In your example, you have newspapers, politicians, and achievements that you're using to back your school's reputation. Those are verifiable accomplishments that you can use.
Most of the students at my school (and at most schools that offer kids classes) are kids. The parents want to make sure that they're getting a good class. Now, I don't personally know how much about my Master these parents know coming in. I know a lot of them think it's Karate or something else. But I also know that his website lists his credentials and his military history. He's got pictures on the wall from when he was in the military, and another wall with his martial arts certifications and his college degrees. I know a lot of our parents who've stuck around know his military history.
I also know people will post questions on Reddit and ask "is this school legit?" Or they'll ask "should I go to this school or that school?" And I would almost guarantee you with 100% certainty that if you took two schools that listed someone with your credentials and someone with mine, my answer would be:
"Well, the dvcochran academy is run by someone who is Master ranked, in fact in multiple organizations. He probably knows his stuff. This skribs school isn't even owned by a Master. I'm not sure how he's even running a school. If anything, he probably has to go to the dvcochran academy for his students to test for black belt (if not another school)."
I know that's what I would say about it. So I know that's what others would say as well.
I fully acknowledge I may undervalue social media opinion when evaluating a school. The bigger point I was trying to make was how we focused on Where our clientele actually come from, not far off virtual data.
I had no special 'ins' or connections with any of our local organizations or government. Establishing the connection with our school systems and working With them to create programs that they endorsed is/was pretty much an automatic pass with parents looking to qualify our schools/classes for their kids. And then it feeds itself. Little Johnny tells little Billy he goes to X "Karate" school and Little Billy shows up for classes (half the kids could not tell you the name of our school if asked). I cannot tell you how many free hours and programs I have done with our schools. Thousands I am certain. But I knew there was a payoff. And that is where social media can work for you. When you
have something to advertise at the local level (yes that includes fb, twitter, newspaper, etc...). So you have to Do something within the community first, not Have something (rank/certificate). That is the tangible vs. intangible. This is where it doesn't matter what your competition is doing or how much competition you have; you have to out work them and do what You do better.
It is much more about the tangibles rather than the intangibles; for example, a person's military history (all respect given and I thank him/her for their service) swings a hammer but not with everyone. Little Johnny's mom may be much more drawn and affirmed by certificates/plaques on the wall from the local school system versus military history, But she would be much more affirmed seeing happy (not wild) kids working out in an organized, constructive class.
So instead of asking a Very general questions from a Very large circle of people on social media think about it from a very specific, local level. That where the meat and potato's really exist. Absolutely research and learn how others are doing things, but until you figure out how to apply it to your real, tangible, physical school it means nothing.
Especially in a service industry like a MA school a person cannot build a successful business from day one by building a paper resume. It just doesn't have that much value in today's society where so much can be easily faked. 99% of people use the smell test first and most of them have a pretty good nose. So having a stack of certificates to place on the wall about what You have done is the wrong approach for building your business. For building You? Absolutely. They are not mutually exclusive But do not have a 1:1 relationship either. To use analogy; you could be the best fighter in you area with tons of medals, plaques, and titles and still be an absolutely horrible MA teacher and businessman.
Build your spreadsheet and put your priorities in columnar form. Then fill in the weighted items and math to satisfy the priorities.
Make a list (plan). Scribble it out and start over. Some of the things you need to do can be started well before the door to your school opens. Had I known this I would have done the same. Research you local school(s) system. Find out who the Principles and P.E. teachers are. Meet with them, face to face. Tell them what you are doing and ASK FOR HELP. And be of help to them. Do the same with your local organizations. Physically/mentally in a tangible way get involved. Become someone/something seen as an asset. Yes, you may feel like an indentured servant sometimes. That is okay. Being a servant is not a bad thing. Quite noble in my opinion.
And there is a Ton of value in being able to weigh things and cull, really cull the things that have little to no value (like lofty things said on SM). Some people keep dragging them around thinking they have some kind of value when really it is just slowing them down. This is something I see people doing with stuff they get from social media. It is just stuff until you actually do something with it. There is no magic, it just takes hard work.
