Do you want to utilize Facebook to target potential new martial arts students or jiu-jitsu members but don’t know how? Marketing your business online can feel like a daunting task. You’ve spent so much time training in Taekwondo or jiu-jitsu, but learning how to market your business is a whole new type of “training” that can feel overwhelming to start. We’ve talked with many martial arts school owners about growing their business and where they need help in spreading the news. To make things simple and straightforward, we put together a step-by-step blog post explaining how to reach your target audience in your local neighborhood to gain new martial arts students or jiu-jitsu gym members.
1. Choose your Campaign Objective
When you’re using Facebook Business Manager for your business Facebook page, click on “create ad” to start the process of advertising to your future members. Facebook has a plethora of options to help you market to your audience, so it's important to pick the best strategy. If you’re just opening your business or wanting to get the word out, the best ad to start with is a Brand Awareness ad to build awareness of your business to those that live in the area. A Brand Awareness ad is part of the Top of the Funnel Marketing model (TOFU). The TOFU model starts with helping people in your area learn about your business name and recognize it when they drive by or when someone mentions it. In a later post, we will share Middle of Funnel (MOFU) and Bottom of Funnel (BOFU) strategies.
2. Choose the Audience Targeting
This part of the ad creation can make or break the success of your ad. Many business owners make the mistake of keeping the default audience settings, so ads end up targeting the wrong audience and burning through the budget quickly.
When choosing the audience, make sure to start with dropping a pin near your business location and choose a radius of 5-10 miles, depending on how large your town or city is and the population within that area. To think logically, ask yourself, “How far would a potential member be willing to drive to get to my gym?” Once you choose the location, make sure to change the age to your preferred range. You can even choose more detailed targeting in your area, depending on the population size. One idea would be to only include targeting people who are listed as parents of elementary-aged or middle school-aged children.
3. Choose your Budget and Schedule
The next part of creating your ad would be to choose the budget and how long the ad will run. Most localized campaigns do well if they run for two to four weeks. Any longer and it could cause the ads to run too frequently and people could start to become annoyed with seeing the ads so often.
4. Pick Your Image/Video To Promote
Picking the ad creative can seem like a difficult thing to do, but don’t make it too complicated! Start with one to two images of your martial arts school or your students in action. We recommend A/B testing with at least two different images so you can see which one performs better, and then pause the one that isn’t performing well. Sometimes you’ll be surprised with which image performs better. If you have great video content, you can also create a short video ad. The best ads are usually around 15 seconds, but Facebook does allow up to 60-second video ads.
5. Write The Text and Call Out For The Ad
After adding the creative image or video, you’ll need to write text and include a URL to your website so the user can learn more about your martial arts business. Keep the text short, simple, and to the point. What do you want your potential members to know about your business? What sets you apart from other martial arts studios or jiu-jitsu gyms in the area? For the headline, we recommend adding the name of your business and the city you are located in. That way people who see your ad understand you are a local business.
6. Launch!
Once you finish adding the text and headline, your ad is ready to be reviewed by Facebook and approved! After the ad goes live, make sure to check how it is performing every few days. As we mentioned earlier, it's beneficial to create one to two different ads with different images so you can see which one is performing better. It is also important to review the ads regularly in case someone comments on the ad and asks you a question.
We hope that sharing how to create a Brand Awareness ad on Facebook for your martial arts studio gives you the confidence to market your business smarter. Do you have any questions? Feel free to reach out to us! Next, we will be posting a more intermediate Facebook strategy for MOFU and BOFU marketing.