Marketing Matters

So what are your plans for gift certificate sales this season?

Focusing on gift certificate sales should be a seasonal project for you. If not,  it’s time to incorporate it into your regular massage practice marketing plan.

Why You Ought To
The Holidays is when you are more likely to be introduced by existing clients to new or potentially new clientele.

And, this is the time of year when people are wanting to buy.

Therefore, this is the time of year to focus on gathering new clients, revitalizing your practice and/or shifting your practice’s focus.

The easiest way to do this is to remind your clients that you have gift certificates for sale.

Give Your Clients a Reason
People buy for the Holidays. They just do. So if they’re going to spend money, why not spend it on something healthy and good?

Your clients need to be reminded of the benefits of your work. They need to be reminded that it is very simple to share your work with their family and friends.

What to Say
Your clients have a problem. You have to tell them what their problem is.

Your clients need a solution their problem. You tell them how you can solve it.

Your clients problems can be solved by one phone call or email. You tell them that.

The Thing Is
In order to write this simple message, you have to know your clients.

You should know by now why your clients come to you. Whether in your head or on paper, your clients should be divided up into distinct groups of shared needs and interests: arthritis, stress reduction, beauty, physical goals, emotional work.

People (your clients) tend to gather together with others that share their interests … friends and families. So, sending a specific message to specific clients will result in a higher response.

If your clients come to you not only because of your work, but also because of your certified toxin-free practice, play that up. The likelihood is high that they will either buy a certificate for a friend that shares the same interest, or that they will at least pass your message along with a, “You really would like her; she’s done wonders for my allergy issues.”

If people come to you because your work improves their golf swing, keep that at the forefront.

If you have one group of clients that love your prenatal work and another that love your TMJD relief, send different messages to each group.

Act Now
It can take four to six weeks to get a good mailing planned, written, printed and mailed.

Diana and I have written several articles on how to “discover” your ideal client and how to write messages to them. Links to these are below.

If you have specific questions, you can email me at marketingmatters@comcast.net OR (even better) call our office at 800-754-9790 and sign up for a free brainstorming session. The session truly is free and completely, absolutely, positively obligation-free.

All my best,
Eileen

Diana’s stuff:
Target your clients’ real concerns — in tough times and good times

Promos for the Holidays. Use these samples to get started.

Buy Local, Get a Massage

Marketing with Postcards

Eileen’s stuff:
MT Seeks Ideal Clients: Courting the massage clients you want

Taking Your Cues from the Big Guys: Targeting your massage marketing to the proper clients

Why You Should Book a Session with Me: Marketing massage on your website

Spell. It. Out.: Valentine’s promotional messages for the romantically handicapped

My mother-in-law turned 70 this week. In the Swan Valley, you put an “events notice” in the weekly paper when you are going to have a big party. You don’t ask for RSVPs. You don’t try to make a potluck list. Just tell them to gather and don’t try to “organize.” This is not how I operate, but I was not the one being invited. It’s hard to remember that sometimes.

You have to reach out to your potential clients in a way that is familiar to them.

Ask your favorite clients (or people who you would like to have as clients) how they like to get their information. By mail? Electronically? In the papers?

How you like to get your information doesn’t figure here.

Maybe you prefer electronic communication, but there is no sense in spending time and money trying to attract someone like my dad through email or web ads. Don’t bother. But if you snail-mailed him a quarterly/bi-monthly newsletter full of facts and studies, he would be more likely to pay attention. Another option for reaching him would be through an article in the newspaper or a regional seniors’ journal. He wants facts and he wants them on paper. So do most of his friends. Remember this if you’re trying to attract 65+, educated, retired professional, active codgers.

When you know who you are trying to reach, you will know how to go about actually reaching them.

Ask your good clients where they like to get information about local activities/events. From the paper? Flyers? Radio? Word of mouth? Yahoo groups?

If you are after the kind of people that shop at farmers’ markets, see about asking a vendor to put flyers in the produce bags or sponsor a food bank bin.

If you are trying to attract summer visitors, see what the Visitor’s Bureau will mail out with their information packs or if they will allow you to advertise on their site. Explore how visitors find out about your area and adjust accordingly. Make your search terms reflect the Visitors’ Bureau’s website. See about doing tandem marketing with a thriving local attraction or B&B.

Even a big city can be broken down into smaller, more manageable communities.

I have heard from a lot of folks who are trying to get their practices going in Chicago or Miami. Quite frankly, they are overwhelmed by the magnitude of potential clients. Understandable.

Every place is made up of tiny communities. A community is by definition tightly knit. Focus your efforts on these.

Maybe these communities are neighborhoods of like-minded or like-monied people that you want to work with. They have local coffee shops and parks.

Maybe these communities are people with same values or enthusiasms like churches or softball teams. They have parish flyers, team updates and seasonal picnics.

Reach out to potential clients on their terms, in their space, and you’ll save yourself time, effort and heartbreak.

All my best,
Eileen

By the by, here is a link to a rather intriguing article about using your business cards in different ways for different target groups: How to Order, Design and Use Personal Business Cards in a New Way. I also wrote an entry about it with off-the-cuff ways the ideas could be adjusted for marketing your massage/bodywork practice.

My boss (one of them) said he was working on the selectors and pseudoselectors for HTML maintenance.

“Great,” I said. “What does that mean?”

It means he’s switching CSS styles.

“Great,” I said. “What does that mean?”

It means we can do cool stuff on the web faster and easier.

Ah, well! That means something to me.

When you talk to your clients — especially in mailings or ad texts — you need to keep their needs in the forefront.

Most clients will not understand what you mean by, “The intention in my work is to bring you back to balance and into a homeostatic state of well being.”

As a group, your clients don’t know what petrissage, trigger point therapy or Ayurveda massage is either. Those terms don’t mean anything to them. Those terms don’t tell them how they are going to feel after a session with you. They don’t know what they results are supposed to be.

Your clients will understand:

I can ease your headache pain.
I can help you sleep more soundly.
I can help you recover from from injury faster.
I can help turn your mountains into molehills.
I can help you find your ankles again.

When you market your massage / bodywork practice, start by telling your clients what they truly want to know. They want to know the results — what they are going to get for their money and time.

After you have their attention, then you encourage them to call you or to visit your website for more details about your techniques and your training.

All my best,
Eileen

I had an object lesson this week.

I am absolutely devoted to my Mother Care (peri-natal) yoga class. Half the time there aren’t enough students to make it worth the instructor’s while.

Because I have a vested interest in taking this class, I’ve been working with Kristen (instructor) to figure out how build up her attendance. How hard could it be?

In addition to Mother Care yoga, Kristen teaches popular pre-natal yoga and new parent yoga classes. She is a well-known doula. She emails her regular clients with class updates. She offers discounts for bringing a friend and takes flyers to playgroups. As far as I can tell, Kristen has the absolute best pool of potential clients ever and is doing everything she is should to promote this service.

Why aren’t the moms coming to my favorite class? They should be flocking to it.

At the end of every class (when we have class), Kristen asks students what she can do to make the class more accessible. A different day of the week? Different time? She gently talks about the importance of moms taking time to recharge themselves. About giving dads or partners the chance to be parents on their own without “supervision.”

Kristen gets different answers each time she asks. They all sound logical — weekends are the only time our family can be together, too tired in the evenings, classes are during the baby’s “needy” time.

Because Kristen is a smartypants, she didn’t react to all these suggestions. She considered them. Kristen didn’t feel like she was getting The Real Answer.

I was fairly twitching with impatience and biting my tongue firmly. I wanted to get schedules changed and new fliers made up and to rewrite her class description and, and, and! I wanted the class to happen now.

This week, Kristen got her Answer.

A mom said she wasn’t able to come to classes sooner because her baby was nursing every two to three hours. The class is two hours long. Most new moms who come to the class are nursing. The class plus travel means new moms will be at least 2.5 hours away from their babies.

Ah.

That would be The Real Answer.

So. Good for Kristen for continuing to ask her clients what they needed, for looking for the real reason for sparse attendance. Now she knows that she needs to adjust the length of the class.

I learned that it’s a good idea to keep asking until you get an answer that resonates with you and your practice.

If you are convinced that there is a market for your work with a specialized group — police/dog trainers/welders — keep asking until you figure out exactly what they need. Special hours? Longer sessions? Shorter sessions? Clearly stated bodywork benefits relating to their particular needs?

There is an answer. You’ll know it when you hear it.

All my best,
Eileen

If you’re interested in reading more about writing ad/flyer copy, Diana has a good article on targeting your clients’ real concerns.

Eileen is the marketing coordinator for Natural Touch Marketing.