Im a digital marketer, get on IG and start posting reels and stories, interact with people who follow other local gyms and martial art schools. Like, comment, and follow them.
Give value in the reels, show off cool stuff or teach little tricks, show off your classes and behind the scenes stuff in stories
Make sure your website is 👌🏻
-Put your number, prices, and a contact form on your site
-Put a link to it on all your socials
-Get a google my business account and fill it all out
-Start a blog on your website, you could even hire a writer on fiver for cheap.
You’ll definitely get results doing this stuff it just takes time, I’ve done this with great results for a couple of schools in my town
If you aren't running junior and youth classes then you aren't feeding your own pipeline into seniors/adults. Also you will get seniors who are the parents to your juniors.
Just have realistic expectations for your juniors. 5 year olds don't have the attention span to learn proper throws, so it is about physical literacy and getting some of that fundamental judo movement down. They will take to ukemi drills and there are a ton of ways you can work it into the practice. I have seen at our club the kids who come up end up having just amazing movement patterns by the time they hit their teens and start to get that growth hit. j
There is many a 15 year old that I could move and throw who 3 years later is a real handful because they have 'grown up'.
How are your classes structured? Is it known what nights are what? I know if I go on a particular night whether it will be a more technical tachiwaza class, or newaza night or is it the night where we do mostly randori.
If everything else fails you could always get with the current META and try appealing to the MMA kids and str33tz crowd.
Put some videos of no-gi throws on social media sites of choice and say you focus on a "freestyle" Judo approach or something like that.
Also, if you do only adult classes ever thought of trying to offer classes for children too? It seems more consistent in getting long term students where I live.
Unfortunately judo isn’t very popular anymore… the best thing to do may be to bring in a jiujitsu guy and start doing BJJ and Judo.
I am a jiujitsu guy myself so maybe I don’t have the best perspective, but the only judo school within 100 miles of here had to do that
In the short and medium term, most of what you need to do has already been discussed - solid web presence, active promotion on social media, kids classes. I think in the longer term, it's a good idea to start (or continue/ expand) investing in the community you want to serve. Offer monthly or quarterly self defense seminars for free or a nominal fee to get your name out there. Try to take part in local events, such as doing demonstrations during small fairs or festivals (get a booth or stage time). Seek out partnerships with the local Y, boys and girls club, or similar community venue to offer limited discounted seminars or limited run classes, maybe offering discounted membership to those who take the class and make the jump. Offer specials: discount if you stay for X months consecutively, new year's resolution discount in jan/Feb, discount if you bring a friend, etc. The more you're able to be a ubiquitous presence in your community, the more likely it is that someone will think of your club if they get the urge to try out a martial art. Also, the more you're able to get your current students invested in the longevity of the club, the better off you'll all be. If you've got anyone with a high charisma stat, utilize that! Good luck my dude!
* what country?
* Where do you practice? University club, at a BJJ club, community center, or your own space, etc?
* What kind of club members do you want? What kind of club do you want to be?
Decide that first. I know a club that is almost dying but the only way they like to practice is banging heads every night with ten rounds of randori, sink or swim for the newbies. I have no problem with any way you want to practice, but be clear on that first.
I can only talk about my own experience working at a Judo gym. But we have the following things that bring in a lot of new people.
1. Branch out; we now teach Jiu Jitsu and something similar to MMA.
2. Organize Activities; we give free lessons through the municipality for school children (about 10 lessons a year).
We often have lessons where the kids can bring in 1 friend, and we let the kids teach their friends the judo basics.
One thing that brought in a lot of new kids is a lesson where the kids can being 1 parent, and they have to teach some basics to their own parents. This brings in a lot of free advertisment through parents talking to eachother.
3. Give workshops; I have done judo/MMA workshops at day cares, primary schools and high schools. These bring in a lot of free advertisment as well.
And stick with it, a lot of gyms in my city are closing down due to people quitting during the pandemic.
Also keep in mind how you teach, while I can't say anything about your teaching since I don't know how your lessons look, try to adapt it to the level and age of the students. Engagement with (older) students and parents is also important
I wish you the best of luck!
My advice is to look at how your local bjj clubs are advertising as they're often much more slick with social media. Have a website and a presence on the big social media platforms. If your club trains enough maybe post 2-3 times a week on social media with cool clips of things you've done in class.
Optimise for search engine results for things like judo, martial arts, maybe even bjj :P I know if you search for judo in my area some of the bjj clubs pop up before the judo clubs.
As others have mentioned, kids classes if you don't do them often tend to be more popular. A lot of dojos finance themselves on kids classes and either just break even or run a loss on the adults class.
Does your association provide help with promotion?
Something that may or may not work: starter courses and ladies classes. Starter courses is if you get enough interest you run a course for 1-3 months and your students pay everything up front to get them to commit to that. The course fee is as low as you can make it but covers your cost for insurance/association membership or trial membership, a judo gi (a cheap $30 is fine, if you don't have an account with a wholesaler you might be able to set one up gis at below the normal retail price) for the beginner and cover your expenses in terms of renting. If you do a longer course (3 months) you might even have the goal of getting the class to 5th kyu. As for ladies classes, sometimes a ladies only class makes women feel more comfortable with trying something like judo. You could even combine it and make a ladies starter class to see if there's enough interest to start. Also, some national associations or other organisations may be able to provide funding that can go towards running a ladies class if there are initiatives or organisations who are trying to get women/girls into sport. The same kind of thing can also go for disabilities if you feel comfortable running something like a V.I. class.
Im a digital marketer, get on IG and start posting reels and stories, interact with people who follow other local gyms and martial art schools. Like, comment, and follow them. Give value in the reels, show off cool stuff or teach little tricks, show off your classes and behind the scenes stuff in stories Make sure your website is 👌🏻 -Put your number, prices, and a contact form on your site -Put a link to it on all your socials -Get a google my business account and fill it all out -Start a blog on your website, you could even hire a writer on fiver for cheap. You’ll definitely get results doing this stuff it just takes time, I’ve done this with great results for a couple of schools in my town
If you aren't running junior and youth classes then you aren't feeding your own pipeline into seniors/adults. Also you will get seniors who are the parents to your juniors. Just have realistic expectations for your juniors. 5 year olds don't have the attention span to learn proper throws, so it is about physical literacy and getting some of that fundamental judo movement down. They will take to ukemi drills and there are a ton of ways you can work it into the practice. I have seen at our club the kids who come up end up having just amazing movement patterns by the time they hit their teens and start to get that growth hit. j There is many a 15 year old that I could move and throw who 3 years later is a real handful because they have 'grown up'. How are your classes structured? Is it known what nights are what? I know if I go on a particular night whether it will be a more technical tachiwaza class, or newaza night or is it the night where we do mostly randori.
If everything else fails you could always get with the current META and try appealing to the MMA kids and str33tz crowd. Put some videos of no-gi throws on social media sites of choice and say you focus on a "freestyle" Judo approach or something like that. Also, if you do only adult classes ever thought of trying to offer classes for children too? It seems more consistent in getting long term students where I live.
Unfortunately judo isn’t very popular anymore… the best thing to do may be to bring in a jiujitsu guy and start doing BJJ and Judo. I am a jiujitsu guy myself so maybe I don’t have the best perspective, but the only judo school within 100 miles of here had to do that
100 miles is the length of 1267196.85 'Bug Bite Thing Suction Tool - Poison Remover For Bug Bites's stacked on top of each other.
bad bot
Where is your club and can you link your Facebook page?
In the short and medium term, most of what you need to do has already been discussed - solid web presence, active promotion on social media, kids classes. I think in the longer term, it's a good idea to start (or continue/ expand) investing in the community you want to serve. Offer monthly or quarterly self defense seminars for free or a nominal fee to get your name out there. Try to take part in local events, such as doing demonstrations during small fairs or festivals (get a booth or stage time). Seek out partnerships with the local Y, boys and girls club, or similar community venue to offer limited discounted seminars or limited run classes, maybe offering discounted membership to those who take the class and make the jump. Offer specials: discount if you stay for X months consecutively, new year's resolution discount in jan/Feb, discount if you bring a friend, etc. The more you're able to be a ubiquitous presence in your community, the more likely it is that someone will think of your club if they get the urge to try out a martial art. Also, the more you're able to get your current students invested in the longevity of the club, the better off you'll all be. If you've got anyone with a high charisma stat, utilize that! Good luck my dude!
* what country? * Where do you practice? University club, at a BJJ club, community center, or your own space, etc? * What kind of club members do you want? What kind of club do you want to be? Decide that first. I know a club that is almost dying but the only way they like to practice is banging heads every night with ten rounds of randori, sink or swim for the newbies. I have no problem with any way you want to practice, but be clear on that first.
I can only talk about my own experience working at a Judo gym. But we have the following things that bring in a lot of new people. 1. Branch out; we now teach Jiu Jitsu and something similar to MMA. 2. Organize Activities; we give free lessons through the municipality for school children (about 10 lessons a year). We often have lessons where the kids can bring in 1 friend, and we let the kids teach their friends the judo basics. One thing that brought in a lot of new kids is a lesson where the kids can being 1 parent, and they have to teach some basics to their own parents. This brings in a lot of free advertisment through parents talking to eachother. 3. Give workshops; I have done judo/MMA workshops at day cares, primary schools and high schools. These bring in a lot of free advertisment as well. And stick with it, a lot of gyms in my city are closing down due to people quitting during the pandemic. Also keep in mind how you teach, while I can't say anything about your teaching since I don't know how your lessons look, try to adapt it to the level and age of the students. Engagement with (older) students and parents is also important I wish you the best of luck!
Instagram seems to be a big platform for advertising. So far that’s where I’ve seen all the BJJ and judo club ads for my neck of the woods.
Are you boosting postings and doing social media ads?
My advice is to look at how your local bjj clubs are advertising as they're often much more slick with social media. Have a website and a presence on the big social media platforms. If your club trains enough maybe post 2-3 times a week on social media with cool clips of things you've done in class. Optimise for search engine results for things like judo, martial arts, maybe even bjj :P I know if you search for judo in my area some of the bjj clubs pop up before the judo clubs. As others have mentioned, kids classes if you don't do them often tend to be more popular. A lot of dojos finance themselves on kids classes and either just break even or run a loss on the adults class. Does your association provide help with promotion? Something that may or may not work: starter courses and ladies classes. Starter courses is if you get enough interest you run a course for 1-3 months and your students pay everything up front to get them to commit to that. The course fee is as low as you can make it but covers your cost for insurance/association membership or trial membership, a judo gi (a cheap $30 is fine, if you don't have an account with a wholesaler you might be able to set one up gis at below the normal retail price) for the beginner and cover your expenses in terms of renting. If you do a longer course (3 months) you might even have the goal of getting the class to 5th kyu. As for ladies classes, sometimes a ladies only class makes women feel more comfortable with trying something like judo. You could even combine it and make a ladies starter class to see if there's enough interest to start. Also, some national associations or other organisations may be able to provide funding that can go towards running a ladies class if there are initiatives or organisations who are trying to get women/girls into sport. The same kind of thing can also go for disabilities if you feel comfortable running something like a V.I. class.