I put a post up on Martial Arts Business Growth FB group about posting a pic of the front of your school.
It had an amazing amount of comments with tons of pictures. I review it in this video.
I was blown away.
So many people have such awesome looking schools inside and out.
You all spend so much time on the way it looks outside and on the mats.
Most people do this because it is presentable to the customer. It makes a good first impression. Perceptions and first impressions are very important in business.
So I got to thinking, there are so much time, money and effort spent on your actual location to look amazing.
Then it's important to realize that your marketing is an extension of your location.
It's the hook.
It's the connection link.
It's the conduit of communication.
It's the first and often last time a person has the opportunity to connect with you.
This is the very reason why focusing on your marketing as much as you focus on your locations looks, the car you drive, the clothes you buy and everything in between is so important, possibly THE most important one to focus on.
Never look at your marketing as an expense. Always look at it as an investment.
Like all investments you win sometimes you lose sometimes, but you continue to learn, and once you have a few things working nicely you can build on it.
The concepts are the same. Tactics change. Stay aware of where everyone is moving to.
When the masses are raving about something it's probably on the other side of the mountain going downhill.
Try to anticipate where things will go. So you can meet it there. Just like throwing a football, or like throwing a punch.
In essence, your marketing is an extension of you, your culture, what you stand for, what you believe, who you serve and why you do it.
That's HUGE!
Just to leave you with this, it'd be a shame to spend all that time and effort and money on making your school look good, and then treat your marketing as an afterthought.
Think about this, when you are buying, or looking or creating marketing - Does this really represent my brand in the best possible light? If the answer is no or maybe or isn't a resounding yes, don't do it.
The idea that lead generation should be put higher than building your brand and place in the community is silly.
When you have a rooted brand in a community, the leads come to you a lot easier than trying to force leads into your pipeline.
Marketing helps bridge the gap between people who don't know you and don't trust you to start to warm up to you enough to possibly listen to what you have to say.
Always focus on it as much as you focus on sales, and your school itself.
It very well may be the last time you get to connect with people.
Actually statistically proven since only a portion of people who traverse your pages and cross your world will actually act on your marketing, we can safely say that MOST people won't come back.
Make sure they do. Best foot forward to what your budget can allow right now. Then grow from there.
Here is a Life / Business - Checklist I love to use in my own life. It's been compiled from working and meeting some really impressive people. Maybe it can work for you.
Chris Perilli
Author