Are you about to give up on your martial arts school? Not so fast! You can still turn things around with these time-tested marketing strategies.
Are you losing students at your martial arts school? The pandemic has undoubtedly disrupted business globally, but martial arts schools have had it the worst. As a martial arts school owner, you have a very specific audience. How many people do you know in your neighborhood who are learning martial arts? Hardly one or two in every five hundred. And on top of that, you have to stay ahead of the competition. It’s a fine line to walk on, but you can come out on top with the right strategies in your arsenal!
Create a professional website
Your martial arts school is done for if you don’t have a professional and eye-catching website. Every business needs a website because having an online presence is non-negotiable. Even if you don’t plan on selling anything online, a website allows people to find you quickly and get an idea of your school.
Your website should showcase your unique selling point, your X factor that would leave your competition in the dust! Tell your audience what you do differently. Do the stats add up to what you’re promising? Sell yourself creatively but honestly.
Offer discounts, free classes, and demos
If there’s one thing people love, it’s free stuff! A martial arts school is a product that has a particular target audience. The people who will come to you will either be beginners who want to learn or those who know martial arts but want to hone their skills further.
In that case, you’ll need to offer free classes, discounts on memberships, and demos to show people what they’re missing out on. Freebies are great to get potential students in through the door and make them see what your school has to offer. If your dojo is exclusively for the pros, you could offer a free month of training for every member – that’s guaranteed business!
Go ham on social media marketing
Social media marketing is one of the most efficient and least expensive ways to promote your martial arts school. Platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram allow you to connect with a large number of people in a few clicks. You can post about upcoming events, new classes, special deals, and share photos or videos of your students in action.
Make sure to post interesting and engaging content appealing to your target audience. Also, don’t forget to use hashtags! They are a great way to get more eyes on your posts and attract new followers. Just make sure you don’t write walls of text on your socials – that will just push your audience away. People need quick, snackable content on social media. Try using these eye-catching fitness poster templates – they always work like magic.
Host tournaments and events
Tournaments are an excellent way to stir up excitement about your martial arts school. They are a great way to showcase your students against other martial arts schools. If you come out on top, that’s great. But even if you lose, you needn’t worry about it. After all, it’s just healthy competition. Consider it entertainment for the audience and advertisement for your school.
Events and tournaments can be as big or small as you want them to be, but they should always be well-organized and professional. Make sure you have a solid marketing plan before hosting an event. Promote it heavily on social media and your website, and make sure to have a sign-up sheet or registration form available online. You can also offer discounts to people who sign up in advance.
Unleash your trump card – SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a must-have if you want your martial arts school to be visible online. When people search for “martial arts schools near me,” you want your school to be one of the first results on Google. To do that, you need to keep atop your SEO game.
SEO is the process of optimizing your website so that it appears higher in search engine results. You can do many things to improve your SEO, such as adding keyword-rich content, optimizing your website for mobile devices, and building backlinks. However, if this is unfamiliar territory for you, it’s better to hire an SEO specialist to do all the hard work.
Some final thoughts
Although the above marketing strategies are tried and tested and will work like a charm, you’ll need to tweak them so they can gel in with your business. Remember, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for marketing; you’ll need to experiment until you find what works best for your school. But with a bit of hard work and some creative thinking, you can increase enrollment at your martial arts school in no time!
In addition, it’s essential to set up a website blog or send out weekly newsletters to your subscribers to keep them up to date with your school’s policies and promotions. Use a poster maker to create dynamic posters that grab your audience’s attention. Whatever you decide, the bottom line is to build up traffic to your website and extend your reach online.
