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Searching for massage therapy marketing ideas?
You’ve come to the right place.
In this blog post, we’ve rounded up some of the most research-backed strategies to increase your clientele and revenue – all while making your life as a busy massage therapist easier.
6 Best Massage Therapy Marketing Ideas
1. Improve Your Local SEO
Local SEO is imperative for smaller brick-and-mortar businesses.
Why?
Because 88% of consumers who search for a local business visit within 24 hours.
Put another way, that means you have to come up in local search results.
This topic is vast, but a key component is optimizing your Google My Business (GMB) listing. More positive reviews are a critical part of this. Read more about optimizing your GMB listing here.
2. Advertise Gift Card Promos via Email Marketing + Boosted Posts (i.e. Advertise to Your Current Customers)
When it comes to massage therapy marketing ideas, there are a few reasons why we suggest promoting gift cards and why we suggest advertising to your current customers first instead of brand new ones.
First and foremost, gift cards are particularly effective because people trust the recommendations of others.
Additionally, not only is it easier to sell to your existing customers, you’ll most likely end up with a higher quality customer than if you were to advertise through other avenues, such as discount sites.
The problem with advertising on discount sites is that these people tend to only be looking for the next best deal. They’re unlikely to visit again if they have to pay full price.
So, what’s the best way to advertise to your current customers?
Email, of course.
Generally speaking, you can expect a return of $42 for every dollar spent on email marketing.
Boosted posts can also increase the reach of your promotions given that organic reach is so slow.
3. Invest in Word of Mouth Marketing (i.e. Improve Your Service Quality)
While you still need a referral program that incentivizes your customers to refer you to others (more on this below), word of mouth marketing – i.e. providing exceptional service so that they naturally refer you without any cost to you – is imperative.
This strategy alone can easily fill up your appointment book. Conversely, if you don’t have this in place, the other strategies on this list just won’t be effective.
But what does that “exceptional service” really mean?
Google reviews will give you an idea of the things that clients care about, but in short, it looks like this:
- Flexibility. It starts with the first point of contact. Clients love places that are flexible and who will fit them in last minute.
- Friendly and Attentive Service. Effective treatment is important, but it goes beyond this. Clients want to feel cared for, in a relaxing environment, alongside massage therapists that are kind, welcoming and listen to what they need.
- The Details Matter. Examine every minute of what your service looks like, and focus on implementing processes that will not only promote friendly and attentive service but also go above and beyond in these important ways. Think about the most luxurious hotel stays you’ve had in your life and apply those principles to your service, from beginning to end.
This is what will have clients not only refer you but who will even go out of their way to write raving reviews.
4. Offer Online Booking (and Send Rebooking Reminders)
While online booking isn’t exactly a massage therapy marketing strategy, it’s one of the best ways to generate new and repeat bookings (in some cases, without any cost).
In today’s world, it’s becoming rarer and rarer to find a massage therapy practice that doesn’t offer online booking. (However, it’s important to note that not all online booking is created equal [read what a good online booking experience looks like here]).
If you don’t currently offer online booking, here’s why more practices are offering it:
- It Keeps Your Practice Open 24/7. A massage may sound wonderful at the end of a long night, but a lot can happen between 9 pm at night and 8 am the next day before the client can actually call to make an appointment. Online booking makes it possible to capture the booking right then and there. This is significant considering that 40% of bookings are made after hours.
- Provides a Premier Customer Service Touchpoint from the Beginning. Online booking is also about improving the quality of your service from the very first time potential clients discover your business. Convenience is paramount in today’s world, and online booking instantly elevates your service quality, providing them with convenience, accommodation and flexibility.
- Automates Rebooking Reminders. A massage therapy appointment software or scheduling software for medical spa (like Yocale!) can also send out rebooking reminders to clients reminding them to visit after a period of time. We have found that this can generate as many as 30% new bookings.
Read even more benefits of online booking and the importance of your digital entrance here.
5. Incentivize Your Clients to Refer You
When it comes to massage therapy marketing ideas, a referral program is imperative.
Why?
Because research has shown that recommendations from friends and family are the most believable forms of advertising.
To ensure that your referral program is most effective, it’s important that your program offers some sort of incentive. The massage therapist below offers 10% off every time a client refers them.
Learn how to start a referral program here.
6. Try Facebook Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Ads
Massage therapy businesses should ideally be investing in some type of pay-per-click ads, such as Facebook ads.
However, you’ll also see better results through the use of lookalike audiences.
This means you can take your existing customer list, upload it into Facebook Ads Manager, and Facebook will then show your ads to other people who have similar characteristics as your current customer list.
You can get an idea of what kind of advertisements other massage therapy clinics are doing via Facebook’s Ad Library.
Wrapping it Up
When it comes to massage therapy marketing ideas, local SEO, online booking, referral marketing and Facebook ads are all effective strategies to generate more revenue and more clients.
But in order for any of these strategies to be effective, exceptional quality has to serve as the foundation of your practice before anything else.
Massage Magazine writes about even more strategies for marketing your massage therapy business here.
