Success with Your Specialty

In a previous blog I talked about finding your niche. Now that you found it, how do you capitalize on it? Assuming you have the training and skills to work with your niche, the next step is getting the word out. You can start with the grass roots approach: tell everyone what you are doing. Everyone you run into is going to ask you ”what’s up/new/going on?” Tell them you are excited about this specialization you are working with now. In the case of Pregnancy Massage, you can tell them how excited you are to be helping all those future moms feel better and how rewarding it is. Then let them know if they know anyone that they think can benefit from your new skills/focus to let them know about you. You can also go online and join a local forum or group that deals with your new niche market. I participated on pregnancy and new moms forums, made connections with prenatal yoga instructors, birth coaches, and so on to bring awareness to what we were doing.

Another way to let the world know about your new specialty is to do a press release to your local news agencies. Find out your local paper and TV news editors’ emails and send them an email detailing how your new service or focus can help the local community. If you volunteer or participate in an event using your skills, send them a press release about that as well. “Massage Therapist Helps Local Athletes” is a great headline!

Set up your website to highlight your specialty. Talk about how you can solve problems within your niche’s population. Don’t talk about “neuromuscular reeducation” or “energy flow balancing,” though. Instead, talk about “relieving chronic pain through the use of your specialty technique” or “improved energy and better sleep…” Your niche wants to know how you can help them; they don’t care about the details of your techniques methods. When advertising anywhere, advertise the fact that you help that niche, not the skills you use to help them.

Use your credentials but not the initials. The general public doesn’t know what NCBTMB or APMA mean, or even what a CMT is. The do understand Nationally Certified or American Pregnancy Massage Assoc. approved provider. If you belong to, or are certified through, an organization, use their logo, but also spell it out for your clients in your web/advertising/brochure text. Tell them what it means to your clients that you belong to the organization. If the organization has a referral system, make sure you are on it.

This may seem like a lot of work, but it really isn’t. Once you’ve set these things in place, you’ll start seeing increased business in your niche.

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