What's the best way to advertise for Martial Arts classes?

Question

I'm starting Martial Arts classes at a local gym. It's not a very well known art like say, Tae Kwon Do or Karate. What would be the best way to get people interested and get them through the door? I primarily am looking for a demographic of about 14 and up. What and where are some good places to advertise. Flyers and stuff are obvious but they don't seem to bring about a good return, or maybe I'm not putting them in good places. I think advertising at Highschools would be good, but I'm not in Highschool anymore, so that makes things tricky.

Answer 1

That's a young (and tricky) demographic to be targeting. In fact, I don't think you should be trying to target the children. Rather, you should target their parents.

Have you ever considered advertising on the back of receipts at grocery stores? (This is actually what I do for a living). I have several martial arts clients who just love our program, and it's not expensive at all. All of the parents have to go shopping, and I bet that they would love to have a place to drop the kids off for an hour or two while they go shopping, so I think that this would be a great option for you because you'll get massive exposure.

I went to school for advertising and I've been working in the advertising field for a while, and in my experience this form of advertising beats the socks off of any other types of advertising in both results and low price.

You can go ahead and shoot me an email if you have any other questions. Good luck and definitely consider register tape advertising/couponing.

Answer 2

Well, first off, advertise in the phone book. That gets the most results I've seen. Second, just look around for any event that might have people interested in martial arts. A Chinese New Year festival, for example. Third, do what you've been doing and put up fliers, but look for better places to put them. Nightclubs, etc. Also, call every high school in the area and ask if they have a school newspaper. If they do and they allow advertisements, place an ad in there.

Answer 3

Kuji kiri? Ninjutsu? My feeling is the Art has significant mystique to warrant success using traditional methods of advertising. However, i would emphasize the meditative and "energetic" aspects as being an underlying and very significant element of the practice.

Mention that the finest masters were not just macho, physical "types", but understood that the true foundation of real martial arts is a high level of consciousness and wisdom.

That should appeal, especially, to the brighter, and indigo/crystal young folks, and adults. Then your dojo will be unique and real. Hopefully, you or a staff member will be able to come through with those esoteric aspects in training. :))

Answer 4

Here's what you do:

1. Train some aggressive students; call them, oh I don't know, the Cobra Kai Club. (First rule, don't talk about CKC.)
2. Go around beating up people.
3. Make sure there are witnesses, since word-of-mouth publicity is one of the most effective. Better yet, have a camcorder and offer the film to local TV stations.
4. Rake in the money.

But watch out for Ralph Macchio's crane kick. Sure it's obvious, but suckers fall for it all the time.

Answer 5

You can still put an ad in the high school news paper it helps offset there cost. You can also get local email addresses by running a contest and offering a few lessons for free to the winner and then you can email all the others about prices and dates and times. Good luck.