Marketing

Print Advertising

This includes newspaper and magazine ads, brochures, flyers, and other similar ideas. Print advertising is well-suited for the martial arts because it gives you a chance to combine action pictures with ideas to convince the person that he or she is capable of doing what the pictures depict. Most people have seen the martial arts in one form or another in the movies or on television, so the aim of your advertising is not to make people learn that something exists called Taekwondo, but to make them understand that—you teach Taekwondo and that they should come to your school and try it. 

You must convey a small amount of information in your ads about your experience, reputation, and qualifications. Concentrate the ads on benefits for the student. Include school information, such as location, phone number, class schedule, and school name. This lets people know who you are and what you do. Your next task is to convince the potential student to come to the school and try a class. To do this, you must overcome any stereotypes you think the person may have, as well as trying to relax any hesitation the person may have of starting. You must convince the target audience that they can, and should, be training at your school.

Your ads must be tailored to the particular group you are trying to reach. For example: suppose you open a school in an area that is mostly comprised of people ages 25-45, who are blue and white collar workers, with medium range incomes. The majority would take classes at night, and most will have worked during the day. They will want classes designed to help them relax and stay in good physical condition while reaping the other benefits of martial arts training. A mistake would be to advertise something like "Olympic and tournament training." A 25-45 year old working person has trouble relating to why he or she should enter into Olympic or tournament training. Your advertising must be written so that the group of potential students you have identified can relate to and react from the ad. This holds true for any form of advertising.