Last week I promised you a step-by-step example of a schedule to market your massage gift certificates. It’s easy. Really. In fact, it looks too simple … Hm.

Before I dive in to it, let me set the stage using my Ideal Client as an example:

My Ideal Client Is:
A 40-ish part-time professional office worker, mother and gardener.

What Does My Ideal Client Need:
Mentally, she needs a break from her busy life (but feels guilty about taking one). Physically, she needs special attention to her wrists, arms and shoulders (typing and weed-pulling). Emotionally, she needs a place where she can Receive.

When Does My Ideal Client Buy Gift Certificates:
She buys them occasionally for friends throughout the year, but for the holidays, she buys them around mid-December.

What Have I Been Doing to Contact her This Summer:
Nothing much in the way of marketing.

So Now What?
I need to re-introduce myself to her.

The Plan:
9/8 (after Labor Day) e/mail Autumn Newsletter
Message: Back-to-school ergonomics (for your kids and you), good Fall foods, massage helps bring you back into balance with the changes of the season.  Choose a gift certificate promotional.

10/7 mail appropriate seasonal postcard/email
Message: Things are gearing up and you need to take time to recharge (Gift Certificates Available)

11/15 pre-Thanksgiving postcard/email
Message: This is a good time of year to thank your clients. Or to announce a charity drive (20% of all sessions booked and gift certificates purchased before 12/3/2010 will go to Habitat for Humanity.)

12/1 Christmas Newsletter
Message: Self-care tips for staying calm and healthy during this busy time. And, speaking of calm, buying gift certificates is a very calming experience!

12/15 Winter themed postcard/email
Message: I have gift certificates, yes, I do! Come buy some! Then you can be done shopping!

1/1 New Year’s Newsletter with VALENTINE’s gift certificate promotional (Yes, I said VALENTINE’S; it’s only six weeks from Christmas and is the 2nd biggest gift certificate holiday of the year. Don’t waste all your winter’s work!)
Message: Encourage your clients to start the new year right – by renewing their commitment to good health.

Do you see what’s going on here? We given Ms. Ideal Client information she needs. We’ve given it to her in a couple different formats (newsletters, postcards, emails). We’ve given this client solutions to several problems; including a stress-free way to shop for her family and friends.

And this is just six contacts, and only with clients who are already on your mailing list. If you have been thinking about advertising, now is a great time. Remember to focus on places where your ideal clients are likely to be found: neighborhood newsletters, community clubs, school play programs, dog groomers … ya know.

For simple tips on writing short, promotional messages, read: Look to the Cookie!

All my best,
Eileen

I have a lovely friend who’s smart and together. I found a great new place to run my dogs and invited her to come along.

“There’s a bit of a hill at the beginning,” I said. “You need to bring water for your dogs,” I said.

“Right,” she said. “Got it.”

Two hours later she was puffing up the hill, claiming I hadn’t warned her about “The Climb” and wondering when we’d get to the river so the dogs could drink.

Wasn’t she listening?

I told her only two things — both important — and she didn’t “hear” either one.

This is a woman whom I know and who knows me. Think what it takes for your clients to hear you. “Aren’t You Listening? Well, No. Not Really: Three (3!) proven, basic ways to increase your massage marketing effectiveness” continues »

When you market specials for your massage / bodywork / energy practice, you only have one chance to get it right. Here are four ways to get it wrong. We know they’re wrong. Oh, we know.

1. Make It Complicated
A few Mothers’ Days ago, we tried a special involving gift certificates and postcards. It didn’t work. Our offer was that if you bought any number of Mothers’ Day gift certificates, we’d give you a corresponding number of matching postcards. The idea was for people to try a mailing and see how it worked for their massage practice.

Absolutely no one took us up on our offer. We mailed it out to over 7000 customers. Either no one wanted free, matching postcards or, more likely, no one could understand what we were offering.

“4 Sure-Fire Ways to Mess Up a Perfectly Good Special: Learn from common massage marketing mistakes” continues »

A hammer doesn’t build a house, the person swinging the hammer does. Massage marketing tools don’t build your practice, you do. It’s all in how you use the tools available.

Lately, there’s been a lot up on the discussion boards and Facebook about whether brochures are still relevant. Speaking for Natural Touch Marketing, which has built and kept a strong business by producing massage / bodywork brochures, I have to say: Depends.

Just handing someone a brochure isn’t going to gain you a client. A brochure is to offer support and/or validation to the conversation you’re already having with a prospective client. It’s your backup.

Some people do not find brochures useful at all. Some depend on them entirely. The best way to find out if they are good for your practice (and your clients) is to try them out.

For me, brochures are an excellent tool to support word-of-mouth marketing. Here’s a small list of ways to use brochures effectively and economically in your WOM efforts:

“6 Ways Brochures Make Massage Marketing More Effective, or A hammer doesn’t build the house” continues »

How many ways? Well, you tell me.

Your massage / bodywork clients need your help. And I have a plan. It will take about 30 seconds of your time.

We’re going to make a list. You and I. When we’re done, I’ll make it pretty and you can have it to hand out to your clients.

Let me back up a bit so you know where I’m coming from.

Things are to the point in my life* where I’m attracted to any title — any where — that is a variation of “Six Easy Ways to Reduce Your Stress.” Magazines at the supermarket, ads in Facebook, clippings from my mother. I’ll take anything I can get.

“?# Ways to Reduce Your Massage Clients’ Stress, or I don’t WAAAAANT to take a bath” continues »

What do thank you notes do for your massage marketing? How should you write one, anyway? Cindy O. Asks Eileen.

“I have a question about Thank You cards. I am trying to build my new massage practice and I would like to send Thank You cards to my new clients, but don’t know how to word it.
Thank you so much,
Cindy”

I love thank you cards. Cards, postcards, notes, whatever. They are a great way to show clients your dedication to their health and willingness to go the extra mile.

They also may be the only handwritten note your client gets all month. Don’t tell me there isn’t a good vibe pay-off there.

A simple formula to follow:

“Something Your Massage Clients Want to Hear: Thank you, thank you, thank you” continues »

46% of Americans make New Year’s resolutions. Therefore, I am presuming that 46% of you made some sort of resolution to improve your practice.

You want more clients. You want more of your clients to tell their friends about you. You want to change your practice’s focus from working with the ill and disabled to working with active seniors.

You have resolved to step up the marketing for your massage / bodywork practice.

And by now, mid-January, 75%+ of you Resolvers have “broken” your resolution.

Is this a problem? Heck, no!
Should you feel disheartened and vaguely ashamed? Nah.

Here are 12 steps to get over the discouragement that seems to go along with “broken” resolutions and get on with making your massage / bodywork practice healthy and profitable.

“Wait! Stop! Don’t Give Up!: 12 steps to banish despair and keep massage marketing resolutions” continues »

I went to a big holiday craft fair this weekend (hey, the mother-in-law was in town) and was very pleased to find two massage therapists tucked in amongst the handmade soaps, Christmas wreaths and interesting fudges.

What a great place to attract clients and to make some gift certificate sales.

Don’t Let This Be You
The problem was that these MTs were hiding. They were hunched at the back of their respective booths looking glum.

This was sad. These therapists had spent about $200 to be part of this two-day event and a lot of time to get organized and ultimately it was wasted. They weren’t going to attract any new clients or make any gift certificate sales.

I’m all for marketing massage and bodywork at fairs and shows. If you’re in the right frame of mind, it’s the best way to introduce yourself — and your work — to new people.

Here are 5 tips to market your massage / bodywork practice:

“Fair Game: 5 tips to market your massage practice at craft fairs and trade shows” continues »

You can spend $500 on a newspaper ad and maybe get 10 clients. Or you can spend $100 on an ad in a high school flyer and get 10 clients.

As I said in the last entry, you need to know whom you’re talking to. Once you know whom you’re talking to, you know what to talk about.

And when you know whom you’re talking to, you’ll know where to find them.

Yes. It will take more time and effort than just writing a check to your local paper. It will also attract the kind of clients you want to work with.

When you run a general ad in a general publication — local newspaper, Val-Pak, Yellow Pages, Google key word “Olympia” — you’re going to get lost in the shuffle. It’s better to focus your money and efforts on the specific group of clients you are looking for.

“Save Money, Find Better Clients: Eileen showers some brainstorming notes on you” continues »

Beth King sent in three good questions recently. The second was about introducing yourself to doctors.

“We’re told in school and publications to introduce ourselves to the doctors in the community, get them to send us referrals.  HOW?  Make an appointment and while I’m sitting there with my shirt off, tell him I want him to send his other patients to me?  It’s not like I can drop off a box of my hands and a pile of notepads and say ‘Here, free samples!’”

In this entry I’m going to talk about writing the letter of introduction. We’ll cover other ways to market your massage practice to doctors and other health care providers in the next entry.

“Introducing Yourself to Health Care Providers: Tips on writing a letter of introduction” continues »