Consider that everything you put out in your marketing is part of the narrative that is the story you're telling the world about your dojo. Every advertisement, web page, social media post, and marketing piece tells a bit of that story.
Now, ask yourself--do you want that story to be consistent, or inconsistent?
Consistency is telling the same story several different ways through every marketing channel at your disposal. And, consistency builds trust.
On the other hand, inconsistency is saying one thing and doing another.
So, if your marketing narrative says that you and your school teach respect, courtesy, self-control, honor, and discipline...
...but you're mouthing off on Facebook daily about how such-and-such politician is a lying scumbag fascist who should never have been voted into office (and I've seen people make this very statement about each of the last three four five presidents we've elected into office), well...
...your ACTIONS are undermining your NARRATIVE.
This is what's known in the marketing world as creating cognitive dissonance. And it is a definite no-no when it comes to gaining new clients.
(Never mind the fact that you're being an offensive jerk online. I mean, if you're supposed to be this great martial arts teacher who has mastered the art of self-control and spent years developing self-discipline, one would think you'd also learned the art of keeping your mouth shut. But, I digress.)
The bottom line is that if you claim to be one thing, and your actions prove you to be another, thereby disproving your narrative, this makes you a LIAR in the eyes of the public. (Plus it makes you look like a negative person. And, no one wants to be around negative people.)
Now, you might respond to this by saying that your political position sits perfectly inline with your ethics and values.
Guess what?
No one is going to evaluate YOUR actions through the lens of YOUR ethics and values. Instead, they're going to judge your actions based on what THEY believe.
If you say something controversial that doesn't jibe with their values and ethics, they're going to see you as a lying liar who doesn't back up their words with actions.
And, they're going to pass your school up and go to another school where the owner doesn't give in to their childish compulsions... one where the owner has the self-control to actually avoid publicly weighing in on every single controversial topic.
The bottom line is that sharing your PERSONAL opinions with all and sundry hurts your PUBLIC image. And, it's costing you a lot more than you think in students and growth.
So stop sharing your every inner thought online. Stop weighing in on the controversial topic du jour on social media. Stop engaging in public arguments over things that are private matters.**
Once you do, you just might find that your enrollment numbers start going up. Or, you could keep sinking your own battleship with those loose lips. Your call.
Until next time,
Mike Massie
MartialArtsBusinessDaily.com
Quick-start Guide to My Books and Resources:
- Looking for a list of books and resources I've written?
Click here! -
Need business coaching to grow your dojo? Click here…P.S. - *By the way, if you're in the latter group--people who simply don't care--then please find another coach. Your refusal to follow sensible coaching advice makes you uncoachable. And, I don't need you telling everyone that my coaching advice "didn't work," when it's your own pig-headedness that's causing you to fail.
P.S.S. - **And just what are "private matters" to be avoided in online conversation? Politics, religion, and sex... remember when those topics were taboo, and never to be broached in polite conversation?
Some of you are too young to remember when it was considered crass to express your opinion about those three topics in public or with strangers. However, there is a very good reason why people avoided those topics.
And that reason is because it nearly always starts an argument when you bring up one of those topics in conversation. Consider that, the next time you feel the urge to let the world know how you feel about the latest object of the internet's moral outrage...
