Heather Brooks

MSCM 347

Final

December 9, 2014

Situation Analysis:

The Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy is a school that teaches martial arts and

promotes a healthy organic lifestyle for all of its students. The school is operated by husband and

wife, Joseph Bronson and Suzanne Sanders. Kung Fu classes are taught by Bronson to students

ages three to 90 years old and with varying skill levels. Sanders leads a performance team, which

incorporates choreography and performance along with the Kung Fu skills that the students have

learned. Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy is involved in the community as a school, giving

demonstrations and performances during community events and parades. Mountain Warrior

Kung Fu Academy operates in McMinnville, Oregon. Its mission is described as “understanding

kung fu for life, health and self-defense.”

External Environment:

The Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy is greatly affected by external conditions such

as economic factors and social attitudes. Like most businesses, Mountain Warrior Kung Fu

Academy is affected by economic factors. Unless Kung Fu is already a large part of a person’s

lifestyle, and even then, it is not often seen as a necessity and may become one of the things to be

cut out of a person’s budget if a downturn in the economy is affecting her. Social attitudes are

also a large external factor that affects Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy; the more accepting

of an attitude that society has about the organic lifestyle that the school promotes the more it will

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be accepted as a valuable contribution to that way of living. Some parents and individuals may

fear or dislike the environmental and organic message that Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy

promotes and be offended by the pressure to conform to this lifestyle. The level of knowledge

individuals in the McMinnville community have about Kung Fu, and how it is beneficial, will

affect their interest and value in the services that Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy provides.

Business Analysis:

Competition for Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy includes several other martial arts

schools in the McMinnville area such as Via Potentia, Kim’s Taekwondo, Open Hand Kempo

Martial Arts and Mendonca Academy of Martial Arts. Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy sets

itself apart from its competitors by its emphasis on Kung Fu as a lifestyle, not just a class a

person attends. The threats posed from these competitors are the sometimes lower cost of tuition

and the lack of “environmental mumbo-jumbo” as is stated on Via Potentia’s website homepage.

Via Potencia charges $150 for a three month training session with discounts and specials for

additional family members to join. Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy charges $125 a month

and does not offer discounts unless you commit to a long term enrollment in the school.

These threats, however, can be turned into possibilities to show Mountain Warrior Kung

Fu Academy’s strengths and its commitment to the community while showcasing the

organization’s values. While tuition for Kung Fu lessons may seem like an unnecessary luxury

that cannot be justified in an economic downturn, this is true of any martial arts lessons. The

tuition costs can not only be reduced at Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy by making a

longer-term commitment, but it also welcomes a bartering system at the school and is happy to

accept a service or items in exchange for tuition. Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy is an

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active and caring part of the community and encourages all of its students to do their very best. It

is a strength that this school gives a sense of community to its students and is not simply a class

that you attend once or twice a week. One of the policies that the school asks of its students is to

greet each other and say goodbye as you leave, furthering this sense of community. The school

requests that food only be brought into the school if absolutely necessary and only if it is organic

healthy food, further showing its commitment to a healthy lifestyle and setting that example for

its students. Both Bronson and Sanders are always welcoming to anyone who seeks advice in any

areas of their life, whether it is about kung fu, organic living, gardening, or anything else that

they might be able to help with.

One of the strengths that Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy has begun to develop is

branching out to include services and products for a healthy organic lifestyle outside of its Kung

Fu lessons. Bronson and Sanders have organized a series of scheduled hikes around this region

that they run as a group excursion. For a small fee, an individual could sign up to go with the

group to one of the hiking locations and there is usually some kind of organic meal, snacks and

beverages included that are prepared during the outing. They have also purchased a building next

to the Kung Fu school which they are in the process of renovating into an herbal shop where they

will sell products and organize demonstrations on how to do things such as prepare homemade

remedies or organic meals. Internal resources that Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy could

use would be the owners, Bronson and Sanders and the dedicated assistants and team members in

the school. Many of the adult students and parents of young students are also quite supportive of

the organization and would be great internal resources to help with a public relations campaign.

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Target Audience:

The target audience that Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy needs to communicate

with most, is individuals15 years and older who reside in the McMinnville area and are living an

organic and healthy lifestyle or are at least interested in that lifestyle. This is the target group for

Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy because the value of the service that it provides would be

higher among this group and their needs are better met with these services. The attitudes and

interests of this group is exactly what Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy can provide support

and services for. The growing social/cultural trend of organic, green living has been growing,

especially in this region, but there is still a need for services and organizations that this target

audience can utilize. Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy’s values and services will appeal to

this audience.

Goal:

The public relations goal that this plan is designed to achieve, is to increase sales of

products and services that Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy provides. Achieving this goal

would help the organization to accomplish its mission and be successful.

The plan will be based on the diffusion theory that explains how people process and

accept new ideas and information. The steps in the diffusion theory process are awareness,

interest, evaluation, trial and adoption. This plan aims to make the audience aware and spark

interest and provides an incentive to go through the trial and adoption stages as well.

Objective 1:

The first objective that derives from this goal is to increase the awareness of the target

audience about the services that Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy provides. According to

population data from the 2013 US Census and Sustainable Brands, the projected number of

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adults interested in sustainable living and organics in McMinnville could be 8,700 individuals.

These individuals make up the target audience that is most important to be made aware of

Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy.

Objective 2:

The second objective is to increase the number of students attending Mountain Warrior

Kung Fu Academy. Currently Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy has 60 students. This

objective would be to increase enrollment by 50 percent, bringing in 30 new students to

Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy.

Strategy 1:

To accomplish the first objective of awareness, a social media campaign strategy will be

implemented to raise awareness of Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy.

Tactic 1:

The first tactic for the social media strategy will consist of updating Mountain Warrior

Kung Fu Academy’s social media platforms and generating new content to raise awareness to the

target audience of their services. Utilizing internal resources, such as the staff, assistants,

students and students’ families at Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy, can be a huge asset to

this social media campaign. One tactic will be to make flyers to encourage these support people

to participate in the social media campaign by liking and sharing content that Mountain Warrior

Kung Fu Academy creates. These flyers can be a reminder to connect with Mountain Warrior

Kung Fu Academy and support the school.

Tactic 2:

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For the second tactic, the same group of supporters of Mountain Warrior Kung Fu

Academy will be asked to generate their own content and to share their positive experiences with

Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy on its social media platforms. This will help to raise

positive awareness and reach the target audience. Having these posts come from students and

staff and not Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy itself appears more honest and less like a

sales pitch.

Strategy 2:

The second strategy for raising awareness of Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy would

be to create controlled media that would be used to reach a large number of individuals that

make up the target audience.

Tactic 3:

One tactic that could spread awareness to the target audience would be to make flyers

providing information about the services that Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy provides.

These flyers would be regularly placed and handed out in areas that the target audience is

expected to frequently visit, such as at Harvest Fresh and the farmers market.

Tactic 4:

Another effective tactic would be a more comprehensive type of controlled media to have

available to give to the target audience. A brochure would be created emphasizing the organic

products and services that Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy provides. This brochure would

be available to be handed out at every location and event that the target audience may visit. Some

examples of these locations would be at Sustainability events and conferences and the local

grange hall during events that are known to draw people from this target audience as well.

Objective 2:

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The second objective as stated above is to increase student enrollment by 50 percent which

would increase the number of students to 90.

Strategy 3:

The first strategy for this objective would be a planned event, a week of free trial classes,

to get more prospective, interested individuals in to try out one of the classes at Mountain

Warrior Kung Fu Academy.

Tactic 5:

The first tactic would be to let all current students know about the free week of trial

classes and hold a “bring a friend” to class event. This would be communicated by small flyers

passed out to students a couple weeks before the event and also on the established social media

platforms.

Tactic 6:

The next tactic would be to create social media content to incorporate into the existing

social media strategy that communicates the “bring a friend” to class week as an invitation to

anyone interested in Kung fu and encourages the audience to bring a friend to try out the class

with you. This would not only increase the number of people attending trial classes, but also

possibly making it a more enjoyable experience because new guests to Mountain Warrior Kung

Fu Academy would most likely be more comfortable if they are there with each other.

Strategy 4:

The final strategy would be another event. This event would be an open-house style event

that is used to provide the target audience with information about Mountain Warrior Kung Fu

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Academy and give them the opportunity to ask questions and evaluate the services that it

provides.

Tactic 7:

For this event, social media would again be used to spread the information and

communicate the invitation to the community about this event. Posts would be made on

Facebook about the open house. There would be a kung fu presentation by student volunteers, a

free organic snack and a quick kung fu lesson for all guests. By including the free organic snack

it can catch the attention of the target audience who may be more interested in the organic

products that Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy provides and draw attention to the fact that

there is more to the school than martial arts classes.

Tactic 8:

For the final tactic, individuals who attend the open house are given a “special offer” for

the first two months of classes at a discounted price. This message will be given through social

media and also explained in the flyers placed in the same locations. This tactic may provide the

extra incentive for individuals who may take longer to adopt the role as a kung fu student, but

who are interested in the idea.

Evaluation:

For the first two tactics, which are about increasing awareness of Mountain Warrior Kung Fu

Academy through a social media strategy, can be easily evaluated by following the activity on

social media and seeing how many people are liking, sharing and commenting on posts by or

about Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy. For tactics three and four, the evaluation may not

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be as easily traceable, but we can measure the awareness that they caused to some degree by

including a quite brief survey during the open house that was mentioned, as well as in the sign-

up sheet for new students. The survey would just have a couple questions such as “How did you

first find out about our school?” This would give us good insight into how successful each tactic

was. Tactics five through eight are all working toward attendance at events at Mountain Warrior

Academy and can be easily evaluated with the same questionnaire that will be provided to guests

at the open house. Considering the demographics and size of the target audience, this campaign

could be considered successful if 500 people are made aware of Mountain Warrior Kung Fu

Academy. This campaign would be even more successful if 30 new students begin to attend

classes at Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy and that number is reasonable. If even just10

guests became students from each event, both the “bring a friend” event and the open house and

just another 10 new students joined after becoming aware of Mountain Warrior from the

awareness tactics that would reach the 50 percent goal.

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Works Cited

U.S. Census Bureau. (2014). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Retrieved from:

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/41/4145000.html

Sustainable Brands. (2014). 77% of Americans Say Sustainability Factors Into Food-Purchasing

Decisions. Retrieved from:

http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/stakeholder_trends_insights/

sustainable_brands/77_americans_say_sustainability_factor