In the world of digital marketing reviews are one of the best marketing tools on the web. Not only do they give insight into how your community feels about your business, but they also help Google and Facebook recommend your business to people searching online for a service. In the martial arts world it is so important to display your reviews on your Google Business Profile as well as your own website. In this article we will delve into why reviews are so important and how to collect reviews from your current martial arts students.

Why Google Reviews are Important for your Martial Arts School

Similar to word of mouth, Google Reviews are touted as one of the most powerful marketing tools for a martial arts school online. Google aggregates reviews to help people get a sense of the service quality they will get from a business as well as giving people a chance to describe their own experiences with your business. The first step to getting Google Reviews is creating a Google My Business Profile. This is an relatively easy step that requires you to send your business info to Google and have them verify your business location which is done by mail or by phone verification. Once your business is verified you receive a link you can send to people to have them leave a ranking for your service on a scale of 1 to 5 as well as leave a written review about their experience. The more reviews that your business receives on Google the more Google will recommend your studio to people doing local searches. They also help your business appear on Google Maps when people choose the maps option for search results. On your Google My Business Listing they will also appear when people see your listing on search results.

How to get more Google Reviews for your Marital Arts School

We want to preface this portion of the article by reminding you that Google does have a policy against getting reviews in exchange for an incentive whether it be a gift or for money.

There are a few ways to get legitimate reviews from your students. One of the most effective ways is of course asking your students directly. During an end of class mat chat or leaving a poster in your school with a QR code to your review page is usually the most direct and easiest ways to get reviews from your students. Remind them to not only leave a ranking but also a written review as well. Furthermore they can add photos as well to help show their experience. Another way is by using a email or SMS nurture sequence in a CRM. This is simply setting up automatic emails and texts to send out after someone has completed their trial period or after someone has gotten a new belt rank, etc. We recommend turning on these sequences for people who have had good experiences at your school and for students who are very involved in the programs. Finally you can gamify reviews for your team. Giving a small incentive for your staff to get the most reviews is a great way to not only have staff connect more to your students but also amplifies the amount of people trying to get reviews for your school. Remind them to follow the same guidelines that you follow and ensure that they are not promising an incentive for a review.

Other Reviews that You Can Get

While Google Reviews remain one of the best online reviews you can get there are other reviews that hold weight online: Facebook Reviews and Yelp Reviews. Reviews on Facebook can be powerful if you have optimized your page to act as a landing page. If you have people visiting it regularly you need to have at least a few reviews on Facebook that can act as social proof for your school. While not as powerful as a Google Review, they can still help your page be at the top of search results when people are looking for your business on Facebook. Finally, Yelp Reviews are not as powerful but are very helpful because they are integrated into Apple Maps. When someone searches for your location on Apple Maps, Yelp reviews will appear on the location page. We recommend getting Google Reviews first and then focus on trying to get a few Yelp reviews to attach to you Apple Maps listing.