Tips For Expanding Your Massage Business – Massage CEU

Social Media

I cannot stress the importance of social media enough. In today’s world, everyone’s eyes are burned into their phone or computer screen about 98% of the time. There’s so many social media outlets today to take advantage of. Obviously, Facebook is number one, but we have Instagram also which is rising quickly. Twitter and LinkedIn are also great tools to use on social media! Make your presence on social media be known. Engage with your community. Share photos of you and happy clients, share links to your blogs, share massage tips, you can post events you’ll be attending where people can receive your services. The possibilities are endless.

 

Website

Create a website for your brand. You want to make sure your website is professional, neat, and it’s easy to navigate. If clients want to view your prices, they don’t want to spend 20 minutes searching for the prices area. Make sure buttons and links are easy to find so that they don’t leave your site to find one more accessible. Having all of this information ready on your site is helpful because a lot of people do not want to sit and make a phone call to get information that they can just read online. Also, another added bonus, you can offer online booking on your website. It seems smarter for your business and the client- they don’t have to make a call and you and your team can focus on the clients currently at your office, instead of running back and forth to the phone.

 

YouTube

While YouTube can be considered a social media presence, it’s different in the way that you speak to your audience. On YouTube, you can upload free videos and speak directly to your clients about what you offer, hot topics in massage, what massage is helpful for, etc. You get to choose the topics and your clients and viewers will be able to hear information directly from you, while catching a small glimpse of who you are as a therapist.

 

Retail Sales

Having retail sales at your office will definitely draw in customers. You can offer products such as lotions, candles, massage oils, etc. After using these products in your massage, you can have those products out on display for clients to see and purchase for themselves. Showing clients your best products and how to use them will also be a great indicator to the client of your exceptional customer service. Also, clients would rather buy from you than to have to take time out of their day to research new products, find one, and wait for the product to come in the mail or drive to the store to get it. Extra bonus for you, it increases the money that you are making as well.

 

Network with Other Massage Therapists or Health Care Professionals 

Doctors and other health care professionals see patients every day, for all different reasons. They may see fit that a patient should seek out treatment from a massage therapist as well. If you are properly networking with these health care professionals, there are extra clients. If a patient is having extreme lower back pain and medicine is helping, but not enough, the doctor may refer them to you. Just as they can refer you, you can refer your clients to that doctor if tell you they are searching for a new one.

You can either reach out via phone or mail to these healthcare professionals to offer a free massage so that they can attest to how skilled you are. Another way to get them to network with you is by hosting an open house, which will allow you to reach a larger audience by hosting at your office so they can personally see your office, they have time to speak to you and pick your brain, and you have a window to have a small speech to better explain what it is you offer.

 

Referral Program

Having a referral program is SO important. Not only can you get new clients this way, but by offering incentives to current clients for referring you, you give your current clients reasons to keep coming back. All they have to do is refer you to a friend for $10 off their next massage? Who wouldn’t jump at that?

 

Flyers, Business Cards, & Brochures

Having these can be very beneficial to spreading the word of your business. You can post flyers or brochures at malls, businesses, train stations, the library, etc. Business cards are efficient too as you can have them at your office and when a patient is checking out, you can just hand them a business card and ask them to please refer you to friends and family. Also, if you are out and about and you strike conversation with someone and they happen to need a massage therapist, you’ll have your business card to give to them and they won’t have to waste their time seeking out a massage therapist.

 

Discount Packages

Offering clients bundle packages can be so helpful to your business. While you are losing money, it’s usually a small amount and it saves your clients money, which will keep them happy and keep them returning and referring you to their friends and family. Plus, you get all of that money upfront and it guarantees you more visits from this client because they already paid for all of those services.

 

References:

2017. 10 Excellent Massage Therapy Marketing Ideas, Tips, and Strategies to Grow Your Business. Marketing360.

 

Growing Your Practice: Marketing 101 for Massage Therapists. American Massage Therapy Association.

 

Spread the Word with Referral Network. American Massage Therapy Association.

 

Bringas, C. 2013. 5 Ways to Supercharge Massage Business Referrals. Massage Magazine.

 

Diamond, I. 2017. 11 Things You Don’t Know About Retail Sales. Massage Magazine.

 

21 Ways to Market Your Massage Therapy Business. Discovery Point School of Massage.

 

Bayer, C. 2017. Marketing, Pricing, & Advertising. Massage Magazine.