information material and merchandise for our club

[TORA]

I am not sure if this is the right place to post my question, but I am sure it can't be completely out of place here either...

Now my question:

We are planning to create some information material to hand out to people interested in Kendo during some events where our club has the opportunity to present itself. In addition to that we are thinking of creating some merchandise (t-shirts, jackets, posters maybe) for our members but also for sale when we participate at these events that I just mentioned.

What are your clubs doing in that respect? Do you have dojo merchandise and info/promotional material that goes bejond your web presence?

Thanks in advance for your replies! :)

[tango]

We don't really do anything to that extent..

We certainly would not get into dojo merchandise because God knows we don't need some ass hats wearing t-shirts with our dojo name on them while they do some idiotic backyard ninjery in the local park.

We typically just stick to doing demos once or twice a year and then make an announcement of when class times are.. with obviously an open invitation for people to come by if they're interested. We don't print up anything because we're normally only given 10-15 minutes to do our stuff and then nobody wants to hang around to watch 10 yrs olds do karate demos... which is to say, nobody sticks around to hand out flyers which would probably just litter the park where we do a demo...

So... no, we don't hand out flyers or make merchandise.

[Paburo]

our dojo only has 2 or 3 diff style tenugui, but they are sold to the club people and used as gifts for visiting kenshi and sensei.... aside from that, i don't think our dojo needs more publicity! the dojo already has a wait list of about 100 ppl waiting to be called or emailed when theres a chance (and room) for more ppl to get in.

now, our dojo sempai-girl organises this only-girls wimmin-only seminar-taikai in spain, and they gather funds by selling some kendo t-shirts. i buy one every year... (well, this year i bought one for my gf as well) :D

here's a link, if you want to check them out: http://foro.kenwakai.org/viewtopic.php?p=10415#10415

cheers.

[MikeW]

We have t-shirts and a zekken and have in the past had tenugui made but they are available only to members.

We do have flyers and business cards to hand out at demonstrations however.

[Rob W.]

If you're going to print shirts you should get an American Apparel wholesale account, blank cotton or 50/50 t's are about US$3.50 when you order a dozen or more. They're non-sweatshop, great for screenprinting, fit attractivly and age especially well. All you need to sign up is a business tax ID.

I do a bit of screenprinting and they're without doubt my favorite, quality-to-price wise.

[yoda-waza]

our..dojo already has a wait list of about 100 ppl waiting to be called or emailed when theres a chance (and room) for more ppl to get in....

cheers.

You have 100 people on a waiting list to join? I wish our dojo had that problem, but in fact we are in dire need of new members. We have about 12-16 members regularly participating in our twice weekly sessions but occasionally we're down to as few as 6. We're a 37-year old dojo and have several experienced and well-qualified sensei but don't seem to attract much attention. Then again our dojo is in a small city, nothing close to the size of Madrid.

Yes, we have brochures, do demos and all that. We've done t-shirts and tenugui, too. Unfortunately our website shut down recently when our webmaster moved to Japan and took the server with him. Any ideas here on how to attract new people, hopefully not backyard ninjers?

[Kendoka]

You have 100 people on a waiting list to join? I wish our dojo had that problem, but in fact we are in dire need of new members. We have about 12-16 members regularly participating in our twice weekly sessions but occasionally we're down to as few as 6. We're a 37-year old dojo and have several experienced and well-qualified sensei but don't seem to attract much attention. Then again our dojo is in a small city, nothing close to the size of Madrid.

Yes, we have brochures, do demos and all that. We've done t-shirts and tenugui, too. Unfortunately our website shut down recently when our webmaster moved to Japan and took the server with him. Any ideas here on how to attract new people, hopefully not backyard ninjers?

I suggest - get a web site and respond to enquiries quickly and informativley.

Maybe your local AUSKF affiliate can help with server space.

[tango]

You have 100 people on a waiting list to join? I wish our dojo had that problem, but in fact we are in dire need of new members. We have about 12-16 members regularly participating in our twice weekly sessions but occasionally we're down to as few as 6. We're a 37-year old dojo and have several experienced and well-qualified sensei but don't seem to attract much attention. Then again our dojo is in a small city, nothing close to the size of Madrid.

Yes, we have brochures, do demos and all that. We've done t-shirts and tenugui, too. Unfortunately our website shut down recently when our webmaster moved to Japan and took the server with him. Any ideas here on how to attract new people, hopefully not backyard ninjers?


go to blogger and at least get something started online for people to look at. It's free, too. .... it's what we use as well.

anyway, your post kinda hits home with me.. Harry Dach started kendo in Memphis in the mid-to-late 70s, I think, so that's what.. about 30 years.
We're now experiencing the largest class sizes since I got into kendo... averaging 13-15 adults (almost all are in bogu) and 4-5 kids (almost all in bogu). But I can remember a stretch of about 2 or 3 years when we ONLY had AT BEST 4 people show up for class. Those were some really lean times.

[TORA]

Thank you so much to all of you for your replies and suggestions. These are all useful.

In addition I realize that some issues are the same, no matter where we live.

Thank you again!

[Paburo]

You have 100 people on a waiting list to join? I wish our dojo had that problem, but in fact we are in dire need of new members. We have about 12-16 members regularly participating in our twice weekly sessions but occasionally we're down to as few as 6. We're a 37-year old dojo and have several experienced and well-qualified sensei but don't seem to attract much attention. Then again our dojo is in a small city, nothing close to the size of Madrid.

Yes, we have brochures, do demos and all that. We've done t-shirts and tenugui, too. Unfortunately our website shut down recently when our webmaster moved to Japan and took the server with him. Any ideas here on how to attract new people, hopefully not backyard ninjers?

well, a lot of ppl who join up kendo are backyard ninjers and anime otaku. there's no escaping that. but some (a handful) of them actually kinda grow into fine kenshi. most anime otaku will quit within the first week of keiko though. in any case, japanese pop culture like manga and anime along with hollywood flics make an impact on ppl and are probably one of the bigger boosters in kendo popularity. but that's something out of our hands.

kendoka from melb and tango make a good point there. i think the first step is to set up a page, a blog, even a myspace or msnspaces or whatever. with information about the dojo, contact info, schedule, address etc. when you make the page be sure to index it on google and the top search engines. it's a free and cheap but very effective way to let ppl know about the existance of your dojo.

another thing that seems to work is to associate with other martial art dojos or gyms. and share the training place or at least a bulleting board or something like that. a lot of ppl who currently practice aikido or karate (just to name a few) might also be interested in trying kendo and giving it a shot. this is the case of a lot of my dojomates and myself, who come from other martial arts and fell in love in kendo forever.

cheers.

[JCM]

For merchandise, you can also use CafePress.com, is cheap and you can print on demand for different sizes, rather then going to the expenditure of ordering a big batch and possibly being stuck with them.

They also do coffe mugs and other bits and pieces, check it out.


Paburo -> How can I get my hands on a ken wa kai tenugui?

[Paburo]

Paburo -> How can I get my hands on a ken wa kai tenugui?
if you beat me ippon shoubu next time you come here, i'll hand out one for free :D :D

[JCM]

That's a deal!

[Mugu]

Unfortunately our website shut down recently when our webmaster moved to Japan and took the server with him.

I can provide a sub domain name and web space, I own the domain name kendo-dojo.org. I was originally going to start a side project of helping dojo in need of website promotions sort of things, but didn't have time. I now have some free time to do a website or two. So please feel free to contact me if you need a new website sort of things (I do websites for a living btw). PM or email me through my profile.