You need more clients. What should you do right now to grow your business? To answer this question, I asked two successful business owners what they would do if they had $0, $500 and $2,000 to spend for a year’s worth of marketing.
Meet our Experts
Jana Veltheim, is a massage therapist and owner of Align Massage Therapy, a massage business with seven locations and 80+ employees. Her recommendations come from 25 years of experience building her massage business through various phases of growth.
Mike Precopio, owner of Summer Laboratories, achieved business success in the skincare industry. Precopio provides key marketing insights unfamiliar to most massage therapists unless they had training in marketing or had business experience outside the massage industry. Here is what they had to say.
The $0 Marketing Budget
Dara does not have money for monthly room rent. Not long ago, she approached a physical therapist, Jun, and they worked out a deal where Dara pays to use a room on an hourly basis.
Currently, Dara sees five clients a week at Jun’s office. She needs to see 15 more clients a week before she can quit her fulltime job and transition entirely over to massage. What can Dara do to market her massage for free?
1. Get a website.
A lot of massage business comes from online searches, says Veltheim, and clients need to be able find Dara online—so Dara needs a website. Free hosting options include Wix, Squarespace, Google, GoDaddy and even Amazon, according to Veltheim. Facebook and Instagram business pages are free, also. They can temporarily serve in place of a website or be used to drive traffic to a website.
2. Claim your business on Google Maps.
By claiming your business on Google Maps, your business will show up in a local search for “massage.” In our example, Jun may not want Dara to share her location on Google Maps until a commitment for a monthly lease is worked out.
That said, Veltheim believes that most landlords or lessees would be open to the idea of sharing the location on Google Maps because it would draw more attention to their business, too.
3. Influence the influencers.
It is a no-brainer for Dara to nurture the relationship with the Jun. Precopio suggests offering a free sample of her massage service to Jun and her staff. As with all marketing, Precopio advises patience. It might take two or three times of free chair massage over a few months to get the referral ball rolling.
Also, relationship nurturing is ongoing. When Dara stops giving out free samples, she will need to think of other ways to connect with Jun, like doing extra things around the office to help Jun out.
4. Have a unique selling proposition (USP).
Know your USP before you start marketing, says Precopio. It will be easier for you and your influencers to sell your massage. To figure out your USP, ask yourself what makes you different from the competition? It doesn’t have to be a technique. It could be that you don’t rush your clients.
Here’s a USP suggestion for Dara: I coordinate care with other health professionals. If Dara effectively conveys that to Jun, it is not hard to imagine that Jun will think of Dara every time she wants to refer out for massage.
If you are struggling to find your USP, Procopio suggests asking clients why they chose you? Hopefully, the answer is not “because you are the cheapest”, says Precopio. He encourages any massage therapist to aspire to be “expensive and worth it” because there is always a market for excellence.
5. Give clients a plan.
“Clients love clear guidance and a plan for their care,” Veltheim says. She clearly communicates a treatment plan to each new client, which often is a one-week follow-up after the first massage, then a two-week follow-up, and once a month after that. She believes presenting a treatment plan is the key for repeat business and income growth.
The $500 Marketing Budget
Dara’s business has grown. She has 15 clients a week and now rents the room from Jun. She wants to grow her business to 25 clients per week. She has $500 for marketing. Next, she should:
1. Post to increase online visibility.
When Dara had $0, she claimed her business on Google Maps and created Facebook and Instagram business pages. If she consistently posts on these platforms, she will increase her visibility in Google search traffic.
What should she post about? Veltheim says, post about why you became a massage therapist, who you want to help and what techniques you have learned or want to learn. You could also post about specials and services you are offering as well as events that you are doing, sponsoring or involved in.
2. Create a referral rewards program.
It doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive, according to Veltheim. She simply told her clients that if a client refers four people (who come in for a massage), the client gets a free one-hour massage.
To keep costs down, Veltheim suggests putting up a small, referral-rewards sign up in your office. Then give clients your business cards. They write their names on the back and hand them out to people they think would benefit from a massage. The business card gets turned in when the new client comes in for the massage, and the referrer gets credit then.
3. Up your game with the influencers.
At this point, Dara has a good understanding which influencers are sending her the most clients. It’s time to double-down with strengthening those connections.
Precopio was successful with having lunch n’ learns when trying to educate his top influencers, doctors, about his products. During the lunch n’ learns he was able to get his USP across while providing a fun hour for the doctors that culminated with everyone enjoying his mom’s homemade cookies.
For a lunch n’ learn, Dara could demonstrates how to relieve back pain with self-massage while Jun and her staff eat a healthy lunch that Dara has provided. Dara could cap off the lunch n’ learn with a free, back-massage tool (with Dara’s contact information on it) for everybody who has attended.
The $2,000 Marketing Budget
Dara has moved from Jun’s office to her own space which has three rooms and a lobby. She has hired three therapists to work for her and has $2000 in her marketing budget. What should be her next marketing move?
1. Extend the referral rewards program to all therapists.
When she does, her business will be getting referrals from the three therapists working for her in addition to her own clients. Though there might an initial expense of paying therapists to do free referral massages, Veltheim says, it will quickly be covered by the profit from the new clients coming in from the referral rewards program.
2. Consider boosting posts and paying for ads.
Veltheim explains boosting Facebook and Instagram posts can be effective marketing, especially when introducing new therapists, because you can set the target audience very specifically, as well as the duration and cost of the ads.
3. Market in a way that stands out.
Marketing to stand out may cost a little extra, according to Precopio, but it’s worth it—and doesn’t have to break the bank.
For example, Dara is in her new digs and doesn’t want Jun and her staff to forget about her massage business. So, Dara drops off coupons with a small discount for Jun’s patients. She also hangs up a tear-off ad on Jun’s bulletin board. To get the most out of the tear-off ad, Precopio says, Dara should spend some time and money to make it look professional, eye-catching and convey quality.
4. Incentivize therapists to bring clients to your business.
Recruit massage therapists who can arrive with a book of business, says Precopio. Pay therapists some of the $2,000 as a bonus for each transferred client that books a second session. Why after the second session? That will be a good indicator of whether or not the client will be a recurring client.
Precopio also suggests having conversations with therapists to get them on board with your marketing efforts. Last, ask them for marketing ideas. Support ideas that seem viable with some of the $2,000 in the marketing budget.
Choose Your Next Acquisition Technique
If you have $0 in your marketing budget, make your clients referral machines by implementing a referral rewards program. Also, communicate a massage plan to help them decide how frequent they would like to come in.
Don’t forget to build your relationship with the influencers who can send you business. Finally, make sure your USP is clear and you can deliver on it.
If you have some money in your marketing budget, think outside the box—treat your influencers to something special and don’t be cheap when you need to convey quality. Ultimately, money helps with marketing, but free-to-inexpensive marketing tactics can carry the day through most phases of your business growth.
About the Author
Mark Liskey, LMT, CNMT, is a massage therapist, business owner, teacher and blogger. You can access his free, massage-business crash course on his business page.