I’ve recently received the following message in a newsletter from the British Combat Karate Association about getting new students for your martial arts club. I do find that the BCKA is very supportive to it’s members on many levels and tries to help them in any way that they can. I therefore thought I’d forward that message in it’s entirety in case it is of help to anybody else:-
When you start your martial arts school, getting students into your dojo is the most important and probably the most difficult part of the process. The way your teachers built their student base no longer works as effectively as it once did and new students no longer wait for a leaflet to fall through their door before starting a new hobby in the martial arts. People are taking action more than ever before and they are looking for you, but how do they find you?
How can you hope to attract new students if they don’t even know you are teaching?
The question you need to ask yourself is ‘How effective are my methods of getting new students?’. When you post leaflets through doors or hope for your reputation to spread via word of mouth you have no control over if your message is being seen by the people you want to join your school. To get new students you need to be seen in the places they are looking.
People no longer search the yellow pages when they want to start something new. All the information they need is right at their fingertips via the internet and I guarantee, the first thing they do when they want to try something new is to search online to find something close to them.
Where do you appear when people search for a martial arts school in their area?
I am passionate about the amount of great people out there changing lives with martial arts. What I really want is to help you to access more people in your area so you can build your school into something that makes you money and more importantly helps you to serve your community.
Most of you have spent years training to reach a point where you feel you can teach others. Now is the time to really push that message and put yourself out there so you can pass on your skills and knowledge to the next generation and believe me, the next generation will be looking for you online.
Help your potential students to find you online
I want to offer you the opportunity to have your very own website that will help you to get new students and build your reputation as a great martial arts school. The best bit is you will probably only need to get 1 or 2 new students a month in order to cover your costs. My aim is to make it affordable for you bring your school into the 21st century and offer your students the best service you possibly can.
Marketing yourself online is much cheaper and more more effective than traditional forms of marketing and having a website is something that is required if you want your school to survive and thrive. Look at the people who are at the top of the game in the martial arts. People like Peter Consterdine, Geoff Thompson, Iain Abernethy and many more. They have all built great online communities and that is how they communicate their message to a wider audience and have also managed to sustain a brilliant business.
Here’s what Geoff Thompson has to say about having a website:
“Without a good website it is pretty difficult these days to do any business at all. Nearly everything in the business world demands an online presence, not just a site but a well-designed, well run and current www address. I know for me personally, when someone is interested is doing business, the first thing I do is check out their web-site. If they haven’t got one, alarm bells ring. And when I meet people with a view to future business, the first thing I do is send them to my own site, I know they will not be disappointed. A website is vital if you want to expand into the world of commerce.”
But isn’t having a website is too expensive?
When I started out I thought exactly the same thing but it doesn’t have to be. I created this package because I wanted to make websites affordable to people who just couldn’t afford to pay out thousand of pounds for something they couldn’t see the value in.
Here are some of the benefits you get from our package –
⁃ Custom designed for you so it reflects who you are and what you do
⁃ Unlimited Blog entries so you can write about what you are doing and communicate with new and existing students
⁃ The ability for people to share your website on Social Media like Facebook and twitter so they can spread your message to
⁃ Search engine optimised so when people search on Google for a martial arts schools in your area they will find your site
⁃ Content Management system so you can easily make changes yourself
⁃ URL purchase so you website address matches your MA school name
⁃ A bespoke email address to match your website
⁃ 1.5 hours per month for any help or advice you might need
⁃ No hidden fees
So how much will all of this cost?
Not as much as you might think. Lots of website designer throw around costs that reach into the thousands which simply isn’t affordable for new schools and most existing schools. I don’t want to charge you anything like that.
With our package you actually get your website for free when join our 12 month site management programme. The site management programme includes everything stated above and I will even send you a manual showing you how to manage your new site. You are involved in ever step of the design process so you don’t have to worry about being stuck with anything you don’t like.
As I said before, a site like this could cost you thousands of pounds but all you have to pay is £60 per month for 12 months. This even includes the hosting your site so you don’t have to worry about any extra hidden fees. As I said before, you will only need to get a couple of students from your site and you will already have covered your costs.
Maybe you have a website but it isn’t performing as well as you would like. We can still help.
So… Do you want to be a martial arts school of the future?
If you want to build your student base and increase your martial arts schools profile then all you need to do is get in touch by emailinginfo@lcoco.co.uk or calling us on our FREE phone number 0808 178 6111.
We look forward to hearing from you soon,
The L’Coco Designs Team
The man behind L’Coco is Louis Thompson, who I interviewed back in 2011. I’ve not experienced the service so I can’t in all honesty recommend it or give any give any kind of feedback as of yet.
Having said that, Louis is an extremely competent and proficient martial artist, so you’d not be dealing with some computer geek who knows nothing about martial arts. Furthermore, the Thompson family do know a lot about marketing and promotion, which is a good thing too. It’s not often that many of us have access to a combination like that to help us!
I have made my own enquiries and if you are in a position that you want to expand your club then I would suggest that this is a very good starting place to at least look into.