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!
Posted by Mike Massie on June 4, 2009
In this business, every kid (er... school owner) should have one
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.
There are no “magic bullets” when it comes to marketing your school. The ‘one single best marketing method” is a marketing myth – it doesn’t exist.
People routinely ask me what the best method is for marketing a martial arts school.
My answer?
“All of them!”
Or, I might be inclined to say, “The ones that work!”
The thing is, you can’t just rely on a single method of marketing your school. Consumers these days are absolutely bombarded with marketing messages, and your hopes of catching their attention with a single method of marketing are slim to none.
How to Get Noticed By Potential Clients In Your Target Market
Instead, you need to make sure your potential new student sees your marketing message multiple times, over and over again so the chances that they’ll respond increase significantly.
There are dozens of methods of marketing your school (I list 37 ideas in my marketing manual, and every month the members of my dirt-cheap martial arts business coaching club receive a marketing plan with 10-12 actionable marketing ideas to implement the following month). Some ways work better than others, depending on the market, the quality of the execution, frequency, etc.
The only way to find out what works is to test multiple marketing methods, and stick with the ones that get results. And, don’t just try one method once then decide it doesn’t work – you should try multiple ways to use each marketing medium (print ads, web, direct mail, door-to-door, etc.) before discarding a method as useless. Often, poor ad performance can be chalked up to poor execution, not the method or channel.
Don’t Worry About Finding A Magic Bullet – Instead, Buy A Machine Gun
On a final note, stop looking for a single killer marketing method that you can use to the exclusion of all others. In most cases and with most markets, a single marketing approach may only bring in a few leads a week. That may not sound like much, and you may be tempted to discount a method that only results in one or two leads a week.
However, I’ll gladly use 10 or 12 different marketing ideas that “only” generate 1 or 2 leads a week… because if I use them all at once, they soon add up.
And, when all those different marketing and promotional methods are used simultaneously, it often results in marketing synergy, where the combined effect is greater than the sum of the individual parts.
So, stop searching for that single “magic marketing bullet”. Instead, resolve yourself to the fact that to get the desired result, you just need to use lots of bullets.
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Mike Massie is the author of Small Dojo Big Profits and runs a martial arts business coaching website for new instructors and small school owners, StartingAMartialArtSchool.com. Click here to purchase Mike’s business manuals and materials.
Posted by Mike Massie on February 24, 2009
Marketing done right produces real measurable results
The number one thing I hear from school owners, is that they struggle to get new students.
That’s why I decided to share some of the simplest low cost martial arts marketing ideas (that I’ve personally used successfully) with everyone, to help those of you who may be struggling during these tough economic times.
So, here are my Top 10 easy and low-cost Martial Arts School Marketing Ideas:
1. Hand out business cards at every opportunity: I give them to everyone. Waitresses. Hair stylists. Grocery sackers. Clerks. People at the gym. Laundry attendants. Dry cleaners. Car wash attendants. Teachers… I could go on and on. The bottom line is, get your business card in the hands of as many people in your community as possible. Oh, and make it worth something, then point that out when you give it out. “This is good for a free week at our school. If you can’t use it, please feel free to give it to someone who can. Thanks!”
2. Speak and make appearances whenever possible: Lion’s Club, Rotary Club, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, sororities, fraternities, churches, grade schools, high schools, etc. Find an angle, and use it as your “in” – I always had an interest in practical self-defense methods, so I do free self-defense and crime prevention workshops. Whatever it is, find your angle and work it.
3. Get out and meet people in your community, and let them know what you do: Do you have an elevator speech for your business? That’s a speech that can be delivered in 30 seconds or less that describes your business and states your USP (unique selling proposition). “Hi, I’m Mike Massie, and I own Massie’s Martial Arts. We help parents raise healthier, happier, safer kids through our unique childrens martial arts program. And, we also offer classes for adults that are lots of fun and provide a great workout.”
4. Take an influential person in your community to lunch at least once a month, ask questions and listen to their answers, then find a way to help them that also helps you: Helping others helps you… But, do it because you want to, not because you expect something. You’ll be surprised at what community involvement will do for your school.
5. Donate to and support charitable causes in your community: See number 4 above. If you can’t donate money, then donate time and effort. Get your students involved. Run a food drive, fundraiser, etc. for a worthy cause. People will sit up and take notice that you care about something more than your own business… this will work wonders for your business image in your community.
6. Put signage on your vehicle and keep it neat and clean: Simple, cheap, effective. Buy some magnetic signs that have your basic contact information and use them.
7. Wear your school t-shirts around town with your logo and website address clearly visible on the front and back and get your students to do the same: Free advertising that comes with a third party endorsement. You can’t beat that type of advertising, so get some shirts printed with your school name, logo, and website address (see #9 below) and start selling them in your Pro Shop.
8. Sell school window decals, or provide them for free: As a child safety instructor, I hate seeing kid’s names plastered all over their family vehicles. But, you can just get your logo and website address on a vinyl decal and give them to your students. If they want to put their kid’s name on their window, trust, me they will… so it may as well be with your school’s logo above it.
9. Build a great marketing website and place the website address on everything: When you pay for an ad, it only works once. But, when you invest in a website and good SEO (search engine optimization), it works forever. Getting a professional web designer (one who understands direct response marketing and SEO) to build a marketing website for your school is the best money you can spend on advertising, hands down. Ignore this tip at your peril.
10. Ask your students for referrals at least once a month: Not getting referrals? Ask for them! And, make it easy. Get guest passes printed up, and put them in a brochure rack on the wall at the exit to your training area (where they are not available to passersby… only staff and students should be able to pass these out). Then, provide an incentive for students to hand them out and bring in friends… a free t-shirt, and cash incentive for new enrollments (not referrals – only for when someone gives you money), etc. You’d be surprised how a little self-interest can go a long way.
That’s it – my Top 10 Low Cost Martial Arts Marketing Ideas. Implement each one on a monthly basis, and you’re guaranteed to see an increase in your leads and inquiries.
Want more great ideas like this?
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Mike Massie is the author of Small Dojo Big Profits and runs a martial arts business coaching website for new instructors and small school owners, StartingAMartialArtSchool.com.
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