Advances in Marketing Match the New Interest in the Healthy Trend of Martial Arts Involvement
One of the most assumptive fallacies in the business community is that when the economy shows signs of tightening the belt and cutting out “extravagances,” your local community-based service is about to take a severe loss of income as well.
One of the highest trending small community businesses is the fitness craze, and oddly enough, it is growing due to the economic downfall brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the peak of the deadly viral shutdown in 2020, the number of new student enrolments in some form of Martial Arts rose by almost 5 %. This is quite a significant increase when you consider that it is now estimated that 3.5 million people are valid practitioners, and the numbers just keep rising. “But how is this possible?” you may ask yourself.
In this article, we will be melding two worlds together to promote the best martial arts marketing strategies and the actual ways karate schools can gain with marketing AND making new students out of beginner adults.
By making the marketing switch to adjust the way you promote and run your training facility, you’ve already been made aware of the significance of the following and just how influential these strategies are in the small business world:
- Optimize by going mobile. Close to 55 % of potential clients use their phones for everything
- Research the competition. There is no better tool to capitalize on a successful campaign for your brand than going beyond keeping up with Jones’s.
- Don’t give up on emails. Increase them through automated drip campaigns.
- Use remarketing. Unless you’ve completely burned a bridge, there is nothing wrong with reconnecting old potential leads that declined before. Retargeting those cookies and related successful promotions might take a bit of dusting off, but it could be well worth it.
- BLOG BIG or go home. Lengthen those informative articles and include as many links to your funnel as possible. This passive style will bring you leads by having one reader click on a few “carrots” in the article.
- Be seen in your community. Host a monthly community-minded event, sponsor a sports league or co-partner with a similar business affiliate and micro-influencers.
- Ditch the form letter/email dump. If possible, get on a name-to-name basis with a potential client ASAP and show genuine interest in their response.
- Get a stronghold grapple on Social media leveraging. Take advantage of all the free online marketing tools you can; all are usually found via FaceBook, Google, LinkedIn, and others.
- Build your profile and keep it updated and professional looking.
Trickle-Down Economics Meets Pandemic Threat
OK. So we’ve reaffirmed the basic how-to’s. Now let’s examine the need to move forward.
The pandemic created a tremendous shock wave in the business world and acted as a survival impetus for creativity within the world of learning and leisure. What happened after months of having to quarantine and make use of technology via online web connectivity to home school became the saving grace for business sales, grocery and food shopping, meal delivery, and upswing employment and work-from-home income maintenance.
So, in retrospect, take a look from the global window looking in. There are more martial arts schools in the United States than anywhere in the world, so a self-preservation mode went into overdrive by trying every trick available to keep afloat, and that was far more acceptable in smaller martial arts training facilities as well. This can be attributed to the owners and teachers being well-known already. It made for an expansion and interest in supporting the locals by enrolling in online classes. The enrollees knew what was behind the curtain and did not have to worry about cyber hacks, criminal propensities, or unwarranted phishing.
Many people like the idea of participating in martial arts but in actuality, pre-COVID attendance were nowhere near the percentage of people who say they’re now sincerely interested in studying a form of martial arts because of the availability of technology. For example, before the globalization of karate in a digital format, just 1 out of every 5 people who expressed interest in martial arts attended at least one class. The numbers are that finite.
To make the most of your home family dojo, gym, or even gear supply store, you need to have a firm grapple on where your next apple is coming from. That’s one more reason you need a marketing specialist in martial arts student acquisition on the mats with you. As you can see, with Karate Marketing 360, we truly are involved with martial arts in every aspect. Our main concern is your financial and physical fitness and how to find a way to get you the best ROI for both. For a free consultation, call us at 978-354-7734 and find out how to capitalize on the best of both worlds.
