marketing can greatly increase your enrollments and income.

There are many ways to market your school, and providing potential clients and customers with testimonials is one of the best ways to super-charge your martial arts marketing.

The power of testimonials should never be underestimated. In this day and age, consumers will only purchase products or pay for services they trust; typically, this means that product or service has been referred to them by people they know.

Since this is something that the small business owner has no control over, he has to do the next best thing… which is to get testimonials from his past clients.

Benefits of Using Testimonials

There are many benefits to collecting and using testimonials in your marketing:
Read the rest of this entry »

Knowing and Doing the Basics is the Key to Martial Arts Business Success

Do you have your basics down? Not your martial arts basics, but your business basics. Find out by reading this article.

Do you have your martial arts business basics down?

You know – those top priority concepts, skills, and tasks that are essential to running a successful martial art school?

Maybe you haven’t given much thought to what those are… but if you’ve read Small Dojo Big Profits, you know about the 80/20 rule (Pareto’s Principle).

Pareto believed that eighty percent of your results come from just twenty percent of your efforts, and I’ve found this to be true in my own businesses.

That’s why it’s so important to know what those “20% activities” are. Once you do, you can focus in on those activities, and cut out most of the extraneous stuff. By doing so, not only will you become more productive, but you’ll also have more time away from your school.

So, let’s examine the “basic foundation” of running a successful martial arts school, and then we can look at which daily tasks and goals we need to focus on to leverage our workday and maximize our effectiveness.
Read the rest of this entry »

Not Following The Monthly Marketing System To The “T”? Reading The Following May Change Your Mind…

Recently I coached one of our members on setting up a marketing system. Check out this video to see the results of him implementing the system:

Just the other day, Tony posted his final results for the MASAI 30-Day Challenge in the forums:

Well, I hit it and a few over. I’m sitting on 34 this month. This is the crazys month ever. I have got around 36 infos this month. I have had some busy months before but I don’t think any like this. Thanks for your help!

Hmmm… from 3 or 4 enrollments a month to 34 in one month. There must be some amazing secret, right? I bet you’re wondering, what was this mysterious system we implemented?
Read the rest of this entry »

As part of the MASAI 30 Students in 30 Days Challenge, I’ll be posting some special martial arts marketing articles specifically geared toward the quickest ways I know to get students and grow your school.

Today’s article is geared specifically on how to get to the top of the local search listings… FAST!

MASAI 30 Students in 30 Days Coaching Article #1: How to Get to the Top of Google Fast

Getting to the top of the Google listings is powerful, powerful stuff. And, this is the fastest way I know to get to the top of the Google search engine results, for free.

(Of course, Google Adwords will get your site seen quickly, but it takes a bit more search engine marketing technical know-how, and it costs money. Do both if you have the budget, but start with this method, first.)

It’s not hard, it just takes some work… but you can easily knock this out in an afternoon.

Here’s what you need to do:

Read the rest of this entry »

Martial Arts Business Marketing Challenge

All right – I’m throwing down the gauntlet… all in the name of good fun and seeing some school owners achieve massive martial arts success during the final quarter of this year.

So, I’m having a contest for MASAI members during the month of October 2010. Click here to join MASAI The goal? Simple… get participants to challenge themselves to enroll 30 students in 30 days or as close to it as possible (well, really in 31 days… but “30 students in 31 days” just doesn’t have the same ring to it). The reward? This is the fun part – I’ll be rewarding any school owner who can document their progress toward enrolling 30 students in 30 days with the following prizes:

Read the rest of this entry »

FREE Lessons?

Members can download the Halloween party invitation and this months ads in the members' download area.

Okay, let’s talk about giving away free lessons for a moment…

I’m not a big fan of FREE lessons, except for adult classes (I always offer the first class free – it’s a great no-pressure way to get busy adults into your school). The thing is, if you give something away for free all the time, it cheapens the perceived value in the potential customer’s eyes.

That’s why I limit guest pass distribution to students and staff (think “scarcity”). This is just my own personal preference; however, time and experience have proven this to be a wise approach.

So why is this month’s ad giving away free lessons? Because, every so often I like to advertise “an offer they can’t refuse.” How many moms are sitting on the fence right now about starting their kids in martial arts, that a few weeks of free lessons won’t convince to take the plunge? A bunch, I’m sure.

And, how much do you think your students will want to tell their friends to come in and try classes, if they can tell them, “It’s free until October 31st?” Who doesn’t want to share a good deal with their friends?

Here’s the thing – free offers are good when they are used properly and in small doses. There’s a good reason why top marketers and copywriters say “free” is the most powerful word in marketing. As long as you don’t let “free” become the overall perception of value for your services, a little bit of “free” every now and again is a good thing.

Now, here’s a tip for how to handle people coming in for their free classes during October:
Read the rest of this entry »

Never, Ever, Ever Waste An Opportunity To Market Your Programs

Stating the value of your guest pass on the pass is one good way to make sure it doesn't get tossed in the trash.

Do you have separate business cards and guest passes? If so, you’re wasting a perfectly good opportunity to more effectively market your business, every time you pass out your business card.

You see, your business card should be your VIP guest pass… and it should be designed so that the recipient immediately sees the value of what they’ve just been handed.

There are multiple strategies you can use to make sure that…

• Your students are actually proud to hand your guest pass out to their friends and relatives,
• Your VIP passes don’t get thrown in the trash,
• And that the person who receives your guest pass actually contacts your school to redeem it.

Let’s go over these strategies in detail, so you can get the most from your VIP guest pass marketing efforts.

Read the rest of this entry »

A Good Graduation Ceremony Both Attracts And Keeps Students

Making your martial arts promotion ceremonies meaningful and memorable is an effective way to both keep and attract students.

Graduation night is a concept I picked up from observing successful school owners from around the country. When I started my first school, I tried to network with and visit as many successful school owners as I could, both to exchange ideas and to observe their “best practices” in action.

One thing I observed was that, in many of the most successful schools, they used belt promotions as a means of both increasing their retention and to promote their programs. For retention purposes, nothing beats getting the family members of your students involved and giving them an opportunity to see their loved one in action.

In addition, this is also a powerful incentive for your students to perform well and stay committed to their training, because they want to be able to “show” their family how they are progressing in their martial arts training.

Likewise when it comes to attracting new students, there are few things more powerful than third-party endorsements. And, the best third-party endorsements are those people can witness with their own eyes. As they say, “Seeing is believing”. Well, when friends of your students see them getting recognition for their hard work, and enjoying doing their martial art, it is a powerful recruiting tool for your school.

Holding regular scheduled graduation celebration events where students are ENCOURAGED to invite their friends is a great way to achieve both of the above objectives. Here’s how… Read the rest of this entry »

“Building It” Fast Is Simply A Matter Of Following What Works In The Majority Of Successful Martial Art Schools…

Want to grow your school? Follow a proven plan.

Starting a martial art school is tough – and growing a martial art school is even tougher.

That’s why I spent a lot of time in my first school analyzing my operations and comparing them to what successful school owners did. I traveled and spent time with them, observing first-hand what they were doing to grow their schools.

From those observations, I compared what successful instructors were doing, and settled on the activities that were most common among the schools I observed…

It’s not like I kept a bunch of data tables and graphs; it was nothing so complicated as all that. Basically, if I saw a lot of successful instructors doing something, I figured it was important and made note of it.

Then, I made sure I was doing those exact same tasks and activities in my own school on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

Now after 15 years of doing this, I’m able to boil down the key elements to martial arts business success into a very simple formula and very thorough checklists, ensuring that I’m hitting on all eight cylinders in my martial art school operations.

This month, I’ve decided to share that formula and most of those checklist items with you in the remainder of this article. Want to hit 100 martial arts students fast, and then continue that growth? Read the rest of this entry »

Marketing Plan for the Months of February/March

1. Print Ads: If you’re running ads in print publications and they’re working, keep it up. Also, start considering hiring a door-to-door flier company to target area neighborhoods around your school with the fliers from this month.

Or, get your leadership team out on a Saturday morning and make an event out of it… offer a prize for the first team to distribute 100 fliers on doors (send them out by twos, make sure an adult is in each team). Take them all out for an inexpensive meal after.

2. Banner Sign: Put your 3 foot by 8 foot banner sign in front of your school… Read the rest of this entry »

How to Create a Lead Generating Machine In Under 90 Days… (Almost) For Free!

Most everyone asks me about martial arts marketing; or more specifically, how to get more students into their school. This seems to be a universal problem for school owners across the country.

For the majority of school owners, the main challenge with regards to getting more students is getting your programs in front of enough people (in other words, lead generation).

This is typically due to one of two issues:

1. A lack of or inadequate amount of marketing -
2. Ineffective marketing -

More often than not, with new school owners they aren’t marketing enough due to lack of funds with which to do so. Ten years ago, I’d have told any such school owner to get out and do some flyering and door hangers, an extremely time-intensive (but usually very effective) task.

Thankfully, we now live in an internet age where everyone has a world of potential customers at their fingertips. The question is, how do you reach them?

Well, that’s what this article is going to explain. Read the rest of this entry »