17 Marketing Ideas for Massage Therapists

When you’re in a client-based profession like massage therapy, the quantity of your daily appointments depends on your ability to get your name out in the local community. Not only do you need to be known as a great therapist, but you’ve got to be considered one of the best massage therapists around for people to want to give you their business. How can you make sure that you’re putting your name out to your community in a positive way?

If you’re a massage therapist, you don’t need to spend a fortune on a professional marketing campaign to start getting potential clients to recognize your business. All you need to do is incorporate some or all of these ideas into your daily routine and you’ll quickly garner a high quality reputation that will benefit your business greatly.

Creative Marketing Ideas for Massage Therapists

1. Just because someone needs a massage doesn’t mean they’ll seek you out. Your massage specialties will set you apart from other therapists, but it may also separate you away from business because a client might want something you don’t offer. Be active, honest, and let people know the value your massages can provide and convince them to walk through your doors.

2. You need to follow-up with every customer you have, even if you’re just seeking out feedback from their experience. Positive and negative feedback both help you to correct mistakes and enhance strengths and the contact may just help your customers realize they were able to relax a lot and want another appointment.

3. Provide potential clients with a lot of value by starting a blog about your massage therapy business and what your personal philosophies happen to be. A massage can be a spiritual experience for some people, so knowing where you stand will help people ultimately feel more comfortable with you.

4. Be humble about what you can do because being arrogant will cause people to not take you seriously. Massage therapists who are considered a joke are therapists that lose clients to their competitors.

5. Where do your potential prospects live, work, and have fun? These are the places you need to be if you’re looking to fill up a day with appointments. The more you interact with people and get your unique brand out there and known, then the more likely you are to pull in a customer when they need a massage.

6. Focus on the needs of your clients above everything else, even if that means pointing them toward another massage therapist to have those needs met. If you’re the person who finally got someone to a place where they could experience relief, then you’ll be the therapist they’ll return to when you can meet any other needs time and time again.

7. Organize promotional events at your shop so that new people are encouraged to come in and explore your facilities. A massage is an intimate experience and a lot of people will be more comfortable scheduling an appointment if they have an idea of what to expect when they do get onto your calendar.

8. Think about what your storefront actually looks like, even if you operate your massage therapy business out of your home. An attractive, relaxing atmosphere that people experience from the first moment they walk through your doors will have them wanting to come back.

9. Join groups in your community so that people get to know who you are and what you’re about. You could become a board member for a local non-profit organization, join the Chamber of Commerce, or participate in after hour events that various businesses in your community have as a meet-and-greet.

10. How involved are you with social media? Create a Facebook page that is all about your business. Offer exclusive discounts on your social media pages, through Twitter tweets, and even consider providing information about your massages on sites like Pinterest.

11. Make sure you’ve got a profile on LinkedIn, because after a long, hard day at the office, your local professionals are going to want to relax. They could go out to the bar and have a drink or three with friends, or you could show them the better value is a massage from you. Connect with locals, get into their networks, and you’ll become a resource for them.

12. Invest in some sort of optimization effort for your online web presence, even if that’s just you creating a calendar online that people can book their own appointments. Most people don’t even look at the Yellow Pages any more for a service they need. They look to Google first and maybe Bing second. That’s where you need to be.

13. Don’t be afraid to offer first-time specials so that people can feel encouraged to form a relationship with you. You don’t have to use sites like Groupon either – just post a special on your front door for first-time customers and you’ll get a chance to add a little extra value to someone’s life that will have them keep coming back.

14. Consider writing an e-book that will provide information to your clients about the causes of muscle pain and what they can do about resolving some of this pain at home.

15. Bring a friend promotions help existing clients provide their friends with added value in a good massage and you get value by establishing a new relationship. As a bonus, you get to reward a good client for referring new business your way. That creates levels of loyalty that will have your clients ringing your phone off the hook.

16. Plan a 30 second sales pitch that you can give someone at any time because a face-to-face meeting with a prospective client can happen anywhere. When you’re ready to talk about your strengths in a clear and concise way, your confidence will give the other person in the conversation confidence too!

17. Create a press release to hand out to your local print media for any event or sale that you may have. You might not get anything printed, but you definitely won’t get free press if you don’t bother to try.