If your questions is strictly in the business realm there is a wealth of information on the web. Type martial+arts+management into your search engine and enjoy the reading.
The school that I train and teach at is trying to do just what you are speaking about. Maintain the integrity of the art and see if we can actually make enough money so at least our sensei can teach full time. Personally I think that would be wonderful. Currently, he is only able to teach a few times per week. Not to say that the rest of us don't have something significant to offer but you can't beat attending the chief instructor's classes.
One of things that we have done to help attract more students is to offer different arts but try and maintain the Aiki spirit. This can only be done by carefully selecting the instructors of the other arts. We offer TKD for adults and children and Tai Chi. Currently though, Aikido is actually the most popular class.
One of the marketing tools that we have been using is to put on demonstrations for various groups (professional women's organizations, church groups). While this has not generated huge waves of enrollment it does help spread the word and philosophy of Aikido.
The biggest problem that has been identified by many of the professional martial arts management consultants is attrition. To put it in there terms more people leave by the back door then come in the front. Therefore, a school must not only work at keeping students interested and motivated but also work on making sure that the flow of new students exceeds the flow of drop outs.
Being a business adds a whole new dimension to the philosophy. My personnel reconsiliation is that I feel we are offering a true benefit to society. If we can make money and maintain the intergrity of the benefit then everyone wins.
