Making the most of the back to school season to grow your martial arts business is critically important.

Here a few Martial Arts Marketing ideas…

1- Get your school some publicity it can be amazing for your reputation.

Back to school time is a perfect chance for to get some media coverage for your defeat the bully workshops.

Newspapers and TV Morning News Shows are open to your suggestions for a good story.

2- Get in with teachers and principles by being relevant.

We’ve found the “Goal Setting for Good Grades” talk really strikes a nerve during this time.

In the beginning of the school year teachers are receptive to anything that will help “ensure a successful school year for their students.”

3- Call, email and direct mail those old leads.

Most Martial Arts Business owners have of leads sitting there even if they don’t know it yet.

We all have prospects that have come in but for whatever reason did not join.

If you’ve been savvy about it– now’s the time to use some good email and direct mail marketing to those targeted lists.

You can also link your direct mail to Mobile Landing pages using QR Codes

4- Creative Events

We are looking to do something around “Do It” day to inspire our families and friends to take action on their goals.

We’ll also do something around “Women of Achievement Month.”

With special events you need to give them a “good reason” to attend and invite friends.

5- Adult Fitness

Targeted direct mail and savvy internet marketing to bring some adult members in is a must for back to school marketing.

Get out a piece of paper and let the ideas flow the more you do the more students you will get and better your martial arts business will be.

Once you list your ideas start right away on implementation. Some back to school marketing strategies will have long lead times. For example, if you want to work with a pre-school, daycare of after school program you need to contact the director at least a month in advance of when you want to teach a class for them.

The sooner you put your plan in motion, the sooner you’ll begin to see students come in to your school.

The key is to spend a little time each day planning your marketing. That’s what the most successful Martial Arts Business owners do.

Banks that are launching a product or service usually have a promotional campaign that is backed up by extensive research and in-depth study. This program or campaign can be supplemented by incentive marketing with equally good results. A bank-marketing program for providing incentives may consist of cash or non-cash incentives and these could supplement existing promotional campaigns like direct-mail as well as direct marketing. Good incentive marketing will result to improved rates of response and conversion.

Customer Benefits

The best tool for acquiring and maintaining a large client base is a bank-marketing program that provides incentives to clients. Incentives help improve an organization’s marginal income because they can easily turn leads into new clients. Additionally, existing clients become a better source of income as they engage in more bank-client transactions. To cite an example, a small token given to a prospective client can very well elicit a favorable response. Imagine if there was no incentive at all. Your prospective client would have turned his back at you and focused his attention elsewhere. Soon you’ll discover that your direct-mail or leads generating campaigns would have been rendered useless.

A marketing incentive helps to differentiate your bank from others in the market. Sending out the usual mail or email marketing communication can be more effective if you also include some sort of incentive. When an incentive is included, customers are more likely to read the communication and maintain their position on your mailing or email list.

Conquering through Incentives

The repercussion of a marketing plan that includes incentives would go beyond the cost of the actual customer benefit itself. The added worth may give an effect or sense of emotional and perceived value on the target market. A customer benefit-focused bank marketing plan will give that kind of feeling to the customers making them feel rewarded and appreciated. Letting your customers know that you are grateful for their business can keep them coming back.

Incentive marketing helps to develop trust from the client, and this will translate into the clients not only using more of your products and services, but also recommending you to other prospective clients. This can greatly affect the business’s bottom line and increase their customer base. The added bonus of this type of bank marketing is that the acquisition costs are minimal, with the referring client basically doing all the work for you, while you reap the rewards.

You do not have to be a well-known company to do well in the banking industry. The incentives that you offer your clients could also open new doors for you to increase public awareness of your bank or just to attain a goal of financial success. It is also helpful in surviving and expanding. In order to remain in the business, a lasting effect on possible customers is achievable through the use of incentive programs. Bank marketing strategies that include incentives for customers will quickly see the value and benefit of their investment.

Mailing brochures is an important part to any marketing effort. However, making the most of brochures is what matters most. Creating brochures that to be mailed is much different than brochures handed out in public settings. Mailing brochures invites the reader to take a look at the brochure in their personal setting. As a result, the brochure should have few essentials that other brochures might not have.

Your letter introducing your services should accompany the brochure. By doing this, the letter is read and provides a welcoming introduction for the prospect, and explains what your brochure entails. It also provides direction for the experience and directs the reader on what to look at first.

The letter should include a short introduction of your services, a background of the industry and a summary of what you can do for the customer. The brochure on the other hand will expand on the information that the letter provides and will give visual evidence of the success your business has created. It will also guide the reader through your thought process on your business. It can easily walk the reader from the starting point to the end. By doing this the prospect will fully comprehend what it is you are offering.

A few things to keep in mind include:

Personalization – make it as personal as possible – you are introducing your services to their home or place of business. Respect that courtesy by addressing the letter with proper “to” and “from” headers.

Colors – Make the brochure colorful for all readers. Prospects will need to have motivation to open your material. So include some creative designs and colors that will create interest in learning more about your company.

Die-Cut – Create a unique die-cut that will help instantly get attention to what you have to say. Try and think of unusual shapes that represent your business. This will be sure to instantly convey what you want your reader to know.

In the end, personalization is key. By mailing your brochures, you can take advantage of the unique opportunity by introducing your services within their personal space. This is a great way to connect with your customer on a personal level. Also, consider saving time and ask your printer about direct mailing services.

Melanie Turner is a Business student at Columbia University. She is also a Researcher at Deloitte Consulting where she works with expert marketing teams on Fortune 500 clients. As a growing expert in the field of marketing, Melanie aims to provide insights and resources to Small Businesses.

The Batteries Directive (91/157/EEC) was adopted by the European Union in March 1991. The Directive introduced restrictions on the use of mercury in most batteries and also encouraged the collection and recycling of disused batteries.

On the 26th September 2008, however, a new battery directive (2006/66/EC) came into force which repealed the previous Directive. The reason behind the change was that it was found that the majority of the objectives of the first Directive were not achieved as most portable batteries were still sent to landfill (although some countries did have efficient collection schemes in place) rather than being collected and recycled.

Portable

Portable batteries are used by both consumers and by industry. These are sold as individual batteries and also in equipment. Primary batteries reach end-of-life (when discharged) before the equipment and so many waste primary batteries will be available for recycling. Rechargeable batteries are sold as individual batteries or in electrical equipment and so many will reach end-of-life when the equipment’s life ends. As a result, the user will remove some and others would be removed by WEEE recycling schemes. Therefore any system for collection of portable batteries will need to account for all of these routes.

Options include:
• Take-back by retailers: This could be similar to existing distributor take-back schemes that are available for waste electrical equipment.
• Take-back by battery or equipment supplier: This approach is mainly appropriate for professional and industrial batteries although larger manufacturers could collect batteries from consumers.
• Use of compliance schemes: Several compliance scheme options are in place.
• Companies could be caught under both producer and retailer responsibilities in some countries (such as the UK)

It is probable that a combination of approaches will be used in a similar way that the WEEE Directive is implemented. One option is for the authorities to set targets for collection of waste batteries either for individual producers that have opted to collect batteries or for schemes that collect on behalf of members.

Batteries are already collected by WEEE compliance schemes when waste electrical equipment is disassembled. Most of these batteries will be portable and should be recycled.

Going forward batteries in equipment may have to be reported separately.

Industrial and automotive

If you are a Producer of Industrial and/or automotive batteries you need to register with BIS in the UK. You will also need to record the amount of batteries you placed on the market.

Although all producers must register, Member States may exclude “Small” producers (who sell only small numbers of batteries) from any obligation to finance collection and recycling of batteries.