Marketing Tips for Massage Therapists

We learn a lot of skills, technique and knowledge in becoming a massage therapist, but knowing what to do with your clients is only useful so long as there are plenty coming in the door.
 
We live in a world where marketing prevails.  Marketing is not to be confused with advertising.  Marketing is every step of the process in acquiring clients, your product or service, and retaining your clients.  Here’s our 5 basics to get your sessions booked and people coming back for more:

1. A Great Service!

A million dollar advertising budget, the best promotional offers, competitive rates… all totally meaningless if your service doesn’t speak for itself.
If your offering isn’t getting great feedback, it’s time to analyze the issue and find a solution.  Refresh your training, seek advice from your teachers or someone more experienced.
How do you know if your service is great?

• Your clients are so pleased the feel compelled to tell you
• Always ask your client how their session was.  Inviting a conversation about your session/s may give your client an opportunity to provide some valuable feedback.  They’re more likely to tell you the little important details if they feel comfortable you can accept the feedback without offence.  These details might take your service from an 8 to a 10/10.
• Take a regular check-in on your own performance.  Was I really present today? Do I feel I gave this client what they needed or came for?
  

1. Reviews

Let’s assume your massage offerings are fantastic, is that enough alone?
Your client may return regularly, but you want to know they’re telling people about you.  Word of mouth and reviews are the most trusted source of new clients.
You say your service is great, and it’s easy to put down to an inherent bias.  Someone else pays for your service, enjoys it and truly values it, this person is your best marketer.  Find a way to support them, in supporting you!
A website, Facebook page, Tripadvisor listing, somewhere you can direct your clients to offer a public review.  Their review could be the difference between your potential client thinking about booking a session and actually booking a session.
Agoda, TripAdvisor, Amazon, consumer’s trust is built on the reviews of people who have already had this experience.

1. Referrals

Referrals turn your clients into your marketers.  Creating a referral scheme is pretty simple, you just have to work out the value of having a new client, and what your prepared to sacrifice for this reward. 
Let’s say you have a regular weekly client, John Smith, for a 90-minute session at $100.  You tell John that if he refers someone to you for a session, he’ll get 20% off his next session.  You’ve spent $20 to get another $100 worth of work.  If the referred client comes back 5 times, it’s cost you $20 for $500 worth of work.
This costs you next to nothing and you get a great potential return for that little investment.

1. Return Rewards & Buy in Bulk to Lock in your regulars!

If my client keeps coming back because they love my service, why offer any incentive?
There’s a feel-good factor when we walk away with a sense that we got more than we paid for.  The massage therapist wants to know the client values their service, the client wants to feel like you value their business and their loyalty.
With return rewards the customer feels a sense of opportunity.  This deal doesn’t end at the exchange of cash for a session, you have the chance to get something more.
When your customer feels valued, they’re more likely to support your business, go to the effort of leaving a review on your website or Facebook page, tell their friends.
Offering discounted bulk sessions, pay for 10 sessions get the 1 free, gives you a chance to generate cashflow.  Get those payments up front and secured.  You’ll also reduce your risk of cancellation when someone knows they’ve already paid for it!

1. Advertising

Now why would advertising come last on the list?
Truth is, advertising is often the least effective, most time consuming, and expensive form of marketing for small businesses. 
There’s a difference between spreading awareness and encouraging action.  Someone knowing your service is available isn’t putting money in your pockets, those are the people booking sessions.
That said, we need people to know our service is out there.  So if we see a need to spread awareness of our service through paid advertising, how do we do this?

• Keep it local.  Local newspapers/magazines.  There’s no point forking out to be in Massage Monthly with it’s 150,000 readers if only 100 of those readers are within a 20km radius and only 10 of them don’t glance right past your ad to read the content and only 1 of them actually makes a booking.