What is your best tip to bring in adult students

kenpo4life · Blue Belt

I would like to significantly improve my student roster. What is the best tip that YOU have used or heard of? Thank you in advance
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If my survival means your total destruction, then so be it.

Zaine · Black Belt

There are a lot of people who can help you with this. Marketing is a difficult part of running a school. You didn't mention what steps you're already taking, so I'm going to assume that you have taken none.

I would reach out to a marketing firm and find out what they can offer you. In the mean time, Instagram is a great way to put eyes on your school. Post pictures and videos. Do videos of students and yourself doing kata. Have videos breaking down those kata. Buy ad space on social media. Buy ad time on your local public radio and tv network. Find out when your local grade schools are doing a field day and ask if you can do a demo there. Go to your local colleges and ask about their martial arts clubs, see if you can network with them. When you go to tournaments, are you huddled in a group? Or are you talking to other instructors from different schools? Are you talking to the tournament organizers to get your name on their radars, potentially to help sponsor a tournament? Is there a rec center near you that you can post flyers in?

Get exposure, is the gist of these tips. Make sure that people know your name. In Alabama, there is a lawyer named Alex Shunnarah. He buys every billboard he can. You cannot go down the highway without seeing his face. He's a meme, at this point, but he's also embraced that. You cannot think "I need a lawyer" without thinking of his name. Be the name that people think of.
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https://www.instagram.com/nordic_karate/

bushido_man96 · KF Sensei

Offering family rates can help encourage families to make it a group effort. Offering discounts to students who get a friend signed up can be helpful, too.
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kenpo4life · Blue Belt

Thanks guys
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If my survival means your total destruction, then so be it.

sensei8 · KF Sensei

Moths to the flame. If your dojo has a reputation of solid integrity and effectiveness and consistency, and not gimmicks, that prospective adult student will darken your dojo's door...if you build it, they will come.

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**Proof is on the floor!!!

scohen0300 · Blue Belt

Advertising self defense! Women’s self defense, to be specific. And I do mean “women’s self defense,” not “karate for women” or something like that.

My dojo has been open a month, and I kept getting requests for a self defense class with no karate type stuff. So I hosted a free women’s self defense class, about 20 showed up, and my dojo is all over the towns social media sites now! We were also taking donations for a local organization.

To be fair, I was lucky enough to have a student of mine from where I used to teach. She ended up teaching the self defense class (I was there to help) and she did a great job. I think that advertising my student (female) as the self defense instructor for the event was a good move. And a bunch of the women asked for a schedule after it was over because she stressed the importance of continuing your training.

Now, I have 2 “self defense” classes on my schedule to help draw in some of the people who are too hesitant to try karate. The curriculum that I put together for the self defense class is rather short, and I intend on making it very repetitive.
1. So the students attending that class can get good at those techniques.
2. So I can always mention that there’s a lot more to explore in the world of self defense if they attend my karate classes as well.

I’m feeling very good about this!
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Shorin Ryu Karate Do International - Pittsburgh (SRKDI - PGH)
- Matsubayashi Shorin Ryu, Nidan

Zaine · Black Belt

It has been my experience that the biggest proponents for your dojo are women who feel safe within the walls of said dojo. To echo Scohen here, creating a safe space for your students, running Women's Self Defense classes, making people feel welcome... these things are the biggest pluses to get others to advertise for you.
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Martial arts training is 30% classroom training, 70% solo training.

https://www.instagram.com/nordic_karate/

bushido_man96 · KF Sensei

scohen0300 · Blue Belt

Thanks, bushido_man!

I definitely got lucky. But what I think was most important, was I made a video of the female instructor, just showing her training and beating me up. Then, me and a couple other people shared it all over social media (particularly Facebook), across multiple groups in the area. This really got the word out and got people excited to come.

I’m already scheduled to host another at the end of February, and I think 7 women have signed up already?

Social media is key!
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Instagram: @srkdi_pgh
Shorin Ryu Karate Do International - Pittsburgh (SRKDI - PGH)
- Matsubayashi Shorin Ryu, Nidan

Nevinyrral · Blue Belt

And I would say, offer real full contact sparring. Hard contact hard training. It could be separate class.
I myself find this what brings adults to boxing or mma. Classes that teach real fighting, not games for kids.
Yeah you might get few parents to join with their kids, but they will mostly stop training after a while, and definately when their kid stops.
And people who want to learn how to defend and fight will look for something different than just doing basic drills, sparring with no contact or doing standing joint locks on unresisting opponent.
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