Direct Mail Marketing

[Oso]

has this worked for anyone?

[Hard Fists]

While I have never run a marketing campaign for a kung fu school, I think you could make it work. I received a nice brochure the other day from a school near my house. It was actually quite appealing. There are a few things that you have to think of when setting up a direct mail run: audience, content, and the presentation of that content.

IMO you should begin by finding an audience. For something like this I might start small...perhaps you can purchase a list or two from local fitness centers. Thats a good place to start. Then think about your packaging. You want to keep your cost low, while sending something that looks really good. Don't overload people with too much information. Graphic placement is really important. Your mailers and letters shouldn' t be too busy. If you are going to spend a lot of money on any aspect, in my opinion it should be during the design phaze.

[Oso]

HF: Thanks, all good points. Luckily, I have a marketing person and a graphic designer available to me. We've been covering a lot of your points as we have been tweaking our image with the recent change of location for my school.


What about those mass mailing packages you can opt in to?

[MasterKiller]

I don't even look at the direct-mail flyers I get in the mail. I dump them in the trash can on my way into the house...Waste of money, imo.

[godzillakungfu]

The money you pay is usually wasted.

Try a small sampling at the lowest cost first. Depending on what you are offering, have a sentence that states bringing the flyer to your school. Then track how many actually come in with the flyer.

I'm like MK. Unless I'm looking for something specifics, 9.95 Oil change, I throw away 95% of mailers.

[Hard Fists]

What about those mass mailing packages you can opt in to?

I would send out sample mailings first. You know, do a few mailings to about 2-4 hundred people at once. If you could obtain a list of dropouts from fitness places or gyms, I think you would have the best luck at first. Promote the get in shape while taking part in an ancient culture line. People always feel guilty when they don't complete memberships and IMO are more likely to join a school because they really don't want to think of themselves as lazy b@stards. Almost everyone in their lives, at one point or another, has thought about taking martial arts. These are the folks that may need a little more encouragement than other martial artists, but I think this pool of potential members could come to fruition.

Also think of different types of mailings. Perhaps one to parents of elementary-middle school kids. I am not sure how you could obtain lists like this, there may be a privacy issue involved, but something that boasts fun exercise and discipline in a safe family friendly environment while learning about different world cultures could work. Traditional uniforms and forms would look good on this type of marketing piece, also pics of your more advanced young students doing some difficult looking stances or holding a Kwan do while doing a horse block or something…that’s pretty cool.

You could also try to capitalize on general male attraction. Take pictures of a few hot chicks doing kung fu. To really get the teen and early twenties guys in you could add the sparring aspect to this type of mailing. Just don't make it to geared around fighting or parents will definitely say screw you.

Sorry for running my mouth, I forgot how much I liked marketing when it was part of my job.
HF

[lkfmdc]

in my experience, pretty much like openning the seat to your toilet and tossing the cash in there

internet, referral and print adds are the pyramid my gym is built on

[SevenStar]

Instead of mail, try this:

Our school has a postcard size "business card" that we pass out. It's printed on thick, glossy photo quality stock and has info and pics on both sides. We place stacks of them in businesses that share a common demographic as us - gyms and the like. I also place them at the club I work at. That works well, since many of them still remember when we were on tv a few months ago. Like MK, I to throw direct mail into file 13...

[SevenStar]

Word of mouth is great. My next door neighbor has 14 and 15 year old boys. The younger one gets tooled by his bro when they play fight, so he wanted me to show him some stuff. He ran off and told all of his friends, who then told their parents. Since then, i've been walking, going to the apt. gym, taking out trash, etc. and Had people come up to me and say "I heard you box", or "aren't you that kickboxer guy?" If I had time, I'd try to offer an apt wide class, as a lot of them seem interested but can't afford to come to the school, don't have time, kids don't have transportation, etc.

[Hard Fists]

Instead of mail, try this:

Our school has a postcard size "business card" that we pass out. It's printed on thick, glossy photo quality stock and has info and pics on both sides. We place stacks of them in businesses that share a common demographic as us - gyms and the like. I also place them at the club I work at. That works well, since many of them still remember when we were on tv a few months ago. Like MK, I to throw direct mail into file 13...

I think the postcard thing is a really good idea. It is a great low cost way to get yourself outthere.

Direct mailings usually yield a low ratio of new members when compared to letters sent. But IMHO it can still work, otherwise nobody would do it, right? Other avenues of marketing must be utilized as well for a beneficial campaign. I too think word of mouth is the absolute best way to get your name out there. However, mailings are a good idea if you have a real low membership, the school has moved locations or if the school is new...in fact I would call it a necessary expense if the school was new...just to introduce the school to the neighborhood. You could do all kinds of things like have a discount fee for students in the same zip code. It's always good too people don't actually have to open mail...mailing a good brochure can be beneficial. I have seen that mailer that was sent out by the Korean MA school near my house at two other peoples houses on the coffee table or in the kitchen...That means people are reading the information and considering going into the free week of classes.

[Oso]

Thanks for the input....I didn't think it would be a good method but thought I'd canvas the group in case I was wrong...as if...


Over the last couple of weeks I've built a combination of flyers: full sheet w/ tear off tabs, full sheet no tabs, 1/2 sheet, 1/4 sheet and a 1/3 sheet that will be the basis of a trifold in the future. (psst...Ming Yue...) In the process of hitting the east side of Asheville we found that different sizes worked for different places and some people were willing to put a stack of quarter sheet sizes on their counter where they didn't want a full page in their window or on the wall. I've also got a stack of the quarters for students to take with them...oh, and they're not glossy but they are on 60# stock and are super bright green.

I've also revamped my incentive program in hopes of getting current students working a little harder for me...they can now get a significant discount on one months tuition (45%) for every referral that turns in to a paying student.

If I had time, I'd try to offer an apt wide class, as a lot of them seem interested but can't afford to come to the school, don't have time, kids don't have transportation, etc.

yea, I hate it when I run across a kid who wants to train but for one reason or another doesn't have the opportunity. lazy parents tends to be the predominant one around here.

my next problem is to get a couple of parents to make sure their kids are bringing their uniforms with them every class. I place the responsibility on older (9+) kids but I don't really expect a 6 year old to stay on top of his uniform cleaning, etc.


we really could use a "Martial Arts Business" forum...we'd make better use of it than the ORA or the TCM forums....hehe, could I be moderator??????

[Crushing Fist]

If you do postcards for leaving around, leave a space for address and postage.

That way you have a dual purpose promo piece (leave behind/mailer)

I have found direct mail to be pretty bad on returns, but its about recognition and branding. They say to get noticed you need to put the mailer in the same people's hands 3-5 times before they are likely to notice it. So if you want to give it a shot buy a small (250-500) list in a targeted radius (say 5-10 miles from your school) and send to the same names once every two weeks for 6-8 weeks or so. Just doing one mailing one time an waiting for the results will be highly disappointing.

They also say its important to have a strong call to action (join now for this special promotion!) instead of "hey we're pretty good, come check us out some time"

[Oso]

Thanks, good points.

[Chief Fox]

Sounds like you've already decided but here's another vote against direct mail.

Direct mail is great if you have a product or service that the general population is interested in. Like oil changes. Even with this though the typical response is a very small percentage. Now compare the amount of people who get oil changes every month to the amount of people that might be interested in kung fu. You percentage of return has just fallen way down. In some cases probably to zero.

Now if you put a different twist on it, you could bring your return up slightly. For example, you could advertise "self defense" classes or "kids fitness" classes. They might bring you more of a return with a direct mail piece but still not acceptable in my opinion.

You've probably thought of a lot of this stuff but here goes anyway. Put flyers in the other local businesses around your new location and give those business people a deal on tuition.

Hand flyers out at a local church if they'll let you.

Get flyers in the local schools when school starts.

Do demos at the local schools or offer a free class at the local schools.

I always thought that a summer "Kung Fu Day Camp" would be cool for kids.

We have an Asian festival here in my town every year around new year. We never did it but i always thought getting a booth at the festival would be a great idea. Even more so then doing a demo. I think people are sometimes a little too intimidated to ask questions at demos.

So there are some thoughts for you. Good luck with the new location.

[Oso]

Thanks, bro. Most of your, and other's, suggestions are on the 'Action List' to be implemented as time and funds allow.

We've been doing a lot of brainstorming lately....