The Martial Arts Marketplace.
Some observations on how the martial arts present themselves to the world.
Isn’t it great to have choices, and we are so better informed these days. After all; we have the Internet.
Well, on that last one maybe all we have is the illusion of choice, while we find ourselves funnelled down an ever-narrowing bottleneck manipulated by algorithms set up by tech-savvy marketing people.
I would like to believe that people are waking up to that fact and are fighting back, but I am not so sure. Younger people who have no memory of what the pre-Internet days were really like, full of cleverness, are hooked into the immediacy of the narrow search, ‘why would you do anything else’? they say.
Well, it’s a bit like visiting your local town centre and needing something to eat and all you can see is fast-food outlets and generic chain eateries. Surely somewhere out there is a small, family-run restaurant where they pride themselves on homecooked food reasonably priced? They might exist, but are probably forced off the High Streets by inflated property rents and greedy landlords.
If I Google ‘martial arts in my area’ top of the list comes, ‘Martial Arts centres’, ‘Martial Arts Academies’ etc. Make no bones about it, these are businesses. In all probability the design of the organisation and the structure of the teaching is led by the monetisation of the martial arts as a product. They are probably ‘customer led’ as a priority, proudly saying they are ‘giving people what they want’, while not necessarily giving them what they need. If you take them for what they are they are probably good at what they do in terms of their product design. This is a massive thing in the States, over here in the UK it’s not so big, and it’s certainly not a growth industry as the ‘martial arts’ are pretty much slipping off the public’s radar.
As proof of this I have had recent conversations with people who, surprisingly, really don’t have any significant references to what martial arts are, and these are young people.
Recently, I had a chat with a young taxi driver on my way to the airport, ‘going anywhere nice?’ he asked. I told him I was flying out to teach on a karate seminar. He struggled to find any connections, I’m not sure he knew what karate was. Eventually, he made some reference to MMA and there the whole conversation stalled.
The marketplace for martial arts is now a much smaller place than it used to be and what is left seems to be segmenting into factions that, from my observations, are starting more and more to look like silos.
They remind of the fashion/music tribes that young people were pressurised into becoming part of in the mid 20th century.
In the 60’s, Mods counterpointed against Rockers, then later, Punks and Greasers (oh and there were always some versions of Goths/Emos, but nobody cared about them, they were too apathetic to be seen as any kind of threat). As the decades marched forward these tribes multiplied, but although they were acutely aware of each other, crossovers and friendships were rare.
In today’s martial arts marketplace we see these particular tribes:
· Those who like to roll around on the mat and get all sweaty with each other – give it a name, BJJ.
· The TKD people, still super-smug about their Olympic status.
· The sports karate tribe (mostly young – in some cases VERY young) still smarting about their LACK OF Olympic status, due to them artfully sabotaging their own project and being beaten to the punch by TKD.
· ‘Traditional’ karate, whatever that means these days. An art still in search of an audience. (I have written about ‘traditional’ and ‘classical’ in karate before).
· There are many other minor players I haven’t mention; Aikido, Judo… remember them, they got Olympic status back in the 1960’s and are still floundering in the shallows. There are also the various Kung Fu groups but, like many, their heyday was decades ago.
In the marketplace the above-mentioned Traditional karate people are likely to shrink as an entity even more, unless they can describe themselves in terms that relate to the modern world. They don’t need to change what they do; they just need to explain themselves better.
Before it starts to look like I am distancing myself from Traditional karate, really this is my tribe and I have seen all of this in action. Talking to karate people and asking them what they do and what they can offer is like trying to pin down a cloud. Like a stage magician, with a wave of the hand they pull a card from their sleeve and written on it is one word… ‘Budo’. To the newbie it may just have said ‘Aardvark’. ‘Budo’ is going to mean nothing to them without subjecting them to a lengthy lecture involving, culture, history, aspirational desires for society, etc. etc. without ever explaining the contradiction of a fighting system that is dedicated to peace. (By the way, Aikido takes the prize on the whole ‘Love and Peace’ thing).
Is there an answer?
It might not be a simple answer but it might create a more useful mindset, and this is an idea put forward by Simon Sinek in his book, ‘Start with Why’.
In a nutshell, most enterprises, businesses etc, follow a particular pattern in how they explain themselves in the marketplace. It usually goes:
What, How, Why; in that order. For martial artists that starts with WHAT do we do, then HOW does it work and finally WHY are we even doing this.
That leaves the difficult question till last. To Sinek that is a mistake and he cites many successful models that do it in the reverse order (Apple is a perfect example).
Again, in the context of martial arts, try this; WHY do we think this activity has value to you, in broad and specific terms, HOW is that presented to you, and finally WHAT is it that we do exactly.
From both instructor and potential student viewpoint, try writing those down.
As an example; for potential students; WHY am I approaching this activity with an idea that something within it aligns with my values and aspirations? HOW is its structure and methodology going to work for me (is that clearly articulated in how the martial arts activity presents itself, is it transparent?). And, WHAT flag does it fly? What is it exactly?
Until we take a realistic and updated view on what the marketplace looks like now we will never be able to let our light shine, or get our voice heard; the clamour and the razzamatazz of all the various ‘products’ out there will just crowd us out and martial arts of real value will be pushed to the margins, and eventually just end up as a footnote at the bottom of a Wikipedia page.
Photo by Nathália Rosa on Unsplash
When I moved to Kanagawa I was looking for a new dojo. I tried a few places which might not even be on your radar. I did a few sessions with a systema group (I have some sambo experience) but that turned out to be very odd. I found a Kyokushin offshoot called Maki Dojo which wasn't really to my taste. If eventually found an Ashihara dojo in my town. This was right around the buildup to Tokyo 2020 so I asked if Ashihara Karate had anything to do with the Olympics. The instructor said no so I signed up immediately. I've been with them ever since.
Different people have different priorities it seems. :)
I enjoyed Sinek's framework as well, and I think I've consciously or unconsciously used similar strategies in my martial arts businesses over the years (3 schools, 1 tournament circuit that shut down with covid, and 1 online encyclopedia).