There are few things more relaxing than getting a good massage. As people seem to be more stressed than ever, services such as massage therapy are needed more than ever. However, coming up with marketing ideas for massage therapists can be quite challenging. It can be tough to think creatively to make sure your business stands out from your competitors.
Odds are that if you don’t have a regular stream of clients coming in your door, you’re not feeling too relaxed yourself. Lucky for you, we have 5 marketing ideas to improve your visibility and keep your calendar booked.
1. Share Helpful Information
Whether through social media, email, or even direct mail, providing your clients with helpful information will keep them coming back for more.
Most business owners make the mistake of promoting themselves and their services too frequently, not realizing that customers are excellent at tuning out advertisements. Rather than bombard your potential clients with constant sales pitches, share content that entertains and interests them, or provokes an intended emotion.
Consider articles about fun or alternative workouts, techniques to help relieve stress or even recipes for homemade candles and lotions. Monitor what your audience engages with most, and give them more of what they want. Here are a few examples of wellness topics you can post about on your social networks:
As you’re sharing the right information, your clients will enjoy seeing your content and they’ll be more likely to remember your business when they need you. This strategy of helping, not selling through content is called content marketing, and it’s what we specialize in at OutboundEngine.
2. Create Great Content
While sharing links, photos and stories from third-party sources is a great way to stay top-of-mind, you can’t rely on them alone. You need to establish yourself as an expert.
Consider starting an email newsletter as a way to create and share original content. Writing might sound daunting, but it doesn’t have to be a difficult task. Start by thinking about the types of tips your audience would find helpful and run with them.
This could be ways to relieve lower back pain, massage tips that are specific to athletics, or stretches that help with everyday tightness. Come up with topics by thinking about your business and asking yourself a few questions:
- Does your massage business specialize in anything?
- Are you passionate about a particular topic?
- What practices or services set you apart?
Those answers are a great start to your topic list.
Below is an example of a campaign we sent out for our massage therapist clients.
Once you begin creating original work, be sure to share your thoughts across all of your social networks. Let people know who you are, what you’re good at, and how you can be an authentic resource.
Remember, people want to work with experts. Stay on top of regular communication and you’re well on your way to being recognized as one.
3. Build Your Personal Brand
If you want to stand out from other massage therapists, show your personality and you’ll strengthen relationships with your clients. Remember: the goal should be to connect, not to collect. Try a friendly and professional tone that transforms you from just another business into one that cares about its clients.
While it’s vital to establish yourself on standard social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn, you also need to dive into more photo-centric sites like Instagram. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Images can make an impression more powerful and lasting than only sending emails.
Connect real-time events, stunning visuals, and topical humor to stay relevant and timely.
For example, this was was a funny post from the holiday season:
Another spa also shared a holiday adjacent post, but focused more on the gift-giving aspect of the season:
Content like recipes and instructional videos benefit from having a visual element along with content.
4. Offer Exclusive Incentives
By now you’ve gotten your clients’ attention. If all has gone well, you’ve engaged with them in some way. Now is a perfect time to remind them that building a relationship with you comes with great benefits.
Try offering exclusive deals or Facebook offers to customers who like your Facebook page. Consider launching a raffle on Twitter, where everyone who retweets you is entered for the chance at a discounted massage. Many massage therapists even offer free aromatherapy or other treats for first-time visitors.
Get creative and remember that adding incentives to your marketing campaigns can boost your reach exponentially. People want to feel special, and if you help them feel that way, they’re more likely to become repeat customers and recommend you to their friends and family.
5. Ask for Something in Return
Successful relationships mean all parties involved as happy, so make sure you’re getting something back from your clients. More specifically, their contact information and referrals.
Collecting your clients’ contact information and email addresses will allow you to stay in touch and maintain the relationships you’ve worked so hard to nurture. Once you’ve added them to your contact list, all of the other marketing strategies you’ve learned will start to become more effective. Your emails will reach larger audiences, and you can auto-import contacts on social media.
Referrals are crucial to a business’s long-term success. In fact, 91% of customers say they’re willing to refer friends, but only 11% of businesses actually ask them to do so. What does that mean? Don’t be afraid to ask! Referrals are a huge opportunity to increase your client base and book more appointments. In can be as easy as these two sentences:
If you’ve earned your clients’ trust and have given them great service, they’ll be happy to recommend you to friends. All you have to do is give them the nudge they need.
Keep Growing Your Client Base
No matter what industry you’re in, attracting new business always needs to be top of mind. Fortunately for you, massage therapy lends itself to a variety of creative marketing strategies. Try the techniques listed above and you’re sure to see more clients booking appointments.
And as always, if you need a little extra help, OutboundEngine can do all the marketing work for you.
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