Charitable marketing project: Massageforthetroops.com

[Danie]

Hi everyone,

I got pretty sick of the groupon/livingsocial/yelp/etc marketing model and thought I'd try a new way to "Get the word out" about myself and other serious businesses. It seems to me that those coupon services do one thing very very well: Tell the world how much we really think we're worth. It's great for business owners (short term), terrible for therapists. It leaves therapists overworked, underpaid, and devalues the entire industry.

I want to show people how valuable we really are, so I created http://www.MassageForTheTroops.com. It's a labor of love... I'm losing money on it at this point, but it's an experiment to see what we can do if we approach marketing differently. It works like this: Wherever you are in America, you can sign up to offer one free massage or therapeutic session of your choice per month to a veteran or active duty service member. Whether or not you end up working with someone, your link goes up on our site.

Starting May 23rd, I will begin a PR campaign to draw attention to our free service. If you've signed up by then, you stand to gain the most from the first wave of publicity from both veterans AND their loved ones. Basic trick of marketing: Create an imbalance. I hope we all get lots of appreciative PAYING clients out of this. Plus, you'll get a link back to your website, possibly a blog entry about your business (great for SEO), and the opportunity to participate in something you'd probably like to do anyway.

We're not political in any way, not for nor against any cause, but we do recognize that soldiers are people who--for whatever reason--served our country. And many are coming home pretty chewed up because of it. We'd like to offer our support and thanks for that sacrifice.

Your thoughts or opinions on the project are very much appreciated. But mostly, I hope you'll sign up and tell your friends! We are doing great things... let's spread the word.

http://www.massageforthetroops.com (click on Get Involved or just go to http://massageforthetroops.wufoo.com/forms/massageforthetroops-sign-up-form/ to sign up.)

 

[Trevor]

Charitable marketing project: Massageforthetroops.com

Basic trick of marketing...

It sounds like an interesting idea, however, the word "trick" goes to a bad place in my gut. If I do work for free (and I do) then it is really for free and not to trick people or try to get business. Personally, I can't work that way.

Maybe you didn't mean it that way... :undecided: