How to Quickly Reel in New Martial Arts Students with Online Classifieds, Part 1

Maybe you’ve used online classifieds sites like Craigslist for buying and selling. These sites are extremely popular for purchasing transactions, but you may have not known that they’re a powerful source of new students, too.

In fact, in the early days of the martial arts fitness franchise I started (iLoveKickboxing.com), online classifieds were the biggest source of new students for our locations. It wasn’t rare for locations to get one to two new enrollments a day from them. In this article, I’m going to share with you the secrets we use to create student-grabbing ads. Then, in Part 2, I’ll share tricks and secrets for getting the most out of your ads.

Step 1: Posting Title

The first thing potential clients see is your posting title. It’s a short headline that convinces them to click on your ad. Most schools (and businesses in general) come up with some pretty lame posting titles. You’ll typically see things like “Martial Arts Academy” and “Martial Arts Training.”

While these headlines describe who you are or what you do, they fail to give people a good reason to click. Rule #1 in advertising is to describe the benefits people get from what you do. Instead, put a posting title such as, “Learn Self-Defense & Get in Great Shape (Martial Arts)” or “Learn Powerful Self-Defense. Click for an Amazing Offer!”

These headlines talk about some of the biggest benefits people look for in Martial Arts, and the second one combines that with the promise of a great offer.

Step 2: Creating Your Ad

You don’t need a complicated ad to thrive on online classifieds. You just need a few things: Headline, testimonials, and a great offer. Your headline should be in big, bold text. It should do a few things: tell people benefits of your program, say what your program is, and say where your program is.

For example, “Discover Ancient Self-Defense Secrets in Our New York Kung Fu Classes” or “Keep Your Family Safe & Sound With Our Atlanta Martial Arts Classes.”

Now you want to add two to three testimonials. Make sure they’re not too long (just a few sentences each) and make sure they go over the benefits that people really want from your classes (e.g. fitness, self-defense, community, support, etc.). To go the extra mile, pick a great sentence from each testimonial, bold it, and put it in quotes above the rest of the testimonial.

For example:

“Amazing, Supportive Instructors.”

“The Atlanta Martial Arts Academy has such amazing, supportive instructors. They really take the time to guide you through every move while keeping class exciting and fun. Can’t recommend this place enough!” – Jim Stevens

Finally, conclude your ad with an offer and call to action. You want your offer to be in big, bold text too. For example, “Try Out 3 Classes & Get a FREE Uniform for just $19.99! Call 111.222.3344 now.”

Ideally, you want to link your ad to your website. Then your call to action can read like this: “Try 6 Weeks of Kids Martial Arts for Just $69 & Get a FREE Uniform (a $35 value!). Call 111.222.3344 now or visit www.Website.com.”

Make it simple. No complicated directions.

Step 3: Don’t Make These Ad-Killing Mistakes

There are some common mistakes that too many martial arts school owners make when posting ads online. The first is to talk all about your school: when it was founded, its history, your history, the history of your master, etc. When people first look into your school, they really don’t care about any of that. They want to know if you have what they’re looking for, if you’re close by, and if you have a good offer. That’s it. Focus on benefits and a great offer. Leave out all the rest.

The second mistake is to write your ad as one giant paragraph. No one is going to read a thick paragraph on a site like Craigslist. Have no more than two to three sentences in a paragraph. Keep the sentences short. (However, if you follow the formula above, you don’t need to worry about paragraphs at all.)

Make one ad per program. If you have a kids and adult martial arts program, make an ad for each. Parents looking for martial arts for their kids have no desire to read about your adult programs. The same goes for adults looking for a program for themselves.

Next time I’ll go over some tricks and secrets for even more success. Stay tuned for Part 2.

About the author: Michael Parrella is the founder and CEO of Full Contact Online Marketing, a Martial Arts Website Design and Development company, the iLoveKickboxing.com Fitness Franchise, MAPRONewsletter.com, and several top-grossing kickboxing facilities in New York. He is also a published author and an MASUCCESS Monthly Columnist.

Michael has several Coaching and Mastermind programs that he runs for Martial Arts school owners of all levels and styles. You can reach him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/michael.parrella1 , email him at Michael@FCOnlineMarkeitng.com or contact him at 516-543-0041.

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