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Robert Wolfe
21st June 2001, 17:10
We employ a variety of advertising methods to let people know that our dojo exists, including:

• Yellow Pages — For the 2001 directory (which in this area was published last month) we upgraded our listing to a small display ad with photos. To date in 2001, the Yellow Pages ads have produced 42% of contacts and 23% of enrollments. Given the cost of the new ad, I’m certainly expecting both the percentage of contacts and the rate of resulting enrollments to improve considerably…

• Brochure — We use a professionally designed, four-panel brochure, which we place virtually anywhere a member of the dojo can think of. (7% of contacts; 15% of enrollments.)

• Bookmarks — Bookstores will often allow us to place “free” bookmarks in the books in the martial arts section. (Also 7% of contacts; 15% of enrollments.)

• Internet — The dojo maintains an extensive web site, with an online journal. (10% of contacts; 8% of enrollments.)

• Referrals — As is usually the case, word-of-mouth advertising is best. (27% of contacts; 31% of enrollments.)

• Newspaper — The local Sunday paper includes a “For the Participant” page in the sports section, which runs free listings for area sports and activities. (7% of contacts; 8% of enrollments.)

So far this year, we’ve had 67 contacts and 13 enrollments, with another six people among the current crop of contacts likely to enroll. If those candidates come through, we will have converted about 25% of contacts to students. Average attrition is two people per month, so we’ve been holding steady at about 50 members overall. My goal is to reach an active enrollment of 75 by the end of the year, at which point I will breathe a big sigh of relief knowing that the long-term survival of the dojo is assured.

The Internet continues to play an increasingly important role in recruiting. Since the URL of our web site appears in all our print advertising, nearly everyone who has web access checks the site at some point in their consideration of the dojo. But something very unusual happened in the fourth quarter of 2000: people finding the dojo via a keyword search of the web comprised 25% of all contacts and 40% of actual enrollments. I had (up until that point) assumed the Internet would always play a supporting role, but in that period the website was our most productive and effective means of advertising. And it’s by far the most efficient — the website costs about $15 per month for hosting, compared to $130 per month for the new Yellow Pages ad.

Mark Brecht
21st June 2001, 17:39
To be honest I do not like the term "recruiting".

To my understanding the military, mercenary groups, pararmilitary (e.g. militas), religious groups and cults do "recruiting". I do not consider this term appropriate for an MA schools... (unless you plan to take your students to war...).

The MA`s schools are often enough already frowned up as "cult like" by the general public (and yes there are cases, when this is a pretty good description), so I think a political correct term like "student enrollment statistics" would be far better.

Robert Wolfe
21st June 2001, 21:33
Mark --

I can see the point of the objection you raise. On the other hand, "martial" does mean "military"...

I'm comfortable with the term "recruiting," because we do actively seek new members for the dojo. If we had decided to train in a community center or other public facility, enrollment wouldn't be much of an issue, but we chose to try to have our ideal place to practice. Consequently, we need to maintain a level of enrollment adequate to pay the bills.

We certainly don't accept everyone who walks in the door, but we recognize we have to open the door and get enough people walking toward it to insure we have good candidates to pick from.

-- Bob

Chip
21st June 2001, 22:04
I looked up recruting on Merriam-Webster's online dictionary.

http://www.m-w.com/home.htm

Main Entry: 1re·cruit
Pronunciation: ri-'krüt
Date: 1643
transitive senses
1 a (1) : to fill up the number of (as an army) with new members : REINFORCE (2) : to enlist as a member of an armed service b : to increase or maintain the number of <America recruited her population from Europe> c : to secure the services of : ENGAGE, HIRE d : to seek to enroll <recruit students>

I left off entry 2 and 3 as they were irrelevant.