Okay, it's time to take what we've covered in this email series and apply it to building a marketing funnel.

Marketing Is A Moving Target

Before I get into this, I want you to understand that your marketing machine is a moving target. Many school owners get into trouble because they get locked into one way of marketing... the "we've always done it this way" syndrome.

Folks, we live in an age of disruption. Technology has become integrated in our daily lives, and new technologies disrupt markets and industries almost weekly. 

Therefore, you can no longer live under the deception that it's okay to be married to a particular marketing channel or vehicle. The days of picking a marketing racehorse and betting on that same horse for years are gone. 

What I'm telling you is that you need to be responsible for keeping up with current trends in marketing, because if you get stuck on one method and it goes away, and you don't have something else lined up to replace it, it could tank your business.*

Alright, enough caveat emptor/caveat lector talk. Let's get on with the good stuff.

A Look at a Martial Arts Marketing Funnel

Let's take a look at a hypothetical martial art school marketing funnel, based on a consumer's progress through the six buyer phases from Phase One to Six.

Step 1 - Discovery

We know that in this phase the consumer has just become aware of your business, product, or service. This is the broadest end of your marketing funnel, the place where you are casting the widest net.

Perhaps they heard about you through seeing one of your marketing pieces around town, or maybe they got a flier or door hanger on their door. Or, maybe they saw your ad on Facebook or Google, or perhaps they heard about your program from a current student who just can't stop talking about you.

However they heard about you, it was only because you made sure they had ample opportunity to see your business everywhere, and you're not hiding yourself under a rock thinking people are going to show up at your door because you're special.

Step 2 - Awareness

This is the phase where you've gotten the consumer's attention and they're starting to notice your marketing around town. That old saw in marketing about how a consumer needs to see your ads at least seven times before they buy has some merit to it, and this is where it plays out.

Again, if you're hiding yourself under a log most consumers will never get past this step. For that reason, this is where many schools will see potential students drop out of their funnel. 

Here's how that works...

Let's assume they heard about your school from their friend, one of your students who raves about your programs. You're thinking, "Great! Next they'll call me and sign up, right?" 

Sure, the consumer heard great things about you, but you're not in the forefront of their mind yet. So they're thinking, "Oh, I bet that would be good for my kids. I'll look that up just as soon as I get a chance." 

Then a pipe breaks in their house, or the deadline for their big project gets moved up at work, or a family member falls ill, and soon they've forgotten about you completely.

This is why you need ubiquitous marketing, marketing that is everywhere. Because if you don't have it, you're going to lose referrals to other schools. 

Speaking of which...

Step 3 - Research

Ah, the research stage... where schools with superior marketing stomp schools with crappy marketing into bloody little pieces in the dirt.

Believe it or not, most of your sales are made here and at the next stage. Want to know why? 

Simply put, these two stages are where you win or lose in the battleground of the potential student's mind. And once you've won there, the only thing you can do to lose them is to screw up in some way while they are trying to hand you a check.**

Now, you might think that because the potential customer heard about your school first that you have this in the bag, but you'd be wrong in that assessment. See, this is where Google plays a key role in who wins the prize.

At this stage, the potential client is going online and comparing different dojos to yours. Sure, they're searching for your school to see what you have to offer. 

But they're also thinking, "What if this other dojo that shows up higher in Google has something better? Or look at this ad over here... that looks like a much better deal!" 

So at this point they're comparing everything on your website or Facebook page or whatever their preferred information channel is to that of your chief competitor's presence on that channel or channels.

Now they're thinking, "Wow, why does this other school look so much more professional than the school that my friend told me about?" Or, "Why does school 'X' have so many more reviews than this other place?" Or, "There's just not any information online for school 'A', so I'm leaning toward this other place I found."

See how this works? You get one chance, ONE, at this stage to capture their attention and convince them you're their best choice for martial arts and self-defense training. Flub this step, and your competitor will snatch them up, no matter what their friend said or whose ads they saw first.

So, the school with the superior marketing will win at this stage every time.

Step 4 - Word-of-Mouth

This is where they'll go after they look at your website, social media pages, and so on. If you passed muster by putting your best foot forward and providing them with enough information and the right message, now they'll need to verify their hunch with social proof.

First stop... your testimonials while they're on your site. But they'll also want testimonials from a completely neutral source, so next they'll go to Yelp, Facebook, and Google to check out your reviews.

Oh, snap! Remember that client you screwed over six months ago? She moved away due to a job transfer, but you made her pay the balance on her membership. Yeah, that extra $150 a month was simply your due, or so you told yourself. I mean, a deal is a deal, right?

But now your lame-ass greed and douchery is coming back to haunt you, because that former student left a "War and Peace" length review telling everyone how you dicked her over. And she's not the only one.

So Sally Consumer who is now in the Word-of-Mouth stage is going to read those reviews and click the "nope" button on contacting your dojo.

But if you've done things right and racked up a ton of positive reviews? Well... as they say, the check is in the mail.

Step 5 - Purchase Decision

This is when they decide to contact your dojo. It's also usually when the prospective student will sign up for your newsletter, which is your opportunity to use email marketing to help you close the deal.

Once you have that lead in hand, or once they contact you to inquire about lessons, it's really just a matter of not screwing things up on the phone or in your emails. Again this is more or less a sales issue and not a marketing issue, but it's important to note that the two work hand-in-hand during this process.

Step 6 - The Sale

Now is where they are ready to purchase, and unless you make things incredibly difficult for them they're going to buy. 

Do you make it easy for your customers to buy from you? Do you provide them with multiple ways to purchase? Or do you make them jump through hoop after senseless hoop in order to give you their money?

One important concept to understand here is the "trigger sale." This means giving the consumer an opportunity to make a small, low-risk purchase with you, something that's easy to "pull the trigger" on, so to speak.

This might be for a short term course or intro lesson package, or whatever, The main thing is to make it easy for the prospective student to buy from you, to actually ACT on their purchase decision.

Because once they do, they're now invested in your school, emotionally and financially. Now it'll be much easier for them to take that final step and become a regular student.

And that's how a consumer might work their way through your marketing funnel.

- - - 

Are you beginning to see how a marketing funnel actually works? This is just one example, but hopefully it'll help you visualize how consumers go from suspect to prospect to buyer.

Please note, not everyone goes through all these phases. Some consumers will just call you up and enroll, but they are the exception and not the rule. Sadly most school owners rely on those exceptions for their daily bread, and that's why they struggle.

If you want to avoid financial struggles and never have to worry about your dojo's finances again (which frees you up to do what you love, teaching), then you need to build a marketing and sales funnel that casts a broad net, one that leads potential customers step by step to your front door.

Coming Next...

Tomorrow is Friday, so I'll be sending out my usual random Friday email. But Monday we'll return to this series with a few final messages to wrap it up... and I'll talk more about the mechanical steps to a marketing funnel, with some examples of how that might work.

Stay tuned!