Traditional Martial Arts Schools; how to advertise?

There seems to be huge list of advises already, and they seemed a bit complicated. Here are three things I think could help. First hold a special event and send out flyers or hand out flyers about it. For example plan a class on women’s self defense and invite people to try out a free self defense on Dec. 13th at 10 am. (That was a random day, but it’s time when stay at home moms may be free to come.) Or weapon defense class and etc. The key is to let people remember you are there and have people make the trip to reinforce that memory. By letting people know and having them do it at least once, they become more open to the idea of martial art. Also have your students attend these events so that there are good amount of people even if only few people show up.

Second, get google adwords. You can set this up so that people can see you if they search ‘town name’ and marital arts. Also you can limit the ad to only appear to people around your area. Lastly you only have to pay for each click(they are about 25 cents per click). So if the ad showed up but the person wasn’t interested and didn’t click then you don’t have to pay anything.

Lastly, get your group to go to public event to do demos and such. This will also help people get interested in your martial art.

Remember to do things local. There is no point in doing global things when you can only serve the locals.

1) Make a website and make sure that it is usable by mobile devices, iPods, iPhones, etc. There are plenty of sites that are free or low cost. Shop around.

2) Get the website listed with Google. I think this is still free.

3) Make a YouTube channel for your club.

4) Make a Facebook page.

5) Make a Twitter page.

6) Follow Pugpaws' advise about pricing. I don't because where I am teaching is a community center. People typically come there due to pricing issues or because they want their child to do a martial art AND something else at the center, or they want something they know the whole family can afford to participate in. If I had a storefront, I'd charge A LOT MORE.

7) Offer specials: free classes at X time. Free class for women's self defense.

8) Do a demo.

9) Take some students to a tournament.

10) If you do decide to do flyers, stand someplace and hand them out yourself. I saw one school hand out flyers after the opening of Kung Fu Panda. They swore that handing out flyers after related movies worked. They didn't put them on cars, they gave them to people directly.

11) Try Craigslist. Also do some searches for free online business listings that pertain DIRECTLY to your area.

Well, if it really is a traditional martial arts school, just post a link here and I'll advertise it for free on my YouTube Channel page description and any other site I have! We need more Bruce Lee's in this world.

However, to really answer your question. I say start a Facebook page or YouTube channel (or both) showing what your dojo is really about. YouTube and Facebook are becoming some of the best ways to advertise what you are offering for free. There are many people searching for self defense techniques on YouTube so I'm sure you will get some hits! Good luck!

There are lots of commercial schools that are great schools. Don't completely cross them off our list. There are a lot that suck, but there are still a lot that are good. But yes, there are schools that are non-commercial like you describe. I've trained with three guys now like you're saying: 20-30+ years experience, teach out of their garages or back yards or parks, etc. They've been some of my best instructors.. in general not because of the style of their school, but because of the amount of personal attention I got. They're hard to find in the states. If you're in a big city post on Craigslist and you might find some. Ask around. It's not an easy thing to find. Ask martial arts people you know.. ask the people they know. They do exist though. There are plenty of them too.

Letterbox pamphlet drops (you can get the students to help), special offers, demonstrations - especially at the schools and fairs etc. Self defense courses, shopping center displays, beach or outdoor training. I have personally made a large A1 size billboard with a stand and pamphlet holder made out of PVC pipe that can be put out on display which seems to help. You can also have an open day, free training for the parents of your students, pizza nights and bring a friend day just to name a few. Do not, under any circumstances, go door to door to peoples homes (tacky Amway salesman method) or popup adverts on the internet (extremely annoying spam method). The hardest part is keeping the students.

Much depends on whether or not you are established or if you're brand new. Much can depend on your ties to the community, and your networking relationships.

For instance, do charitable work, such as washing cars, school demonstrations, collecting for the needy - anything to get your name and presence out in the community.

Have a local town newspaper write about what you do.

Network with another school - even if of a different style. for instance, have a local Karate school come in an teach your school about forms. Have your taekwondo school offer to teach how to do fancy breaking. (sorry for the crass stereotypes. but, play to them). Then, have a town newspaper write a "good will" article, something about bridging the concepts of martial arts styles.

Offer to teach at a rec center for free or a nominal cost - for 3 or 6 months. Anyone can come at any time.

Most towns have a special day of the year where everyone celebrates. They close off a street to vehicle traffic, then all the stores set up their stuff on the street and sidewalk - free popcorn here, free chair massage there, ice cream sampler here, or trinkets like frisbees and tshirts. Your place can have a stretching session, self defense class, kick-a-thon, or a forms demonstration. Have people stop by and break a board. Give out a free headband with the school's name on it. Give out free smoothies.

I think these days, people don't want to read about you, they want to watch you - even experience you. Internet? Web pages? They'd already to have to be in the market looking for a place. You want to get people who haven't even considered joining. Internet marketing's not a bad idea, but your return on investment will not be that great. Doing charitable work shows others what you do and who you are.

Fliers are okay, but they cost money. And people don't want them on their windshields. Hand them out at shopping centers, or have a stack of them at a local school or health club.

Have a few classes out in the open - like at a local park. Invite onlookers to come and join.

These days, getting the adults means first getting the kids. So, if your school can handle kids, advertise to them. I'm not a fan of places that have homework clubs and baby sitting services. However, such things are what makes some legitimate places survive.

Jeez. Hundreds of them.

As already suggested, YouTube and Facebook are OK.

One of the best ways is to put on free demonstrations at elementary and intermediate schools. You can tie it in with fitness, bullying prevention, or a number of other areas. Find a teacher with a need, and go from there. The demonstration should involve some of your best students and shouldn't have a sales pitch, other than to say where you're from . . . with a brochure on the school.

Stick flyers or postcards under car windows near the school.

Contact local special needs groups (dealing, for instance, with ADHD) and offer a special at your school. Stress the increased focus that kids gain from martial arts.

Word of mouth is fine, but you have to have a system to encourage it. For example, one free week (added on to the end of the student's current contract) for every referral who walks in the door. And one month for every referral who signs up. (Incidentally, you should be converting well over 50% of anyone who walks in the door. Some schools are above 90%.)

Read some of the threads here on McDojos. I'm not suggesting yours is, but some of their techniques for attracting students will work for you. One example: Birthday parties. The birthday boy or girl obviously invites his/her friends, some of whom will be interested in joining. Also, do a "parents night out," where the parents can bring their kids some evening (Saturdays work best) from perhaps 6 pm to 10 pm. You watch a movie, have pizza, and do a martial arts demonstration. Make it free for kids who are enrolled, and permit them to bring a friend. Now you're building up loyalty among the kids, appreciation from the parents, and getting a lot of new prospective kids in through the door.

Also, great advice from Pugpaws. Read it three or four times. Lots of owners underprice themselves. I suspect I know who he's referring to, as well. If your school is charging $75 and a big competitor is charging $150, it's YOUR school that's going to go out of business.

Make sure you have a website. It doesn't have to be fancy. But you can get a nice hosted one, with web building tools and templates, for under $5 a month. Make sure it's SEO optimized.

Also, there are a number of online resources. This is definitely NOT a plug or endorsement, but Lloyd Irvin has a lot of material (and puts on several seminars a year) on marketing. The seminars themselves aren't really expensive, but the specific programs that are sold there do run into the thousands of dollars.

Obviously, what the owner has been doing hasn't been working. It's just a matter of time until the school folds. Use some of the techniques above.

Hope that helps.

I would say the quality of the students would be the best.

How well they know the mechanics of the art.

One good this is to work with fundraisers. Take your students to any local fundraiser to demonstrate for the cause. This works well because obviously, people actually get to see your students first hand. It can work against you if your instruction is poor, depending on the audience. Since your school needs help, you yourself can organize fundraisers to help keep the kids out of the streets and in a positive environment.

No one can resist fundraisers to help kids. Call your local radio station and explain your situation and they will plug your event.

Hope everything works out.

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The best advertising for me was always word of mouth. but you have to make it profitable for the students for them to remember to tell others. I give any student that brings in someone new free training in the form of one moth free training for every student they recommend my dojo to. It cost nothing for me to do it. sure when someone joins I get paid by the new student but not that month by the one that brought them in. however after that if both students are still training i now have more money coming in.

The other issue that seems to be a big problem or stumbling block for many traditional schools is their monthly training fees. I often see traditional schools charging much less than the McDojo down the street. Many instructors feel guilty if they raise their rates. A rich instructor in Virginia (not due to the quality of his training) has tons of students. He follows one strict policy. He makes sure that he charges as much as any other school near him. If he finds out that his competition has raised their price, he then raises his to the same or slightly higher. People will always relate price to quality. That is why the McDojo often have lots of students while the traditional school down the street is having trouble just paying the bills.

I saw this first hand in 1990. A student and I opened a dojo south of Washington, D.C. we were the only martial arts school within 15 or more miles. We agreed that we would have a grand opening price. Then after three months we would raise the price to about $75 a month (remember that was in 1990). but my business partner refused to raise the rates. A Known Taekwondo tournament competitor opened a new school just a few miles down the street. They charged over $100 a month. In less than six months they nearly put us out of business. We had many people come in and tell us that our training was much more realistic. But the competition had 3 to 4 times more students than we did. It happens all the time. Instructors will think that if their rates are cheaper then they will get more students. It causes good schools to go broke. Once I learned this lesson I began to attract lots more students. It took one prospective student loss to get me to believe that I needed to raise my rates. a guy came in and talked to me at length. He kept saying that he really wanted to join my school, but the price was to high. A few months later I visited one of my competitors only to see this same guy there. He was wearing the first color belt in that style. What got to me was the school regularly charges 3 times what i charged. People will find a way to buy what it is they want. We see people all the time that have cars, boats, and other things that are out of their income range. But they will find a way to buy them anyway. It is human nature to do this.

EDIT: for cripes sake do not do fliers, especially on cars. It is not legal in many places and car owners do not like to find fliers on their car. Advertising stats in the late 1990's said that fliers worked in less than 1% of all cases.

Note: no matter what is being taught or how it is advertised if the school is not in a high traffic location with families near that have high incomes then the school often fails. I have seen several dojo that had been successful for years build or buy their own school and move into to only to fail. The really successful schools are in high traffic areas such as near a McDonald's. McDonald's will not allow one to be built if the location does not meet a minimum traffic count. It must also be easy to see and easy to get to for parking.

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