Making Your School More Profitable

Dear IMA member,

My name is Jackson Raine and I thought I might introduce myself to you. I have been working very closely with Graham Slater ( IMA Chairman ) learning about the International Martial Art Alliance and its structures.

I started training in the martial arts from the age of 8 and continued into my 20's. The last 10 years of my life have been devoted to Art, particularly filmmaking. I have worked as an actor (check out the show Beastmaster on channel 7), director, writer, and producer.

My main role here is to assist the IMA with the multimedia aspects of the company including video, website, and Emag production. I am also here to help you with any inquiries regarding IMA services and ideas for promoting your business. You will receive many product concepts and marketing tools that we have developed to help your business grow.

If you are wondering why I am sharing this it's because I see that the members aren't taking advantage of the services that we provide which doesn't make sense considering how much you can save. This is probably our fault for not expressing this message clearly enough so I will endeavor to make it clear now. We have secured some of the best merchant rates for credit card and eftpos that I have seen. We also have excellent deals on airfares and our insurance rates are the best in the industry . We have free and discounted advertising options and have gained access to a huge range of martial art DVD titles that you can purchase dirt cheap (imagine the hours of entertainment that you can have or the dollars you can make on selling!). This is only the beginning of the services that we aim to provide for you and the more you use them the better deals will be.

By far the most under utilised service is the Emag. As an IMA member you can make a 45% profit on each one that you sell, but even that is just the tip of the iceberg. The Emag's main market is Instructors but a large percent is a youthful audience which is exactly the type of new student that you are trying to impress. As you well know, the hardest job in business is not gaining new clients, it's retaining the ones you already have. It costs 5 times more to attract someone who may or may not continue , so keeping your current students is vital to your business. One of the best ways to do this is to make your students feel the pride that comes with being attached to your school. It's about perception and I am sure that your can see how an article or brilliant ad in our publication will develop this feeling. Because if we think you're cool enough to publish, then you must be cool. So when this student shows their friend your page and says “this is my instructor” they will feel pride and loyalty.

You can easily place a straight print advert in the Emag but why not look into the multimedia aspects of our pages. Imagine a full colour page with live video and sound promoting your school or product. It's pretty hard to ignore. Better still submit an article with text, photos and video and we will publish it showcasing you, the instructor . The finished product is an excellent marketing tool for you and you have our permission to reuse the article where ever you like.

We work hard to secure many high caliber martial artists for our magazine so that our advertisers will be associated with him, just in the same way that products are placed into a film. Next issue we will have Bruce Lee on the cover. Would you like your school to be associated with him?

I am telling you all of this so that you are informed of the opportunities that are available to you. It is our mission to expand the industry to be one of the premiere sports in the nation by bringing martial artists together . We will continue to work tirelessly on your behalf to make that vision come true and we are here to support you in every way that we can.

I look forward to a long relationship with you and our beloved martial arts.

All the best

Jackson Raine.