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Thread: New Dojo in Pittsburgh

  1. #1
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    Default New Dojo in Pittsburgh

    Hello,
    I have recently opened my dojo in Pittsburgh and am having trouble recruiting new students. I dont have a large budget to advertise and quite frankly dont want a large number of students. However i would like a handful of students (I have two regular adults and 6 regulars in the kids class) I would like four or five adults and 10 kids. How have some other more established schools gone about advertising for new students on a budget? I have spent the last four years remodeling my studio and now it is time to switch from building to more of a management role and am not the greatest manager. I like to build things and practice karate. Any advise for someone just starting out would be greatly appricated.
    Link to my website with photos:
    http://www.rivermartialarts.com


    Matt Wolfson

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    You have a beautiful dojo Wolfson San. Thanks for sharing the site !
    Prince Loeffler
    Shugyokan Dojo

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    For starters, information about your style and your credentials would be a helpful addition to your website. "Okinawan kempo" is a little vague; could you be more specific?

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    Quote Originally Posted by futabachan View Post
    For starters, information about your style and your credentials would be a helpful addition to your website. "Okinawan kempo" is a little vague; could you be more specific?
    The website is a work in progress. I will add the information shortly. I have been practicing kenpo for 18 years, under John Anderson for most of them. Mr. Anderson was a direct student of Seikichi Odo. here is a link to some information on him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seikichi_Odo

    Now back to the idea of how to advertise on a budget? Any marketing suggestions?

    matt wolfson

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    Quote Originally Posted by Prince Loeffler View Post
    You have a beautiful dojo Wolfson San. Thanks for sharing the site !
    thanks, I have put a lot of time and effort into the studio and really look forward to practicing there.
    matt wolfson

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    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Wolfson View Post
    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?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Haynes View Post
    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.
    Thanks for the tips. Most of those are ideas I hadn't even considered. Those are exactly the types of things I need to be doing.

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    I havn't got much to add, but thats a really nice looking Dojo!

    Maybe one thing, a successful commercial Dojo I once trained at had a good responce from a sandwhich board which simply had 'beginners welcome! and an arrow.

    Some new students said they always intended to go home and call to find out about begginner class, but just never got to it (I know, I know, how are they going to stick to training if not motivated enough to pick up the phone....but many did).

    The sign was out any time the Dojo was unlocked.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Troy Ballantyne View Post
    I havn't got much to add, but thats a really nice looking Dojo!

    Maybe one thing, a successful commercial Dojo I once trained at had a good responce from a sandwhich board which simply had 'beginners welcome! and an arrow.

    Some new students said they always intended to go home and call to find out about begginner class, but just never got to it (I know, I know, how are they going to stick to training if not motivated enough to pick up the phone....but many did).

    The sign was out any time the Dojo was unlocked.
    The sandwhich board is another great idea. Thanks for the complement on the studio.
    matt

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    Default Nice dojo!

    I'm usually not one to post much, but I was quite taken by the photos of your dojo. It's quite beautifully and tastefully done. I wish you well.

    I'm also not the best person to ask about gaining students. I have very few of my own and nobody should follow my example of publicizing a dojo if they want to break even or get into the black. However, I do recall finding my way to a tai chi teacher because I heard her on an interview at our local Public Radio station. It was free publicity for her and if you can wrangle it (offer up a unique angle, maybe your concept of traditionalism in the face of overwhelming commercialism, the beauty and tradition of your dojo, etc.), you might get some students. I listened to the tai chi teacher and was fascinated by her laughter and her personal stories about how she started and what tai chi meant to her. Soon after, I joined up!

    Also try posting flyers at the local colleges and Universities, the nearby Whole Food outlet (stressing again your traditionalism and dojo architecture...Gads, it's beautiful). All, as another poster said, "guerrilla marketing."

    Accentuate what makes you different from the usual run-of-the-mill martial arts school, in a positive way. And good luck.

    Wayne Muromoto

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    I had very good luck using craigslist.com when I first started up last year. It is an effective, and free resource (just post in the "classes" section). Letting people know that you are offering a full free month of classes can be a great way to get people in the door, so if you decide to use craigslist, make sure you include that in the title. I'd highly recommend learning a little HTML code, so that you can spice up your ad with pics of your dojo.

    You can also list your place of business at local.yahoo.com and maps.google.com, so that people will be able to see your dojo if they do a local search for martial arts schools.

    I hope that helps. Good luck to you.
    Yagyu Shinkage Ryu Heiho
    Hontai Yoshin Ryu (Study Group)
    Ishiyama Ryu

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    Quote Originally Posted by wmuromoto View Post
    I'm usually not one to post much, but I was quite taken by the photos of your dojo. It's quite beautifully and tastefully done. I wish you well.

    I'm also not the best person to ask about gaining students. I have very few of my own and nobody should follow my example of publicizing a dojo if they want to break even or get into the black. However, I do recall finding my way to a tai chi teacher because I heard her on an interview at our local Public Radio station. It was free publicity for her and if you can wrangle it (offer up a unique angle, maybe your concept of traditionalism in the face of overwhelming commercialism, the beauty and tradition of your dojo, etc.), you might get some students. I listened to the tai chi teacher and was fascinated by her laughter and her personal stories about how she started and what tai chi meant to her. Soon after, I joined up!

    Also try posting flyers at the local colleges and Universities, the nearby Whole Food outlet (stressing again your traditionalism and dojo architecture...Gads, it's beautiful). All, as another poster said, "guerrilla marketing."

    Accentuate what makes you different from the usual run-of-the-mill martial arts school, in a positive way. And good luck.

    Wayne Muromoto

    thanks for the compliment. I really did spend alot of time and effort into making the studio a place that I would enjoy working out in and help foster the right environment for productive practice.
    matt

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    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Wolfson View Post
    thanks for the compliment. I really did spend alot of time and effort into making the studio a place that I would enjoy working out in and help foster the right environment for productive practice.
    matt
    Huh. I go past there multiple times a day when I'm back in the US visiting folks!

    Would you mind some (respectful) kengaku (observing) next time I'm home?

    And congrats on the dojo.

    Mark
    Mark Tankosich

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Tankosich View Post
    Huh. I go past there multiple times a day when I'm back in the US visiting folks!

    Would you mind some (respectful) kengaku (observing) next time I'm home?

    And congrats on the dojo.

    Mark
    Sure feel free to stop by. Your overseas now? where are you? which style do you train?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Wolfson View Post
    Sure feel free to stop by. Your overseas now? where are you? which style do you train?
    Thank you.

    Probably easiest to just give you the link to my (somewhat amateurish) site:

    http://marktankosich.com/

    Hopefully, I'll be back in touch within the next year...

    Best of luck with the dojo.
    Mark Tankosich

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