How to Target Market for New Students in 2019

by John Graden | Aug 19, 2019 | Offline Marketing & Sales

The Stairway to New Students

When you are marketing your martial arts school, it’s important to understand that each person who visits your website or watches your videos will have a different level of awareness relating to your school.

The best way to understand these different levels of awareness is to think of them as a stairway to new students.

Unaware
At the bottom, you have people who are unaware of you or the benefits of your school.

Need/Desire Aware
They realize that they need the benefits of your school, but they have taken no action.

Solution Aware
They understand their need/desire and are aware there are several ways for them to satisfy that need.

Your Solution Aware
They have seen or heard about your school and how it compares to your competitors.

Ready to Join
These people are aware of your school and ready to join if you have a good new student system.

When you think about marketing as this staircase, it helps you calibrate your marketing to what stage of the staircase the prospect is on. The goal of your marketing is to move people up the staircase and increase their level of awareness of your school.

Take them on a journey from being unaware or your school to recognizing their need/desire of a martial arts school, to realizing that there are many schools available. Then realizing that your school is the best choice and finally joining your school.

At each level of the stairway, match your messaging to speak to the people at that level and help them transition up to the next level.

One of the best ways to deliver your message at every level of this stairway to new students is to use video.

The Easiest Way to Generate Media Coverage in 2019

by John Graden | Jun 3, 2019 | Offline Marketing & Sales

The media is blitzed all day long with people seeking exposure on their platform. One method that will jump you to the top, or at least near it, is to get out in your community and help with a local fundraising effort.

Whether it’s a need of a member’s family or a local charity, your school can contribute funds or hands-on help.

Take photos, write a paragraph or two about the event and fundraising efforts and send it in to your local media list (You do have a list right?).

Send media releases via email to your list prior to the event. Follow up with a phone call. You may even offer to take video and images to send if the reporter can’t make it.

Most of the time, the media will publish the event information, photo, school name, and charity as a part of a local news snippet. These are often used as a way for the media to share a ‘feel-good’ story or fill a slow news day.