How do you advertise your school?

[The Pred]

Great topic,

From Sept-July we do a rec program for kids ages 4-12, its once a week for 30.00 for eight weeks. They get a free uniform and everything. Most kids usually sign up after. We advertise the rec programs with fliers passed out at local schools.

Like an introduction only? As a way to filter them into the school? If that's what your saying it's genius. I have seen one other program do this that teaches chun kuk do in the Phoenix area. Smart! Although I have to wonder what's more beneficial. Is it to do it that way, or to simply make that recreation center a second location? Very interesting.

Yup

[Nidan Melbourne]

We don't have to do much advertising because of where we are located.

Since we train out of a Recreation Center, people will see us training throughout the afternoon. Otherwise we have a flyer that was posted up by the Center on our behalf so people can see it and make a decision from that. We have many people come in and watch or they watch outside.

Another reason why we don't advertise in other ways is because of a lack of space available to us. So if we had more people sign up we would be putting safety and inhibiting people from learning.

Although I do feel like my sensei could update his timetable to make available more classes for students. And have some of the senior instructors take them for him. Even utilizing larger areas like Basketball Courts would make space better for students.

[Luther unleashed]

We don't have to do much advertising because of where we are located.

Since we train out of a Recreation Center, people will see us training throughout the afternoon. Otherwise we have a flyer that was posted up by the Center on our behalf so people can see it and make a decision from that. We have many people come in and watch or they watch outside.

Another reason why we don't advertise in other ways is because of a lack of space available to us. So if we had more people sign up we would be putting safety and inhibiting people from learning.

Although I do feel like my sensei could update his timetable to make available more classes for students. And have some of the senior instructors take them for him. Even utilizing larger areas like Basketball Courts would make space better for students.

This is one thing I'm tremendously aware of. Can you outgrow your teaching space? For me, I'm in a large gym and at 5 students across (leaving plenty of space for forms or drills) I can fit about 4 rows comfortably and could probably squeeze in one more, so 25 students would be my maximum I suppose in one class. I do 4 classes though, so on theory this allows me about 100 students before space is an issue. Basically space is not an issue lol. I think the size of the class is a bigger deal when I figure how many I can teach effectively. I'm fortunate as I'm also in a rec center, but in many rec centers there is a "multi-purpose room, which is generally small, and is great for dance and other classes, I am the only one I k ow of that uses the much larger gym! Just lucky. No instructors, open for Buisness 8 months now and just not there yet, but I have a great family. My wife, and 2 of my kids (13 & 10). Take groups and help leading different portions of class. Could t do it without them. Sounds like your instructor may be content where he's at in numbers, and that's ok too though!

That being said I hope to never have to limit advertising due to a lack of room to grow. My goal is 60 students because that's roughly 15 students (3 rows) in each class.

[Lupin1]

For us it's not so much the limits of the space (though our space is relatively small) as it is the limits on the number of instructors we have. For all intents and purposes, we only have one qualified, able-bodied instructor who's there's regularly. We've got our head instructor who's recently disabled and can only sit on a chair and give advice, we've got one qualified black belt instructor who's an amazing karateka and teacher but can only be there half a class a week, and we've got me-- a brown belt who's in no way qualified to run a class or anything, but who started teaching as a green belt more out of lack of qualified instructors than anything else.

Because of that, it's hard to have too many different levels. We can handle having all advanced students or all beginners easily enough, but when we have too many levels at once, it becomes very difficult for so few instructors to teach them all. Hence why we start beginners in groups and only start them once or twice a year-- so they're all ready to move on and be more independent by the time the next group comes in.

[Judodad_karateson]

I just want to add, as a non-instructor, that for Millennial, a web presence is vital. You could have grown up on Okinawa, learned from Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Relson Gracie, and Steve Seagal, trained BJ Penn and Ronda Rousey, and won Olympic Gold metals in Judo, Boxing, and TKD, but if you don't have at least an active facebook, if not a Web site as well, you may as well be a scam artist teaching fly-by-night Rex Kwon Do. When I see a school I've never seen before, the first thing I do is Google it. You HAVE to make sure you can be located online in this day in age. A web page is such an easy thing to set up, if you don't have it, people will be asking "What else doesn't he have? Running water? Power? Real MA training?"

[sensei8]

I just want to add, as a non-instructor, that for Millennial, a web presence is vital. You could have grown up on Okinawa, learned from Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Relson Gracie, and Steve Seagal, trained BJ Penn and Ronda Rousey, and won Olympic Gold metals in Judo, Boxing, and TKD, but if you don't have at least an active facebook, if not a Web site as well, you may as well be a scam artist teaching fly-by-night Rex Kwon Do. When I see a school I've never seen before, the first thing I do is Google it. You HAVE to make sure you can be located online in this day in age. A web page is such an easy thing to set up, if you don't have it, people will be asking "What else doesn't he have? Running water? Power? Real MA training?"

Ouch! And I'm NO "scam artist teaching fly-by-night Rex Kwon Do." I don't have a website/facebook, our Hombu doesn't have a website, and neither of us truly want a website, and my reasons as to why can be found somewhere here at KF!! Btw, I'm quite finished defending our/my reasons for not having/wanting a website!!

A WEBSITE MEANS NOTHING...IMHO!! Why? Proof is ON THE FLOOR, and not in some website! I've known and seen so many schools of the MA that have running water and power and real MA training, but their ineffective across the board.

I take offense to being lumped as a fake, and this is what I'm being told that that I am. If I am, then so is our Soke, Dai-Soke, student body, and Shindokan!!

I've more important things to worry about than creating and managing a website, like, teach Shindokan, and administrate the SKKA!!

I respect those who do have a website, but I'm/we're lampooned and lambasted mercilessly because I/We don't have a website!!

[The Pred]

I just want to add, as a non-instructor, that for Millennial, a web presence is vital. You could have grown up on Okinawa, learned from Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Relson Gracie, and Steve Seagal, trained BJ Penn and Ronda Rousey, and won Olympic Gold metals in Judo, Boxing, and TKD, but if you don't have at least an active facebook, if not a Web site as well, you may as well be a scam artist teaching fly-by-night Rex Kwon Do. When I see a school I've never seen before, the first thing I do is Google it. You HAVE to make sure you can be located online in this day in age. A web page is such an easy thing to set up, if you don't have it, people will be asking "What else doesn't he have? Running water? Power? Real MA training?"

Ouch! And I'm NO "scam artist teaching fly-by-night Rex Kwon Do." I don't have a website/facebook, our Hombu doesn't have a website, and neither of us truly want a website, and my reasons as to why can be found somewhere here at KF!! Btw, I'm quite finished defending our/my reasons for not having/wanting a website!!

A WEBSITE MEANS NOTHING...IMHO!! Why? Proof is ON THE FLOOR, and not in some website! I've known and seen so many schools of the MA that have running water and power and real MA training, but their ineffective across the board.

I take offense to being lumped as a fake, and this is what I'm being told that that I am. If I am, then so is our Soke, Dai-Soke, student body, and Shindokan!!

I've more important things to worry about than creating and managing a website, like, teach Shindokan, and administrate the SKKA!!

I respect those who do have a website, but I'm/we're lampooned and lambasted mercilessly because I/We don't have a website!!

Does any dojo that's apart of the SKKA have their own website?

[sensei8]

I just want to add, as a non-instructor, that for Millennial, a web presence is vital. You could have grown up on Okinawa, learned from Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Relson Gracie, and Steve Seagal, trained BJ Penn and Ronda Rousey, and won Olympic Gold metals in Judo, Boxing, and TKD, but if you don't have at least an active facebook, if not a Web site as well, you may as well be a scam artist teaching fly-by-night Rex Kwon Do. When I see a school I've never seen before, the first thing I do is Google it. You HAVE to make sure you can be located online in this day in age. A web page is such an easy thing to set up, if you don't have it, people will be asking "What else doesn't he have? Running water? Power? Real MA training?"

Ouch! And I'm NO "scam artist teaching fly-by-night Rex Kwon Do." I don't have a website/facebook, our Hombu doesn't have a website, and neither of us truly want a website, and my reasons as to why can be found somewhere here at KF!! Btw, I'm quite finished defending our/my reasons for not having/wanting a website!!

A WEBSITE MEANS NOTHING...IMHO!! Why? Proof is ON THE FLOOR, and not in some website! I've known and seen so many schools of the MA that have running water and power and real MA training, but their ineffective across the board.

I take offense to being lumped as a fake, and this is what I'm being told that that I am. If I am, then so is our Soke, Dai-Soke, student body, and Shindokan!!

I've more important things to worry about than creating and managing a website, like, teach Shindokan, and administrate the SKKA!!

I respect those who do have a website, but I'm/we're lampooned and lambasted mercilessly because I/We don't have a website!!

Does any dojo that's apart of the SKKA have their own website?

I can't speak intelligently about this because I've no idea!!

That type of information isn't recorded at the SKKA because things like that aren't managed by the SKKA; dojos are independently owned, and separate and away from the SKKA when it comes to how they choice to manage and operate and administer their own dojo!! In short, I'm unaware of the goings on at their schools in this regard. I can tell you without any ambiguity that I've never had a website of my own, and the Hombu has never had a website either; that's never been the practice of our Soke, even when websites first became the rage of the page.

I simply just can't believe that I'm/We're STILL having to defend our stand concerning this matter...STILL!! Being judged on the sole basis of whether I've/We've had or have a website is wrong and unfair!! Imho, this seems to borders on harassment!! Here's a very bad example, and it's a hypothetical example...Maybe, MA Forums, like KF, should ONLY allow members to join based on whether that prospective member has a website for their dojo and/or Hombu and/or throughout their governing bodies network...No website, you're not welcomed, therefore not allowed to join our community.

Proof is on the floor....now and tomorrow and until the end of time!!

Edited August 26, 2015 by sensei8

[The Pred]

I just want to add, as a non-instructor, that for Millennial, a web presence is vital. You could have grown up on Okinawa, learned from Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Relson Gracie, and Steve Seagal, trained BJ Penn and Ronda Rousey, and won Olympic Gold metals in Judo, Boxing, and TKD, but if you don't have at least an active facebook, if not a Web site as well, you may as well be a scam artist teaching fly-by-night Rex Kwon Do. When I see a school I've never seen before, the first thing I do is Google it. You HAVE to make sure you can be located online in this day in age. A web page is such an easy thing to set up, if you don't have it, people will be asking "What else doesn't he have? Running water? Power? Real MA training?"

Ouch! And I'm NO "scam artist teaching fly-by-night Rex Kwon Do." I don't have a website/facebook, our Hombu doesn't have a website, and neither of us truly want a website, and my reasons as to why can be found somewhere here at KF!! Btw, I'm quite finished defending our/my reasons for not having/wanting a website!!

A WEBSITE MEANS NOTHING...IMHO!! Why? Proof is ON THE FLOOR, and not in some website! I've known and seen so many schools of the MA that have running water and power and real MA training, but their ineffective across the board.

I take offense to being lumped as a fake, and this is what I'm being told that that I am. If I am, then so is our Soke, Dai-Soke, student body, and Shindokan!!

I've more important things to worry about than creating and managing a website, like, teach Shindokan, and administrate the SKKA!!

I respect those who do have a website, but I'm/we're lampooned and lambasted mercilessly because I/We don't have a website!!

Does any dojo that's apart of the SKKA have their own website?

I can't speak intelligently about this because I've no idea!!

That type of information isn't recorded at the SKKA because things like that aren't managed by the SKKA; dojos are independently owned, and separate and away from the SKKA when it comes to how they choice to manage and operate and administer their own dojo!! In short, I'm unaware of the goings on at their schools in this regard. I can tell you without any ambiguity that I've never had a website of my own, and the Hombu has never had a website either; that's never been the practice of our Soke, even when websites first became the rage of the page.

I simply just can't believe that I'm/We're STILL having to defend our stand concerning this matter...STILL!! Being judged on the sole basis of whether I've/We've had or have a website is wrong and unfair!! Imho, this seems to borders on harassment!! Here's a very bad example, and it's a hypothetical example...Maybe, MA Forums, like KF, should ONLY allow members to join based on whether that prospective member has a website for their dojo and/or Hombu and/or throughout their governing bodies network...No website, you're not welcomed, therefore not allowed to join our community.

Proof is on the floor....now and tomorrow and until the end of time!!

Solid point, a website is not necessary, however, do you guys do demo shows or how often do students bring in new people?

[sensei8]

I just want to add, as a non-instructor, that for Millennial, a web presence is vital. You could have grown up on Okinawa, learned from Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Relson Gracie, and Steve Seagal, trained BJ Penn and Ronda Rousey, and won Olympic Gold metals in Judo, Boxing, and TKD, but if you don't have at least an active facebook, if not a Web site as well, you may as well be a scam artist teaching fly-by-night Rex Kwon Do. When I see a school I've never seen before, the first thing I do is Google it. You HAVE to make sure you can be located online in this day in age. A web page is such an easy thing to set up, if you don't have it, people will be asking "What else doesn't he have? Running water? Power? Real MA training?"

Ouch! And I'm NO "scam artist teaching fly-by-night Rex Kwon Do." I don't have a website/facebook, our Hombu doesn't have a website, and neither of us truly want a website, and my reasons as to why can be found somewhere here at KF!! Btw, I'm quite finished defending our/my reasons for not having/wanting a website!!

A WEBSITE MEANS NOTHING...IMHO!! Why? Proof is ON THE FLOOR, and not in some website! I've known and seen so many schools of the MA that have running water and power and real MA training, but their ineffective across the board.

I take offense to being lumped as a fake, and this is what I'm being told that that I am. If I am, then so is our Soke, Dai-Soke, student body, and Shindokan!!

I've more important things to worry about than creating and managing a website, like, teach Shindokan, and administrate the SKKA!!

I respect those who do have a website, but I'm/we're lampooned and lambasted mercilessly because I/We don't have a website!!

Does any dojo that's apart of the SKKA have their own website?

I can't speak intelligently about this because I've no idea!!

That type of information isn't recorded at the SKKA because things like that aren't managed by the SKKA; dojos are independently owned, and separate and away from the SKKA when it comes to how they choice to manage and operate and administer their own dojo!! In short, I'm unaware of the goings on at their schools in this regard. I can tell you without any ambiguity that I've never had a website of my own, and the Hombu has never had a website either; that's never been the practice of our Soke, even when websites first became the rage of the page.

I simply just can't believe that I'm/We're STILL having to defend our stand concerning this matter...STILL!! Being judged on the sole basis of whether I've/We've had or have a website is wrong and unfair!! Imho, this seems to borders on harassment!! Here's a very bad example, and it's a hypothetical example...Maybe, MA Forums, like KF, should ONLY allow members to join based on whether that prospective member has a website for their dojo and/or Hombu and/or throughout their governing bodies network...No website, you're not welcomed, therefore not allowed to join our community.

Proof is on the floor....now and tomorrow and until the end of time!!

Solid point, a website is not necessary, however, do you guys do demo shows or how often do students bring in new people?

From time to time we do demo's, however, not as much as we use to for one reason: Scheduling conflicts!! Soke, when him and Dai-Soke first opened the Hombu, gave many demos wherever they could. Soke was big on demos; that's how he began teaching Dai-Soke back in Okinawa...Soke would do demos on street corners unannounced, if need be.

Students bring new prospective students whenever they can; word of mouth, a most invaluable tool of any business, imho!! Students aren't required to bring anyone except themselves; you know, there's no set goal that each student is required to meet in the terms of that.