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Creating Your Brand with Massage TherapyCherisa Chapa (289)     http://www.brandmassage.com Essential Tips and Techniques for Advertising and Marketing Massage TherapyPosted Tuesday, February 19, 2008 (1 year 277 days ago.) Viewed 225 times. Economic shifts are challenging for any small business. Massage therapy practices are no different. A careful review of your existing marketing plan and advertising strategies could aid in keeping your practice moving forward. Clients come in a wide variety as the services offered. A tight pocketbook with little discretionary funds will test the value that the client places on your services. For instance, a person that perceives your services as a necessary health and wellness benefit will sacrifice other less important purchases, such as going to the movies, to receive your services. If your services are viewed as a luxury service, the client will balance the purchase of your services with other perhaps less expensive services or items. Where the client places your services will depend upon how well you understand your target market and how well you communicate your massage therapy services to them. Marketing Your marketing strategy should effectively communicate the value that you provide the client. It should highlight the benefit that clients receive from your services. Your client should be reminded of that benefit each and every time that they receive your services. One method to enhance your services in this regard is to provide additional resources for after your service. Abetted, massage therapy benefits are generally temporary and require repeat sessions to develop upon that benefit. Provide your client with additional resources that he/she can utilize at home. For example, offer handouts on complementary therapeutic exercise, sample packets of stress-reducing bath salts, or research on the benefits of drinking more water or stretching before exercise.In a tightening economy, these added features become more important. Consumers will continue to purchase from an establishment were they are "getting their money's worth". Advertising Advertising techniques for many massage therapists include a marketing strategy based primarily on word-of-mouth advertising. While word-of-mouth advertising is an excellent source for new clientele; other advertising techniques should be utilized to retain your existing clientele. It is a well-known fact, that gaining a new client is more expense than retaining an existing one! For that reason, retaining clientele in a any economy is a matter of practicing good marketing techniques. Recognizing and rewarding repeat clients is an excellent method for assisting those that are struggling to remain with your practice due to increasing financial burdens. For example: Provide additional service benefits in the form of an add-on treatment, such as an European facial, aromatherapy, or foot scrub, to a standard treatment, such as Swedish massage, is an excellent service strategy. Offer a packaged service with a reward through the purchase of five massages, the sixth one free. The possibilities are endless and require only a bit of imagination. Your clients will appreciate your courtesy and will in turn, reward you by repeat business that will more than pay for itself in the long run. 
Permalink Comments (2) Identifying Your Massage Therapy CustomersPosted Wednesday, June 06, 2007 (2 years 170 days ago.) Viewed 421 times. No business can be all things to all people. Even though massage therapy would be beneficial for most individuals, everybody is not your target market segment. Instead, you must reach specific customers and satisfy their particular needs. You must identify those customers and understand as precisely as possible what they want. Now that you know what you have to offer, you must identify your primarily customer through primary research. Primary research is research that's tailored to a company's particular needs. Friends and family who assisted you through your massage therapy school are excellent candidates for this part of research. They will be able to help you to answer these questions: * Who is it that will benefit the most from what you have offered? * Which individuals do you primarily meet their needs or wants? You should also be able to define your customer by: * Where they live in your community. * What their basic beliefs, needs, concerns, and goals are. * What needs or wants are met by your service(s). * Where your customer generally shops (competitors). * What his/her life-style habits are. Secondary research is research based on information gleaned from studies previously performed by government agencies, chambers of commerce, trade associations, and other organizations. You can find this information on the Internet, in local libraries, books, business publications, magazines, and newspapers. The US Census is an excellent resource. To be effective your target market segment information should also include the following: * Geographical Concentration – where will you find the largest concentration of your customers? * Socioeconomic Profile – Income, heritage, cultural values, and assimilation rate into U.S. society. * Levels of Education / Employment – Educational background, average drop out rate from high school, income potential, barriers to employment. Identifying the unique challenges or concerns of your target market group under these categories will be invaluable in understanding your specific target market and what drives their spending. Then write a target market profile. Identify who is your primary target market group, where they are located, how do similar products or services reach them, and when do they purchase items such as yours. Having clear and concise answers to these questions will help you to get a clear understanding of your target market segment. Your target market profile with information from your primary research may read something like this: " My typical client is a professional 32 year old female that has at least some college hours and has an average family income of $48,000.00. Her two children are within the ages of eight and ten. She lives in the Waterwell Creek suburban residential area. She regularly surfs the internet to find information regarding her purchases. She seeks massage therapy services to reduce work-place stress and is concerned with keeping healthy and fit. She subscribes to Fitness, Body and Health, and Self-Wellness magazines. She shops at GNC, the Our Local hair/nail salon, and regularly goes to the Let's Get Fit Gym. " A written paragraph or more that includes this information will allow you to also identify the answers to the following questions. Your target market profile should tell you: * Who will purchase your product? 32 professional females * What similar purchases to your service do they buy? health supplements, hair styling and nails, self-wellness and fitness services * Why they purchase what they do? interested in health and fitness * How much are they willing or able to pay? average payment of $58 per one-hour massage * Where you should advertise? At the health food stores, local hair/nail salons, and the gyms Knowing this valuable information regarding your primary customers will help you to save time and money in ineffective advertising. This helps you to put your limited resources and funds to work for you in areas that you can be confident that your next customer will see.
Permalink Comments (0) Massage Marketing Mix: The Number of PsPosted Wednesday, June 06, 2007 (2 years 170 days ago.) Viewed 92 times. In developing a marketing profile for your massage therapy practice, you will need to evaluate different components of marketing. In general there are four principle components - product, pricing, promotion, and positioning - that is commonly referred to as the "Four Ps" or the marketing mix and are used in the assessment of products. Services tend to have broader components which make up an extended marketing mix. What specific components are included in the extended marketing mix is not something that many marketing professionals agree. These other components, some say, are people, process and physical evidence. Others argue that packaging, which is usually considered as part of promotion, should also be considered since this is the first contact a customer will have with a product. Even yet others would also argue that even another element – philosophy - should be considered with services and products, especially when it relates to marketing to charities.
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