Martial Arts World News Magazine - Volume 22 | Issue 1

NEXT LEVEL STRATEGY
Branding: Is it a Waste of Your
Time? (Part 2)
by Shihan Allie Alberigo
Let’s first start with the multiple definitions of the word “branding.”
I think the clearest brand definition is that of livestock
branding. This is the marking of animals to indicate ownership.
Or, in advertising, a brand is simply a name, logo,
slogan, and/or design scheme associated with a product or
service to clearly identify it amongst the competition.
One of the best lessons I had was when I visited all of
world-famous illusionist Criss Angel’s shops in Las Vegas.
His brother, my student at the time, took me on a tour to
illustrate what they did to build the Criss Angel
brand. He in particular pointed out, in
his words, the “Criss Angel world.”
As I walked into each of his
stores, it was clear that there was
nothing in the store that didn’t represent
him or show what he did. The colors
matched his brand, even down to the huge
Criss Angel logo on the ceiling of each
location. What J.D. (Criss’ brother) told me
was that when people enter the
store, they get swept away in
everything Criss, from video
monitors and picture boxes,
to merchandise.
Now, you may
be saying, you
aren’t a worldfamous
illusionist
or even a famous
martial artist,
movies star, etc.
To be honest, you
are the star of your
own show and world, so you
might as well capitalize on it.
So what is it we can do to find out what your brand is?
The good news is that it isn’t all that difficult. You can simply
take some of these ideas and build a checklist. Are you known
as the cleanest and best school for teaching traditional martial
arts? Or do you specialize in Kickboxing or grappling? What would
those benefits be? Do you want your establishment to look like an
ancient Japanese school, or are you interested in a more modern
school with flags and bright colors? What do you want people to
see, feel, smell, and hear from the minute they walk through the
doors? Who are you as an instructor?
But don’t talk about you, talk about who you are and how
that will benefit your clients. In other words, you have five titles
in full contact fighting, that’s great, but how does that experience
help clients?
This is all part of establishing a clear understanding for the
client of what you do for them: the WIIFM, or the What’s in it For
Me? strategy.
Start working on these topics, and if you have further questions,
don’t hesitate to email me at Shihan@lininja.com for more tips and
information.
SHIHAN ALLIE ALBERIGO is a 7th degree black belt, the founder of the L.I. Ninjutsu
Centers, one of the largest Ninjutsu schools on the planet, the author of 4 books, and an entrepreneur
with one of the first online coaching companies.
58 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 1
Photograph by HATICE GOCMEN