This Brooklyn martial arts school is nailing old school marketing. Big time!

This Brooklyn martial arts school is nailing old school marketing. Big time!

Online marketing hasn’t put an end to old school marketing. It never has and it never will. They compliment each other beautifully. You just need to know how to devise and implement a marketing strategy for your small business that makes best use of both. Today’s guest, Carmen Sognonvi of Urban Martial Arts in Brooklyn, is having huge success in this regard. As a result, she’s got a thriving family business, growing a strong list and punching way above her marketing weight! 

A few years ago Carmen’s husband, Serge had a serious car accident which forced them to make the decision to leave the corporate world and start doing more to help the community and focus on their dreams. Their martial arts business was born and they have had tremendous success helping kids develop character and physical fitness.

You are going to love this interview. Carmen is just killing it with her marketing and business savvy. I couldn’t wait to share all her ideas with you. Here is a snippet of what we discuss:

  • Using video to tell business stories about the business and the services available.
  • What major event helped them get the courage to chase a dream.
  • The benefit of financial strength and why not quitting your day job can help your business.
  • What old school marketing techniques are working.
  • How to use promotional booths to market your business.
  • How to create targeted marketing strategies.
  • How to use Infusionsoft to collect leads, segment the market, tailor your message, determine your return on investment.
  • The breakdown of the marketing groups that are working for her business.
  • The deliberate strategy they invested in to build their brand and makes them look and feel bigger than they are.
  • The benefit of flyers and ideas for getting them right.
  • What fields are best on your electronic lead capture form.
  • How to use signage effectively in your small business.
  • Using visuals to attract interest and engagement.
  • Ideas for newsletters and how they can add 20% to your business.
  • And plenty more.

Here’s the link to Carmen’s small business marketing blog.

This fireside chat really is full of marketing G O L D !

Listener question and feedback

  • Carl has an existing Direct Mail business and is hoping to launch a new business idea whilst managing a young family and his existing business, I give Carl some ideas on how to get started and turn it in to a social enterprise.
  • A listener with a physical therapy business shares how they have achieved some great success with their marketing.

 

Tim: Episode 163 of Australia’s # 1 marketing show. Listen in and you will learn how to integrate old school marketing, yes old school, with your online marketing efforts. Plus, I help a listener launch his passion project.
Welcome to the Small Business Big Marketing show where successful small business owners share their secrets to take your marketing to the next level. Now here is your host, Tim Reid.

Read more

 

Content Marketing Accelerator Webinar

I am really looking forward to my upcoming Content Marketing Webinar scheduled for Wednesday, 4 DecemberClick HERE to find out more and join fellow listeners to discover:

  • Why there’s never been a better time to market a small business.
  • What content marketing is.
  • Why it’s an important part of any small business’ marketing strategy in 2014.
  • My simple, 5-step pain-free process to swiftly implementing content marketing strategy.
  • How to define your editorial mission.
  • How to never run out of content.
  • 3 forms of content marketing to get you started.
  • PLUS question time.

PLUS Netregistry have an Online Marketing Workshop on Wednesday, 4 December at their Sydney offices. Click here to register … it’s free for SBBM listeners. Click ‘Register’ and type the promo code SBBM13 into the field.

Have you checked out the Small Business Big Marketing Forum? Each week we talk about different marketing and business experiences and help each other solve some interesting problems. Become a Member here.

Join the conversation by leaving a comment below or connect with me and other like minded listeners on the Small Business Big Marketing Facebook page, or join fellow motivated business owners in the Small Business Big Marketing Forum. Let’s get that marketing discussion happening.

Until next time, may your marketing be the best marketing …

Timbo Reid – Marketing Speaker
Host of Australia’s #1 Marketing Show

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15 thoughts on “This Brooklyn martial arts school is nailing old school marketing. Big time!”

  1. David Kidston

    Awesome interview Timbo, I absolutely love the mix of online and offline marketing. Each channel has its own strength and working them together can be greater then the whole. I love that you can pull this quality of interview together for us.

  2. Thanks David. This episode is a highlight for me. That whole online / offline discussion needs to be had (on-going) and this fireside chat with Carmen proves it. The bottom line is these two sides of marketing compliment each other – aren’t mutually exclusive and should be integrated in to all businesses marketing startegy.

  3. David Kidston

    I think this whole online/offline applies to many things. Big one that is very present is retail. As an architect my work is very much offline, but the exciting thing is thinking about how the online experience and the offline experience can inform each other and leverage each other.

  4. Carl Quested

    Could be some massive opportunities here, especially with the advent of 3D printing. Imagine being able to send your client their mock up, and actually have it created into a full 3D print, rather than just a CAD drawing!

  5. Carmen Sognonvi

    Hey David, I’m so glad you enjoyed our chat! Combining online and offline is definitely the way to go for big results.

  6. Carmen Sognonvi

    Hey Danny, sounds like it would be a great idea to implement a similar program at your music school! Just wanted to address your questions.

    1) In NYC, every public school student needs to have an emergency contact card on file at the school office. The school will only release students to the people listed on this card. So when a student joins our program, it’s the parent’s responsibility to make sure our names are added to this card, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to do the pick-up. Looks like you’re in CA so you could find out what the system is there.

    2) Our policy is that parents have to call us before 12 pm to let us know if a student is out of school that day, or doesn’t have to be picked up by us for any other reason. If they don’t call by 12 pm, we charge them a $25 no-call fee. This is an important problem to nip in the bud right away because it can really mess up the schedule if you’re running around the school looking for a kid who wasn’t there to begin with. Then what happens is the other kids miss their karate class, and it’s just not fair on the other students.

    Hope that helps! 🙂

  7. David Kidston

    Yes, absolutely. This can happen right now and a 3D printer is on my list of wants, but what if, your online store was to manifest its self physically on the high street. What experience could be added to the online store and the physical store that is not available in either right now. This is the space that I find could be really interesting.

  8. Arn Betteridge

    Great episode Timbo!
    In our rush to embrace all things digital we often overlook the offline strategies that are considered old school.
    Carmen reminded us that the tried & tested methods that have worked for ages are as relevant today as ever, we just need to strike the right balance and get them working in harmony.
    Mate, you are on fire!

  9. Carmen Sognonvi

    Hi Arn, I’m so glad you enjoyed the interview! One thing I didn’t mention during the interview that’s worth keeping in mind is that there’s more of a permanence to offline marketing. If someone gets a flyer or a postcard in the mail, sure, some may throw it out right away. But most of us procrastinate on getting rid of stuff, or we save it for later. We sometimes get calls in April from a flyer we handed out the previous September.

  10. Carmen Sognonvi

    My pleasure! Let me know if you end up doing this program. I’d love to hear how it goes. 🙂

  11. Arn Betteridge

    Good point, I know the side of my fridge looks like a vertical filing cabinet.
    Just loved the beautiful simplicity and clarity of thought to identify and segregate your targets.
    Thanks for sharing.

  12. Danny Thompson

    Do you have to get licensed in any way such as a daycare facility..

  13. Carmen Sognonvi

    Hey Danny, it really depends on the local regulations, and also on the specifics of what the kids will be doing in the program. I’d recommend finding out what city agency handles this kind of licensing in your area and get some advice from them.

  14. Jolie Dennison

    Brilliant episode, as always, Timbo! I’ve just come out of my busiest season of the year and starting my quietest season, so it’s a time that I always evaluate what I did last year and start making plans for the year ahead. One of the things I feel I could do way better on is building long term relationships with both existing and potential customers. I came away from this episode with several great ideas on how to do that. I know it’s something that Carmen just mentioned off of the top of her head, but the birthday club idea is one that could work particularly well for my business, so I’m gonna make it happen!

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