I wondered why it was so dark in my shower this morning. Turns out it was precisely thirty nine thousand, eight hundred and two ladybugs covering the inside of my skylight.

My first question involved swearwords. But my second question was, “How did they get in here?”

When it comes to your clients, you should know the answer to that second question … for each and every client.

How do your clients find you? There are dozens of ways your clients might have seen or heard something that compelled them to come to you for their first appointment or to re-book with you after a long absence. If you’re on top of it, you’re keeping track of what has brought them in so you can do it again.

Tracking the results of your massage / bodywork practice marketing involves some forethought. I am a huge advocate of tests and trial runs. Do small ad buys with different sources and see how they work for you. You never know. Take advantage of whatever deals Yellow Pages or Valpak or your local paper is offering. And right now there are tons of good deals. (An aside: Just one or two weeks/months of ad placement is more expensive per ad than a year’s contract. If, after a week/month, you see that your ad is successful, bargain to extend your contract with what you’ve already paid as a downpayment for the rest of the year.)

We have a customer at NTM who swears his best clients are ones who find him through his Valpak coupon campaign. Some of our customers find they get their best responses through local radio or Yellow Pages ads. These folks know their campaigns are working for them because they offer specials or codes found only in those ads.

On the other hand, a greater number of our customers think Valpak, radio and Yellow Pages ads are a colossal waste. They wouldn’t know these ads were a waste of time and money if they didn’t keep track of the response each ad got.

Ask every current client what brought them to you. It’s a Duh, I know. But ask and keep track. It’s going to save you brain sweat and tooth enamel. While you’re at it, ask what papers they read, stations they listen to, stores they go to, etc. Their answers may well provide inspiration for a fresh marketing approach.

If you run ads in more than one publication, commit to altering each, individual existing ad (or creating a new ad) to feature some way of tracking the effectiveness of each ad. Offer a small discount or an add-on service or a cookie. Something. You need to know what brought this client to you.

Find out where your clients come from. It will help you focus your efforts on places that bring you your best clients.

All my best,
Eileen