I'd like to examine each of those elements in turn this week, to hopefully help you make your brand stand out among your competition.
Achieving Originality, Even When It's Discouraged
If you look up "originality" in the dictionary, you'll see that it means "the ability to think independently and creatively" and "the quality of being novel and unusual."
And as it so happens, both are necessary to achieving a truly original brand.
If you want to be an original, to stand out among all your competition, you have to be both capable and willing to think for yourself.
But sometimes that's difficult for martial artists to do. I mean, let's face it -- a lot of martial arts practice and instruction is very militaristic, and focused on conforming to a specific rubric, curriculum, and methodology.
Moreover, in the martial arts we spend quite a bit of time adopting a cultural identity. Sometimes that cultural identity is associated with the national identity of the style we practice, and other times it's related to the organization or school where we train.
This begs the question: If you're practicing an "art" that is steeped in a culture that stifles originality, how can you be an original without becoming an outcast in your own system?
Being Yourself While You Color Within The Lines
I believe it's important to remember that what happens on the floor is not impacted by what happens outside your doors. In other words, brand and image are just tools to get students on the floor, but they have zero impact on what you teach.*
Granted, you shouldn't advertise that you teach a certain style or system when you don't, or when you're not qualified to teach that style. But that's not what I'm talking about -- I'm referring to the outdated idea that dojo owners who are good at marketing are teaching crap martial arts.
That's a common theme among martial artists, and it's related to the mistaken idea that all financially successful schools are McDojos. That's rubbish, and I've dealt with it at length before so I won't belabor it here.
However, I will say that you can be fantastic at marketing your school and also be a fantastic instructor. The two are not mutually exclusive.
Likewise, what you do outside the classroom to market your dojo has no impact on what you teach on the floor. So, you should feel free to make your marketing, brand and image as unique as possible without fear of violating some cultural taboo in your style or system.
Finding Your Original Angle
Let's go back to the concept of creating a USP. Now, I know what you're thinking. "But wait Mike -- you said that USP's were worthless!"
Not exactly. What I said what that a USP by itself is worthless without a memorable brand. See, a USP that is merely a feature can easily be copied. But a USP offering a unique benefit that's coupled with a memorable brand... well, that's difficult to copy.
And to create a memorable brand, it often helps to start with defining your unique selling proposition. "Unique" being the key word in that phrase. This is where you're going to come up with your original angle, the thing that makes you stand out from the crowd.
What's Your Mission?
I've found that the best way to come up with an original angle is by defining the mission of your business. See, most businesses will try to be everything to everyone, and that's a good way to become a "me too" brand.
Yet, the businesses that stand out often have a clearly defined purpose -- in other words, they specialize. Maybe they specialize in teaching kids, or families, or in offering fitness programs, or self-defense.
By defining a target market and signature service, you're laying the groundwork for giving your dojo a unique identity in the market.
But just defining a market is not enough. You also have to define your reason why.
What Is Your Reason Why?
As I said, it's not enough to merely define a market. You also must have a reason why.
So, you say you specialize in teaching children. So what? There must be a thousand schools out there claiming the same thing. Why does that make your dojo special?
The answer is, it doesn't.
But if you say, "We specialize in teaching children how to succeed in school and life, because we truly believe in helping children achieve their fullest potential."
Aha! Now we're getting somewhere.
When you add in your reason why, that's when you start to define what makes you and your dojo unique. What I wrote above is still a little "me too," but at least now we're working with a USP and reason why that's capable of becoming a truly memorable brand.
Even so, it won't do you much good if it's not authentic, if it doesn't come from the heart. Because if it's not really coming from you and what you believe, then chances are good your USP and reason why will just be copycats of someone else's brand and image.
Tomorrow I'm going to discuss authenticity, and why it's important to be authentic when creating your memorable brand. Stay tuned.
Until next time,
Mike Massie
MartialArtsBusinessDaily.com
Quick-start Guide to My Books and Resources:
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Need business coaching to grow your dojo? Click here…P.S. - *When I started my first successful school, I did a lot of things that other people in my organization didn't do. For example, I did monthly belt striping, I awarded students for academic achievement, I taught mat chats, and I also developed a child safety curriculum for my younger students.
Sure, others scoffed at me for doing those things. In their eyes, all that extra stuff had nothing to do with the martial art I was teaching, and to them it was all fluff. Wasn't it enough to simply teach the art and nothing else?
However, what they failed to realize was that those extra things didn't detract at all from the art I taught. Instead, they were merely a natural extension of the brand I was building at the time. The art I taught was the same, but all those extra things I did helped my dojo stand out among the crowd.
And that's a big part of the reason why I never struggled to attract or retain students. Just something to think about, if you're worried about what others will think if you develop a brand that stands out.
