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The Perfect New Member Welcome Letter for Gyms and Martial Arts Schools

March 4, 2022 by Spark Team Leave a Comment

If you are reading this article, congratulations are in order. The most difficult task of your marketing efforts is to find, and eventually convert, your new members. This is not the end, but rather, the beginning of a long-lasting relationship with the client if they choose to stay at your facility. With over 50% of new members quitting within the first 6 months, there are steps you can take to ensure that this attrition is minimized as much as possible.

One of the simplest, yet most effective methods is to provide a welcome letter to your new member, especially a hand-written personalized note. This not only shows that you care, but increases the likelihood that the new member feels accepted, and may even be open to an upsell, such as personal fitness packages. In this article, we will talk about welcoming new members, and provide a sample template for your use.

How Do You Welcome a New Club Member

When welcoming a new member, it is important to follow certain steps to properly assure the client that their decision to sign up and stay with you will be rewarding. Members are made and lost within the first few interactions, so it is common to identify new members within your gym management system so that your front office and gym staff know they should be extra helpful and available for questions. Prior to meeting any staff, the first interaction that the client has with your gym is through the welcome package that you provide them.

Further below, we have prepared a sample template for you to use in your next email or mail campaign to send to your new members. The key points of this letter must always be followed at a minimum so that the clients who register with you receive instant gratification upon signing up. You can create your own letter as well, using the following steps as a guideline:

The member must be thanked for choosing you.

The member must be reassured immediately to prevent buyer’s remorse if there is no contact.

Provide next steps, such as when to come to get set up with their equipment and tour.

Links to where they can learn more, such as your website and Google reviews.

The best contact information if they have any questions.

How Do You Write a New Member a Welcome Letter

When distributing your welcome letter, this can be done both manually by handwritten note or through email. If you are a gym that has many new and existing members, it can be extremely difficult to send these emails out on time without a dedicated task force within your team to deliver these messages in a timely manner. The best solution is to try Spark Membership, which is the #1 gym management software. Spark offers automated email messaging, mailing, staff coordination, scheduling, class reminders, and much more, all at the convenience of your smartphone. Try it now for just $1.

Below is a sample new member welcome letter that you can use to reinforce your member’s decision to join your facility.

Hello [MEMBER NAME],

Welcome to the [NAME OF FACILITY] family/group!

By making this positive decision to join, you have already taken the initial step on your fitness journey, and we are extremely grateful you chose us. We are happy to walk with you on the path to achieving your personal health and fitness goals!

You can get started by collecting your [MEMBERSHIP CARD/KEY FOB] from the front desk. At that time, we are happy to provide an introductory session to review your goals and create a customized plan that best suits your needs. If you have not yet seen the facility prior to signing up, we are more than willing to give you a tour of our facility to better coordinate your workouts, including the personal training room for more customizable options.

Our hours of operations can change depending on certain events and holidays. This is a friendly reminder to always check class schedules prior to attending your workout. To learn more about our facility’s offerings and scheduled classes, click here [WEBSITE URL]. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to give us a call: [PHONE NUMBER] or simply reply to this email (or insert your best email if it is sent from a no-reply mailbox) and we’ll endeavor to get back to you within the next business hours.

We want to congratulate you on taking the first step in your fitness journey—you should be very proud of yourself, and we’re excited to be your gym of choice to achieve this!

See you soon!

[NAME, DATE]

Streamline your member welcome process with Spark Membership Software. Efficient, easy-to-use, and just $1 to start, it’s the ideal tool for enhancing your gym’s member experience.

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The Best Martial Arts Summer Camp Idea To Increase Attendance

February 25, 2022 by Spark Team Leave a Comment

During the summer, students have much more time available on their hands to attend and attain their next level of training. Not only this, but parents are often looking for ways to keep their children occupied during the summer holidays so that they can focus on their regular schedule. Hosting a martial arts summer camp not only serves to alleviate this issue for parents but also creates an additional income and branding possibility during the summer holidays. Below, we will explore a great martial arts summer camp idea, and how to keep training fun and interesting.

How can I make martial arts fun

On a regular curriculum, most martial arts studios adhere to a strict training regimen to develop discipline and confidence in their students. As such, children may be used to a more rigorous class environment, and may not consider their training fun. Summer camps provide a great way to not only show that martial arts are a great lifestyle, but they can also potentially attract new members to the camp that will eventually become regular members during normal hours. In fact, you may already be incorporating some of the things that wellness living writes about making martial arts interesting and engaging for children.

Gamification

This is true not just for children, but for adults as well. In the process of learning, the gamification of activity creates incentives for students to work towards getting better. For example, it is common for children to refuse to do proper pushups or to learn proper stances. A common method of making this fun is to incorporate music and rewards based on the amounts of pushups completed, as well as naming stances after animals and fictional creatures that the student can adopt as their avatar for the class.

Validation

Children need much more attention and validation of their actions to build self-confidence. After all, they have much less life experience and have difficulty discerning between right and wrong. Praise often and praise sincerely, for any little action that was a step towards success.

Competition

This can also be combined with gamification to produce lasting results. For example, sparring is a staple across all martial arts disciplines and is something both children and older students look forward to. Further, dividing students into groups and assigning each a color, and having them create a team name and motto will bring a sense of accomplishment and ownership for their team to win.

Best summer camp activities

Turning your martial arts academy into a summer camp can be challenging yet extremely rewarding. Prior to setting up, it is important to properly notify your staff and change the schedule for the new environment. Furthermore, this takes new email notifications, marketing and onboarding, payments, and reminders to both the students and the parents. You must also arrange for after-camp care in case parents are late for pickup. Having academy management software makes this simple. Spark Membership is the best on the market, and you can try it for just $1. Now that we’ve gone over the 3 key things that make martial arts fun for students, let’s go over the best martial arts summer camp idea below:

Themes

Martial arts are usually done in uniform, but summer camp is about mixing curriculum with a fun environment that they would usually have at a normal summer camp. Depending on how many weeks the summer camp takes place, children enjoy having themed days (or weeks). For example, if following a standard 6-week summer camp schedule, every Friday could be a themed day, where students don’t wear their uniform. Common themes include superheroes, animals, video game characters, and movies.

Obstacle courses

Instead of a standard warm-up, some days can feature an obstacle course prior to the day’s lesson. This can also be pivoted into a race, and the students can be divided into teams to cheer on their runners.

Wood breaking competitions

This may be something that is found in a standard curriculum to demonstrate the technique, but every martial arts student dreams of breaking multiple cinder blocks with a single strike, as can be seen in popular shows and movies. Encourage students to bring in as many boards as they can break, or provide re-breakable boards

Team contests

This can incorporate many different activities including sparring, kata, knocking over pads/dummies, races, obstacle courses, and many others.

Sensei says

A popular game among students of the martial arts is “Sensei Says”, which is similar to “Simon Says” but only related to martial arts techniques or movements. For example, have your students practice their kicks, strikes, and blocks, but only if preceded by “sensei says”. If not, they are eliminated

Belt “tag”

One student is “it” and places a flag or clothing pin behind their back. The rest of the students will chase the one who is “it” and try to recover the item. Incorporate this with self-defense and grappling to make it a more instructive environment.

You may also want to read What Are People Looking For in Online Fitness Classes.

How To Easily Maximize Your Capacity For Adult Martial Arts Classes

February 11, 2022 by Spark Team Leave a Comment

The Top Reasons Why People Join Adult Martial Arts Classes

Martial arts rose to prominence in America after World War 2, as officials and government advisors saw the need for a disciplined combat system to train soldiers in close combat when faced with dangerous situations that do not call for loud or ranged weapons. As a martial arts gym owner, it is important to remember the origin of how this came to be, as the word “Martial” pertains to military training. While most martial arts schools cater to families and children, adults make up a larger and growing demographic of the market.

According to research, the top reasons for adults joining martial arts classes were fitness, self-defense, and discipline. For those that are not looking for a traditional gym and workout environment, seeking alternative choices, such as martial arts, dance and group classes are a great substitute and have a ready market at hand. Furthermore, many adults that attend follow available due to the improvements they’ve seen in their children’s discipline and confidence, or have studied a form of martial arts themselves when they were young and would like to further that training now that they have more independence and resources available.

Promoting Adult Martial Arts Classes

Advertising classes for adults should not be any more difficult than promoting other demographics and counterparts. The most important thing to remember is that your branding should match your ideal member, and focus on targeting those pain points rather than catering to a general audience. If you are already catering to young and teenage children, you can easily pivot to the parents and offer special promotional deals and classes so that they can try out your services before making a full transition.

Most martial arts classes demand a significant time investment at multiple hours of the week to advance to the next belt. While it may be easier for children to be dropped off and picked up outside of school hours, adults are busier and more concentrated schedules. Before beginning to market your services, setting up a proper onboarding and intake infrastructure, combined with flexible scheduling should be established so that adults can make proper advancement towards the next dans, stripes, belts, or levels

💡 Mixed martial arts (MMA) fans have long debated which combat style is the most dominant. Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), kickboxing, boxing, Muay Thai, Taekwondo, and Karate are the principal fighting techniques featured in the UFC.

Ways to Market Your Martial Arts Club to Adults

Focused targeting

Keeping in mind the statistics presented at the beginning of the article, your message must incorporate the top three main pain points: Fitness, Discipline, and Self-Defense. This means that not only must the messaging contain all three of these solutions, but it must be targeted to the specific niche that requires this solution. For example, self-defense may be easy to promote to children in alliance with anti-bullying measures and organizations.

However, self-defense is a more sensitive subject for adults. A state study concluded that women felt more confident and were able to defend themselves after completing a form of martial arts. It is important to incorporate this in your messaging.

Where is the attention

World-renowned disruptor and marketing genius Gary Vaynerchuk always mentions in his talks and interviews that the purpose behind marketing is finding where your ideal customer spends their time and attention. This is where creating an ideal consumer checklist becomes extremely important, as you can figure out where they spend their free time. For example, when targeting parents of your younger students, a great first place to advertise would be at the entrance to your dojo, with clear promotions and messaging. Other places could include more traditional gyms and health services, such as dietitians and physiotherapists.

Partnerships

As a seaway to the above, creating partnerships and referral programs with other businesses related to your niche can create a symbiotic relationship of referrals between each other, oftentimes without the need for monetary compensation. This can be taken a step further and incorporated into a wellness or class program at workplaces and other gyms. For example, many benefits include health and wellness allowances for certain workplaces, so scheduling a program and demo class can attract those employees to attend your classes to spend their health and wellness credits.

Get social

Did you know that 85% of Americans have a smartphone and 97% have one form of a cell phone? This means that every adult that is sitting in your dojo or looking for your services is searching for them online. If you are not regularly posting on your pages, asking for reviews and testimonials, and are not placing engaging videos of your classes, you may be missing out on an enormous revenue stream.

Automate

Once you develop a marketing strategy, the best thing to do is automate and scale it while analyzing metrics to make informed decisions. This also means coordinating staff, incorporating new payment messages, scheduling new classes and members, and developing and onboarding infrastructure. This shift can be extremely daunting without a proper system in place. Spark Membership is the number one martial arts and member management full-service software on the market, and you can try it for just $1.

Automate every part of your business.

Guide To Martial Arts Billing: Top Tips For The Gym Owner

February 5, 2022 by Spark Team Leave a Comment

The Best Features That Every Martial Arts Billing System Should Have

One of the biggest challenges when starting your business is figuring out the logistics of payment. After setting up the business and getting ready to receive members and clients through your efforts, billing becomes an important factor. After all, the basic definition of a business is a service provided, a paying customer, and a place to transact. Your clients will want to pay in several different ways, and you must be ready to accept this payment if you’d like to run a successful business. In this article, we will explore the most common mistakes and issues that can occur during the setup of your billing process, and ultimately, the solution.

Martial Arts Billing: Common Obstacles

Although most businesses will have to put in the effort to find a great payment solution, some are unique just to the martial arts space. Below are some common challenges the gym owner faces with transacting and setup:

Building a payment infrastructure that doesn’t scale with the business

Martial arts schools are subscription-based services, with few people electing to pay lump sum yearly payments. This means that the payment solution needs to scale with your member base, be fast to receive payment, and must ensure the proper information is inputted to remain compliant for both you and the client. As you grow, a certain tiered solution should be available to the client, and great billing solution software can make this process easier.

Loss of revenue from overdue invoices

It is one thing entirely when an irate customer refuses to pay, but more commonly, unpaid invoices are unintended by the client. Common issues include credit card declines, incorrect information, or forgetful clients. The best solution is a system that sends out reminder notices, incorporates backup payments, and a process called dunning, which re-tries the payment system and sends further notice to the client if payment is unsuccessful.

Lack of scrutinizing data to maximize revenues

Especially in the beginning stages, the importance of having a regular cadence of the invoice metrics is often overlooked. Some chief metrics, such as growth efficiency, churn, profit margins, and retention rates are great insights into developing your business. It helps to answer questions such as: am I profitable? Which service brings in the most money? How is my growth this quarter? Are the free trials and promotions effective? Answering these questions can be extremely difficult with an in-house solution.

Changes in complexity and error

When onboarding your first few clients on a basic package, it can be difficult to ascertain why a complete solution is needed. The issues come with the continued growth in your business, and more importantly, the tiered plans and unique customer situations that can arise. There is no blanket solution to this. A payment system must not only be flexible but also provide opportunities for further business. Key features, such as consolidation, transparent charge information, and invoice branding are overlooked, but provide a great opportunity to both get paid and advertise your business.

No automation or integration

A traditional or in-house billing solution usually only focuses on the finances. While this may seem like a very simple and straightforward thing, an invoice is rarely just about money. Gym owners wear different hats, and require different, even specialized teams, to run their school(s). For example, sales teams must have access to invoices to review upsells, discounts, and referral packages. Customer services need this information as well to adjust for errors. Automation also upgrades your professional image, as customers are more likely to transact in a place of authority where they feel safe.

The Best Features That Every Martial Arts Billing System Should Have

Now that the obstacles have been discussed, let’s take a look at what a great Martial arts billing system should include. This list is not exhaustive.

Compatibility and growth with your business

Secure transaction spaces

Enhanced Visibility

Tracks revenue and expenses, and provides an effective data management screen

Provide feedback on trials and promotions

provides metrics and on-demand reports to help with filing and review

Market your business with brand invoicing

automation, integration, and analytics

With the above in mind, the billing system should also not be separate from your business. A proper member management software has these billing features included, but also keeps track of your sales, contact, scheduling, staff, and overall management of your school. Spark Membership provides full-service member and school management software that includes all these features and is the best on the market for being a one-stop solution. You can give it a try today for just 1$.

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What Makes A Powerful Martial Arts Website?

November 30, 2021 by Spark Team Leave a Comment

Currently speaking, more than six billion websites exist on the world wide web. This number is just a decent estimation; the number of websites on the internet is still growing as we speak. With this, we can say that there are many competitions on the internet with the same niche as ours. Aside from that, we have to take note that every website’s goal is to land on the first page of Google’s search engine results. Having a competitor is already hard, how much more millions, right?

The website of your gym is an essential marketing must-have and an integral part of your business’ success. Having a gym website is one thing, but having a search engine optimized website that sets you apart from your competitors is another. People have certain standards when it comes to good quality websites that business owners often miss. Slow-loading websites, use of poor graphics and images, poor content, and complicated layouts, are just a few of the details that make your website lose traffic.

5 must-haves for your gym website to help you generate more traffic:

Location and contact information

Read one of our blogs: Best Methods To Maximize Your Gym’s Monetization

Your website should have your complete business details. Whether you have a physical address or none, or you have a single gym address or you have multiple locations across the country, you need to include it on your website. Usually, good websites have it on their footer. Consumers search for websites because they need information, so you have to have it displayed where people can easily find it. Aside from your address, important business details include your phone number (personal or business), email address, business description, location, hours of operation, and frequently asked questions.

Reviews and testimonials

Word of mouth is still one of the most effective marketing strategies out there. In this digital era, having reviews and testimonials posted on your website is one of the reasons why consumers easily invest their trust in your brand. When potential client is thinking of registering for the services offered in your gym or purchasing any product that you offer, they want to know if it’s worth it. Maybe they want to take a look into how you treat your clients, or they want to have social proof if your program is effective or not. So you have to make sure that you have reviews and testimonials they can read or watch. Some business owners go the extra mile and invest in good videos showcasing their client’s reviews.

💡Customer testimonials help you establish a wide portfolio of clients who have benefitted from your business. This shows potential clients how diverse and versatile your company can be, and just how you may be able to help meet their unique needs, too. – WHY CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS ARE IMPORTANT FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Mobile-friendly user experience

The first minute a website visitor spends on your site matters. Usually, when a person has a poor experience in the first few minutes that they are on your website, they skip to another. To avoid this, you have to make sure that your website has a seamless UX. This simply means that the user should effortlessly use your website without giving too much thought to the process. A responsive design is part of the user experience. This means that your website should automatically adjust to the device of the user, and it should be mobile-friendly. To have a good-performing website, you have to consider having the following search bar, navigation bar, social media integration, simple forms, and one-button payments.

High-quality visuals and fresh content

Aside from your website’s design and user experience, fresh and quality content is also important. In addition to that, nobody wants a “dry” visual, so your website should have high-quality visuals that will urge the visitor to stay a little bit longer. Good visuals that are unique and relevant to your content will help you land on a higher rank. Quality and relevant content really are a business website must-have. It should showcase your brand. Your content should help you communicate to your prospective and existing clients. Aside from blogs, you should also try other types of content like videos, infographics, podcasts, animations, etc.

Read related blog : 6 Types of Visual Content You Need to Use in Your Marketing Campaigns

Clear call-to-action

In addition to the features mentioned above, you shouldn’t also forget about having clear calls to action. A call to action (CTA) is a marketing term that refers to the next step a marketer wants its audience or reader to take. AS a business website, you have to have a clear goal in mind. What are the next steps that you want your website visitors to do? You have to make that clear in your call to action buttons. Place them strategically on your website. Present potential clients with clear instructions to walk them through your sales funnel. This can be in a form of lead magnets like free ebooks, free trials, discount coupons, or free consultations which they can only claim if they click on your call to action.

| According to Investopedia :
“The CTA can have a direct link to sales and it can suggest that the reader subscribes to a newsletter that contains product updates, for example. To be effective, a CTA should be obvious and should immediately follow the marketing message.”

Key takeaway

Websites come and go. Usually, they go because of poor optimization. If you can’t do it yourself, there are lots of freelancers out there that can effectively do the job for you. You’ll spend a small amount of money, but you can think of it as a capital expenditure that will help you increase your sales and profits in no time. With the continuous rise of competitors on the internet, you need a good gym website to compete with others. Using what you have learned above, you can start optimizing your site now to get new subscribers. Spark Membership offers a full-service solution to streamline your marketing, retention, communication, and loyalty programs – and these will increase client confidence in you.

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