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Thread: Marketing and Promotion for Gendai Jujutsu

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    Default Marketing and Promotion for Gendai Jujutsu

    I am wondering, what kind of promotion and marketing scheme are suitable for Gendai Jujutsu?

    I have seen some P/M schemes which are "historically creative" though unprovable.. call it improper if you will, such as one group here in Indonesia which claims to be "original xxxxshin-ryu Ju-Jitsu" while in reality they never trained real any Japanese Jujutsu and only reconstruct "Ju-Jitsu" from bits and pieces of Judo, Karate and Silat.

    Brazil Jiu-Jitsu guys promoted their art as "the ultimate fighting art which are superior to all other martial arts, the others are fake, we are for real fighting", however these kind of marketing work tends to draw people with wrong attitudes.

    Sometimes people could get away by marketing the art according to the charisma of the founder, for example "we are teaching the art of Prof. Kirby, who developed his current methods of Jujutsu after 30 years of training and researching traditional Jujutsu and police self-defense". Or "we are teaching the art of Mr. Roy Hobbs, who spent years in Japan learning Jujutsu under the Master, and was given permission to start his own style". However, if the name of the founder are not famous in the area where we are going to market the art, then the marketing scheme are not going to be effective. (people are going to say "who's kirby? who's hobbs? could they beat Gracie?" and other stupid things like that)

    I am asking this because I would like to know what are the proper and acceptable ways of marketing Gendai Jujutsu. Because we don't want to be seen as thugs/streetfighters, and we also don't want to be seen as hijackers of the noble Koryu Jujutsu lineages.

    Also, we don't intend to market Gendai Jujutsu as a McDojo operation. I still teach for free in universities, and many of my friends do the same. See, we're not even commercially-oriented. We just want to discover new friends who likes the movements of Gendai Jujutsu and would like to train together with us.

    Any useful comments will be much appreciated.
    Last edited by john_lord_b3; 14th December 2007 at 05:58.
    Ben Haryo (This guy has low IQ and uses a dialect which vaguely resembles Bad English).

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    Smile People with wrong attitudes

    You can't market your art for fighting, becasue it attracts people with "wrong attitudes", "thugs" and "streetfighters"...

    ...so you market it as self defense, but that attracts people with "wrong attitudes" too - in my experience, usually insecure or even paranoid types who end up with false senses of security.

    ...so you market it as having a historical heritage, but that attracts people with "wrong attitudes", because they are more interested in the lineage and cultural trappings than working up a sweat.

    ...so you market it as physical fitness, but that just attracts a bunch of gym bunnies who end up suing you when they get injured.

    ...and you can't market it as a sport, because you don't do judo or MMA, and you can't market it as taking on all comers because you're not Rorion Gracie, and you can't market it on TV, because you're not Rex Kwon Do.

    So I'm afraid, my friend, you are left with only one option:
    We just want to discover new friends who likes the movements of Gendai Jujutsu and would like to train together with us.
    Keep it simple, keep it welcoming, keep the workouts tough, and look after your students. Oh, and keep it affordable but don't do it for free - it's a strange truth of modern society that people don't value things as much if they don't feel they have a financial investment in it.

    Just my tuppence worth.
    Cheers,

    Mike
    No-Kan-Do

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    You could give yourself a soke title and rename your system Jeet Kune Kempo Aiki Nin Jitsu. People are usually looking for at least one of these words.
    ____________________________
    Graham Pluck

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    You could always try to show the linage of the system. Some traditionalists are big into the linage thing. So if you can show your system going back a few steps that might help. Also a good website is always great for marketing.

    Best of luck to you, and happy holidays.

    Scot
    Scot Mertz
    www.ryuhoryu.com

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    Mike Williams is right, as usual. The average consumer could care less about any of that stuff, because they don't know anything about that stuff.

    One point of correction: no legitimate BJJ school promotes BJJ as "as "the ultimate fighting art which are superior to all other martial arts, the others are fake, we are for real fighting." That's a crock of crap, and if any legitimate BJJ schools close by saw that, they would close down the fake in short order.

    Jeff Cook

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    Quote Originally Posted by MikeWilliams View Post
    So I'm afraid, my friend, you are left with only one option:

    Keep it simple, keep it welcoming, keep the workouts tough, and look after your students. Oh, and keep it affordable but don't do it for free - it's a strange truth of modern society that people don't value things as much if they don't feel they have a financial investment in it.

    Just my tuppence worth.
    Great advice as usual, many thanks. I think the real challenge is to set up a fee which is not too low and also not too high, right? What do you think?
    Ben Haryo (This guy has low IQ and uses a dialect which vaguely resembles Bad English).

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    Quote Originally Posted by GCP View Post
    You could give yourself a soke title and rename your system Jeet Kune Kempo Aiki Nin Jitsu. People are usually looking for at least one of these words.
    Whoa... that will be a big bad karma for me
    Ben Haryo (This guy has low IQ and uses a dialect which vaguely resembles Bad English).

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Cook View Post
    ...if any legitimate BJJ schools close by saw that, they would close down the fake in short order.

    Jeff Cook
    Don't worry, the BJJ guys are much humbler these days. They were rather boastful only during the "Gracie craze", and they only talk like that amongst friends. It was, to quote a friend, "a beginner's excitement" in the mid 90s that lead some BJJ guys to have a rather condescending attitude towards more traditional arts. But once the BJJ guys become more experienced (older and wiser if you may), they become much more appreciative towards the skills of others.
    Ben Haryo (This guy has low IQ and uses a dialect which vaguely resembles Bad English).

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    Quote Originally Posted by samertz View Post
    You could always try to show the linage of the system. Some traditionalists are big into the linage thing. So if you can show your system going back a few steps that might help. Also a good website is always great for marketing.

    Best of luck to you, and happy holidays.

    Scot
    Thanks for the advice, yes they makes a lot of sense. Having a proper lineage helps us to gain acceptance in the martial arts community as a whole. Here in my country, most of the people who does traditional martial arts usually knew each other. I was able to train in Wado-ryu due to a recommendation from my previous Shotokan teacher. And sometimes we got referrals, for example several months ago I got a teaching job at an International School due to a recommendation from a friend who teach Taekwondo there.

    However, like Jeff Cook said, the general public usually are ignorant about lineages and Budo styles... an average conversation usually goes like this " What's the name of your art? Wado-ryu? What's that? Oh, Wado is Karate plus Jujutsu ? I think I know Jujutsu. So you wear bikini and wrestle inside an iron cage, like those fighting shows on TV? No thanks!"...
    Ben Haryo (This guy has low IQ and uses a dialect which vaguely resembles Bad English).

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