Avoid This Basic Mistake With Your Martial Arts Marketing

I was on the brink of giving up on my martial art training after a change in my mindset transformed everything. I had dedicated several years of this discipline that I could not be able to give it up. I was way too involved. What else can I do? I don’t have much else! That’s why I was focused on creating a school that was successful, not just financially, but it was also my goal to show into a whole class and have fun teaching without worrying about the financial aspects.

The primary mistake I made was that I was unsure of how to run the school in an order that I could finance advertising and earn an income. It is intricately linked with the back-end products like summer camps, grades, and additional classes, of course. How you structure your payment structure, as well as your retention rates, are a significant aspect. If you are paying to bring people to attend your school and then they depart shortly thereafter the event, all your advertising wastage. However, the primary factor that changed things for me came from learning more about the return on investment.

Return On Investment

Understanding your ROI can be a game-changer since once you realize the value of a pupil, even if they are only there for a few months, it allows you to establish an advertising budget. Even if you initially lose but the long-term result of having built a substantial school will yield dividends in the end. Also, people aren’t going to go to a small school with no pupils.

The more well-known your school is, the more likely students are to remain. When I first began paying to promote my school, I was extremely hesitant. I was worried about losing money. Therefore, I didn’t invest enough money to keep the ball moving. When I got the first few students to enroll, I brought down my advertising and shut the doors, thinking that giving them more time and attention would pay off later and build a better school. However, the opposite was true. Students dropped out, and I saw my class drop out of school.

I would then begin advertising once more to boost the numbers. In most cases, when students came to my school, they would not stay long because of the small numbers.

Continuous Advertising

I was not wealthy, so I researched ways to promote my business without cost or at a low price. If you keep advertising on a regular basis, you can keep the stream of students in the right direction instead of slowing it down. When students are searching for schools, they are looking for it right now! They don’t need to wait for six months before your doors open to new students. In focusing on a constant stream of new students coming at the same time and knowing that there will always be a drop-off rate, the situation began to shift. I am actively recruiting now instead of settling for my own success and expecting students to join simply because I’m an outstanding teacher!

Shifting Attitude

I had the impression that simply the act of opening a school, people would flock to it and remain. I believed that because I’d spent the majority of my life in training that others would follow suit. When I considered my school from a different perspective and realized it wasn’t my martial art training that was at fault, however, it was my ignorance about the management of schools for martial arts, and I realized that I was an amateur and had no idea. My awareness of my ignorance was the reason I sought solutions, and I invested in my learning. This time, it was a business school and not in martial arts classes. This might sound like a given to many, but it wasn’t for me initially. I’d been struggling for years before it dawned on me that it wasn’t something personal. I didn’t really know what I did from a business perspective.

Back End Sales & Retention

Of course, your “backend sales and retention plays a vital role in the returns on your investment. You cannot know for sure the amount you’ll get from each student. But you can estimate the amount you can earn depending on the length of instruction and the type of business you established. The idea of setting up your school to have multiple income streams can help. Set up a monthly payment plan that encourages students to make the most out of their membership. It also means you’ll earn an income that is more steady each month. If someone doesn’t show to the class, but they’re still paying. They’re not paying, and neither are you! You could also make money from your school by selling products, summer camps as well as other ‘after school’ classes. These can make a massive impact on your revenue and return on investment for each student in the span of 2-3 years.

Understanding your ROI means that you could even take an investment loss with your initial marketing strategies. In the long run, you’ll increase your school’s revenue, your profits, and your ability to retain students.