When you are building your massage (energy work/yoga/skin care) client base, you have to market. You just do.
Marketing takes time, money, planning and effort.
To gather more clients while using your time and effort wisely, you need to do the one best thing to get more clients:
Specialize.
It’s a bit like saying, “Plastics,” I know. But …
When you specialize you save time; you are talking to the clients you want on your table.
When you specialize you save money; you advertise and market in places where your ideal clients already are.
When you specialize you save effort; you know who you’re talking to, you know what they need and you know where to find them.
When you specialize people see you as an expert; the clients you want to serve will be better able to find you.
When you specialize you stand out.
Here are five steps to get you going
1. Decide what kind of clients you want.
You need to be specific. “Everyone” is not a helpful answer. You really don’t want “everyone.”
Deciding you want to work with “moms” is fine. Deciding to work with “active moms whose active children attend the Tae Kwon Do school across the street from your studio” is much better.
“Elders” is fine. “65+ year old men who have put their body through the wringer who want the facts and have been in low-grade pain for so long that they are willing to seriously consider acupuncture” is better.
And, yes, you can have two, three, four, etc different specialties.
2. Discover where your ideal clients can be found.
Once you know who you want, you have to go find them.
You could run a specific ad for your specific clients in the local paper or on the radio. Or you could save money and buy or trade ad space in a club’s newsletter or in a yoga teacher’s email or in a health cooperative’s flyer.
Find the places where your ideal clients go: fly fishing club meetings, dog parks, sports bars (the nice ones, of course), jogging trails, farmers’ markets, etc.
3. Consider the problems your ideal clients deal with.
Again, you need to be specific. Yes, your ideal client’s shoulders hurt but their problem is that they can’t reach the top shelf, or work at their desks for more than an hour, or put on their coats, or go into downward dog.
They are stressed but what they can’t do is sleep through the night, or stop drinking so much coffee, or they can’t make decisions.
4. Keep your message clear and brief.
Next time you’re driving down the road, look at a business’ sign or a billboard. See how long that took? That’s how long you have to capture your clients’ attention.
It’s important to tell them what they want to hear first thing. And keep it brief.
If they need or should have more information, they will call you or go to your website.
5. Follow through.
I am continuously astounded by the number of therapists who spend time and money creating a marketing plan and then never actually do it.
Your clients (and potential clients) want to hear from you. They rely on you to keep them reminded and informed. You don’t need to be slicky-salesman about it. Ever. Just be who you are and all will be well.
Honest.
All my best,
Eileen
 This week I got a serious request for some input. It reads:
“I have just recently moved from Chicago to Cape Cod, MA, and accepted a job at a spa/gym. The space and business is new to the owners of the spa. They have two other locations on the cape. I have been hired to be the massage therapist/marketing person.
We have tried numerous marketing ideas. Some examples:
Spring stimulus package for $99.00 (includes-hair cut,facial, massage),
Beauty bucks-$20.00 off a purchase of $80.00 or more,
Referral program for the trainers- refer 2 people get half-off a service.
We have even attended a ladies community night in which over 500 women get together at a local venue, to see the local businesses and what services they have to offer. Not one has called or come by.
What are we not seeing? I have learned not to discount your services or give them away for free.
The web-site for the gym is www.fitness500club.com and we are under the link Beyond Beauty. We also have our own link for the salon/spas, www.beyondbeautycapecod.com.
Please help. I do not want to give up on this venture.”
Usually I do three or four backing and forthing emails with people who ask for insight into their situation. Then I write a blog entry with their background and my suggestions. I find I ask the same kinds of questions most of the time. This time I’m going to ask the questions as part of the entry so you all can see one way to start examining how you market your massage therapy / bodywork practice. And so you can give your insights, too. Jump in!
Also, I have no idea what this person’s name is so I’m calling him/her “Sam.” I like “Sam.”
Dear Sam—
I don’t want you to give up either. Let me go through some basic questions and we’ll see if we can’t figure out what’s going on here.
Just to be clear, are you the massage therapy/marketing person for Beyond Beauty, right? Not all three locations. And when you say “massage therapy person” does that mean you are managing the massage therapy side of the business or that you are the massage therapy chief-cook-bottle-washer-and marketer?
Who are your clients? Who do you want your clients to be? Year ’round residents? Summer residents? Visitors, women, men, gym members, CPAs? Who are you focusing on here?
Is massage a recently added service with this company? Are there plenty of MTs in town (in other words, is the town educated about the benefits of bodywork)?
How is the gym side of the business?
I see that Beyond Beauty is an Aveda Spa. How does that affect your marketing, if at all?
How are you getting your marketing ideas (stimulus package, beauty bucks, etc.) out there? Web only? Newspaper? Fliers? Brochures in B&Bs? Mailings? How are you trying to get the attention of your targeted clients … other than the ladies’ community night?
Ladies’ community night: What was that like? A booth? A chance to speak in front of an audience? Chair massage demos? How did you try to attract clients? Why do you think no one responded?
Sam, the answers and insights you give to these questions will help us focus on what you should think about doing next. Let’s get cracking!
All my best,
Eileen
Okay, gang. What did I forget to ask? I usually remember some essential question after I push the send button. Which I’m doing … now …
