www.thebodyworker.com

The American Marketing Association defines marketing as “the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives”.

In order for marketing to happen 4 things must happen: (From “Marketing” Mcgraw Hill/Irwin Series in Marketing)

1. there must be two people with unsatisfied needs
2. a desire to be satisfied
3. a way for the two parties to communicate
4. and something to exchange which in this case is your massage therapy service

One theory of marketing is that you have to discover the needs and wants of potential clients and then satisfy them. While this may be true to a certain extent, the massage profession is faced with the unique challenge of being the business itself (as compared to businesses in which people work ON the business.) When you are busy focusing on the needs of others, you often neglect your own.

The other thing is that you can’t be everything to everyone in this business. You don’t have to nor can you ever satisfy everyone’s needs.

The thing about needs and wants is that wants are different from needs and come from different emotional places. Often what we want - a new car, a fancy diamond ring or other things usually is coming from a place of lack. We may think we want something but the real reason for wanting something is that we want the attention or approval that goes with it. Getting those things usually don’t make us feel any happy although many people think it will. What people are looking for is the feeling that they think it will create. What we think we want is really our small self or ego talking.

What people wanting a massage are usually looking for is to be out of pain, to have less stress or to have better health. But what is the real thing they are looking for? People get into pain and sickness mainly because they aren’t taking care of themselves. They want us to “fix” them and make them better.
When we take the perspective of really desiring something it is coming from your heart. When people are desiring to feel better, to have less pain or have less stress they are coming from the place of wanting that and wanting someone to do that for them. They will be more willing to participate in the process of massage and healthcare and be willing to do what it takes to feel better.
On the other hand someone who is really committed to their health and personal growth (their spirituality), people will desire massage and will do anything they need to do to get it - pay whatever it takes and come in whatever time you have available. These are the clients you really desire - people who desire you.

So if your potential client has a need and you have something that can help that need, marketing is just being able to tell that person that you can fill their need or solve their problem. All you have to do is communicate this and the problem for most massage therapists is they are lacking the self esteem to do that. They will use excuses like ” it isn’t about the money” or “I just want to do massage, I don’t want to do the marketing to get the business or “there is too much competition.” What you are really saying is that I don’t want to tell anyone about myself or my service. I hope they will just find me so I don’t have to do anything.

The other problem I see with the old marketing theories is that the focusing on the need of the client and potential client can take a massage therapist away from taking care of their own needs. It is one of the biggest causes of burnout in the massage profession.

A marketing plan that focuses on trying to figure out and meet the needs of people is really manipulating people into thinking that they need or want massage. They will need it and if they don’t get it they will get injured, stay in pain and have high stress levels which lead to disease.

But today there are new ways of marketing that are based on attracting your ideal client. The first thing you have to know is who do you want to work with and then find out how to connect with these people. Marketing is really about connection.

Monica Roseberry in her book “Marketing Massage: From First Job to Dream Practice (Paperback) ” defines it as:

“Marketing is a way of being: it is representing yourself, your work and your profession in thousands of tangible and intangible ways.”

She goes on to say

“Everything you are and do is marketing”.

Cherie Sohnen-Moe in her book “Business Mastery : A Guide for Creating a Fulfilling, Thriving Business and Keeping It Successful” says this:

“Marketing is not a dirty word: it’s simply sharing yourself with others so they can get a sense of who you are, which allows them to make an informed decision of whether to utilize your services.

“Marketing is about enabling your clientele to value you and your services.”

“The major portion of marketing a service business is educational in nature.”

So all marketing really is, is talking about yourself and your massage business. If you start talking about yourself by talking with someone who is easy to talk to - your neighbor, your family, people you see everyday at the grocery store or gym. Each time you do so you will be building a framework for being able to talk to larger groups of people or physicians and chiropractors about what you do and what solution you provide. Then potential clients can choose you based on making an informed decision about your services and whether or not they desire your services. Working with people who desire your service and really want to be there on their own accord rather than being wooed by promises of you being able to fulfill their needs or wants is what will help you build a practice that is successful and rewarding (which is a really big difference from just being successful.)

I have been trying to put this idea together for awhile and don’t know if I have it all clear but I would really like to hear others ideas about marketing and how we can move from fear based marketing into spiritual marketing for lack of a better word. Spiritual marketing is about developing relationships that are beneficial for both parties.

Resources:

Spiritual Marketing -by Joe Vitale (135 page manual in pdf format)

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So many people are talking about spirituality, doing spiritual work and having spiritual experiences and get the word spiritual confused with something religious.

All spiritual really means is that it is coming from your soul. Spiritual work and relationships are about doing work for the purpose of learning about yourself and becoming more aware of you self. It is about wanting to learn about yourself and deepening your relationship with yourself. It is about wanting to heal those places in your personality through the process of your work or relationship.

Spirituality is about learning to become more aware of what you are thinking and feeling and being more present in your massage practice and life.

Many people choose the massage profession as another way of becoming more aware of themselves. The process of massage school does that just by the fact that you have to get massage yourself and have to learn to touch people who are strangers and almost naked.

While I am sure there are some people who would deny that massage is a spiritual experience, I think they are just getting hung up on the semantics of it all.

The Spirit of Massage - Massage Today Retta Flag

“I was talking to a colleague one day, and he mentioned that he liked Thai massage best because it was the most spiritual technique he’d learned. I stood there and thought, “But they are all spiritual.” For me, touch is a sacred act.”

The Art of Being Grounded - Massage Today

Touching Heaven - By David Lauterstein Massage and Bodywork

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As a massage therapist what we are doing is selling a service. A massage therapy business is a service business that has the unique challenge of attracting people who want to come into our office and take their clothes off and let us touch them.

Ken Evoy author of the Free Ebook “The Service Sellers Master Course” says it this way:

“Build your service-selling business by following a process that works… a process based upon the fundamental reality of how people use the Net. People search for information and solutions so success begins with quality, relevant content. Start where your visitors start and then everything else falls into place¦ CONTENT -TRAFFIC -PRESELL -MONETIZE”

The key to selling a Service Type business is pre-selling. What you are trying to do is build a relationship because the ideal client is one who will come in every week. When people are approached by a sales message, most people will walk the other way. They don’t want to be sold anything.

A big part of building a client base is about attracting clients that have the same values as you do about healing and health. It is necessary to sustain a massage practice over the long haul. You can do this through a website in which you write about what you do. It does require that you take time and really think about what it is that you do and how can you provide this information to the public so they can make informed decisions about their healthcare.

The process of creating a website like this will also teach you how to talk about what you do.

One of the great things about this ebook “The Service Sellers Master Course” is that it also teaches you about basic marketing concepts which were most likely not addressed in massage school.

• Most Wanted Response - what you want the client to do - click, email, call for an appointment. SBI will teach you how to get that response (increase your conversion rate-Your CR depends upon what you do and how you do it. It will show you how to PREsell your
  way to high CRs.)
• “Unique Selling Proposition -Create an eyecatching
  short statement that sums up in a few words what sets you apart from
  the competition. What solution do you provide?
• Return on Investment - How much do you make when you invest in getting a client. You have to remember that the Lifetime Value of a customer.
• Learn how to structure your site to get the best results
• How to write for the search engines and your potential clients
• Learn about the best “sustained-high-yielding traffic-building opportunities on
  the Net?…
  #1) The Free Major Search Engines
  #2) Pay-Per-Click Search Engines
  #3) The Major Directories
  #4) Word of Mouth
  #5) Your Own Opt-in E-zine
• Learn how to Educate your potential clients and clients using the benefits of your service (not just the benefits of massage which is meaningless and a waste of time to put on your website). You have to be able to answer the “what’s-in-it-for- me question in your listener’s/reader’s mind.

Show your potential clients through the content on your Web site and in your ezine that you can provide the solution that they are seeking. Your service will solve their problems, answer a dream, enrich their lives, and/or improve their businesses. You are the dependable expert that they want and need!

Check out a few of the massage therapists already using the Sitebuildit! System.

www.a-body-for-living.com

Here’s what Sean from www.a-body-for-living.com says about SBI

“Thanks for turning me on to SiteBuildit! I listened to you talk it up on your Yahoo group for 9 months, then I finally took the plunge. Best $299 I ever spent. I learned so much that I never knew about websites. Now I know that I was doing it all wrong on my old website. More MT’s need to go this route with thier sites as we are all missing the mark as to what is really important to make some $$$ using the web.
Regards
Sean Slovik”

www.deservingbodymassage.com

John Rasch from deservingbodymassage.com posted this on my blog.

Are you Ready for Success the Sitebuildit! Way?

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As a massage professional one of the easiest things you can do to build your massage business is to get regular massages.

How is that possible?

Getting regular massages can support you in so many ways.

First it really helps you to be physically, mentally and spiritually present with your self which is really important in this profession. Clients can tell when you are only half there for their massage.

Getting regular massage yourself helps you understand what you are doing to people on a regular basis. I have learned more about massage from getting massages than any class could really teach.
You are hoping/expecting that people will be regular clients. It helps to experience what you are asking of others. While trading for massage is good for your body, paying for regular massage is good for your self esteem. When you pay for massage, you are saying that you are worth it. It is the same thing you are wanting clients to say to themselves.

I also think it is a good idea to go out there once in awhile and go through the process of looking for a massage therapist either online or the phone book or whatever and go in for an appointment to a total stranger and see how you feel and what you think. Finding a good therapist is often a challenge so you will get a better perspective on what your clients are having to go through.

While it is common for massage therapists to trade massages, I also think it is necessary to go and pay for massage. It really changes the dynamics of the session. It can be all about you without having to give something back.

Would you go to a massage therapist who didn’t believe in getting regular massages themselves?

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In the massage business we are often faced with the challenge of allocating our time and being accessible to our clients and potential clients verses taking care of ourselves.

People call at the last minute because they don’t plan well and just get to the point where they can’t take it anymore so that they become desperate to find a massage therapist who can get them right in.

Sometimes last minute callers are also those less than desirable clients who are seeking “other” services.

If you aren’t accessible and flexible you may lose clients but at the same time if you are bending over backwards trying to get all of these people in, you may be giving up a piece of yourself which in the long run may lead to burnout.

While it may get you the income you need in the moment, will it be beneficial to take a client who doesn’t respect your time and always try to make last minute appointments. As Dr. Phil often says : “We teach people how to treat us”.

What is it saying about us when we take last minute clients and give up our other plans we may have had? What does it say when we work late in the evenings and weekends rather than being with our families?

Setting boundaries around our time limits is the key to building a successful and rewarding business. It is a careful balancing act to be able to accommodate those last minute or hard to schedule clients and taking care of yourself.

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