Fall time is the best time: Back to School Marketing Strategies
Part V (Penny Pincher Marketing)
By Darren A. Gaitan
We have come to the final piece of the marketing puzzle. The last
idea I give you will work along side all the previous techniques I
have already given you. Every strategy I have presented in this
series can be modified to be used at any time during your business
year. The best thing about these ideas is that they can be used
together or individually. In reality, the ideas in this series could
be all the marketing you would need to do over the next couple of
years. It will all be based on your desire to achieve complete
success.
With that in mind, I would like to talk about a fact we are all
familiar with, but might rarely think about. A martial arts school
is a business first and foremost. We are constantly faced with the
same problems that any other business is faced with. We must stay
mindful of revenue, and at the same time keep a close eye of
expenses. We have to find ways of keeping customers coming through
the door, and spend the least amount money in doing so. We would all
like to spend pennies and get dollars in return. Sound impossible?
Well it’s not. I’ve been doing penny pincher marketing for years and
it works. All it takes is a little creative thinking.
Here’s one of the best ways I was able to turn pennies into dollars.
I created a student business card for every student in the school. I
also made cards for every new student that enrolled into my school.
I know it might sound like a lot of work, but I have my front desk
person do them in their spare time. It doesn’t take longer than a
few minutes a day. Now, if you’re just introducing it into your
school, make sure that your existing students receive a set of your
new business cards. It will take a couple of hours to do an entire
school of about 250, but in the end you’ll be glad you did.
Here’s a couple of tricks that I used when we starting using MAS to
automate this project for us. I set up a column view called Business
Cards which included the students name, rank, start date, next exam,
and next follow up. Next, I saved the business card template in the
letter folder of MAS. Finally, I select all the new students and
have MAS mail merge all the business cards for me. It took me about
20-30 minutes to set this all up, but believe me when I say it has
saved me hours over the years. When you set up MAS with the business
card template, it will take seconds to print out business cards for
your new members. You can get the printable business cards from
Staples on line. If you’re like me, you look for the biggest value.
I suggest you buy the value pack because you are going to need them.
I would suggest buying a decent sized stock of blank sheets because
students will go through them very quickly.
This strategy might sound a little too new age but here is my
reasoning behind it. I found that children are excited that they
have their very own business card. In fact, I discovered that they
go out of their way to pass them out to their friends. I also saw a
lot of the parents putting them in their wallets and purses, and
handing them out to other parents that were interested in the
program. It’s important to be sure that parents and students always
have cards to hand to people when they inquire about your school.
Think about a parent reading the back of the t-shirt and asking that
person about your school, and then they are given a business card
with all of the schools information. Your chances that the parent
will walk into your school have now increased by 90 percent. Even if
they don’t walk through your door, the card is still in circulation
and could change hands a couple of times until it lands in the hands
of someone that will use it. Think about what I just said. You are
now getting business exposure for pennies. Low cost, high exposure
is the ultimate goal for any business in the country, and I have
just given you a simple way to ensure it. It’s a good thing you’re a
ChampionsWay client. Just Kidding!
Now, I’ll answer the question you keeping asking (What’s on the
business card?) and end the suspense. The business card has the
student’s full name and their official title is, “a black belt in
training”. The card also includes your school’s address and phone
number. In addition, there is an offer on the bottom that entitles
the bearer to a FREE lesson and FREE uniform. Some of you might be
worried about giving away a uniform, but I’ll go back to my typical
quote, “don’t count pennies on your way to millions”. If you’re
still not convinced then I’ll explain why I don’t lose money on this
strategy. My enrollment rate from a first lesson to a 6 month
agreement is above 95 percent. This means that out of all the
private lessons I teach, 95 percent of them enroll on a 6 month
agreement. The other 5 percent try the $99.00 quick start program or
don’t enroll. If you do the math you can see I hardly lose any money
at all. Now if you program director is around an 80 percent rate
then you might not want to give the uniform for free. Play with
profit margin and see what is financially reasonable for you.
This will conclude this series on marketing, but we have only
scratched the surface of your full potential. The next year will be
groundbreaking for all of us. My next series will be an outline of
what could potentially be your highest grossing fun night ever. I
will not tell you what it is just yet; you’ll have to read next
week’s article. I’ll give you a hint; its theme will coincide with
the biggest winter movie release of 2005. Until then, keep your mind
open and your desire strong.
If you need the business card template, just email me darren@championsway.com and I’ll send it to you.
Darren A. Gaiten
Associate Consultant
ChampionsWay Inc.
877.774.5425
darren@championsway.com
|
|
