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[Kelly Knight]

Sarguy wrote:

"...don't forget Facebook ads! I hadn't given these much thought, but the other night on Coast to Coast AM the featured guest was the author David Kirkpatrick. He wrote a book on Facebook's pull as a social network. Apparently some ads are only "pay per click" and economical, and they have the advantage of being shown specifically to your target demographic. Kirkpatrick mentioned some business owners he met while writing the book claimed that Facebook was their sole source of advertising.

(I've paid attention to those ads in the past. The demos were right, but unfortunately they were for the "nearest" MA schools of a certain ilk, of which the closest was in Spokane, 2 hours away.)"

[Kelly Knight]

In today's age, I don't think it can be understated:

A website is one of the best marketing tools.

Without one, potential students can't find you. And with a crummy one, you can lose potential students...

Kelly Knight

[Kelly Knight]

Here are a couple of my thoughts on Facebook. I've shared these before here on the forum, but specifically for the Martial Arts Business Owner (MABO).

• You must be a member of FB to truly use FB (and the whole "friending" issue is a mess). While millions of people are, there are millions of people who aren't.
• FB is massively congested. But, then, what isn't these days?
• FB is easily controlled and updated by the owner of the group, page, etc. That's a BIG plus to a lot of less-than techie MABOs.
• While it may be less than desirable, I think it's worth every MABO's consideration. Personally, I hate FB. But, that doesn't make it a good advertising direction.

Kelly Knight

[Kelly Knight]

A fantastic way to get a cheap, good looking and informative web site is to get a blog. We have one and it's easy to update and we're getting a lot of hits on it. The cost is significantly less, too, than our standard web sites.

For MABO's without a designer budget or knowledge, it's incredibly easy to get a template that will fit anyone's advertising dollar, from free to a couple of hundred for a complex custom design.

This one seems like a no-brainer to me.

Kelly Knight

[Kelly Knight]

Back to Sarguy's original post in this thread, has anyone tried Google Adsense?

Kelly Knight

[Kelly Knight]

I took a look at the FB ads and like it. I'll give it a try. Very targeted and with a limited run just to get a feel for it, will report back with my findings.

Thanks, Sarguy!

Kelly Knight

[Kelly Knight]

So far: easy to create, easy to target and easy to track. We'll see what results, if any, there are.

Kelly Knight

[sarguy]

I'm interested in hearing how it goes. After writing my post about the FB ads, I started considering their usefulness for promoting a single event, say, a seminar.

[Kelly Knight]

Sarguy,

Here's my update so far. I created an ad that included the following parameters:

• 10 miles radius from the town my school is in
• All ages
• Pay per click, $20 daily maximum
• Duration: 9/1/2010 3:00 pm – 9/8/2010 3:00 pm
• Bid per click: $0.95

Results thus far....zero. Not a single click. But, that's a pretty narrow criteria, with a narrow duration. Maybe too narrow. But, I'm going to run it out until the 8th. After which, I will report.

Regardless of the result, I currently feel like it's a great deal. There has been zero investment on my part thus far and I can see others doing exactly what I have done, themselves (hellllooooo, Jim McCann to the white courtesy phone....!). Surely I will get ONE click sooner or later.

I'll be happy to help anyone interested in doing what I did or answer any questions I can with my limited knowledge. Just send me an email via my user name here on the forum.

Kelly Knight

[sarguy]

Kelly, just out of curiosity, does the ad refer people to a website you already have? I ask because I personally recall seeing an intriguing ad on a site other than facebook. Wary of spamware and page-jacks, I did a google search to find the site instead of clicking thru the original ad. So...the ad worked, but not in a quantifiable way as far as the ad software might show. If you haven't already, perhaps you might include a "how did you find us? Facebook? Phone book? Bathroom wall?" question on your contact forms.

And does your school have a facebook page of its own? It's free, and good for posting schedule changes, classes, events, publicity photos, networking with members (who, if you post on their "wall", will have something from your club for all to see, possibly increasing interest)

I have my july 2011 SFC seminar on there.

[Kelly Knight]

Sarguy,

Sorry, should have been clearer. My ad has a heading of "KarateROX.com", which is one of our URLs. There is an illustration of me in a Karate pose and the copy reads, "Martial arts for the entire family in Malvern, PA. Wing Chun, Kenpo Karate and more!".

And, yes, we always ask for "how did you find us" verbally and on our membership agreement form. I've been thinking about just putting a check box that says, "Word of mouth" on it, because that's how it is 8 out of 10 times.

Let me get back to later on the FB issue. I've got a lot to say about that!

Thanks!

Kelly Knight

[sarguy]

Wow, I just reread the last post I made (while sleep deprived). I sounded a bit presumptive. I dunno why I assumed you wouldn't have already been doing all of the above. I just got to thinking about how I avoided the "click-thrus" and wanted to mention that. Then the motor got running... Looking forward to your thoughts on the FB issue.

[rutleddc]

You need to increase your radius for the add. I'll bet the good students will be willing to drive up to 30 minutes for the right instruction.

[Hock]

Just like to say that I have seen people in our business use these click on ads, per click. And I have noticed that ALL of them have quit using them after a time. These are the national and international wannabe's. It seems that when the contract expires, they don't renew. Not local folks to local folks.

There are so many Krav Maga folks at large it is hard to keep track of whose-who, contracting what. And so many of the ridiculous "Fear No Man" ads.

The click-on ads require quite a seduction, from the initial contact on to the webpage on to the final sales pitch commitment. (and that little pop-up "don;t eave yet" ad the sales pros use when you try to leave. Miss a step and miss the seduction.

I for one do not follow any sales program such as this and am a poor example. Much to my own fault I guess. I am just a consumer looking at stuff.  And I am what I am and it is not shaped on a massive sales pitch idea first. So, I am not to be followed as an example.


Hock

[Benjamin Liu]

Does anyone have an idea of what distance/travel time to a school a "normal" person would consider reasonable?

At one time I traveled almost 2 hours each way to take a weekly class.  I'm not talking about people who'd do something like this, but more what an average person can fit into his/her schedule.