Aikido is a consumer good. If we want the art to continue, not only must we make it relevant, but also we need to capture market share. That requires sales. As soon as I hear sales, I hear John Cusack in Say Anything.
But the reality is, Aikido has to be sold. Which means you have to create a Sales Funnel. Ashley Stahl describes how to create your first one.
Although I see the necessity of selling the art, I also know that I am terrible at it. I have the luxury of being my own patron. But for those of you who aspire to making your art a profession, your primary means of sustenance, create your Sales Funnel.
Create Awareness – the clients have to know where you are and what it is you do;
Discovery – get them on the mat;
Evaluation – you have to make it work for them;
Purchase – they gotta come back;
Loyalty – they gotta come back to you!
Part of the sales job is consistency of message. Contradictory information induces confusion, leading to indecision (should I do Aikido or Yoga?). Somehow Aikido needs to become meaningful enough to each individual practitioner that each becomes a loyal customer. Which essentially means, we are selling a lifestyle.
Selling a lifestyle?
Indeed. Like any art, the time commitment necessary from the students is enormous, it is a genuine investment. We only invest in things that matter.
What matters will of course vary from person to person. But ultimately it’s about what matters to the people on the mat. So I leave it as an open question – the key problem to solve: how do you make it relevant, worthy of the consumer’s time and money?
Compounding the challenge is that teaching a martial art is inherently inefficient. Economists point out the cost disease and specifically that the increasing costs of education are largely because of labor-inputs. William Baumol and William Bowen in 1966 (Performing Arts, the Economic Dilemma) illustrate the problem – the total amount of time to perform a work of Beethoven is the same now as it was when written, there have been no improvements in productivity in the performing arts. The same is true of learning and teaching art. Teaching methods are no more productive now than they were in the 1800s and worse still in a martial art the best transmission is often through direct physical contact at a one-to-one teacher to student ratio.
Driving to the dojo each Saturday morning, I see numerous yoga-mats carried by younger urbanites, look through windows and see the spin-classes full of zealous stationary-bikers, and even the cross-fit and boxing boot camps are packed. Clear choices are being made, economic choices, and martial arts suffer from both a “util” deficit as well as from the Baumol effect.
Spending and membership
Channel Signal data suggests the scale – $27B spent on Yoga products with over 20 million Yoga practitioners compared to martial arts product sales of $452M with 3.4 million practitioners. Yoga is just one competitive alternative. And yes, there are any number of individuals who may elect to do both yoga and a martial art, but the very scale of the difference in participation and spending is daunting.
A standard gym membership is even more telling. The entire business model of the national chain gyms is that fully half the members never step into the gym! The ultimate aspirational membership – a low cost of membership combines with the thought that you might show up, so you feel better but do little. The standard martial art model is the opposite – unlimited attendance for a higher entry cost. And your sense of progress and success is not tied just to your individual achievements, but also to the opinions of your training partners. Our training partners become our validation tool. Wait a minute, my journey of self-actualization is subject to validation by some one else? Should we really wonder then:
Based on the numbers, in the United States approximately 1% of the population practices a martial art – and any given martial art only has access to a fraction of the available pool of practitioners.
The traditional martial arts have a further challenges – hierarchical structures and the time required to ascend the levels.
Practicing a martial art requires a serious time commitment. A time commitment with a delayed gratification of around five years to achieve a black belt in Aikido. A greater time commitment than a undergraduate education.
I am surprised Aikido doesn’t have more cache in liberal Portland. The mealy-mouthed values of “inclusion” and “acceptance” is the original meme Aikido played with its post-war, Way of Peace campaign. But there is a schizophrenic message in selling a peaceful martial art (perhaps best exemplified by Morgan in The Walking Dead). Remember the comment about inducing confusion?
Perhaps acceptance of all isn’t the best marketing campaign?
Alternative strategies to consider.
Selling the exotic, the rituals of Japan and the promise of Zen enlightenment could be a pitch, but active-Zen also creates cognitive dissonance in many people. Again, we lose market share.
Aikdio as an effective martial art is an albatross – let me know when MMA adopts Aikido techniques. I mourn the passing of Mr. Seagal who gave the art some credibility. Sell the hidden budo of Aikido.
Create training cohorts. The general consumer is a herd animal. People are motivated to show up if they know the people they train with and come to rely upon with the expectation of showing up. A cohort can lead to exclusivity and tribalism.
Tribalism I believe could have currency. Create exclusivity and loyalty to make the art more valuable by being more difficult to access. Create obstacles to acceptance to the inclusion, force commitment, create greater ceremonies to demarcate initiation. Like a drug dealer, give away the taste but then guard well the secrets to force students to keep them coming back.
Good luck!
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Protective Arts 
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