MASAI and SAMAS member George Denson posted this on our forums today:
“The new karate kid movie is coming… http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/movie-talk-karate-kid.html. So we don’t need Mike anymore – lol. If the old timers are around, (At 43, I didn’t think I would be an old timer) they have probably heard someone say “All we need is a new karate kid movie.” The movie comes out June 11th.
I don’t think it will be the kickstart we need, but it will help. So prepare by doing promos for the movie, take your students there in a group, see if you can do a demo at the mall or theater when it comes out.”
Photo by Jasin Boland/Columbia Pictures
I think it’s going to be a good flick. That Jaden kid obviously got the acting genes from his parents. And thank goodness – remember “The Next Karate Kid” before what’s-her-face could act?
I agree with George, you need to start planning your tie-ins now. Get to the local theater before anyone else and start working out a promo deal with the manager. Make sure you can have a table in the front at the premiere, and offer to do demos for them for free.
You might even be able to talk them into getting the radio stations to do a remote, if you talk fast enough. This movie will likely be the big summer release for kids.
Plus, a lot of people who grew up in the 80’s WILL take their kids to see it. And, at least they didn’t change the name…
Are You A “Go-Giver”?
The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann
I like to pick up at least one good business book each month, and I’m always looking for books that will challenge the way I think about and approach business. Recently I picked up The Go-Giver, a phenomenal modern-day parable that illustrates how having a giving spirit is much more important to one’s business success than just getting all you can in any way possible.
Sadly, it seems that more and more I have dealings with instructors who just want to take and take, and are solely focused on WIIFM (“What’s in it for me?) These instructors wonder why they’re struggling in their businesses, and marvel at the fact that I don’t choose to work with them despite their talent as martial artists. If they read this book, they’d understand why I feel the way I do…
If you’ve ever heard that Zig Ziglar quote, “You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want,” and wondered what the heck he meant by that, this book will help you discover why service is the key to success. Being a martial arts instructor is really about service at it’s core. I highly recommend this book to martial arts instructors everywhere, and the theme is perfect for a holiday read.
If you’ve been paying attention to posts and “breadcrumbs” I’ve been leaving all over the place, you’d have already figured out that I’ve relaunched the MASAI member website.
After a week of beta-testing, I decided to let my blog readers and newsletter subscribers in on it first (my SAMAS members have already been putting it through it’s paces for several days now).
So, my holiday gift to you is full access to the new site for three days for just $1. That way, you can see for yourself what all the fuss on our SAMAS site has been about over the last year-and-a-half.
Go check it out – there’s some free sample content there, and you can read the “teasers” for all the member’s only articles, videos, audios, and marketing materials (which we update every month with professionally-designed ads that are written by yours truly, as well as exclusive audio and video content you can’t find anywhere else).
If you click on a teaser you’ll be taken to the free trial page where you can take the $1 trial. Since it has virtually ALL the content from the last 12 months of monthly packages from the SAMAS site, you’re really getting $214.40 worth of information and ideas for just a buck…
Go give it a spin and discover how to make 2010 a turnaround and breakout year for your business:
Investing in effective small business internet marketing just makes good sense.
A short while back a client forwarded an article to me that said SEO was a waste of money. (Note: In case you don’t know, SEO stands for “search engine optimization” – basically, fixing your website so it ranks well in search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing)
I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair – besides the fact that the article was a crock, I had a very good reason for doing so. Immediately prior to receiving the email I just finished a meeting with a very successful local entrepreneur… and in that meeting we discussed (at length) the importance of SEO in the ongoing success of her business.
She informed me that she has spent something close to $25,000 on search engine optimization services over the last two years – which she credits (along with her social media marketing efforts) for her position as the dominant market leader in a very competitive field.
In fact, while approximately 20% of her competition bowed out last year (due to the recession) her business actually grew. She credits it all to her savvy use of online marketing technologies, which have allowed her to stay well ahead of her competition.
Now, I know most of you don’t have the cash to spend $12,000 a year on your online marketing. However, when small business owners overlook and ignore the importance of online marketing, I can only shake my head at the sheer ignorance of their decision.
So, if you’re still with me to this point, and you think you could use some help in this area, I’m going to provide you with some guidelines as to where you should be spending your online advertising and marketing dollars, and in what order of priority.
Pay close attention, because this is going to actually be the most cost-effective method of marketing your school in 2010. Feel free to print out this article for future reference and ignore me at your own peril…
Priority #1: Your Lead-Capture Website
(Cost: Anywhere from $500 to $2,500)
This is the first thing you should invest in when you start spending money for marketing online. Your lead generation website will work for you 24/7/365 to capture leads, whether you’re at work, answering the phones, or at home asleep or on the training floor.
Yes, you can DIY this one – but it probably won’t rank well because it won’t be optimized for Google and Yahoo, and you’ll just end up having it redone in the end anyway. Skip a few display ads and drop some money up front on this – you’ll only pay for it once, and it’ll keep paying for itself over and over for years to come.
Note: If you’re on a tight budget, you can combine this into your blog. I’ve been doing it for a lot of my clients recently, and they are still getting great results.
Priority #2: Search Engine Optimization and Website Promotion
(Cost: Anywhere from $500 to $3,000, depending on your market and competition)
Although I always include this service for all my web design clients, you’ll typically have to pay a separate fee for it when you’re dealing with other web design and SEO companies.
But, it’s worth it – because a website no one visits is like a billboard in the desert… absolutely worthless.
And, you get site visitors from getting a high search engine ranking (top five spots) in the local Google and Yahoo results for targeted, relevant, popular search terms.
Once again, this can be done DIY – but SEO is a lot more sophisticated than just optimizing your meta tags. You have to think about on-page factors and off-page factors, and know how each will affect your site’s trust and ranking with Google.
Messing up any of this stuff can have a negative result as minor as not getting a desirable ranking, or as serious as getting your site blackballed by Google (and good luck getting back in again).
Trust me, hire a pro – someone you can trust that has references – to do this for you.
Priority #3: A Custom Blog
(Cost: Anywhere from $500 to $5,000)
Once again, this is something I include with all my web design packages for my clients. However, other firms will charge you a separate fee for creating a custom blog theme to match your site, to install it and set it up, and to optimize the blog so your articles get indexed in Google and rank high in the search engine results.
Blogs are easy to DIY – in fact, a lot of businesses will try to use a free blog for their business website. However, this can be a big mistake… and here’s why.
Free isn’t necessarily cheap. The big issues with free blogs are that they are not very customizable, and you run the risk of the blog host losing all your data and posts.
In addition, a free blog is not going to be set up to effectively leverage the blogging technologies available to you right now. Blogs have come a long way in the last few years, and a properly optimized blog will basically promote itself in the search engines – all you have to do is add content on a regular basis.
Quick Shameless Plug: Quick sidebar here – I can do all of the above for any school owner who reads my blog for about $1,500, definitely on the low end of the cost scale. Despite the low cost, the results you’ll get will be worth many times your investment. And yes, I’ll allow you to make payments on your website. Feel free to contact me to order.
Final Thought – Any Small Business Internet Marketing Activity Is Better Than None!
It’s true… anything is better than nothing. So, if you have to start with a free blog, do it. And if you have to DIY your own website at first, that’s much better than having no website at all.
The bottom line is, internet marketing for small businesses is something sort of like gardening – it takes time and energy to start seeing results, and nothing happens until you start planting seeds. So, take action now so you can start seeing results from your internet marketing efforts and investment in 2010 and beyond.
I am spitting mad about the “Cap and Trade” legislation that passed the House last week. This new hidden tax is going to hit the working class – our bread and butter clients – harder than anything the government has thrown at them in recent years.
Here’s what the Wall Street Journal had to say about it:
“Hit hardest would be the ‘95% of working families’ Mr. Obama keeps mentioning, usually omitting that his no-new-taxes pledge comes with the caveat ‘unless you use energy.’ Putting a price on carbon is regressive by definition because poor and middle-income households spend more of their paychecks on things like gas to drive to work, groceries or home heating.
The Congressional Budget Office – Mr. Orszag’s former roost – estimates that the price hikes from a 15% cut in emissions would cost the average household in the bottom-income quintile about 3.3% of its after-tax income every year. That’s about $680, not including the costs of reduced employment and output. The three middle quintiles would see their paychecks cut between $880 and $1,500, or 2.9% to 2.7% of income. The rich would pay 1.7%. Cap and trade is the ideal policy for every Beltway analyst who thinks the tax code is too progressive (all five of them).”
I know – it stinks, BIG TIME!
As soon as the economy starts to show signs of recovery… BAM!
They hit us with a piece of junk legislation like this.
And I’m spitting mad about it!
So, instead of throwing my mouse at my computer screen (they break very easily, something I’ve discovered since last November) I’m doing something to help you guys…
The backbone of our industry!
I’ve temporarily slashed prices on ALL my manuals and digital books, which are all listed on the following page at prices that are 40% to 60% off of retail:
SORRY… THE SALE HAS ENDED!
And, for ANYONE who orders this week from the site, I am going to give you a FREE teleseminar next Friday:
How to Market Your Martial Arts School Online Using FREE Web 2.0 Technologies!
This is my way of…
1. Saying THANKS for continuing to support my work and message during the toughest economic times in recent history -
and…
2. Helping our industry stay STRONG, even at a time when the nation’s leadership seems dead-set on ripping the guts out of the middle-class!
And, please note that, while it’s likely I’ll continue to be hacked for an indeterminate period of time, the sale ends at 8:00 AM CST on July 2nd…
So please head over there and take advantage of it while the sale is running.
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, a phenomenal modern-day parable that illustrates how having a giving spirit is much more important to one’s business success than just getting all you can in any way possible.
