Back to School Enrollment - Guerilla Style!
By: Bronwen Mosher
The time has come for kids to return to
the daily grind of class. This means that they will soon be
settling into routines that will last for the next 9 months.
September is a great month to market your services and increase your
student count. If you become part of their routines now, you
are well on the way to remaining part of their routines, that is at
least until next summer hits!
Here are some guerrilla-style strategies for boosting enrolment.
I picked up these strategies during my years in network marketing
and have modified them for expanding a martial arts dojo.
Finding New Students – The First StepBefore you can enroll students, you must find them. How do you find new students? Go where they go.
Is there a mall near your local middle school? I’ll bet the kids hang out at that mall.
Are there basketball courts or a skateboarding park nearby? This is another great place to find potential students.
Do you know of a pool hall or arcade where they hang out?
Go where they go? Great! (I can hear the collective sigh.) You’ve all heard that advice before, right? But what happens when you show up? If you, as an adult, approach a group of kids and ask them what they think of martial arts, chances are you won’t make the needed connection. You don’t speak their lingo; you don’t “get” them. They can’t “relate”.
Enrolling Students Using Network Marketing Strategies
Your current student population is your greatest weapon. They know how great your school really is, AND they know how to relate to their own age bracket. Ask one of your senior teenage students to help you bring in new students and offer them a reward for doing so such as one free month for every two new students they bring in who stay longer than 3 months. Make sure that you follow through on any reward you agree upon without the senior student having to ask for it. Just as surely as they can spread a good word about your school, so can they spread a bad one!
Coach your senior teens on how to show others the benefits of martial arts.
when talking to kids who skateboard, martial arts will strengthen their legs, improve their balance, and help them do more complicated tricks
when talking to kids who play basketball, martial arts will improve their endurance, and make them jump higher
when talking to girls, martial arts will help them defend themselves if they are ever attacked
Have the senior student invite the newbies to a demonstration at your school with cool stuff that will interest them, like board breaking and throw-downs. The senior student should have printed tickets to hand out. Kids hanging out are NOT going to write down a date and place for a martial arts demo, even if they are interested – it just wouldn’t be cool. These kids work hard at seeming aloof!
When the kids show up for your demo, BE FUN, BE ENTERTAINING!
Have kids their own age breaking boards to show that they can do it too!
Add a short but entertaining story about an ancient warrior and have your students act out the narration with choreographed fights. I train in Kyokushin, for example, and the story of Sosai Mas Oyama fighting 52 bulls with his bare hands would be great if acted out with costumes!
If the potential students watch a demonstration that excites them, they are much more likely to join. Any potential students who want to sign up right away should get a free first class.
Make sure that the first few classes are easier ones. Remember, teenagers are very concerned with how they are seen by their peers. If they join a class and cannot keep up, they are likely to get embarrassed and not come back. You don’t need to beat them into shape on day one; you’ll have plenty of time to train them once they are hooked on your program.
The Schools are the Goldmines – Secrets to Getting In!
We all know that the best place to find new students is in the schools, but they are very protective about who they will let in. How do you penetrate this elusive market? Once again, your senior teenage students are your biggest asset!
As a part of their black belt training, your senior belts should be teaching others. Make it a required part of the curriculum for them to teach one hour per week, and suggest that they start a club at their school. There are many benefits for the student:
They develop leadership and teaching skills, which are great for building a resume
They learn how to teach the martial way, preparing them to be solid black belts
They connect with their peers and earn greater respect
They are able to share their art with students their own age
School administrators will be much more open to one of their own students starting a club than they will be to an outsider looking to build a martial arts business. It will be necessary for the student to have an adult advisor, however, and it only makes sense for you to be that to person.
Because a school club is a free event, don’t expect to make any money. This will be volunteer time for you as much as it is for your student. The benefit for you is the connections that you make with the club members. As they progress past a beginner level and get more interested in the martial way, it will only be natural for them to want to join your dojo.
Once the senior student has been running the new club and teaching for a few months, suggest a demonstration at the dojo where he or she can show off some advanced skills, like board breaking. Arrange an excellent demo (as outlined above), have the senior student invite the entire club and watch the eager new students line up to enroll!
Marketing Truisms
Referrals are the most powerful form of advertising you can have. How many times have you tried out a new restaurant or gone to see a movie, just because your friend told you how great their experience was? Referrals should always be part of your marketing strategy.
Rewarding the referral will encourage more referrals. Besides our basic inborn instincts, most behavior is learned. The best way to cultivate any behavior is to reward it.
These techniques should give you an idea of HOW and WHERE to capitalize on the return of the school year. If you make a targeted effort to become part of the student’s routine in September, you have a fighting chance to remain a part of that routine.
Happy marketing!!
To learn more about how to grow your school with a FREE LIVE TOUR, simply call:
877-774-5425 (N. America). 00800-242-67-929 (UK). 0011-800-242-67-929 (AUS).
or email tours@ChampionsWay.com!
About the Author
Bronwen Mosher is a Marketing Specialist, with marketing experience that ranges from software to entertainment to the health and wellness industries. She enjoys sharing best practices between industries to increase success and ROI. In her spare time she is a writer, a musician, and an inventor, and can be found at www.bronwenmusic.com.
