The Massage Marketing Connection

And How Your Marketing and Business Growth Reflects Your Ability to Do That

I am excited to announce our first Free teleconference in well over a year. I would love for you to join me! In the Stepping Into Your Greatest Self teleconference we will be looking at why your marketing and business growth may not be working. Are you self-sabotaging yourself? Are you doing marketing and advertising and your business is still struggling.

The growth of your business is in direct correlation to your personal growth and development. It has as much to do with you “doing” marketing and networking as has to do with your attitudes and beliefs about how you help others, how you feel when you approach prospects and create marketing materials and how you share your gifts with the world.

In our newest teleclass we will be examining some of the most common ways business owners and marketers self-sabotage and how to discover where we are self-sabotaging. Seeing where we are preventing our own success is the first step to stopping those behaviors!

We will also be introducing our newest coaching program, Stepping Into Your Greatest Self.

Register for the teleclass, Stepping Into Your Greatest Self Teleclass here — the telecourse has been recorded and you can listen to it by simply registering — just click the link above.

A few weeks ago I did a marketing workshop for the Colorado Chiropractic Association. We discussed tried and true marketing strategies as well as some of the newer methods of connecting with people such as Facebook and SEO marketing. Many of the attendees shared what was working for them and what wasn’t in today’s market.

As a marketer, I am a firm believer that every business needs a clear understanding of their target market. Choosing a niche or specialty to market to is the foundation of any good marketing. We talked about this quite a bit in the workshop. I believe the right niche contains a group of people you are passionate about helping and you enjoy learning as much as you can about their problems and needs. Your niche should also be large enough to support you, has plenty of room for growth, and you thoroughly enjoy working in it. Your passion in serving this niche plays a huge role in your success and is the place I see many practitioners struggle.

Most practitioners just don’t have a niche – which makes their marketing ineffective and costly.

In lieu of choosing a niche I am seeing practitioners

1. Put pressure on themselves and almost try too hard to make things happen
2. Are afraid to choose a niche because they are fearful they are turning away business that they could be earning
3. Aren’t sure what they are passionate about and just keep floating from here to there without putting roots down and nurturing their practice.

After targeting a niche traditional marketing then takes several next steps including completing a competitive analysis, researching your competition, finding a “competitive advantage” and then differentiating yourself from these competitors you’ve identified.

In actuality this competitive analysis contradicts what I also teach – that you should just be you and not worry about what everyone else is doing. Concentrate on discovering and being your authentic self and serving the people you are meant to serve rather than looking at what everyone else is doing and comparing your practice to theirs.

Practitioners that have successfully specialized or chosen a niche will tell you their niche is filled with people that they naturally connect with – people that love them and tell everyone they know how great they are.

I wanted to share this today because one of the chiropractors at the workshop I did called me out on this during the workshop. She has a very successful practice and reiterated the fact that she built her business not based on what everyone else (her competitors) were doing, but on what was right for her. And it worked. She said I was contradicting myself when I brought up competitive information, which I had done several times.

What’s right and what’s wrong? Is it wise to look at your competition when you are choosing a niche, specializing, or marketing your practice? Should you not pay any attention to what everyone else is doing and just do what’s right for you?

If you ask naturopathic physician (ND) Catherine Darley that specializes in sleep disorders she’d tell you she’s always been fascinated with sleep. The naturopathic way of treating sleep disorders was a natural step in her growth.

She didn’t investigate who else specialized in sleep disorders or what practices around the country were doing this in a naturopathic way. She just did what felt right to her and MADE it successful. Her passion and enthusiasm for sleep disorders is contagious to everyone that comes in contact with her.

What’s slowing down the success of most massage therapists?

The number one thing that was slowing down the success of the chiropractors that attended my marketing workshop was not having a clear idea of who their target market was and how to reach them. I can say the same is true for massage therapists as well.

I’ve done something to help you with this.  I’ve created a coaching and marketing package just to help you get that first most important part of your marketing down, the niche. The package includes:

• Ebook Marketing 101: Why alternative health practitioners specialize
• One hour mp3 recording of a previous teleseminar on choosing a niche.
• Individual workbook to help you uncover your niche
• Two, one-hour coaching calls with Kelly Robbins

You can sign-up for the Practice Specialization Package by clicking here or giving us a call at 303-460-0285.

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 Chiropractic Economics and Massage Magazine 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.

….Just be sure you learn from them

We all make mistakes, both in our business and our personal lives. In fact, we skiers in Colorado often ask each other how much we fell. Because “if you didn’t fall you’re not trying hard enough” when skiing.

I think the same holds true in marketing your massage therapy practice.

Take chances – it’s ok to make a mistake. Oftentimes it’s the best way to learn.

I am currently reading The Million Dollar Consultant by Alan Weiss. Here is what he has to say about learning from setbacks:

“You win some and you lose some. The best baseball hitters are successful about one-third of the time. The best golfers win perhaps one of every 15 tournaments they enter. Abraham Lincoln lost more elections than he won. The finest salespeople probably close about two sales of every 10 legitimate meetings.”

I find it’s easy to see the mistakes you make and dwell on them. I see some people kicking themselves or their employees and spending weeks worrying about the consequences. Dwelling on the “what if’s”. You have to let go of them and move on.  So what if no one came to a talk you gave? Don’t do it again.  Pick a different location or topic next time.

Weiss tells us “the key, of course, is not to make the same mistake twice. Whether you swing at a wild pitch, hit the tee shot into the water, lose the election through poor debating, or lose the sale through lack of preparation about the competition, the idea is to lessen the chances that the same cause will produce the same result the next time.”

The lesson here is to take chances when marketing your massage therapy practice. If you get an idea try it. You never know unless you try.

What this does NOT mean is that you should purchase advertising space or give talks and not measure and track your results. If it’s not working stop doing it. Like many things in life, such as starting a massage therapy practice, there are no guarantees.

Especially in marketing, it’s important to try new things and pursue new ventures. If it doesn’t work – stop doing it and try something else. If something is working – tweak it and see if you can get it to work better!

If you don’t try, you fail no matter what, especially when it comes to growing your massage therapy practice and healing patients.

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.

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.

You are creating packages and pricing for your massage therapy practice. You have services and products to sell in several prices ranges and you aren’t sure where to start.

Should you present the least expensive service first, the mid-priced product second ending with the most expensive? Or start with the mid-priced product? It seems like starting with the least expensive service first makes sense, because you don’t scare the prospect away with a high-ticket item.

But that’s NOT what you should do.

What you should do may go against what seems like common sense, but is proven to not only sell more products, but in the long-run results in clients spending more money overall.

The key to making more money overall and selling more massage therapy products and services is to sell the most expensive item first. Robert Cialdini gives an example in his book The Psychology of Persuasion of men’s clothing salesmen. If a man walks in and asks to look at suits, sweaters and other accessories you should always present him with the suit first. After deciding on a $500 suit, a $200 sweater or a $150 belt seems inexpensive and he is more likely to buy all of them.

And because he just decided on a nice suit he realizes he should have high quality accessories to go with it and is more likely to spend more.

Another example Cialdini gives is a strategy used by car salespeople. They first sell you on the price and style of the car. They make the car easy and affordable to buy. After you’ve agreed on the price and type of car, they then offer you smaller items to add on. Upgraded seats, a nice stereo system, etc. What’s a couple hundred more dollars to the $25,000 you are spending on your new car? All those accessories add to a nice chunk of profits in the end.

Offering the most expensive product first is called “the contrast principle” and automatically triggers certain responses in humans. It’s psychology.

Failing to use the contrast principle and selling the inexpensive items first will not only make the more expensive items seem and feeeeeel more expensive, but it actually causes the contrast principle to work against you – it causes the more expensive item to seem even more expensive that it actually is.

This principle works so effectively because of the mood or atmosphere created in the beginning. When used effectively the mood you create is leveraged on the secondary sales items.

Let’s take a closer look at why this principle really works so well. You can try this experiment yourself. Get three buckets and fill them with water. Fill one with hot water, one with very cold water and one with lukewarm water. Put your left hand in the hot water and your right in the cold water. After a minute or so take both hands out and place both hands in the lukewarm water at the same time.

When you feel is truly amazing! Logically you know the lukewarm water is one temperature, but both hands are experiencing something very different. The hand in the hot water feels like the water is very cold, while the other hand is feeling warmth.  Because of what they experienced before they were merged into the cold water.

What’s important to take away for your sales copy is to know what impression you want to make with your reader. Whether you want your product to seem expensive or inexpensive – the perception is influenced by what you present first.

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.

Do you know what you are doing wrong?

Today’s massage marketing environment is substantially different than it was even ten years ago. If you’ve been doing the same types of marketing for years and they were once successful but are not as effective now there is a good reason for that.

Pull vs Push your messages to others

Society has changed and the way people expect to hear from you has changed. Where marketing and communications used to be your practice sending information “out” or pushing information to patients and prospects, it is now about you brining them in or “pulling” them to you. Communicating in our society has changed and your marketing communications should reflect that change from a push to a pull strategy. Pushing your information out to anyone that would listen in order to initiate a conversation worked in the past, but no more. Now there is a need to pull prospects and clients into your sphere – this is today’s communication. This is how to connect with people today.

How Obama changed the face of social media

A great example of this was Obama’s presidential campaign. I did a ton of research on this for the healthcare conference I did a workshop in January. Obama did an awesome job “marketing” his campaign and run for presidency. His messaging played an important role (for change) as well as the WAYS he connected with people.

Obama was able to raise over 200 million dollars through a pull marketing strategy. He did this by pulling people in one small step at a time. He received absolutely none of that money from businesses. He built an email list of 3.5 million people in a very short time span. In a very easy and nonintrusive way he simply asked people to join his list to keep up to date on what was going on. He would then ask them to donate small amounts, $10, $15, $20 increments (this is just like asking people to take small steps to improve their health). He spoke to them through short text messages through twitter and YouTube. All with their permission. All through short, concise marketing communications.

How do we know this? Simply take a look at what’s going on with new communication trends. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are all about sending short, concise messages to people that asked to or agreed to hear from you.

Why the change?

There is so much “noise” going on around us and we are all so bombarded with advertisements that we simply can’t process it all.

So healthcare consumers are electing who and what they want to hear about, just like consumers in any other industry.

Bringing this back to you and your practice, look at what types of marketing you are doing. Are you sending things out, out, out and not asking for a commitment or an action from your community? Are you doing the same old post cards, the same old grocery cart brand awareness?

If you are not asking prospects to say “yes” to hear from you they are probably not listening. You don’t have their buy-in. You are pushing.

What are some pull strategies that work well?

Anything where you are getting your client or prospect to say “yes I want to hear from you”. An ezine or this blog is a perfect example. You agreed to receive it. You learned a little bit about it, obviously are interested in healthcare marketing, and gave us your name and email address to learn more.

Blogs, podcasts, newsletters and ezines where the reader has asked to receive the information (rather than just sending it to them), are just a few examples of ways to incorporate a pull strategy into your marketing rather than the current push strategy you may be using.

If you are seeing your marketing is not as effective as it once was understand there is a reason. Look at how you are connecting with both your clients and your prospects.

Contact us at Kelly@AMarketingConnection.com or call 303-460-0285 for more information.

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 the author of Marketing 101: Why Successful Alternative Healthcare Practitioners Specialize as well as co-author of The Practice Evolution Success Kit.

Kelly Robbins 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.

Your marketing promotions need to reflect this

Everyone I know is feeling stressed lately. I hear stressful comments daily about job losses, the terrible state of the economy and worries about family. For many everyday Americans stress is the number one thing affecting their lives and their health.

As a healthcare marketer it’s your responsibility to look for ways you can help people live healthier lives. It’s your responsibility to find ways to connect with the people that need you.

Know that most people are aware of their high stress and many are looking for ways to lessen that stress. Ask yourself what you can do to help your community reduce or better manage their stress?

In a recent study by the American Psychological Association, in June of 2008 more people reported physical and emotional symptoms of stress than in 2007 and nearly half said their stress had increased over last year. People reported more fatigue, feelings of irritability or anger, lying awake at night as a result of stress in addition to lack of interest or motivation, fatigue, feeling depressed or sad, and headaches and muscular tension. You can read more here.

If you are looking for new ways to connect with patients I recommend you talk to them about managing their stress. You can do two things:

1. Listen to what patients are saying when they come in. Sometimes people are sharing important information with you and it appears to be idle chit chat unless you are paying attention. I am asking you to really listen. What is causing them stress and what symptoms are you seeing in your practice? An example may be losing sleep. Perhaps you’ve had several patients tell you they haven’t been sleeping well. (Hint: This may have absolutely nothing to do with why they came in to see you.)

Here is what a quick Google search turned up for me on stress and sleep disturbances:

“A new poll finds almost a third of all Americans are unable to get a good night sleep because they are worrying about their finances, the economy or their jobs.” According to a recent article in HealthDay, Dr. Bruce Nolan, medical director of the Sleep Center at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, says sleep is sensitive to things that go on during the day…”

You take this information and apply it to your practice. How can massage or meditation or acupuncture help reduce stress? How can it help your patients sleep better?

Educate and share this information with your patients AND use this information in your marketing efforts in your community.

2. Use the information your patients are giving you to create packages and marketing promotions. If you hear several patients tell you they can’t sleep or their stomach is upset all the time and you think it may be stress related use this information to help them and others in an easy and affordable way. Create “stress reduction packages” or “reduce your stress day”. Create awareness and offer options to help.

I did this recently with my “Practice Specialization Package”. I had several clients come to me that didn’t need ongoing marketing services, they simply needed help narrowing their focus so the marketing they were doing was more effective. They needed help clearly defining their target market or niche. How many times do I have to get hit over the head to realize if five or six people are asking for something there are probably a ton more that could use the same guidance? (The answer is too embarrassing to mention) I created an affordable, easy and doable package and sure enough, practitioners are finding it very helpful.

What information keeps smacking you in the face that you aren’t recognizing?

Let’s look at two more examples of how you can use the theme of stress to create packages for your practice.

“Touching helps couples reduce stress. New research in Psychosomatic Medicine shows that couples may be able to enhance one another’s health by being more physically affectionate with one another.” Our new massage training for couples to reduce stress workshop can help…

Here’s one more final example,

“According to a study in the journal of pediatrics, living in a stressful household can increase a child’s chances of becoming obese. That’s why the chiropractors at Stanley Shores Chiropractic created a stress reduction package for families. Combining stress reduction techniques with a proper alignment and nutrition counseling creates an overwhelming sense well being and benefits families all around.”

Take an honest look at what you can do to help. The health of your community depends on it!

Would you like help coming up with a promotional ideas for your practice? Or not sure which niche to target? We are happy to help! You can sign-up for the Practice Specialization Package by clicking here or by giving us a call at 303-460-0285.

To Your Success!

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 the author of Marketing 101: Why Successful Alternative Healthcare Practitioners Specialize as well as co-author of The Practice Evolution Success Kit.

Kelly Robbins 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” atwww.AMarketingConnection.com or 303-460-0285.

There are many ways to generate leads for your massage practice. One of the fastest, least expensive and most powerful ways to generate leads is through joint ventures.

Having a joint venture with another business means “joining forces” with another business or practitioner that has a similar target market. By joining forces you are able to benefit each other and each of your prospective clients.

Some examples of joint ventures may be an acupuncture practice and a yoga studio working together to help clients reduce stress. A massage therapist and a local health club or personal trainer referring clients to each other. A vitamin shop and a running store teaming together to promote techniques on optimizing performance to both of their clients.

Joint ventures work in a variety of ways. Businesses can advertise together, refer clients to each other, create packages together, and share client lists to name a few things. Truly, your imagination is all that stops you from coming up with other ideas.

Let’s take a detailed look at some common joint venture techniques massage therapists have successfully used in the past:

• Joint marketing. Joining forces in marketing and advertising endeavors can both reduce advertising costs as well as improve the reach of an advertisement. Look outside the massage therapy arena as well as in. Stretch yourself to think outside the box. You can implement a formal referral program with specific businesses. 

• Creating “packages” with another business. Look for businesses that your existing client base has an interest in, and that complement your business and that are easy to integrate products and services with each other.

For example, a massage therapist that has a patient base consisting of many young mothers may partner with a local dance studio or mother of preschoolers group (mops) to give talks on health and safety.

Another idea is to partner with local sports teams. A massage therapist may be the “official sponsor” of the local recreation center as well as most of the sports teams (such as soccer, golf, lacrosse, etc). They often have staff at events and publish health articles in rec center publications as well as have handouts, etc at the front desk. In return, the rec center and sports teams offer more value to players and their families for no additional charge. The clinic also has information for their patients about what’s going on at the rec center. It’s a win/win for both.

Another example may be a massage therapist that partners with a local restaurant and health spa to create a “bridal party package”. Brides can purchase these packages as thank-you gifts for their bridesmaids or for a “pre-wedding party” for the bridal party itself. By working together these three businesses are able to help the bride with the problem of a meaningful thank-you gift for her bridesmaids and three businesses are able to attract new clients in a unique, easy and fun way.

• Refer clients to another business exclusively. Referring clients to another business is an inexpensive and solid way to grow your business. Forming an exclusive relationship with another business creates a strong relationship and a solid referral network for all involved. You may find your clients are familiar with one business, let’s use the yoga studio example, and are likely to have a positive impression of them. If you are affiliated with the yoga studio, even recommended by them that immediately separates you in the clients eyes from most other options, simply because you are referred.
   
• Sharing client lists. This is an easy and popular joint venture opportunity for businesses large and small. Think physical mailings, handouts, email and ezines. Joint venture opportunities can range from swapping ads and sponsorships to recommending each other as resources with discounts and coupons. Having links to each other’s websites is a common technique that is simple to do too.

Joining forces with other businesses allows you to serve many of your patients needs – even ones that you don’t provide. And it allows you to connect with people that you otherwise may not have.

One of the best ways to find joint venture partners is to have a clear vision of your target market and a clear understanding of what niche is attracted to your practice. Our “Practice Specialization Package” at A Marketing Connection may be just what you need to get your marketing out of stagnate mode and into profitability.

Contact us at Kelly@AMarketingConnection.com or call 303-460-0285 for more information.

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 the author of Marketing 101: Why Successful Alternative Healthcare Practitioners Specialize as well as co-author of The Practice Evolution Success Kit.

Kelly Robbins 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.

Marketing to Moms

Mothers control 85% of the household income in the US, and their buying power tops $2.1 trillion annually, according to a special report by Marketing Sherpa. There are approximately 75 million moms in the US alone.

Match these statistics to the fact that women are the primary healthcare decision makers in the US, and you’ve got an audience you should be talking to about your massage therapy business.

No matter what type of massage you do, rehab to stress reduction, it’s important to know that mothers control a large percentage of the clients you see. As a mother myself I know this is true. From dental appointments to acupuncture treatments, to the massages we get on the weekends, the approval runs through me. My husband jokingly says he has to “check with corporate” before making a decision on some things, our healthcare tops this list.

What do these statistics mean to you and how should it affect the marketing you do?

Moms are everywhere

For starters, regardless of what niche you’ve chosen, understand you are marketing to moms. Moms work, moms are athletes, moms plan the vacations…so whether speaking at a corporate health fair, or training a group of athletes on injury prevention – chances are you’re talking to a mom.

And according to Marketing Sherpa, one of the most important things you can do to connect with moms is build a relationship with them. An example given in a recent report discusses a tactic whirlpool has used for the past three years; running programs that have nothing to do with appliances.

According to the Marketing Sherpa article, “Whirlpool has been doing weekly podcasts ‘The American Family’, for three years. The podcasts get 25,000 to 40,000 monthly downloads” says Audrey Reed-Granger, Director Marketing and Pr, Mass Brands. “The content includes interviews with experts on topics such as shaken baby syndrome, workplace bullying, traveling with kids, and weight loss and management.” (Notice how many of these are health-related. Moms are actively searching for health information, both online and off)

As a healthcare marketer it’s important you know moms are busy, digitally savvy, and are online daily. Moms often feel overwhelmed and look for healthcare services that not only keep their families healthy, but make parenting easier and enrich the lives of their children.

How can you apply this information to your practice? Let’s take a look at what works when reaching out to the mom market…

• Home parties (think of “girls night out” at your practice or a massage party at someone’s house). Moms want to learn, have fun, and be social. Parties are a great way to meet several of these needs.
• Blogging – studies show that 53% of moms are bloggers. Do you blog? Do you use key words when you blog so your practice is found in the search engines?
• Podcasts – moms can learn about caring for their family while exercising, cooking dinner, or gardening. Busy moms often don’t have time to read, but they can download information to their mp3 players and multitask.
• Email – Moms are active, informed online users. They are, however, not intrigued by cutesy graphics or long-winded offers. Ezines can be a great way to keep busy moms informed without wasting their time. Ensure your information gets straight to the point and includes high-resolution graphics.  
• Discounts go a long way with moms. Show the discounted price, not just the percent off. We don’t want to figure it out, but we love a good sale!

Odds are a large percentage of the decision making in your client base comes from mothers. Are you incorporating their wants and needs into your marketing? Are you connecting with them in a manner they relate to?

If you’d like help connecting with the moms in your community, call us at 303-460-0285 and inquire about your new media marketing package.

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.

 This week I’ve spoken with quite a few LMT’s about their practices and why they have ups and downs in their business cycles. We talked about why they never seem to have a consistent stream of clients (and income). Some of them assume they are working with the wrong group of people, the wrong niche. Or that they don’t have a niche and that’s why they aren’t making any money. Others tell me they aren’t making the money they deserve because they are in a small town and there isn’t much business there. Some don’t specialize, some don’t have a web site.

There are a lot of excuses I’m hearing.  

After talking to these folks for a few minutes, I realized that while these excuses may be contributing factors, this is not the reason why they don’t have a thriving business.

They don’t have any business because they aren’t marketing to ANYBODY at all.

Yes, you need to be strategic about your marketing. Yes, it’s smart to chose a target group of people that have a need for your services (and the money to pay for it) and spend your time and energy on them. Choosing a niche is a term for this.

It’s important to know who you are marketing to and to understand WHY they would hire you, what they are looking for and how you could best and least expensively get in front of them.

That’s all important, and you should do it. If you don’t do those things and you aren’t strategic about your marketing, you will waste your time and your money. But the bottom line is…you still have to market yourself. If you don’t do something, no one will know you are out there.

Write articles and publish them. Go to networking events. Make a point to have coffee with one person a week. Send postcards. Make cold calls. Whatever you chose to do – do something. Take action.

Your marketing doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to be happening. Now, this is a non-tangible thing I am going to say and some of you may just laugh at me, but you have to get that marketing engine in motion and get that energy moving. Go. Go. Go. It’s all about the moving energy.

If you are in a place (like starting a new business or trying to kick-start an existing business that is not living up to your expectations) and you are uncomfortable with where you are at or with the results you are getting, you need to change things. You have to move.

Imagine being in a stale or stuffy room with all the doors and vents closed. New air can’t come in and the stuffy, stale air is just sitting there and can’t get out. No one likes the way this room feels, but no one is doing anything to change it. No one wants to be in this stale and stuffy room. New people rarely if ever come in, and the people that are in the room are too hot to talk or be friendly with each other because they are miserable.

But then…you come in.

You open the windows and the door, maybe bring a fan in and start moving the air around. You get the air to circulate. Suddenly it’s easier to breathe and new people start to come into the room and socialize.

You need to do the same thing with your marketing. Of course you don’t have a room with stuffy air, but the energy around your marketing is stale and is either not attracting clients or not attracting the right clients. You need to change the air – i.e. your marketing energy.

If you are doing nothing but thinking about what you are going to do, nothing is moving. Including your energy.

The funny thing about doing this, about taking action, is that people start coming to you that you aren’t even marketing to. It’s something about getting your marketing energy moving around, just the act of doing it and building the momentum up starts to make things happen.

The moral of my story….get marketing. Do something. Move your butt.

About the author
Author of Healthcare Copywriting Secrets Revealed and The Practice Evolution Success Kit, Kelly Robbins is an award winning copywriter and marketing coach/consultant. 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 Kelly@AMarketingConnection.com or 303-460-0285.