Creating Your Brand with Massage Therapy

[Melilya]

http://searchwarp.com/BrandingMassage

Creating Your Brand with Massage Therapy
Cherisa Chapa (271)



Seven Word-of-Mouth Techniques for Massage Therapists
Posted Wednesday, August 01, 2007 (89 days 22 hours ago.) Viewed 16 times.



It is commonly recognized that word-of-mouth marketing is an effective way to market and advertise your massage therapy practice. But did you know that there is more than one type of word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing that you can use?

According to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (http://www.womma.org), there are approximately eleven different types that could be classified as word-of-mouth marketing. Not everyone agrees with these categories but that’s okay for us.

Developing an effective word-of-mouth strategy may include one or multiple WOM types, so which types are useful for a massage therapist to utilize? Let’s take a close at a seven of them as they are defined by the Word-of-Mouth Association and how we can use them to attract and retain our clients.

Buzz…Buzz…Did you hear the news?
Buzz marketing creates a "buzz" by getting “high profile entertainment or new to get people to talk about your brand."

You may not be able to afford a celebrity endorsement but you can certainly make noise by sending a press release to your local news outlets to inform their constituents about the exciting grand opening of your massage therapy practice or what's so awesome about that new treatment you now offer. You can even celebrate the addition of a talented massage therapist on staff or your newer, better office location. Your opportunities are almost endless and limited only to your own creativity.

Grassroots Outreach
Utilizing this classic marketing technique to get others involved, this WOM has been defined as "organizing and motivating volunteers to engage in personal or local outreach."

Organize a group of complementary and alternative medicine personnel to participate in a local wellness awareness event (or another cause marketing effort) and take it to the street. Create fliers that support your activity and spread them around to interested individuals.

The key is to get others involved and active in your team effort - maybe even generating some buzz in the process!

In Search of a Cause
Cause marketing is "supporting social causes to earn respect and support from people who feel strongly about the cause."

Choose a cause that is complementary to your own efforts or something that has specific meaning for you. There are so many great ones out there to pick from - even those locally. If you can’t find one that you feel very strongly about, create your own.

Here are a couple of examples of organizations that are great ideas for cause marketing for massage therapists.

▪ "Go Green" for supporting a healthier, cleaner environment for our children from the Go Green Initiative organization.

Implement a policy on only using environmentally safe products, cut down on water usage, and begin a recycling program in your practice, and so on.

▪ Susan G. Komen for the Cure that encourages active engagement in the breast cancer movement.

Offer pink ribbons or pink rings to bring recognition and awareness to this silent killer. Offer to donate some of your proceeds to the foundation.

Evangelist, Evangelist, Evangelist
Cultivating advocates or volunteers that are "encouraged to take a leadership role in actively spreading the word on your behalf" is called evangelistic marketing.

Natural "evangelists" for massage therapy are those clients who are so enthusiastic about your services that they have followed you through your educational hours to your own massage therapy practice. Usually these individuals feel that they have become part of your "team" and are only too happy to help your business grow.

Other alternative health providers are also good candidates for this type of WOM, since they assist their own clients to seek other types of complementary and alternative medicine.

Checking In
Wow! We’ve only gone through just four types of word-of-mouth marketing. Are you getting some great ideas? Jot them on paper while they are fresh in your mind now. Include a list of those individuals that may play an active role in your WOM strategy.

Sampling the Service or Product
Product seeding is "placing the right product into the right hands at the right time, or providing information or samples to influential individuals."

Offering chair massages provides clients a means to sample your work without a big investment of time or money from the buyer.

Don't offer chair massages? Provide discount rates on your lower time increment services, such as a 10-15% discount on a thirty minute massage or a lesser extensive spa treatment, such as a sample service of a body scrub or body wrap on an arm.

If you offer products, provide samples.

Conversation Starters
Send out "interesting or fun advertising, emails, catch phrases, entertainment, or promotions designed to start word of mouth activity" is called conversation creation.

Design and write an adverting campaign that stimulates interest, is fun or humorous, and creativity unique. Use it on all of your adverting materials for a specific period of time.

For example, you are implementing a new service. Create advanced interest with this type of WOM marketing.

Referral Programs
Yep, your referral program is a WOM marketing technique that you may have already set up. This is the most common word-of-mouth promotional method that massage therapists utilize.

Your referral program is easily implemented by asking your current clients to talk about your services to their friends, family and co-workers. Offer free or reduced rates on specific services to award to your loyal client, while offering a sample service or regular discounted service to his/her referred one.

Pulling it Together
Have you remembered to write down your thoughts? You may note that several of these WOM marketing techniques will neatly work together.

Now you can write out your marketing strategy - with one or more of these effective WOM marketing tactics. Specifically identify goals that you want to accomplish with your strategy and you are on your way of to a more successful massage therapy practice!


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WOW Me with Word-Of-Mouth Marketing for Massage Therapists
Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007 (97 days ago.) Viewed 15 times.


Word of mouth (WOM) is marketing is a natural process in which an individual shares an experience with family, friends, or workmates – either good or bad. A positive WOM marketing strategy is driven by excellent customer service which then creates a happy enthusiastic customer.


Massage therapy services are effectively marketed through WOM if our clients are willing to share their experience. How many of us will share an event in our lives if it was “awesome" or “horrible"? Many of us will if we have undergone something that is outside of our normal experience.

To generate a successful WOM campaign, you must be able to influence that communication into something that is positive; therefore, the client experience must be “Wow"; something that is easily recognized as outside the normal massage therapy routine that they can not equally get up or down the street.

Many massage therapists will market their services in an identical manner as their peers. Copying, in this sense, is not a form of flattery. It’s a matter of not truly knowing how to set oneself apart from all the others.

True, our services are as unique as we ourselves are and are as different as the combination of modalities we have learned. However, it is through becoming superlative (surpassing all others) in our services to that will help us to attract and retain our clients.

It can be accomplished through the little extras that we can do and how we do them and it does not necessarily depend upon our technical skills as a therapist.

Beginning with our advertising, how do we advertise our services to our target market? Is our advertising located in areas in which they look to seek our services or services related to massage therapy? Is it convenient to locate?

Also, in our advertising is it easily understood how to schedule an appointment, if necessary, or is it a “walk-in" service; or even both? When I seek your services, how much advance notice must I provide to you in order to receive your services?

In fact, then how are your potential clients educated as to what is it exactly that you are offering? Are you offering Deep Tissue massage or Deep Pressure massage?

What is the primary reason for your services? Stress relief or pain relief? (Yes, I know that massage is good for both but does your potential client know that?) What if your client wants a relaxation massage but you are more experienced in pain relief and therefore tend to direct the massage in that manner, although subtly?

Is your purchasing process intuitive? Is it with or without tip? What forms of payment do you accept? When is it customary to pay before or after the treatment?

Many potential clients will not conduct business with us if they are confused by how we manage our services. If you remove the frustration and the fear of making a bad purchase, then you are more likely to attract that important new client.

Additionally, our services outside of our techniques should be considered into making your services into that WOW experience. Consider providing water or snacks for after the massage, recognize specific events in their lives, or offer package multi-service deals.

Even within our treatment services we can utilize “extras" that will make our services more rememberable, such as socks for the cold feet, eye pillows for greater relaxation, the special product that aids in managing pain, and that extra blanket or towel to add to their comfort and or to enhance the treatment.

Massage therapy is a personal service by nature. It is a humanizing experience where our clients become more self-aware. By surpassing their expectations in our services, we maintain that human connection and create a tangible experience.

Then, offer your client the tools to share this experience with others. Reward your client with an additional service for each referral that received one of your services or “Bring a Guest" package deals or extend their treatment by discounting additional time or add-on service.

When you deliver on your WOW promises, then your clients have no choice but to talk about how you are the best at what you do.