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5 Ways to Increase Your Martial Arts School's
Revenue Using the Internet
Written by Hersh Sandhoo
Appeared in Webmation's MAinsider March 2003
So far in the martial arts industry the Internet
has mainly been used to try and attract new students. However,
the Internet can and should be used for more than just marketing
purposes. Here are 5 ways you can use the Internet to increase
your bottom line.
1. Lead Generation
By using a well designed web site and permission
based email marketing you can obtain very high quality leads.
The Internet is such a non-threatening medium that many people
who see your offline advertising (like a newspaper or yellow page
ad) would rather visit your web site than call the school for more
information if given the chance. If designed properly your site
will promote a positive image of your school and entice the prospect
to give you their complete contact information. You can even allow
them to sign up for an intro appointment online. Your web site
can also be used to make it easy for students to refer their friends
to the school, especially when combined with a referral based email
marketing campaign.
2. Student Retention
While it is hard to measure exactly how the Internet will help with student
retention it does allow you to provide greater customer service to your students.
Having documents, class schedules, training materials, students of the month,
photo galleries, news & events, special announcements, etc. online allows
students easy to access to school information. You can also facilitate a sense
of family and increase the ways students have to communicate with the school
and each other.
3. Membership Upsells / Upgrades
Your web site is also a great place to promote your internal programs, such
as Black Belt Clubs, Leadership Teams, and Demonstration Teams. You can also
use the Internet as an added benefit or incentive for joining these clubs.
For example, only Black Belt and Master Club members get a school email address,
you can provide special web content (like training tips) to those members online,
they can get their own email newsletter, and get automatic discounts at your
online proshop.
4. Cost Savings
One of the most neglected ways to use the Internet is to reduce printing and
postage costs. By putting documents like your student handbook online you can
save an enormous amount of money. It allows students to view, save, and even
print the material they want on their home computer. It also lets you use full
color and photographs instead of the normal black and white handbooks most
school owners use to cut costs. Again, you can provide a better service for
almost nothing. You can also use email marketing to save thousands of dollars
a year - send email autoresponders instead of direct mail to prospects, school
newsletters, and announcements. You also gain the ability to track statistics
in real-time which allows you to analyze and refine your marketing results.
5. Retail Sales
A great way to save time and increase retail sales is with an online proshop.
I normally recommend to most school owners that they only sell to their students.
This eliminates the need to ship products or deal with fraudulent orders. There
are many benefits to an online proshop including:
- You can offer an unlimited selection of products
without having to stock inventory
- You can save time taking orders in class
- Your students can conveniently order equipment
and supplies from home
- You do not have to do anything different that
what you are already doing when ordering
- You still get the 100%+ markup from wholesale
and can choose the products you want to sell (versus an affiliate
program were your students have access to the store's whole product
line)
- You can allow students (and even non-students)
to buy tickets to events and seminars - tournaments, sleep over
parties, weapons seminar, etc.
- You can use HTML email marketing to allow students
to purchase a product directly from the email!
- And Much More!
Learn how
Webmation can help your school use the Internet
Hersh Sandhoo is the President and CEO of Webmation,
leaders in web development and online marketing for the martial
arts industry. Mr. Sandhoo, a fourth degree black belt in Tae Kwon
Do and Hap Ki Do, has trained for over 13 years.
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