Promoting your school

[skullsplitter]

So I took my son to see Karate Kid today. We get in the lobby and I hear music blaring. It's the local tae kwon do school setup in the lobby with a couple of kids doing chuks and they have a table to sign up for free trials.

I guess I should have expected to see one school or another doing this, but it seemed out of place even for opening weekend of Karate Kid.

So my question is how much is too much promotion for a school or is too much even possible? I guess what really got me is that this school is all over the radio, TV, newspaper, etc. When do you just rest let your reputation and word of mouth do it for you?

My son's school is never in mass media. I've only seen our school advertise in a small local sports magazine that one can get free at various restaurants. Past that it's word of mouth.

[joesteph]

So I took my son to see Karate Kid today. We get in the lobby and I hear music blaring. It's the local tae kwon do school setup in the lobby with a couple of kids doing chuks and they have a table to sign up for free trials.

An aggressive advertising pitch that's considered business-smart. There had to be a legitimate business arrangement with the theater to have the school represent itself there. The theater manager may even have liked the idea.

I guess what really got me is that this school is all over the radio, TV, newspaper, etc.

How large is this school, not just thinking of students, but in terms of area? One school in my town is actually two schools side-by-side, one side for TKD and JKD, which the owner is involved in, and the other side for JJ and weapons. It takes up the space of two stores side-by-side, and the overhead must be quite large. It has to have a student draw or it will collapse under its own weight.

When do you just rest let your reputation and word of mouth do it for you?

I realize I'm treating this as a business question, and businesses don't "rest." I was present when the owner of the large school I referred to was approached for a fundraiser, and what he was donating as one of the fundraiser prizes was worth hundreds of dollars in lessons. The chief instructor/owner is a fine teacher, but the business still makes itself known beyond the limits of word-of-mouth.

My son's school is never in mass media. I've only seen our school advertise in a small local sports magazine that one can get free at various restaurants. Past that it's word of mouth.

My children's school never advertizes in the local paper. It's necessary. The chief instructor is a fine teacher, knowledgeable about her art and patient with students of all ages and talents. The school is on Facebook, but that's known by word-of-mouth. When she put up a large new sign after two years of being open, people suddenly knew there was a martial arts school in what was "the old laundromat."

Edit: Post was too long.

Edited June 13, 2010 by joesteph

[ninjanurse]

How you promote your school depends on the demographics of the community but I see no reason not to try any method and check the response. The best method, of course, is word-of-mouth based on the reputation of the school but even that will miss some potential students. I agree that it can be overdone though....don't like to see students and staff spending all their time promoting rather than training great martial artists to represent the school in the community.

We did do a Karate Kid Premier this weekend where the kids did some kicking and breaking in front of the theater before each show and greeted each patron with a bow and a polite greeting as they entered the theater-no sign ups, no free drawings, no music. I think we got our message across...and we enjoyed the movie too!

[rayjag]

This was the third weekend in a row my school has been doing a table in a theater with free trial offers. We have a bunch of marketing material in conjunction with the karate kid movie and will be doing it for the next few weeks while the movie is hot. If you have the manpower you have to do periodic enrollment drives and community outreach events to grow your business to the next level and increase your name recognition. My current full time job is at a gym and we do the same types of events for membership drives. The basic/trial classes have been huge the last couple of weeks and that is what is needed for growth and profitability.

[mr_obvious]

So my question is how much is too much promotion for a school or is too much even possible? I guess what really got me is that this school is all over the radio, TV, newspaper, etc. When do you just rest let your reputation and word of mouth do it for you?

I suppose it depends on a given school's current attendance, and desired attendance. I obviously wasn't there to see the setup, but I gotta say, my impression yields one word "tacky." I've never been a fan of demo-ing in public though, so........

[quinteros1963]

My kids and I went to see the Karate Kid too. The first thing I saw when I walked in the building was a local TKD school set up giving a free uniform with a 2 week trial. I thought to myself, great marketing. People will leave the movie "amped" about karate and sign up. Great idea! I didn't sign up though as I don't believe the arts should be commercialized. But thats just my opinion.

[bushido_man96]

It is a good marketing idea.

Word of mouth is good advertising, but it can also be limited advertising. Active advertising is a good way to attract numbers, and become visible to the public.

Not all schools have the same goals. Some will take all comers, and some will not. Many schools today also tend to cater toward the child crowd, as kids will have more time to do more things than adults will have, most of the time. So, it makes sense to target that market.