our marketing. We portray high-intensity classes in bag training, cardio and strength training and weight loss. The content and images in our promotional material reflect real moms, who are our target audience. Our current kids to adults ratio is 50:50, while before our switch to Muay Thai, children composed 70% of our students. We have a mailing list of target households within a five-mile radius of our school who make around $75,000 or more annually, and have kids who are four to fifteen years old.
Top: Muay Thai knee strike, Below: Muay Thai punch
What are the benefits of teaching Muay Thai Kickboxing? Anyone can do Muay Thai, whether overweight or with a knee injury. For instance, we don’t teach jumping kicks, so it’s a very realistic martial arts form. It fits adults well, as there are minimal chances for injury. How do you emphasize these benefits to your prospective students? We discuss the values and benefits of Muay Thai during our intros. Prospects come to us saying they want to lose weight. We ask why, and they usually say in order to gain confidence. We tell them that if they give 110% in class, they will lose about 800 calories in one session. We assign a life coach (known as program directors in other schools) to each prospective or new student. These life coaches meet with prospects and assist them. The life coaches give a fitness and flexibility test, then recommend the best type of class, depending on students’ lifestyles. What internal marketing strategies have worked best for you? Boot Camps: These cost $99 for a month of biweekly 45-minute sessions where we teach kickboxing, strength, and endurance training. After the four weeks, we do a call for action and let attendees put the $99 toward a down payment for the regular program. We encourage all attendees to bring their friends along. Usually, we have about 13–15 people each month. Constant Contact: We have collected numerous e-mail leads throughout the years. Through a program called Constant Contact, we do mass e-mailing to around 450 leads. We request that they forward our e-mail to their friends. After-School Program: We go to local schools and teach an after-school program to kids. Four lessons are taught at their school, but the fifth lesson, which is their graduation from the program, is at our school. We offer these kids two weeks of free lessons, and try to enroll them into our regular program. Community College Promotions: We have a community college nearby, where we promote our programs. Wind Banner: This has worked surprisingly well. In order
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to put up this 10-foot-tall banner, we had to get permission through the city, but the effort was worth it. We get numerous phone calls from people who notice the wind banner. Is there anything else you would like to mention to the readers of Eagle Express? Since my transition to Muay Thai, I have been contacted by many other schools wondering how I introduced the curriculum and belt system for Muay Thai. I have created a series of DVDs for school owners/instructors around the country who are interested in implementing my Muay Thai Belt System. This system has been endorsed by Kyoshi Steve LaVallee, president of MAUI, and Professor Garland Johnson. Anyone interested in learning more about this system can contact me by phone at (303) 7761887, by e-mail at htran@trans-mafc.com or visit our website at http://www.transkickboxing.com.