Originally Posted by
Matt Wolfson
Now back to the idea of how to advertise on a budget? Any marketing suggestions?
matt wolfson
here's some things you can do, maybe more guerilla than others:
1. make some handbills and stick them in books on martial arts at Barnes & Noble/Borders etc. you would be surprised how well this tactic works!
2. have a public demo at the school as a grand opening event.
3. host a free self-defense workshop for adults on a Saturday afternoon for a couple of hours.
4. host a community action meeting at your Dojo (local community groups are always doing those things, easy to contact them and arrange something)
5. do a public demo at a community festival or event.
6. put an ad in your local community paper (usually much cheaper than more mainstream papers)
7. ally with another martial arts school and do a group event in the spirit of Buyu.
basically you want people to know who you are with very little money to do so. I think many martial arts schools fail because they treat marketing/advertising as an afterthought. "well if we have enough money left over after the buildout, we'll put an ad in the paper". we call this "a failure pile served in a sadness bowl". lol. patton oswalt reference there. there is a saying, "spies are most active during times of inactivity". so when you don't have any business coming in the door, you should be the most active in your promoting the school and soliciting new students.
good luck, your school looks very nice.
Bill Haynes
#1 pickup line of all time: "Hey, does this rag smell like chloroform to you?