MA Business Success 55: How to Create a Strong Brand Presence for Your Martial Arts School

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Phil: We've got another cracker for you today guys, it's all about how do you build great presence around your brand? I don't mean the presents that you get at Christmas time. I mean the presence that you have in your community, in your environment and more importantly it's about your brand. Like how do people see you? Are you blended in with the other Martial Arts schools or businesses or do you stand above? Graham?

Graham: Phil, let's talk about ourselves first and how we did it and then let's just share some of the strategy and things that you guys might want to just be aware of. I know, geez when we first started our company at WAIMA and we joined forces. We really wanted to make sure we stood out, because at the time there was a trillion different Martial Arts studios. Goodness! It's one of those things that you can get lost in the crowd very quickly. Plus, you've also got to make sure that you're true to your own identity. What you stand for. So we really did look externally, a lot of great companies that we sort of, I wouldn't say we modeled off of, but we thought. How do they stand out? How do they become an industry leader or a household name? Throwing some simple ones at you are Apple. We're operating off Apple there. But what made them stand out above all other computer suppliers? What about for you thinking about shoes?

There are different brands there, but there is certainly a couple that really come straight to mind that are household names. Like Reebok, Nike, things like that. So what did we do to position ourselves as a strong brand, that almost became a household name in our area and that go-to school? So it's really important first and foremost to, I guess identify I would say, "What's your client about? What's your ideal Client? Who are you trying to attract?" Because I know that we have had plenty of clients who want to be everything to everyone, but unfortunately they miss the brief. They really don't have a solid identity, they don't have a solid calling. They don't have a solid marketing strategy to go around that. How do we make sure that we stand out from the crowd? I would say first and foremost, identify who is it that you're trying to attract.

Phil: Yeah, exactly. If you're a Muay Thai School and you're trying to attract the fighters, there is no problem with having big murals inside. A sort of a youth type of look and feel with fight posters everywhere. If that's your niche, if that's your client. Great, do that sort of thing. But if we did that and our niche client was sort of families. Then people would walk in and go, this is not for me. So I know when we bought our school of Allen Instructor, and it had a certain brand, a certain feel and a certain type of students. But when we took over, we wanted to change things up. We looked at the name. So the WA Institute of Martial Arts, so we wanted it to sound elite. The Institute of Martial Arts wanted to sound like an education place. We looked at our colors, we went from a particular color to blue that we have.

Which is very dynamic, it's very friendly and calming. Then we chose our tagline. Now just on that, we started with a tagline called excellence in everything. Because we wanted to let everyone know that we were excellent, we were awesome. We were trying to put it out there, but in actual fact after about two years, we changed our tagline. Because we realized rather than tell people how good we are, why don't we tell people in that tagline what we'll do for them. That's why we came up with our new tagline called, Confidence For Life. So that is a little bit of an education tip for you. So color, branding, naming, tagline. All comes down to again like Graham said, "Who's your client?" It needs to be surrounded and targeted to, for us it was families.

We do teach Muay Thai and we do have fighters that compete, we decided rather than advertise, this a bit of a strategic move, that we would call a predator fight team. It was a bit more of an underground thing. We don't market it, we don't promote it. All we do is say we offer this class and then we go and do fights and people go, "Who are those guys? I've never seen them around." It sort of becomes this underground team, which worked quite well for us.

Graham: So what we've done is to get our brand as a household name. It's really thinking about marketing the strategy behind that marketing as well too. So first and foremost, I guess you've got to really have a bit of a look in the mirror and think, okay does my branding still resonate now? Is it still current? Is it still updated? I certainly know, this is a chance for you guys who are watching or just listening in. Have a look back at some of the different companies that have not necessarily changed their name. But re-branded their image, re-branded their logos. I know that we've done a lot of research on it and BP has done that, Apple has done that. You have a look at back and I'd really recommend you guys do this. The logo that is Apple today is very different, it's nearly transformed half a dozen or more times over its lifespan. So go on and have a bit of a look to see.

So for those of you who are pretty set in their ways or think, geez I've already got my logos. I've already got that, this that and the other. Is it still modernized? Is it still current in today's market? Again, colors. As you had mentioned before Phil, we're big on blue. We have a particular blue that is what WAIMA stands for and the reason for that is, when people start seeing that color they're instantly reminded of our brand and our logo. Again two, taglines. I know you mentioned this before. But we have a tagline again for a reason, because when we market and when we put it out there. In a short amount of time, it summarizes very, very quickly what we stand for. Again, just throwing it back about the shoes. Nike, just do it. Again, that's their tagline. It's a great way that, boom. You mention that or you see that written somewhere, instantly you go straight back to that shoe, that brand.

So that was one of the things that we got clarity on a brand and then there was, "How do we get it out there? How do we make sure that we understand who we're talking to?" So when we talk about our niche client, we were really targeting families. That's something that in all of our written material, we really do talk to that particular demographic. So we're talking to the moms. The moms and the dads who make the decision to bring those kids in. As an offshoot, yes we definitely get adults coming separate to that. But our target really was families and kids.

Phil: Just so for the listeners out there. What do you think is our percentage of kid students versus adults?

Graham: As it stands I would say we definitely have probably about a 40% of our student base, which is between the ages of five to eight. Then we've got again probably I would say closer to the 35% believe it or not between that sort of 9 to 13, 14 age group.

Phil: Which is a tough age group.

Graham: Yeah. Then again, we've got adults. So I would say on those numbers, about 75% of our student base is definitely going to be towards kids. We're talking 1,700 members that we have, we're talking 75% of those kids and those families. We have a really strong adult program, but that's not something that we're just marketing. Without digressing into it today is, when you think of it from I guess a retention base, the parents generally will sacrifice a lot to allow their kids to have the luxuries in life. So definitely something where you have a kid's focus is school, I'm not saying it's the being all indoor. It certainly has helped us to certainly grow and certainly to keep those members, when sometimes times can be a bit tough financially.

Phil: Excellent. I guess the next thing is once we've got that presence, with our brand, our color, our taglines. We know who we're marketing to. How do you stand out from the crowd? What makes you different to another school? Again, it's just giving you experiences from us I guess first. Is we decided to position ourselves us more of an elitist type school, a professional school. So we were able to charge more, because we had nice equipment. We had big professional floors, great lighting, great smell.

This type of environment that we talked about was able to position us as just not a normal dojo. I think there was a time there that you would go to a dojo here in Australia, it might be a bit different in America. In Australia the whole sort of dojo is like it's sort of back alley industrial zone shared style type of dojo. It had a certain feel. I've known that with our travels in the US, the US market was more shopping center, shop display, window-front type stuff. So it had a particular feel about it, which was different in Australia. I'm not too sure about the rest of the world, I know there are a range of all of those things. But how do you stand out. Like if I was going to put...Ask yourself this, I guess it would be a good thing.

Put your martial arts school in a row of 10. How are you going to stand out between them? I hope that you don't have 10 school side-by-side. I know we have one directly across the road. We have another, probably five within a 3 to 5km radius. So we still have to stand out from the crowd. But a good practice or a good challenge for you is to go, take photos or get off the net, all the photos of all the schools that are around you, 10 of them. Go, "How are we going to stand out from this mob here, who are in our area?" That will be a good challenge, I've just created that and I think we might do that with our staff.

Graham: Yeah. I think, write it down Phil. Write it down. Something that's really important is consistency with your marketing and your branding, and again your communication. There has been lots of guys that we've helped in the past that are very ad hoc. So they've got a great idea and they do one and then they drop it, and then they go onto another, another, another. What that does, it gives the consumer, the potential new clients just confusion. So being able to be consistent and steadfast the entire time is really important.

Guys, I'm going to give you a story with myself and Phil, a couple of years ago thought we would bring out some new T-Shirts and things like these, and we actually got a bit of a reality check. Again, this is a thing that we learned from, myself and Phil thought, right, great. We've got a beautiful dragon logo and if you guys are listening in, check us out on waima.com.au. Check out our logos, get a real understanding. That's our main school. So we thought, we're going to do some awesome new T-Shirts. We're going to have some lions and tigers and dragons and this and that and the other. We had a few people come back to us and go, "Hey guys, we spend a lot of money at your school to wear your brand. To wear your stock standard T-Shirt. We don't want to see you change that, we wear that with pride."

We just went, "Whoa. Far out." So it was just that consistency of branding. Yeah, you might have a few little different t-shirts. But we still have our main logo that is on there and that is what it stands for. So again consistency there. With all of our marketing material and when we get out and about, we would definitely have a little 1%. Little knick-knacks that are branded to the hilt, that we get to hand out and share. So it's little things that will add value to it, will help you stand out. But again making sure it's consistent with your niche client and what you stand for.

Phil: That's pretty much a wrap for this today's podcast topic on how do you build a great presence or brand. So that you can be seen as a leader in your industry, someone who stands out from the crowd. It's busy, it's a noisy world out there. We're not just in competition. We also, we're not in competition with other martial arts school. It's a lie, you are. But you also are going to look outside of your own niche as well, which is other sporting clubs, facilities as well. How are you going to stand out from the crowd? These are the tips and the tools that we've used to build our brand and be seen not just within our state, but within the whole of Australia. Obviously when we do traveling and go and speak on different stages and talking about what we've been doing, what we've done. We definitely raise some eyebrows. So let's fantastically share those tips and tools.

Graham: Guys, if you're listening in and watching. Feel free, team too, if you're concerned or would like some input on your brand and what you stand for. Drop us a line at admin at tima.com.au. Throw us a picture of your brand, throw us a picture of your logos, what not. Your marketing. We'll have a quick look at that and give you guys some insights on, if it was us. It was our school, what we would do. Sometimes having someone just soundboard, give you a few suggestions. May give you a different perspective on things, or again we might be able to go, hey pat on the back, you're on the right track and away you go. Don't forget, send us some of that stuff. Or if there is any other questions in regards to this topic about building your awareness and presence in your area, and becoming that go-to school. Drop us a line, we would love to help you out.

Phil: Cool. Guys, we do this podcast for you. So if you're enjoying the content. If you love what we do and you want more, please head to iTunes and leave a review. Give us a thumbs up, a thumbs down, whatever. We just want some sort of response on Facebook, on Twitter, whatever. Just let us know how you're enjoying it, the content that you are doing. If you're implementing any of this stuff, or it's just a great listen when you're in the car. We really want to help you out and that's the main thing and just to give you an update. We're updating all the video content on our member's area. So that's almost complete, we want to get that out to you guys and show you what the back-end of our members area looks like. So stay tuned and go get them this week guys, have fun.