Massage Therapy Marketing For Beginners
Massage Therapy schools in Trinidad & Tobago do not
include sessions on how to build a massage therapy business. Every year hundreds of new Massage Therapists
graduate with varying degrees of skill levels, in other words some have
embraced the discipline and others are just so-so.
All
compete in the market for the available clients. How you market your business whether you are
just starting or have had your certification for a number of years will
determine your success. The following are four basic tactics that every Massage
Therapist should use to market their services.
1. Word Of Mouth: By far the best way to get more clients is
word of mouth. That is someone telling
their friends about your ability to give an effective massage. This form of advertising is also the most
inexpensive. You start by letting your
friends and associates know about what you do asking them tell their friends
and associates. Unfortunately, in order for
this type of advertising you must first be good at what you do and secondly it
does not work overnight and can take a few years to become a sustainable form
of advertising.
2. Referrals: This is very similar to word of mouth in that
you do require your clients to tell their friends and associates about your
business and it could cost you nothing. It’s
different because it should become an integral part of your business. In other words it must be a system you have
that you execute with every client. For
example, you may have a referral process where you discount future massages for
each client when they refer another paying client. Point on this system is that each and every
client you get must know about it and it should be in writing. Use the free intake form to get data on your clients. Get it from this post.
3. Classified Newspaper
Ads: Now you are paying, although it’s
not much and the cost of these ads can be recuperated easily. This assumes that you know something about
how to place a classified ad and the words you use to attract clients. It’s too much to go into the mechanics here but
where you place the ad in the classified section is important as important as
the words you choose. Most ads are sold
by the number of words you use. Bear in
mind that a classified ad is not intended to sell your business. The purpose is to get prospects to call. If you try to do anything else with the ad, it
will not work.
4. Flyers: This is a little more expensive tactic that can
return significant returns; however, it must be done strategically. That is to say, yes you want to do flyers targeted
to a niche. The returns on mass audience
flyers are generally pitiful. Flyers
works best when a specific niche of your market is targeted. For example, you can focus on the hotels and
tourist markets. Make flyers and
distribute in hotels, motels and guest houses in Trinidad and Tobago. Make arrangements with the hotel management
to offer a massage service as part of their hotel package. Offer the hotel a monetary incentive to include
your service in their advertisements.
The bottom line is as a new or even old Massage Therapist
you must find a way to incorporate as many of these basic strategies in your
marketing. The goal is to build a more
sustainable practice. You can sit on
your massage fingers and complain or get up and do something. If you do nothing else, at the very least you
could employ a systematic word of mouth strategy tied to a referral system.
Start reimbursing yourself for the tuition to learn what you know, now is the time to get it back.
