4 Marketing Tactics Independent Massages Therapist Should Use

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. 

Most Massage Therapists Have The Shoe Maker’s Problem

Caught In The Trader’s Trap

He builds and repairs shoes for hundreds of customers while ignoring holes in the soles of his own shoes.   Massage Therapist almost never get a massage themselves.  They don't realize that unlike the shoemaker their entire business depends on their health. 

Whether a Massage Therapist works for an organization or is independent, finding the time to have a massage on their own body is almost impossible.  No doubt, it is easy, and most do, self massage when they feel a pain but for many of the pains they cannot effectively massage.  

The truth is that Massage Therapists are similar to doctors, lawyers, plumbers and shoemakers.  In fact, any profession that relies on an individual’s skill for sustained income falls under that is called the “Trader’s Trap”. The pitfall is that their economic survival depends on their good health.  If, or should I say when,  their health is affected in any way, they immediately lose their income.  

The irony is that most Massage Therapists know the benefits of a therapeutic massage; yet they come up with reasons like “I’m too busy”  “I can’t find anyone to massage me”  or  the classic “I don’t need one”.   It's the same excuses that many of their clients use when they try to avoid having a massage done.

And take a guess which part of the body feels the pain first.  Yes, you are right, the feet.  Most Message Therapists are on their feet most of the day which will eventually take a toll after a few years.  

What's your excuse?  When's the last time you had a massage done on your feet or whole body?  

Take your own medicine and get a massage soon, no one knows the benefits better than yourself.

Don't Massage Yourself Out Of Business

Some Massage Therapists Can Be A Danger To Clients or Themselves

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Most independent Massage Therapists are so eager, and in some cases desperate that anyone who say the want a massage is immediately massaged.  They neglect or are unaware of the fact that massaging can actually hurt some clients. Also they stand a high likelihood of contacting some very serious contagious illnesses.  

In every modality of massage, Swedish, Thai, Shiatsu etc. there are red flag warnings that the Massage Therapist should consider before a massage. In most of the cases the only way a Therapist will know of a client's condition is to ask. The onus is on the Therapist to ask because except for a few cases it is not obvious that the condition exists.

 

Below is a list of precautions and contradictions that must be considered before administering a massage.

• High fever
• Acute Inflammations
• Recent Injuries particularly bones fracture, muscle and skeleton injuries
• Recent Operations
• Open Skin Wounds
• Phlebitis, Varicose Veins and Thrombosis(with special care)
• Infections and Auto Immune Dysfunctions Syndrome such as Hepatitis, Herpes virus, Chicken Pox, and AIDS
• Any type of Skin Diseases such as Impetigo, Fungi, Scabies, Lice etc
• Alcohol Consumption
• High or Low Blood Pressure
• Heart Diseases and Disorders(Pacemaker, Open Heart Surgery, Strokes)
• All forms of Cancer
• Either Early or Late Stages of  Pregnancy(need to be notified)
• A massage should not be received at least one hour after a meal.
• Pregnant women, menstruating women and people who are bleeding either internally or externally are not allowed to receive foot reflexology massage.
• client are prohibited from washing hair, hands, feet or taking a bath within one hour of foot reflexology massage in order to prevent the body's elements from the effect of coldness.
• After receiving a massage, drinking water is required to eliminate toxin and lactic acids developed during the massage process.

Most of the items on the above list are pretty much self explanatory but why should a Licensed Therapist not massage someone who has consumed alcohol and is obviously inebriated?  Or, or massage a client who has high or low blood pressure? 

If you are a Massage Therapist reading this, let’s hear your answer.  

We are seeking to identify independent local (T&T) Massage Therapists who are open to building their web presence to attract more clients.  If you are, leave a comment and let us know.  

Here is a free Massage Therapy Intake Form you could consider using or draw up your own.  

Intake Form (pdf file)

     Marketing Tips For Massage 

          Therapy Professionals

                Nature's Cures Covers Aliments 
                         From A to Z

           T&T Massage Therapy

                        * Please Complete.

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Massage Therapy Programme

This is worth Checking Out

There have many requests from this blog for information on Massage Therapy programmes in Trinidad and Tobago.  Here is a programme that may interest you. 

We are in no way affiliated to this programme.   It is being offered here as an alternative. Your due diligence is encouraged.

The programme is described as follows;


 "The Massage Therapy Programme is tailored to meet the high demand for massage professionals, and carries a well-rounded curriculum which provides a solid base of knowledge, through a blend of classroom lectures, instruction, demonstrations, lab sessions, hands-on experience and technical knowledge. 

The core curriculum is structured to include a lecture component and a clinical component, which combines a study of Swedish massage with other manual and energetic therapies, in the area of soft tissue dysfunction. 

The student will also achieve competency and skill in massage techniques, documentation and business areas. This broad introduction to the art and science of massage enables students to learn how massage techniques can be used in relation to the specific conditions of the body. 

The programme also provides the basic knowledge, tools, ethics, and behaviours that will enable students to successfully practice high quality skills in a variety of health care settings, as well as supplying them with a sound competitive advantage in this ever-changing field. 

Because of the demand for these treatments, there are diverse opportunities for employment in numerous medical facilities, health clubs, massage clinics, day spas, wellness centres, chiropractor's and pain clinics, sports teams, rehabilitation centres, athletic clubs, cruise ships, corporate wellness programmes and other venues providing the healthful benefits of skilled bodywork."


The link to the page is http://theime-tt.com/massage.php

How I Fell In Love With Massage Therapy

It really has been too long since I posted here.

Not that my interest in marketing massage therapy in Trinbago has waned, just that there are so many pots on the fire now and some are hot.

Today I just stopped in to make a quick post because it has been too long. This is free form writing without creating a draft to present.

Promise, will only do this one time because if I don't do it now don't know when it will be done.  Hope there are no corrections writing.

Today I want to explain why.

Why this blog was started this blog was started.

More for me than for you but it may interest you. This blog has been neglected since November of last year. If you are anything like me, a quick scan and I'm outta there.

Anyway, this blog was started because I was doing a job for a Massage Therapy client.  The agreement was that I get it started and it will be maintained by them.  I would set it up then turn it over to the client. That never transpired, they did not have the skills necessary to maintain the blog themselves. There was also an issue with non payment of agreed compensation so I got left with this blog.

Finally, I decided to let it rest, the blog that is because my hands was full. It's still full but I fell in love with a Therapist, serious love.  She has no interest in maintaining this blog which I am comfortable with so I felt I could take that responsibility.  One of the things I hate is to see an incomplete project. 

Now I have a valid reason and a lot of encouragement to maintain this blog. 

Visit Massage Therapy Conference and sign up for one of their sessions. Go Here

Can Coconut Oil Be A Natural Cure for Alzheimer’s Disease?

You Be The Judge

This information may not be important to you but could potentially be very important to someone you love. It has crossed paths with my email box more that want, I felt that it was important enough to be shared. Hope you feel the same.

How worried should drug companies be about supplements eating into their monopoly profits? A lot—as this story will show. Please share it with anyone you know who is suffering from Alzheimer’s or is worried about it.

Of course, just about everyone worries about Alzheimer’s. It currently afflicts 5.2 million people in the US and is the seventh leading cause of death. The cost of treating it is estimated at $148 billion.

Mary Newport, MD, has been medical director of the neonatal intensive care unit at Spring Hill Regional Hospital in Florida since it opened in 2003. About the same time the unit opened, her husband Steve, then 53, began showing signs of progressive dementia, later diagnosed as Alzheimer’s Disease. “Many days, often for several days in a row, he was in a fog; couldn’t find a spoon or remember how to get water out of the refrigerator,” she said.

They started him on Alzheimer’s drugs—Aricept, Namenda, Exelon—but his disease worsened steadily. (It should be noted that the latest research shows that the various Alzheimer’s drugs, like Aricept, have proven disappointing, with little real benefit and often distressing side effects.) When Dr. Newport couldn’t get her husband into a drug trial for a new Alzheimer’s medication, she started researching the mechanism behind Alzheimer’s.

She discovered that with Alzheimer’s disease, certain brain cells may have difficulty utilizing glucose (made from the carbohydrates we eat), the brain’s principal source of energy. Without fuel, these precious neurons may begin to die. There is an alternative energy source for brain cells—fats known as ketones. If deprived of carbohydrates, the body produces ketones naturally.

But this is the hard way to do it—who wants to cut carbohydrates out of the diet completely? Another way to produce ketones is by consuming oils that have medium-chain triglycerides. When MCT oil is digested, the liver converts it into ketones. In the first few weeks of life, ketones provide about 25 percent of the energy newborn babies need to survive.

Dr. Newport learned that the ingredient in the drug trial which was showing so much promise was simply MCT oil derived from coconut oil or palm kernel oil, and that a dose of 20 grams (about 20 ml or 4 teaspoons) was used to produce these results. When MCT oil is metabolized, the ketones which the body creates may, according to the latest research, not only protect against the incidence of Alzheimer’s, but may actually reverse it.

Moreover, this is also a potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease), drug-resistant epilepsy, brittle type I diabetes, and type II (insulin-resistant) diabetes.

So Mr. Newport, not being able to get into the drug trial, started taking the coconut oil twice a day. At this point, he could barely remember how to draw a clock. Two weeks after adding coconut oil to his diet, his drawing improved. After 37 days, Steve’s drawing gained even more clarity.

The oil seemed to “lift the fog,” and in the first sixty days, Dr. Newport saw remarkable changes in him: every morning he was alert and happy, talkative, making jokes. His gait was “still a little weird,” but his tremor was no longer very noticeable. He was able to concentrate on things that he wanted to do around the house and in the yard and stay on task, whereas before coconut oil he was easily distracted and rarely accomplished anything unless he was directly supervised.

Over the next year, the dementia continued to reverse itself: he is able to run again, his reading comprehension has improved dramatically, and his short-term memory is improving—he often brings up events that happened days to weeks earlier and relays telephone conversations with accurate detail. A recent MRI shows that the brain atrophy has been completely halted.

Let’s take a moment to consider what actually happened here. Synthetic (patentable) Alzheimer’s drugs have failed. A drug company reluctantly decides to put a non-patentable natural substance (medium-chain triglycerides derived from coconut or palm) through an FDA trial. It works. But, darn it, a smart doctor figures out that a natural food can be substituted for the super-expensive drug. Not only that, the ketones from natural coconut oil last in the body longer than the drug version—eight hours instead of three hours. This is enough to make a drug company start worrying about its future. What if this natural health idea really catches on? Goodbye to monopoly profits!

Coconut oil can be found in many health food stores and even some grocery stores. One large chain sells a non-hydrogenated (no trans-fat) brand of coconut oil in a one-liter size (nearly 32 ounces) for about $7. It can be purchased in quantities as small as a pint and up to five gallons online. It is important to use coconut oil that is non-hydrogenated and contains no trans-fat. We would also strongly encourage the use of virgin oil (chemicals used to extract non-virgin oil are potentially dangerous, and better still, virgin organic, still quite reasonably priced.)

For more information, see Dr. Newport’s website. Sadly, you will not find any information on ketones, or the use of coconut oil or MCT oil, on the Alzheimer’s Association website.

Coconut oil is not the only natural product that has the potential to turn Alzheimer’s around. We will cover some other ones, and drug industry efforts to steal some of them, in a future issue.

Here is Another:

There is also a study, I think done by university of Florida, the same university that made Gatorade, showing that green coconut water does more for replenishing the nutrients lost during strenuous exercise than any of the established "energy replacement" drinks, including Gatorade.