The Massage Marketing Connection

Most communities have a Chamber of Commerce and many massage therapists are members just because we thought we should be. We see other businesses in our community with the chamber stickers in the window and think we’re not valid until we have one. The fact is not all chambers are the same and not all are an effective way to grow a massage therapy business.

Chambers of commerce come in all different sizes and have different types of benefits available to their members. But as different as they are, they all have one thing in common – their mission is to connect businesses with each other. Their main purpose in the community is to help your business grow.

Joining a chamber of commerce sounds great, doesn’t it? It sounds like an easy way to connect with other business owners and the community. If only making money and connections were as easy as joining…

First things first, you can’t become a member of the Chamber of Commerce and then not do anything. You are just throwing your money away. You have to commit to being involved and taking the time to manifest the benefits available to you.

Here are a few basic things to do to maximize any chamber of commerce membership:

•    Investigate all the benefits before joining. If you are already a member take the time now to review the member benefits – what haven’t you taken advantage of? Take some time to uncover the different marketing options available to you as a member. Ask the person that signed you up what the best events are for you to attend. Is free advertising included in your local paper? Are ribbon-cuttings standard procedures for new members?

•    Attend networking events. This doesn’t mean that YOU specifically need to attend every event. You may have someone in your office attend more frequent events, and you attend ones with the “high-rollers” in your community.

•    Include educational articles in publications. Does the chamber have a publication they send out to members? Don’t necessarily jump right to advertising in the publication if they have one. You want to ask if they accept educational articles that would benefit all of their members first. It’s usually free to include these and they are read more often (and are more believable) than ads.

•    Encourage strategic introductions from the staff. If there is a specific business you want to form a relationship with, ask your chamber representative if they can sit you with someone from there or introduce you. Be strategic and network. Don’t waste your time with the people that don’t do anything but attend events. Move forward and be purposeful in your connections.

•    Get involved in a worthwhile committee, but be particular about which one. Larger chambers will have different “levels” of committees you can get on. Be picky. Ask who the other members of the committee are. Are they the movers and shakers in your community? Are they business leaders you want to forge relationships with?

Don’t just become a member of your Chamber of Commerce just to do it. Be strategic, ask smart questions, and be picky about who you spend your valuable time with.

About the author

Founder of A Marketing Connection and The Copywriting Institute, Kelly Robbins, MA, is an award winning author, copywriter and healthcare marketing coach/consultant. Kelly is a blogger for both ChiroEco and MassageMagazine and is the author of Marketing 101: Why Successful Alternative Healthcare Practitioners Specialize as well as co-author of The Practice Evolution Success Kit. She also publishes The Healthcare Marketing Connection, a free e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. Contact Kelly to receive her free report, “5 Critical Mistakes Healthcare Marketers Make that Lose Sales and Plummet Profits” at www.AMarketingConnection.com or 303-460-0285.