Welcome to the source for great marketing and communication advice for martial arts school owners! We've combined our experience in the corporate world of marketing with an intuitive view of the martial arts world. We can provide this insight to you for your school. Feel free to check out some of our ideas and offerings. We are just getting things going so be sure to check back often as we add new items that will help you grow your business.

Marketing Moment-

"Build on momentum!"

One of the toughest things about marketing your school is creating energy around an event. This can be trying to get attention from the media for a special event or trying to get interest in new retail item that you're launching.

One way to make this easier is to build on someone else's success. We recently ran some events and created some graphics around the recent success of American Idol. We didn't break any copyright laws or trademarks. What we took from them was some of their energy. Everyone around us was talking about the show and we thought "How can be capitalize on all of this energy?" It was easy to do and the kids love it.

Where can you find this sort of thing? Anything your students are talking about, the latest fashion fad that you see them wearing into the school or around the mall are good places to start. Take cues from the more popular retail stores and use their ideas when you build your retail displays or order clothing.

Make sure that you tie into holidays. Can you take an American flag theme and work it into your retail for the Fourth of July? The energy from all of the malls, retail ads and other events will spill over into your school and help you get the attention. If the family needs something red, white and blue to wear to the family event then why couldn't it be your new school t-shirt?

Marketing Moment-

"What do we mean by life skills?"

Ever held a Buddy Night and the age range of the kids was so varied that it was tough to plan activities that were age appropriate and interesting to everyone? We've run into that lately so we recently held a "Teen Party" where all of our students who were age 13 and higher could invite their friends and come "hang out" with music and food. (Look for more on how to plan your own Teen Party coming soon.)

One of the things we realized is that this gave us yet another opportunity to encourage and coach our teenage students on some of the life skills they need to succeed. We often talk about respect, honor and discipline in the martial arts but these message are never so effective as when we can give real life examples.

A simple example of this is with the invitations to the Teen Party. We purchased party invitations and filled in each one so that the teens would feel personally invited and know that this was different from our usual Buddy Night. Naturally, on the invitation was a place for the RSVP phone number. This is a wonderful topic for a quick "mat chat" with your teenage students about what an RSVP is. Stress that once someone has thought enough of them to send them an invitiation then they should let the host know if they are planning to attend or not. In essence they are showing respect for the person inviting them and saving resources by allowing the host to plan for the right number of people.

We all feel pride when a parent comes in a tells us that their child used a life skill they learned in the karate school. Won't it be wonderful if the next invitation your student recieves prompts a discussion between parent and child about permission to attend because the child feels an obligation to RSVP? Another little victory on the road to creating exceptional black belts. But remember, "Life by the yard is hard...but life by the inch is a cinch!"

Marketing Moment-

"Can We Talk?"

Effective school owners have researched their phone technique, mastered their introductory class and memorized the variations on the benefits of martial arts for their conversations with students and parents. But have you organized the communication among your staff? We find that this is typically where the breakdowns occur and problems develop.

Everyone thinks that they do a great job communicating. My ego about communication is one of the personality traits I have to constantly keep in check. I can watch individuals and staff at schools think that they are communicating and see obvious gaps where the message is not being conveyed as planned. But when I'm talking with others passion about a project, frustration with lack of success and pride in my program come into play and sometimes effective communication goes right out the window. You have to work at it conciously as much as you work at your kicking, punching and stamina. You have to have a plan.

Your communication plan for your schedule, procedures, processes and techniques are just as important as your phone script and intro. Without a consistent message coming from you and your staff your students, parents and visitors won't know what direction you're taking the school and may not get onboard for the trip you have planned for them. Some tips for effective communication include building your staff meeting into an effective tool, creating accountability through forms and processes, creating a safe open environment for people to ask questions when they are confused and building a structure so that people know who is in charge and where to go for answers.

We have some upcoming articles on many of these topics so come back soon for more info. If you would like a consultation on your school or have a specific concern e-mail us at info@kamamarketing.com. You've got a great school...talk it up!