The early instructor gets the students…
Ok… so the phrase may be better known as ‘the early bird catches the worm’, but the message behind it remains the same. The earlier you start something, the better chance of success you will have over the competition, and this rings true for your martial arts business. With the new year on the verge of the horizon, is now the time to start preparing yourself?
When is a good time to start
It’s never considered a bad thing to be well prepared for something and the sooner you start, the more time you have and the less stressed you will be. This is why it’s very beneficial to have the ‘prepared’ approach when it comes to your martial arts business.
With January on the horizon, it’s a good time to start thinking about your goals for the beginning of the year. This is one of the most advantageous times for martial arts business owners as lots of people are looking for a good way to get back in shape.
Where to begin
When it comes to preparing yourself for any major time on the martial arts business calendar, it’s important to have a plan of attack in place. Knowing what you need to do and when can make the whole process a smooth one. Imagine it is similar to any major competition you or your students attend, the training you do for this will be far ahead of the actual event.
To help you, we have planning tools on myMA for you to use, along with some upcoming ‘year planners’ (watch this space) that can help you stay organised.
You could also set your own reminders on your wall calendar or phone, to keep giving you the nudge to stay ahead of not only yourself, but the competition in your area.
What can I actually do now?
Don’t worry about doing too much too soon, the advantage of starting so early is being able to take time and do it in small chunks. If you want to get ahead of yourself for January, you may look to just start planning a rough idea of the sorts of things you could do to recruit more students.
You can also take this time to have a look back through your previous adverts and find out what did and didn’t work. Don’t just limit yourself to looking at what you sent out, but when it was sent as well, as timing can be just as critical.
Time to take a chance
While you have time, it may be worth looking to do something a little more impact for your January campaign this time around. If you simply put up a few posters last year for example, why not to step it up a notch and plan an email to go along with those posters. You could even look to do a Facebook advert campaign and see if increasing the amount you spend improves your conversion and sign up rates.
You may of course have even bigger ideas, such as a banner to display outside of your locations, a local radio advert or possibly even a YouTube video advert. For those on more of a budget however, why not consider having an open day for people to come along and see what your club is about.
For any additional help with planning your campaigns or marketing ideas, get in touch with the Marketing Team at NEST.
