How To Use Print Marketing To Market Your Martial Arts School.

Great print design can make a HUGE difference in your business.

I just got a UFC S&C manual and it's insane. It screams high ticket.

Good design will make your online marketing so insanely powerful. It will help enforce everything you are doing online and offline.

Trying is better than doing nothing at all. Knowing what to do and why you are doing it always unlocks the whole picture.

I have built over 900 pieces personally on Dojo Muscle which at the moment has 1438 designs on it. Also countless club flyer at one time in my life. And people seem to like the stuff I do :).

Here is a crash course in Print Materials to look out on when you are building them or having them built.

These are rules to follow, they can be broken ONLY when you know them and know how to break them right. That's a whole different session.

1) No more than 2 font types should be on any page. EVER.

Look at a newspaper how many fonts do you see in the actual body (not ads) of the periodical. 2. Usually a sanserif and a serif font.

2) Copy should be no more than 8 words across in any medium (11 for condensed fonts).

Notice how magazines and papers build their text in columns. Same for a website.

Any website that goes from the edge of the screen to edge is bad news. There should be ample white space around any and all text. The reason for this is the human eye gets lost after about 8 words across. If the text goes more than that the eye loses track of where it was making it harder to read and making sure you don't get your message across. ALSO when text is TOO close to the edge of anything - it creates tension. This is bad. You never want tension when reading.

3) People read in groups.

Group things together. Don't have straggling things on pages that are just another added thing.

4) There is always a hierarchy of text and elements, a bold headline, a sub-headline, body copy, multiple elements.

But each should follow a ranking system. Meaning the most important things should be the biggest, so on and so forth. This is how a human eye can easily scan. We do the same on the web - because this is how people can surf without getting completely lost. It's actually a positive because over time tested understanding of the human psychology people usually scan, then read. Or they surf then read.

5) You should use photos that support your emotion and feeling.

They should be high resolution. They should not be cheesy overused stock. This screams amateur. The stock you pick has about as much importance as what you actually say in words.

6) Color can be your friend or your enemy - use of color is very important, but overuse can detract and distract from your message. Choose 3-4 colors at the most (1-2 main and 1-2 accent colors)

7) Cohesion and consistency are super important, make sure the elements match, they flow and they are cohesive.

8) Rhythm is as important in print design as it is in the video, as it is in music. I am an artist and a musician since a kid, the similarities in the 2 are incredible. I feel that's my secret weapon.

The fact that I am musical - when it comes to what we do because I can see the similarities in them both and use them when needed. Steve Jobs got the simplistic fluidity of Apple design and logo from Caligraphy. Something completely different melting together.

Design has rhythm look at all of the BMW models they all have a rhythm, they have consistencies. The lights may all look similar or the grills, or the lines of the body.

9) If you can bring in anything from outside that's a good thing.

Look you have secret weapons. Stuff any of your competitors don't know, not even remotely. That makes you unique. Look to melt that into whatever you are doing.

Jessica is really great with people. She's worked with cardiologists for over 10 years, and with doctors for 20. She's seen all sorts of personalities. She's also a dancer so she has a fluidity to her, those 2 traits, make her an amazing customer service director for Dojo Muscle™.

You have something too. What is it? 

This is a Rack Card we did for ABMMAC - Dojo Muscle shot all of the photos from scratch it follows all of the rules above. You can look at it as a reference to see how really good print design looks and functions.

You don't get lost anywhere, it's easy to read, it's eye-catching, and gives a high-value perception of the company using it. Good print marketing does that.

Bad print marketing is slapped together to just have anything. Anything does beat nothing. But something won't beat solid. And today you really need more than just solid design. You need to start having it all.

We have a bunch of rack cards, hit us up if you need anything. 

Would you like to get 20% discounts on all print marketing as well as high-quality videos that convert like gangbusters? Check this out.