One of the first steps in creating your marketing plan for your massage business is figuring out why you do massage? For what purpose?
In the book “The Answer” by John Assaraf and Murray Smith they ask the following questions:
What does success look like to me?
What is it I love to do that lies at the heart of my dream business/job?
What feelings do I want to experience as a result of my dream business? Because of my dream business I get to feel _____________________
Because of my dream business, I arrive at the end of the day feeling________________________
Why did you become a massage therapist? Some come into the field wanting to help others because massage has helped them in some way. Or people want to help others because it feels good to help others. Some may be drawn to massage because it is a much more meaningful type of work. Whatever your reasons for becoming a massage therapist - there are always deeper reasons for becoming a massage therapist that you may or may not be conscious of. Some may come to the field just for the prospect of making a lot of money.
Helping in particular is one of those things that usually has a much deeper reason for wanting to help others. Knowing your motivations and needs can be helpful in creating your marketing plan as well as helping you to be a more effective massage therapist.
In “Becoming a Helper” by Gerald Corey there is a long list of possible reasons why people may think they want to help. Some of those are:
the need to make an impact- wanting to make the world a better place, may want to know that they are important.
the need to care for others - When people are busy caring for others they don’t have anyone attending to their needs and they never learn to ask for what they do need.
the need to be needed - it becomes rewarding to have clients say they feel better because of the help you have given them. It isn’t wrong to be needed but when you must feel needed by your clients it can influence your work negatively.
the need to provide answers - to be looked up to as an expert and know the answers to people’s problems
While having these needs is normal and a part of being human, knowing more about what feeling you are wanting to create to fulfill these needs can help you make business decisions and personal life decisions based on those needs.
So back to the question asked in the book “The Answer” - What feelings do you want to experience as a result of being in business or working as a massage therapist?
What meaning does doing massage have for you? What do you want to get out of it? What will it provide for you?
What most people want is of course some form of love, attention and appreciation.
Another of the things is of course a nice living. We do need money to live on. It can provide security and money for you to pursue your dreams.
When you know that and honor that need the relief you can get from knowing that can free up more energy to help you create that exact thing for yourself. It can also help to show you just what your limited beliefs are that keep you from having what you do want.
Why are you in business? Why are you doing what you are doing?
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One of the biggest controversies in the massage profession has to do with the licensing and regulation of massage therapy. There are 38 states in the US that require massage therapists to have some type of licensing. Each state differs in the amount of education, classes and definitions of massage therapy which makes it very confusing to understand. The non-licensed states also have varying requirement to practice massage with the biggest problem in CA where each city has different requirements.
The groups that advocate licensing state that the reasons for wanting licensing are to protect the public from harm, create more professional standards of education, reduce the number of prostitutes doing massage to name a few. The thing is that there is no proof that massage has caused significant harm to people. Keith Grant has done an initial survey of medline on the cases of harm that are done to massage clients. How much harm can be done in doing massage? What is the definition of harm? Is it harmful to have a massage therapist who says they are doing deep tissue massage when it is really swedish massage? Is it harmful when a client leaves feeling more sore than when they came in? Will any amount of education really influence the massage therapists skills and reduce the ability to do harm?
If there were a high degree of harm being done, wouldn’t our liability insurance rates reflect that? And how much harm do over the counter drugs do? I just recently had a friend who had excruciating back and abdominal pain for over a year and it turns out it was an over the counter drug causing it. Is that harmful?
What list of side effects could be created to inform the public and teach the public to take responsibility for what happens in their massage?
The number of hours of education varies greatly as well as the topics of courses. I for one started in 1987 doing massage after having 250 hours of massage school. I was the last year of students to become a massage therapist at that number of hours. The number of hours of training was going up to 500 hours in a few months and for no reason at all as far as I could see - no testing to see if it was needed… no research…no case studies, no statistics that showed that having more education would help create a more successful massage therapist. The one thing I did notice was that once they did raise the number of hours, the massage schools increased their hours of training to exceed that 500 hours so that they could get more grant and loan funding for students. I would love to see if the number of students/graduates jumped at that exact time! The thing is that we have no information on what it does really take to be a successful massage therapist. It is more than just doing a good massage. You also have to be a business person. But massage can be learned in a basic 100 hour massage class. Keith Grant also has some information on that topic in his white paper “Issues in Massage Governance” (pdf). He also noticed the same coincidental increase in the number of hours and the number of grants/loans. He also talks about how people learn and sites that people learn better in smaller training programs and the preferred method is apprenticeship programs. There are a few states that do allow apprenticeship programs to be counted as massage training - WA State being one of them. It was actually the whole reason I started this website -www.thebodyworker.com but the thing is that you can only teach one student at a time unless you want to make it into a formal school, which doesn’t make it profitable.
This is the only information that I have seen that gives any insight into the issues that we are dealing with. If there are some other studies, information, proof that more hours of education are needed to be a successful massage therapist then I would love to see it.
CA also has the highest number of massage therapists despite them having this licensing problem. I think that most can become a massage therapist with 100 or 250 hours of training - correct me if I am wrong. So is it the number of hours of training that make a successful massage therapist?
The thing is that when people hear that after taking 1000 hour training classes I think that they somehow think it to mean that they didn’t need to take that many hours or that it is implied that they aren’t knowledgable or that more training is not beneficial. It could be beneficial to people who take it but it is not needed to be a successful massage therapist - that is all that it is saying.
The idea that massage therapists need all this medical training etc is really not true. It doesn’t mean that it could help to have extra classes and training. It does not mean that more training can give you more confidence and skills but they are just not needed to do a basic relaxation massage which is also very therapeutic. After 20 years of doing massage and learning structural integration, triggerpoint therapy and many other things I actually am going back to studying the affects of touch on healing. I once thought as an overzealous massage student that if everyone got a massage once a week (now I would say 3 times a week!) there would be world peace and now I would add - a great reduction in the number of diseases and health conditions that are on the rise.
So I actually don’t care much about licensing these days anymore despite this long post. I just write to hopefully inform someone and to inspire others to seek the truth. I am more than open to hearing any more on this topic, but quite frankly - I just want to do massage! (and write about it!) I sometimes get tweaked and think I should join AMTA or get ABMP more involved especially when I think about the state of insurance billing for massage therapists here in WA State - which talk about a mess! That’s a whole other category here.
So do you think you could do a really great massage just having 100 hours of training just on doing massage? I have lots of friends who have that number of hours because it used to be that number a long time ago. They are all still in business but it seems the more recent grads with 1000 hours can’t seem to make it. What does it take to be a successful massage therapist? Is it the number of hours of training? Is it some secret method? Is it just about the person and who they are and what they want in their lives?
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Having a website for your massage business is one of the most important and easiest thing you can do to create a steady supply of clients for your massage business. With todays economy challenges, your ability to find clients depends more and more on how you differentiate your business and educating clients. One of the best ways to do that is by using a website and not just any old website - it has to be one that is content and information driven so that you can connect with your visitors and build their trust.
You can also find out how many people are actually searching for massage in your area by using Searchit!( just follow the directions and play with it a bit as it is a bit confusing at first) and using the first search brainstorming and then choosing the Google Keyword tool, the US Yahoo Keyword selector tool and the wordtracker search. Like ’seattle massage’ shows
A website is one of your best methods of finding new clients because when they are searching for ‘massage your city’ they are already interested in massage therapy. They most likely already know that they want a massage and understand the value of massage or else they wouldn’t be looking for one. What they are looking for also is a solution to their problem and when they find your website that informs them of a solution to their problem you will get people coming to you rather than having to go door to door or doing direct mail pieces that are just going out to random people who may or may not be even interested in massage let alone want to get a massage. People who are searching for massage don’t have to be convinced that massage is what they need. They just have to find your website informative and professional.
To get found by a search engine there are many things you need to do with a website. If search engines and especially Google can’t find your website it isn’t doing anyone any good. To begin with you need to choose a domain name that reflects what you do and where you do it - like my clinic site www.massageseattle.net . Naming a website with those most often sought after keywords makes it easier for search engines and people to tell what you offer. Other names could work but you will need to put more into it to get found for your main keywords which will most likely be your city and the word massage.
Creating pages on your site using more keywords that people are searching for most often is the next step. The keywords are what make the internet work. Site Build it! will help you research what the best keywords for your domain name and site are with their keyword software called Brainstromit! It goes out and researches how many people are searching for the keywords and then checks to see how many people are using those keywords and determines the profitability potential of each of those keywords so you can then use the best keywords in your pages.
To create a page you choose a keyword such as ‘massage seattle’ and use that keyword in the metatags (keywords and description and title and file name of the page.) SBI! explains it all and will even help you create better pages using their page analyzer but if you are using other software you can do some of the same thing. Just start with naming the file name with the keyword -www.massageseattle.net/massage-seattle.html -the massage-seattle.html is the file name. Next put the keywords in the first few words of the Title of the page and in the keyword section, the description section and also in the headline of your page. That is one of the things that search engines look for. Also putting the keyword in a link from the page can help but may be more difficult to do sometimes.
So start with creating a basic 8 page or so website with all of the basic information like your rates and services, location and contact information as well as a bio about you and your work etc. This will be sort of like your basic calling card type of site. Once you get that information on there you can start putting your website address on all of your mailings and business cards as well as any signs around your office etc. Creating this basic site may be enough to even get you to the top of the search engines if you are in a small enough town.
If you are in a larger town where there are many more massage therapists competing for the top search engine results and there are many massage therapists to choose from the next thing you need to do is to use the website to educate potential clients about massage and what it is that you do. This is done by writing short articles on many various topics about massage. It doesn’t have to be a term paper or you don’t even have to know how to write. You just have to start writing down all of the things that you usually say to people when you are talking to them on the phone or in person. You can write about various diseases and conditions by going to the pathology and massage guide sections on my site www.thebodyworker.com and reading some of the best websites and articles on the topic and using that information for an article. Writing articles you can also write about a topic that you know a lot about or deal with most often in clients. Like I somehow always get people with headaches, computer stress and fibromyalgia. Even though I don’t actually think of these as my specialty, they are topics I have researched a lot in order to be able to work with these people more. As I wrote in my post a few days ago in “The Answer” - choosing a specialty or differentiating yourself from others will give you a path or direction for your marketing efforts. If you don’t differentiate your service the only thing you have to differentiate yourself from others is price and prices will always be lower by someone else. Working for less money than you need to make is one of the surest ways to burnout.
I only recently started building my massage practice again this month. I was only working 2 days a week for the past 2 years or so and I recently decided to add a 3rd day. My website always got me at least one call a week but for the past 3 or 4 weeks since I have been adding articles, I have been getting 4-5 calls a week. I at first thought it would take me 3-4 months to build that extra day and was almost looking forward to still having a free day during the summer (if it ever will get here already!) but now I am already booked for the next 2 weeks. My goal is to be booked a few months out like Paul Ingram of Vancouvermassage.ca. Paul’s main page says this:
Unfortunately, I am unable to offer my services to new patients. I no longer maintain a waiting list, because the wait is too long. However, my telephone consultation service is still available, and my tutorials published on SaveYourself.ca are valuable resources which, in many cases, are more useful than an office visit.
His article writing has been an inspiration. Even though I know that this is the basic premise of SBI! it can be done using any hosting if you know how to do all of the above search engine optimization.
My other site www.workless-playmore.com actually explains everything you need to do to get your website found by search engines and what you need to do to get the clicks and convert those potential clients into actual paying clients.
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At first glance I thought this book wasn’t going to be much different from some of the things I already know and have written about for massage therapists as far as learning to build their massage practice that I have in the massage practice builder section at www.massagetherapycareers.com, but as I sat down and read the whole thing in about 2 sessions I came away with some really great insights into the business world.
The first part of the book explains how our brains work and how beliefs are created in our brain that just keep replaying themselves throughout our lives. We look out into the world and make meaning about what we see through these blinders or beliefs. They create our perceptions of the world. The book says:
What we see is not based on what the eye can see but on the neurological patterning in your brain. When your perception is different from somebody else’s, the temptation is to dismiss their version as ‘wrong’. Instead ask them to show you how they see what they see…When you learn how to take somebody else’s perception and add it to yours, you significantly increase your own intelligence.
The book further points out how our we think we are so in charge of our lives with our conscious thoughts but in reality our conscious brains are really very limited in their functioning. We really only have very short term control over anything. They say that a person loses focus every 6-10 seconds. It is your unconscious brain that is much more powerful and directs most of your life. It is your unconscious mind that runs the show in every way - your habits, your accomplishments and achievements and this is where your beliefs are stored and run over and over again.
The book says:
The biggest obstacle to most people’s goals has nothing to do with any external conditions or factors. It is this: They don’t believe that it will happen or that it can be done.
Beliefs trump desires every time.
Setting goals is a function of the conscious mind. Reaching them is a function of the non-conscious mind. Setting goals is a conscious exercise; achieving goals is a spiritual and nonconscious exercise.
The book goes on to explain more about our nonconscious brain and how to change the engrained beliefs that are running the show and create your dream business.
They also say there is a ‘difference between being committed to your success and being interested in your success. If you are interested, you will do what’s convenient. If you are committed, you will do whatever it takes.”
The first thing is to find something that you are passionate about- like massage is for most. Although many are massage therapists and don’t have that driving passion. Massage school and trying to start a business or find a job also has a way of making us forget just why we wanted to become a massage therapist. Taking time to remember or figure out why you are in business and what success means to you will help you in creating your business. It is not only about why you want to be a massage therapist or have your own massage business - it is what feeling do you want to experience as a result of doing so?
When you can figure that basic piece of information out you will have your purpose for being in business which will be the foundation for you to build your business and make successful business decisions. You can set goals for your business that are in tune with your needs. Setting goals such as how much do you want to make and how many clients you want to work with each week/month can help give you the motivation you need to take action to get what you need. What amount of money do you need to make each month? One of the best things that the book mentions is about creating financial goals like this stating that ‘Trying to grow your business without a concrete number as a target is like saying you’ll meet a friend but neglecting to set a time or place for the meeting. How will either of you know where to go or when?”
I think that one of the issues for massage therapists is that many get caught up in the idea of wanting things especially money as being something they don’t want to focus on. They have some idea that money is bad or that wanting to make money for doing something so meaningful as massage somehow cheapens the massage itself. The thing is if you don’t have the money that you need to stay in business and support your self and family what good is it to anyone - your clients or your self or family.
In setting a monetary goal it is also necessary to include a picture of what that money means to you - what will it provide for you, your business and your family?
In setting your vision for your massage business you will come face to face with your beliefs about yourself and success. Whatever you have currently in your life as far as money, relationships, health, lifestyle, what you do everyday is a reflection of your beliefs or else you wouldn’t have it.
To change your beliefs you just need to track your results and be able to analyze your results in a way that you can stop living out the false beliefs. It is a matter of challenging your thoughts so that you can start providing evidence that disproves your beliefs that say that you are not worthy, you are not good enough, you are not deserving. So often when things happen in our lives we just automatically add it to the list of ‘well that proves that we are not good enough’ list rather than seeing things for what they really are.
Another part of the book goes on to develop the concept of ‘your ideal customer’ which I use and have written about in the process of building websites and a massage business. It is not only important to figure out your ideal client demographically - location, age, sex, income level, marital status, education level, status but you also need to figure out what your clients want and what you want.
Many massage therapists also make the mistake of thinking that they need to take every client that calls and every make every potential client into a client. The truth is that you can not and do not need to serve them all. In the book they say this: ” if you try to be everything to everybody, you end up being nothing to anybody.”
It is more important to serve the right customers. They will become your best way of building your massage practice. You will find that the right customers value massage and your service and more importantly your time. They will be more respectful of that and show it by showing up on time for their appointments and paying you whatever you charge. They will be the first ones to always refer new clients to you.
The rest of the book goes on to talk more about finding out the difference between what your clients needs vs what they want. People’s wants drive them to make decisions more than what they need. They may need to get regular massage to help deal with stress but what they want may be quite different.
What you charge for your massage services doesn’t matter as long as you have the value to match. Value is all relative to what people want and need. People are willing to pay for something that they want and/or need no matter what state the economy is in. The best section of the book is on this topic.
When your marketing looks like everyone else’s and when people can’t really determine the true value you provide your service becomes just another massage done by another massage therapist.
In the absence of information about value, potential clients will default to the lowest price as a differentiator. If you don’t find a way to differentiate yourself, then the only way left is to compete is price. And if your business has gotten to a place where it can compete only on price, it is time for you to get out of business. It has become a no-win situation for you, because there will always be someone willing to undercut your price.
OK and as I just typed that quote from the book “The Answer”, it suddenly dawned on me that this is why places like Massage Envy and other massage franchises are doing so well - because most massage therapists don’t differentiate their practice or inform clients as to how their massage practice is different from a Massage Envy massage.
Of course my favorite way and now even more important way is to write articles for your website doing just that - making you the expert massage therapist and informing people that you have the experience to deal with whatever condition or problem that they are looking to solve.
Could this be the demise of low paying and cheap massage place?
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One of the weak spots for most massage therapists is writing flyers, brochures or website content with the purpose of selling their services. Selling often conjures up this bad image. ‘I don’t want to be pushy’. I don’t want to do sales. I don’t want to market my practice. I just want to do massage. ‘Summer is always slow’.
The thing is that even people who have jobs in massage need to be sales people whether you like it or not. Sales is just really getting your message out to those who need your services and need to know about you.
One of the first things to do is to start thinking about who your massage client is? Why do people come to you in the first place. Ask some of them. You might be pleasantly surprised. Is it because they are right down the block from you? Is it because they love your massage? Is it because they love the aromatherapy or hot stones that you use?
Once you find out that information start writing from that perspective and start with the words “You”.
Learning everything you can about marketing your practice and building your practice is about taking responsibility for your business. It takes a commitment to doing whatever it takes to get the results that you want. The first thing is knowing what you want. If you don’t know what you want exactly you are leaving it in the hands of others, the economy and whoever else you may want to blame your lack of success on. Wanting is not bad as you may have been taught. It is wanting that leads you to take the actions that you need to be successful. Actually, I could take that a step farther and say it is having desire. Desire is a step up from wanting. Wanting implies that you are lacking in something. Having desire comes from your heart. When you desire something you are also taking control of your own experiences. You have a better chance of receiving what you desire than what you want.
Asking for what you want from people who are most likely to use your massage services is really just targeted marketing. It is the way out of making excuses for your lack of business.
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