5 ways to get the most out of summer
OK, so the Summer hasn’t quite arrived for the majority of us, but the school summer holidays will be here very soon so now’s the time to think about some activities to help you get the most out of summer.
1. Summer/Day Camps
You may have considered running a summer camp for not only your existing students but also to attract new potential students to your school. Here are some things to consider when running a camp:
– Ensure your DBS checks are up to date
– Carry out a risk assessment
– Check if you will have a first aider on site
– Find out if you need to register with Ofsted? Check here
– Have a planned structure of the day – have you got a mix of games and martial arts?
– What promotion will you be offering non students at the end of the camp to entice them to come back?
– Do you include a free suit when attending the camp – has this been budgeted into the week’s cost?
– Where are you promoting the camp? Have you spoken to local schools to see if you can put up posters or have you emailed parents using ParentMail?
Why not download our Summer Ready checklists?
2. Summer promotions
Many schools find that they experience a decrease in the number of new students joining over the summer months, so what better time to run an acquisition campaign…We’ve created brand new summer marketing materials for both adult and child students. View and download our summer marketing materials to help you counteract the summer slump!
3. Hold a bring a friend party
This could be at the same time as class or a special time that’s been set aside for the party – before or after class perhaps. Will your party be themed? Fancy dress? Will you have food? Will the parents stay and get involved? Think about incorporating martial arts into games to play. Remember to give a referral offer at the end of the party – if before class you could either invite non students to take part or stay and watch.
4. Hold a Fun Day or demo at a local event
Organising a fun day for all of your students, instructors and their families and friends could be a ‘feel good’ for your students. Reinforcing that community feel – you can have a bake sale or bring and buy or get local businesses involved too and hold a raffle – choose a charity to donate to. If you can’t hold your own day, find out whether there are any local fetes or fun days that you and your team can attend and do a demo.
5. Use your time wisely
If you have some downtime during summer, use this time wisely. If you have a full time location; make any improvements that are needed; do a stock take of your pro-shop and order new stock for autumn/winter; check your kits are still in good condition. Or you could always use this time to check you have up to date contact details for your students; you can run several reports on myMA. Have you always wanted to learn about social media or SEO – now’s the time to. And probably most importantly, try to start planning for one of the busiest periods; September – get thinking about your goals and plan what you need to do to achieve them.
Remember for everything you do, try not to let it go unnoticed
Use the marketing materials in myMA to tell people about your school or speak to us for campaign advice. Fun days or parties are great marketing opportunities too – use social media to share your stories and try and get local press to share them too. Good news is worth sharing.
We’ve got more summer marketing ideas for you in our Marketing Planner, so check it out today.
If you would like any help or have any questions, give us a call on 0115 945 5030 or send an email, we are always happy to help
