Guerrilla Marketing Ideas For Martial Art Schools

Posted by Mike Massie on March 24, 2010

Calling All Guerrillas For Martial Arts Marketing Ideas!

Martial arts marketing is tough – especially when you’re short on cash.

So, I’ve been trying to create a discussion on my member forums to encourage my members to share their favorite guerrilla marketing ideas for martial arts schools:

“The concept of guerrilla marketing was invented as an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. Typically, guerrilla marketing campaigns are unexpected and unconventional; potentially interactive; and consumers are targeted in unexpected places…

Guerrilla marketing involves unusual approaches such as intercept encounters in public places, street giveaways of products, PR stunts, any unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources…”

- from Wikipedia

Nope, not this type of "guerrilla" - but if you were trying to market Villanova with some guerilla marketing, this may qualify.

The only problem is, no one seems to have any ideas to share.

Or, maybe they just don’t want to divulge their “secrets.”

Anyway, only three people came up with anything (they were very good ideas, by the way) so I spent about 30 minutes coming up with a list of my own.

I’m not stingy, so I thought I’d share them here.

Who knows? Some struggling school owner who reads my blog may save his or her school with one (or more) of these marketing ideas.

So, here’s my quick list of 40+ guerrilla marketing ideas for martial arts instructors – some that I took from my martial arts marketing manual and some off the top of my head.

Mike Massie’s List Of Guerrilla Marketing Ideas For Martial Arts Schools

1.   Street Sign with moving letters, rotating elements, animation, or moving parts
2.   Vinyl full-color window and door decorations with action images that draw the eye
3.   Banners
4.   Bandit/Snipe/Yard Signs
5.   Build-it-yourself billboards on your own or a friend/student’s property
6.   Sidewalk and Sandwich Signs
7.   Hiring “Wavers”
8.   Place Magnetic Signs or Vinyl Lettering on Your Vehicles
9.   T-shirts and Uniforms
10.   Duffel Bags, Book Bags, and Backpacks
11.   School supplies
12.   Book covers and jackets
13.   Sponsoring Teams
14.   Telephone Pole and Street Light Fliers
15.   Pizza box fliers (or any restaurant takeout box or bag)
16.   Print ads in PTA/Girl Scout Troop/Boy Scout Troop/Church newsletter
17.   FREE listings in the Yellow Pages
18.   Television public service announcements
19.   Radio PSAs
20.   Coupon mailer packs (cheap direct mail)
21.   Door-to-door Flier Distribution
22.   Door Hangers
23.   “Post-It” Fliers on car windows
24.   Web Sites/Blogs/Facebook
25.   LEAD CAPTURE WEBSITES
26.   Google Maps/YahooLocal/Yelp
27.   Easy-to-remember domain name that redirects/forwards to main site or offer page on your lead capture site
28.   Email Newsletters
29.   Brochures filled with student testimonials
30.   Fold-over Business Cards left all over town (they stand up on their own)
31.   Letterhead with your contact info – web address on EVERYTHING
32.   Matching Stationary with web address that goes to lead capture site
33.   Lead Boxes everywhere
34.   Bring a Buddy Contests
35.   Body Transformation Contests
36.   Kick-a-thons, Spar-a-thons, Board-break-a-thons, You-name-it-a-thons… anything that gets the press to your school
37.   Guest Passes
38.   Asking for referrals from every new student
39.   Asking for referrals from people who say “NO”
40.   Partner promotions with local businesses
41. Leave a business card with every check and tip you pay
42. YouTube video distribution

By the way, if you want to know how to implement many the above ideas, you can pick up my Martial Art School Marketing Manual here.

Can you think of any more martial arts marketing ideas that might be considered guerrilla marketing tactics?

Post your own ideas in the comments section below!