Recently, I got an email pitching blogging as a way to get more massage clients. I love blogging. My blog has helped turn our website viewers into callers. But if you need to get more clients fast, hold off on the blog. Do free massage instead.
Just reading that made your fingers hurt, didn’t it? (Use a massage tool and they won’t: How to Hold a Massage Tool.) But I’m getting way ahead of myself.
Why should you do free massage instead of blogging for basic marketing?
Blogging Versus Free Massage for Basic Marketing
Well, blogging as a strategy to get more massage clients (increase website traffic) takes time. One blog post won’t do it. You need many. Free massage, on the other hand, will spread your name via word-of-mouth quickly.
Here’s an example of how free massage advertising might go down for you: You work on a personal trainer for free. She loves your massage and refers Matthew to you.
Matthew comes in, massage goes well, and he buys a gift certificate for his mother. Mamma is blown away by your massage and gives your card to her friend Tora.
Tora passes your phone number to Chanise who has some serious back pain. Chanise asks her PT if she should come see you?
The PT says sure. Chanise comes in. Home run! Chanise tells the PT that you helped her. The PT asks for your phone number…can you say word-of-mouth-advertising bonanza?!
But damn that word-of-mouth bonanza seems so old-fashioned, doesn’t it? I mean there’s this whole, big thing called the Internet.
And that’s why I need to blog, Mark.
Hold tight. Free massage works for the Internet, too.
How to Get Massage Clients From the Internet
First, the face-to-face world and the Internet world have one important commonality—the sharing of information.
For the purpose of getting more massage clients, let’s specifically focus on the sharing of YOUR information.
I just talked about how the sharing of your information goes down in the face-to-face world:
Hey, my neck hurts. Do you know a good massage therapist?
Yeah, I do. ________ (fill in your name) is awesome!
In the Internet world, sharing of information happens through written words or videos, but the result is still the same as it is in the face-to-face world: Your information is given to other people. Sharing of your information in the Internet world could simply be someone mentioning you (and your massage skills) in a Facebook post.
Okay, Mark, so I’m supposed to take a video of myself massaging someone for free, post it on my Facebook page and hope that someone shares it?
Actually, you really don’t have to do anything for free massage to work in the Internet world for the simple reason that the 2 worlds, Internet and face-to-face, are inextricably linked.
In other words, doing free massage in the face-to-face world can lead to your name spreading in the Internet world without you doing any extra work.
Here are 3 examples of how that happened to me:
Facebook Post: I did free massages at a local running store and a person who liked my massage posted about me on her running group’s Facebook page. I had 4 new clients within 48 hours.
Google Reviews: Another time I had offered PTs and personal trainers in my area free massages. After getting to know one PT, he gave me an outstanding Google review. A 5-star review from a PT did nothing but boost my viewer conversion rate (website viewers who call to make an appointment).
Yelp Reviews: It’s not uncommon for clients to give me Yelp reviews, and when I was hustling with my free massage advertising some participants who became clients gave me reviews.
The more Yelp and Google reviews I got, the better our website did in the search rankings which meant more people saw our website.
The fact that the reviews were positive helped our call conversion (more people came in because of our reviews). Some of these new people gave us online reviews and our name spread even more.
Oh, I can add gas to this online, word-of-mouth fire by asking new clients who like our service if they’d review us online.
So, forget the blog and just do free massage for advertising?
Absolutely, not.
My blog helps bring in new clients, keeps me focused, forces me to stay on top of my game, and fulfills my desire to write and connect.
But if you need to get more massage clients right now, stick with the free massage. This will help you out: How to Use Free Massage to Build a Business.
If you’ve got a good base of clients and are ready to blog, I’m with ya 100%! I’ve created this guide that has everything you need to know to get your first post out: How to Start a Massage Blog.
Also, if you haven’t heard, I have an email group.
It’s free and you get my newest weekly info.
Sign up below:-)
Comments on this entry are closed.
Giving free massage has been instrumental in growing my business! I look at it like advertising. You pay for advertising, and the return may be so minimal. When you give a free massage people are ecstatic and can’t help but brag about their free massage to all their friends! I love your suggestion about getting these folks to give a YELP review, I hadn’t thought about getting them to help with your online marketing in this manner!
Hey Ali, I’m glad to hear that I’m not the only one out there who has used free massage to build a business! Lol. I agree that doing free massage is not only free advertising, but it’s the best form of advertising because the people you work on become your “walking billboards” and spread your name. Thanks for the comment and let me know how the “asking your free massage clients to give you Yelp reviews” goes.