I recently had the opportunity to review the work of Amy Roberts. She is a successful massage therapist and business coach to massage therapists around the world. I had known about her for a few years but only recently realised that we only live two hours apart.

We have not met yet, but are planning to do that soon.

Amy has generously agreed to let me review her entire suit of books and workbooks. The sheer volume felt a bit overwhelming in the beginning, but once I delved into them and worked my way through, I got really excited. Amy has put together a complete collection of everything you need to know to advertise your massage therapy business.

Marketing Preparation

Rather than just jumping into the advertising, Amy spends time discussing the foundation of a successful massage therapy business. Developing your vision and keeping a positive mindset are just a small part of what Amy offers. She also provides great insight into developing a clearly defined target market.

Advertising Samples

Amy’s ebooks give detailed examples of headlines, direct mail letters and whole ads. She explains why and how to use the different elements to attract clients. You are even free to copy the examples and use them in your own ads.

Do-It-Yourself Work Sheets

There is a multitude of questions and worksheets that help through the steps of developing your own advertising. One of the best is the “Business Checkup”. It helps to get a really clear picture of how you rank in your marketing approach and what to do to improve it.

The whole course is set out in such a way that you do not need any other professionals. I would still maintain the extra Dollars for a professional graphic designer are a worthwhile investment.

However, by working through Amy’s course, you have a precise proposal that cuts the necessity of professional input to a fraction.

To get more detailed information about what her course entails, see www.massagetherapymarketingsuccess.com 

Feedback

If you have worked with Amy’s ebooks (or any other massage marketing coach or books) leave a comment so we can all benefit from it.

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We ran a competition at www.naturalbloom.com. It called for the best marketing and promotion techniques. Thanks to everyone who participated. The competition ended yesterday and I got to read the entries to judge what I thought was the best tip. Here is what I think:

Give your all to your clients: Quality, expertise and healing with love and presence. Word of mouth clients referred from clients who believe in you are the best.

This entry comes from Mitta from California. Thank you very much for this insight and congratulations. We’ll be doing a phone consultation in the next few days. Congratulations also to the other winners: John from the UK, Jean from the UK and Emma from Australia. All of you receive a free Passionate Training to help you move forward.

Why is it the Best?

You might wonder why I think this is the best tip. Very simply: it starts with the most important concept: the client. Giving the client everything puts total focus on creating value for whoever walks in the door. It steps away from the need to sell or the worry whether there will be enough clients.

That is the true meaning of marketing: providing that exceptional service. All other advertising and marketing tools are just supporting this one essential thing. And without the great service, nothing else will work.

So congratulations again and I look forward to our phone conversation.

I received an email last week from Angela one of my students. She has only been in business for 4 months, but is really taking a great professional approach. She allowed me to share what she does with you. Here is her email:

“I’ve purchased your training manual this week and am really looking forward to getting into it. As a massage therapist you’ve given me a more balanced outlook on my business so I’m ready to make some changes.

I send out an email and paper newsletter on a monthly basis to my clients and I was hoping that if you had some time you could have a look at it and possibly offer a few suggestions. If it’s not part of your service though then that’s OK.”

View the Smooth Massage massage newsletter sample.

It is fantastic how Angela uses informative and educational materials (that she does not all have to write herself). That gives the value to readers that should not be lost with any of these thoughts.

Focus on Results

My suggestions? That really depends on what you want your newsletter to do and what it is currently doing. Do you want to attract more clients? Do you want your existing clients to come back more often? Or is it more a thank-you for the clients that are coming to you anyway.

As with any marketing tool, you need to look at what you want from it and what it is delivering currently. Then it can be improved. What feedback are you getting from your clients? Are they commenting on it, on specific articles? Or don’t you ever hear anything about it?

Hooking the Readers’ Eyes

It is really well designed, stylish and simple. It might be worth adding a few more paragraph breaks and subheadings. Most people do not read from start to finish, but skip until something catches their interest. The more things you have in there to catch someone’s interest, the better.

Maybe you could subtly work in articles about the benefits of massage.

Build a Relationship

Or add something about you personally. People buy from people they like, trust and understand. You could build that relationship by sharing more about yourself. The things that are important to you, what is happening in your life, what is happening for clients (like testimonial stories).

Call to Action

Another possibility would be to add some special promotions. This does not have to be discounting. Instead you could package your massage with different things, possibly from other related businesses.

Or you could recommend other businesses and ask them to do the same for your, possibly pass on your newsletter.

It is absolutely fantastic that you are producing your newsletter and I am sure it will pay back for the time and money you put into it.