How to Market a Martial Arts School: Put Eight Lines in the Water

Marketing is just shouting from the rooftops about the lives you’ve changed.

The problem is, most martial arts school owners are only shouting from one rooftop.

One method. One line in the water. And then they wonder why some months they enroll twenty, and some months they enroll two.

If you want to know how to market a martial arts school without that gut-punch of an empty appointment book, it comes down to one idea. Stop fishing with one line.

It’s Not That You’re Lazy. You Just Picked the Easy Line.

Here’s what most owners believe: “I just need to find the ONE marketing thing that works.”

So they go find it. Usually the easiest one. Buying ads. Or praying for referrals.

I say praying because you can ask for referrals, you can run a referral program, but you have no real way to set goals based on other people’s actions. You are WAITING for someone else to remember to tell their friend. Same thing with leaning only on word-of-mouth.

Now hear me. Ads aren’t bad. Referrals aren’t bad.

RELYING on one of them is.

Anyone who relies on only one form of marketing will always experience slow growth and pain each month.

Think about how much of a single marketing method is out of your hands. The algorithm. Your 18 competitors all running ads at the same time. Whether someone stops doom-scrolling long enough to care.

You don’t control any of that.

The Fishing Charter

Last summer, a few of my buddies decided to go deep sea fishing.

I had been before and had a blast. Caught a ton of fish, loved the thrill of reeling them in. So I knew this would be a great time to do something fun and reconnect with my friends.

When we left the dock, I watched the deck hands start baiting eight poles, throwing them all overboard, letting the lines run out behind the boat. And I thought it was odd. There were only four of us.

So I asked. Why eight poles?

“You catch more fish.”

It hit me the next day. THIS is exactly why we use many ways to market our martial arts schools. We never rely on just one way to fill up our appointment books.

It reminded me of something a mentor of mine used to say.

“There is not one way to enroll 20 students a month. But there are 20 ways to enroll one new member each.”

We always think there is a magic bullet. The shortcut. The one method that performs every time, every month, and enrolls everything we need.

There isn’t. There never will be.

One month a mall booth gets you 10 new students. The next month, that same booth gets you nothing. It worked perfectly last month and falls flat this month. Maybe people didn’t show. Maybe your team wasn’t prepared. Maybe it rained.

There are no guarantees with marketing. So you stack the deck in your favor.

You throw eight lines.

If one or two go cold, you’ve still got six pulling for you.

From Instructor to Instructor AND Marketer

Here’s the thought that keeps schools small.

“But I’m an instructor, not a marketer.”

I get it. I thought it too.

Then it hit me. There were people in my community who, if I didn’t help them, maybe no one else would. And I KNEW I could help them.

That changed everything. Marketing isn’t selling. Marketing is just making sure the people you could help actually find you.

I owed it to them. I owed it to my business. I owed it to my family to get great at being an instructor AND a marketer.

So I went and learned the skill. I even wrote a book on it.

Not because I love marketing. Because I love what happens when the right family walks through that door.

Before You Cast: Marketing Is Just Shouting About Transformations

You have seen the transformations. You’ve been the one who caused them.

The shy kid who became outgoing and confident. The stressed-out adult who finally found energy and purpose. The kid who used to get bullied, now standing up for himself without fear.

So here’s your first assignment, before you ever run a single ad, or schedule your first internal event.

Make a list of every transformation you have been a part of. Real names. Real kids. Real adults.

Two things happen when you do this. It builds YOUR confidence and your hunger to go help a lot more people. And it hands you the exact stories your marketing needs.

Important work.

Because you can’t market a transformation you can’t remember. Write them down first.

The Eight Lines You Can Cast This Month

I think best in lists, so here is a list.

These are your lines. You don’t throw them all out tomorrow. You pick the ones that fit your school and your community, and you start casting.

Digital lines:

• Facebook ads
• Google search ads

Event lines at your school:

• Birthday parties
• Parent’s Night Outs
• New student orientations
• Buddy weeks
• Free community events

Out-in-the-community lines:

• School talks
• Demos at local places
• Mall booth
• Booth at a local business, carnival, or school
• Offer a local business an event at your school

Relationship lines:

• Referral program
• Talking to strangers in public
• Grabbing attention at your location to inspire walk-ins

I have a bunch more. But this gives you a great start.

This is also where the rest of your community presence pays off. The more you show up everywhere in your community, the more those lines start working together.

Read Your Market First: Which Lines to Cast

The eight-lines rule is universal. The eight lines YOU choose are not.

So read your market before you pick.

If you serve mostly kids and families: school talks, parent’s night outs, birthday parties, and buddy weeks tend to pull hardest. Go where the parents and kids already gather.

If you serve mostly adults: corporate lunch-and-learns, local business events, and community fitness events usually beat a bounce-house birthday party.

If you’re in a dense, mall-heavy market: booths and demos with high foot traffic can be gold.

If you’re in a spread-out rural market: referral programs, school partnerships, and digital may carry more weight than a booth nobody walks past.

Don’t copy another school’s eight lines. Pick the ones that match where YOUR future students actually spend their time.

Now an important note. I have heard all the excuses.

“I tried that before, didn’t work.” “My area is different, that won’t work here.”

But when I dig a little deeper with the owner, I find out they only tried it a couple times. Or they put in a half-hearted effort. Or it seemed like work, so they dismissed it before they ever really did it.

There is no try. You either do it with all your might, or you don’t do it.

I like this quote:

“You already teach your students that growth comes through challenge. Run your business the same way.” - Ron Sell

Partly because it’s my own quote. But mostly because it reminds us to walk our own talk. To do what we teach.

Business is hard, at first. Do it anyway.

You know what else is hard? Your business failing. Telling your current students you are closing up shop. Telling your family, “It didn’t work out.”

Sometimes we just have to choose our own “hard.”

You Will Suck at First

Here’s the truth nobody tells you.

You will suck the first 100 times you try these.

Just like the first time you threw a spin kick. Sloppy. Off balance. Nothing like your instructor’s.

Takes real repetition to get great at anything.

Marketing is a skill, not a personality trait. You drilled your front kick a thousand times. Drill this the same way.

And this one matters MORE than most drills. Because it affects your business AND every future student who needs the transformation only you can give them.

How to Start Without Drowning

Eight lines sounds like a lot. And it IS, if you try to start all eight tomorrow.

So don’t.

Pick 3 of the eight to start. Go ALL in. Give it everything you’ve got.

After a while, those three get easier. More reps. Less friction.

Then add a fourth. Then a fifth. Then a sixth.

Soon, eight lines in the water feels normal. THAT is when growth stops being a guessing game.

And once those lines start filling your calendar, make sure you turn those leads into booked trials. Catching the fish only counts if you get it in the boat.

You’ve Got This

You already mastered something most people quit on.

You earned your black belt one ugly rep at a time.

You can do the exact same thing with marketing. Same discipline. Same repetition. Same refusal to quit.

You learned to fight one rep at a time. You’ll learn to fill your school the same way.

Let’s Take Action Today

Do today: Write down every student transformation you can remember. Then pick ONE new line to cast this week, one you are not doing right now. Commit to it for the next three months.

Your turn: How many lines do you have in the water right now? And which one are you adding next? Sound off below.