Massage marketing effectiveness depends on "what" and "when"

It’s All In the Timing: Massage marketing effectiveness depends on “what” and “when”

Posted in July 20th, 2010

We’ve talked about consistency in your massage marketing message. Now I want to ease the discussion toward timing in your marketing: when you reach out to your massage / bodywork clients. This is going to be a two-parter. Can see your practice, and your marketing, in this real-life situation?

Is This You?
I read a fabulous book last week: The Invisible Gorilla, by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons. It’s more about how our minds work (not like we think they do) than timing, BUT, one of their examples grabbed my marketing attention.

Chabris and Simons discussed the experiment of the internationally acclaimed virtuoso violinist, Joshua Bell, playing “incognito” at DC’s L’Enfant Metro station.

Mr. Bell played six classical pieces — the kind that have been considered beautiful, heart-rending, spiritual, awe-striking for centuries — to almost 1100 passers-by on their early morning rush.

Guess how many paused to listen to this world-class soloist who has played every major concert venue in the world (including Sesame Street)?

Seven actually stopped.
Twenty seven gave money, mostly on the run.
About 1,070 people rushed on by without a pause.

This could be you. The 1100 passers-by could be your clients.

What’s Going on Here?
The authors of Invisible Gorilla think one possibility for people not noticing Bell was because they didn’t expect to see Joshua Bell at a DC Metro stop. For the same reason most pedestrians, bikers and cyclists are hit by cars: the drivers didn’t expect to see them.

The second possibility is that the commuters weren’t in a mind-space to be receptive to Bell’s “message.” They’re part of the early morning rush to get on the Metro. They’re thinking about their commute. They’re thinking about being late. They’re thinking about work. They are wrapped up in the Right Now; they’re NOT thinking about nice, pleasant things that are right, smack in front of them.

What’s This Got to Do with You?
Your work is a nice, pleasant thing. Your clients spend a lot of time wrapped up in the Right Now.

A well-written, targeted message might capture their attention for a second or two.

A well-written, targeted message delivered at the Right Time will get a much more satisfactory response.

Tune In Next Time …
I’ve got Thoughts about how you can discover what time is best for your clients to hear from you (hint: it takes time) and how you can use timing to be more effective in your marketing.

All my best,
Eileen

PS: I strongly suggest putting The Invisible Gorilla on your reading list. It’s written for us, real people, and is highly entertaining. And you feel smarter for it.
Before you read, check out: the selective attention test; the test that started it all.
AND, if you want to read the NYT article about Joshua Bell’s experiment, here it is.

2 users commented in " It’s All In the Timing: Massage marketing effectiveness depends on “what” and “when” "

Davek said,

in August 4th, 2010 at 1:37 pm

I know timing is important and that studies have been done as to the best time to send emails. The problem is the time it takes to test the list expecially when we are so time starved so I have never done it. This article, however, put this issue in a persepctive I have never seen before and makes the issue of timing much more compelling and worth pursuing.

Thanks for raining my awareness in such a creative and effective way.

Eileen said,

in August 4th, 2010 at 2:56 pm

Thanks, Dave! You’re right; it does take time to test. A lot of time. Because of this, I’m all about testing on the fly. As I said, you’re going to do e/mailings anyway, so you may as well learn from your results.

One of my favorite examples for testing which message your clients more likely to respond to is:
Message A: Buy one, get one free!
Message B: Buy two, get 50% off!
Both messages give the same deal but maybe your clients react more strongly to the word “free”. Okay, so you use the word “free” in your next mailing and see if you get a better response than usual. Ya know, stuff like that.

I’ve also found that, if you target your clients, new clients are more likely to respond to a message that is “intellectual,” ie: Here are the facts, I shall compel you with logic.

Returning clients are more likely to be swayed with an emotional appeal, ie: Remember how good you felt after the last session? Wouldn’t you like to feel that good again?

Anyway, food for thought.
Eileen