Perhaps this has been covered before but....

How is everyone else doing for numbers in class? I have been teaching Shotokan Karate (with an element of kick boxing, Fitness and jujutsu) for 6 weeks now and numbers are still quite low. The people who do come along love it and say its really good but I would like to boost it up, i only have about 6 if they all turn up!
I have advertised on line at free ad sites, put some posters up around the college where I teach - how does your class/club go about promoting. Is everyone struggling at the moment? or is everyone doing MMA?
It is getting frustrating turning up having planned a good session with only a small amount of people.
Thanks. Charlie (4th DAN)

6 weeks is hardly an amount of time where you should be expecting large numbers of students. Be patient and diligent. It takes time to build up a school. How else are you getting the word out? Just having a school and putting up a few flyers is not going to assure dozens of new students arriving every week. Even established schools with large color ads in the yellow pages, newspaper, and even tv ads don't get huge numbers of new students all the time. It takes time and effort.

Some suggestions:
1- Are you doing demonstrations anywhere? Have a "Grand Opening" event and get the locals into the building for a free demo. Do demos at middle and high schools in the area. Do demos wherever and whenever you can do them and recruit people there. If you can afford it, maybe even offer a free bbq. Get out to the malls and wherever else people gather and promote your even. The people in your area need to see you and what you do. They won't come looking for you usually. Walk ins of people just passing by are a very low percentage.

2- Any other advertising aside from the flyers at colleges? That's just not enough if you want to have larger numbers of students. Again, get out and be seen. Online ads are going to be extremely low percentage because you're trying to get people within a few miles of where you are. Yellow page ads have always proved to be best options for all the school owners I've worked with. Even if you can only afford a very small listing, get in there. Most people don't pick a martial art, then go looking for an instructor in that art, and research that, etc. They open the phone book and find the one nearest to them and make phone calls. GET IN THERE! Just don't over spend becuase a half page ad won't necessarily bring any more students than a 1 inch square ad. Get what you can realistically afford. WHen things pick up, you can go slightly bigger. Take it slow on the spending because it will take a while to start turning a real profit.

3- Look at the other competing schools in your area. What are they doing to advertise? How are they getting people in the doors? What do they charge? You don't have to immitate them or charge the same, but it will give you an idea of what works with the poeple in your area.

4- Biggest thing is attitude. Be upbeat and positive. Be aggressive. Go out and KNOW that you have the best thing since sliced bread and the good people of your town need and deserve to learn from you. For the most part, new students are not buying Shotokan Karate, they're buying YOU and YOUR services. If you stay positive and excited, the people around you will be too.

I'm sure there's plenty more people on here with great advice. There's also good stuff in the sticky's in the business forum. But even when I was doing really well, I only brought in 2 or 3 new students a month. So it takes time. Six weeks and six students is a good number. If you can have 52 students by the end of your first year, you're making good progress. You will always need new students coming in on a regular basis. Slow and steady. People will quit, move away, lose interest, or just graduate to becoming instructors for you. (even then, the BB dropout rate is pretty big too) So just accept that from the beginning. You will always need to be marketing yourself and your school and always need to bring in new white belts regularly. Unless this isn't a business and you're just doing it for the art. In which case, keep it small. If you're doing the right things, your students and reputation will eventually bring in more. But it will be slow.

just my 2¢... Hopefully I didn't discourage you.

WOW!! what a great reply - thank you so much. just the advice I was looking for, I appreaciate your time in writing your helpfull info.

best wishes,

Charlie.

No worries. I hope everything works out for you. It's not an easy business.
Just don't ever fall back on your heals and coast. Keep the positive mood always and never stop going out and finding students and bringing them in. Drive your business always.
Good Luck.

I have the same issue with my class at the local rec. I'd love to boost my numbers, but since it is a part-time and barely paying gig, I'm more concerned with offering quality instruction. I assume that as the class goes on word of mouth will attract new members. If I were teaching in a commercial operation I would have ramped up my web advertising and invested in a good yellow pages ad a long time ago. I am hosting a small invitational event this year and my sense is that if it is well-received I'll probably generate some interest from that as the local Uni. club always has a few alumni and non-trads who are looking for a place to work out.

If you're interested take a peek at my site and offer suggestions.

I would also say, consider what time it is right now in the semester. Its November, weather is definitely a factor and so is school work and the students' schedule. Midterms are around the corner (or right now) so its hard to boost attendance. I'm part of the martial arts club here in my college and attendance usually starts off high at the beginning of the semester and then it starts to drop due to weather and school work.

I would say, try and set up some promo events or more/better ads for the next semester, since this one is already winding down. Goodluck!