Before we dive in to this article let me just clear things out. There is no easy way of having lots of attention for your martial arts business. In one way or another, we have to ‘pay’ to get noticed. It’s either through hard work or by shelling out cold hard cash. If you don’t have the means for the second option, we’ll go through the first one, but don’t worry, I’m here to help. Here is how to generate publicity on a budget.
There are some things that we need before we move on and if you’re a serious martial arts studio owner, you probably have these two. You’ll need a Facebook account for your martial arts studio and your own company website. The Facebook account is to reach potential and current customers. People on the internet, not just your students, can post comments, like, and share the content on your account like articles, videos, and pictures. On the other hand, your website is the more important thing that you should possess. Facebook is okay, but having a website is more professional.
When you already have your Facebook account and your own website, it’s time to start creating original content. Here are some of the things that you can post on your website and Facebook page.
Pictures
Pictures paint a thousand words. Thanks to the internet, a simple picture can go viral and reach out to a lot of people. Your best bet to generate publicity is to create a ‘meme’ which is defined as “an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by Internet users, often with slight variations.†Nobody has the secret recipe to create a viral meme yet because if there is, everybody would do it. What I usually notice is that memes can be funny, weird, surprising, and impressive. If you still don’t get it, grab a 13 year old and ask for further explanations.
Videos
Videos can also go viral and can be considered a meme. If impressive, funny, and attention grabbing enough, your videos can reach people all over the world. You can do martial arts demonstrations, skits, instructional videos, and advertisements, but make sure that they are entertaining.
Articles
Pictures and videos are excellent attention grabbing forms of media but sadly, they can be short lived. Martial arts studios need to produce lots of images and videos regularly to keep up to continually receive publicity. Articles on the other hand, can give you more long lasting publicity. First you need to create articles that are really helpful and worth reading. When you have enough content, reach out to journalists, other websites, blogs, that is related to your company. If they find your articles to be unique, fresh, and informational, they can use the information that they’ve gathered from your website and broadcast it to people. You will then receive a shout out or credits in their TV show, blog, or website.
Look for highly respected journalists in the field of martial arts. Do your best to get their attention. When you do, milk it by sharing it on social media and telling your friends to do the same. This way your publicity will be even bigger.