“There’s no easy way to bring it up.
It’s easy to bring up, “hey, where’d you get that ring tone?” because the ring tone just interrupted everyone. It’s a lot harder to bring up the fact that you just got a massage.”

That quote comes from Seth Godin’s Blog. It is one of the reasons he sees why word of mouth does not happen.

Does it mean, massage cannot generate word of mouth? No way, on the contrary, there are so many ways it can. What is one of the most talked about topics among friends? Health (or actually the lack of it).

People talk about how tired they are, how stressed they are, how their backs hurt. These things come up a lot more than cool ring tones. So, all you need to do to be talked about is change your identity from “I am a massage practitioner.” to “I give backs their strength back.” or “eliminating stress in 30 minutes”.

Hold that last statement in your head for a minute, I’ll come back to it.

The important thing is that people have you as someone in mind who does a really specific thing, a specialist. The specialist who can help beyond anything that others might hope for. And the better that specialty relates to what people are talking about, the more you will get word of mouth.

The Irresistible Offer

There are very few books, I read more than once. But if I do, I usually read them 5 or 10 times. One of my re-reads is called “The Irresistible Offer” by Mark Joyner. It teaches “how to sell your service in 3 seconds or less”.

How? By developing a “touchstone” that answers the four biggest questions people have when they evaluate a service (or product). After reading it, you will know why “I just got a massage” can never lead to successful word of mouth referrals and - more importantly - how you can develop an identity that will lead to lots of successful word of mouth.

Just imagine what “Eliminating stress in 30 minutes or less or it’s free” would do for you.

If you want to understand this example, you need to read the book.

You can get it at Amazon or you can download it here: The Irresistible Offer for free.

If you have not yet received my free report: The 7 Biggest Business Mistakes Health Practitioners Make, just enter your name and email and I'll send it to you. Name: E-Mail: I respect your privacy and will never sell, share or pass on your details.

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.

One more week to get in your best massage marketing (or spa marketing) question.

We had so many excellent questions. It is going to be hard to find the best. Here is what we had so far:

• What is the biggest difference between spa marketing and massage marketing? by Lorraine Bloom
• We plan to move out of the city into a rural area in the next 6 months, is it worth trying to build up my practice before that, and learn some skills (not to mention, building my confidence) that will make it easier for me to build my practice again once we move? by Catherine
• Practice management software? Any ideas on what to choose? by Jodie
• What is the best way of attracting new business (apart from word of mouth)? How do I go about promoting myself? by Gizelle
• Do you think it’s worth running a natural health ‘open evening’ to discuss health issues and as an aside promote my practice? by Hannah Hempenstall
• How do I develop a relationship with health care practitioners who may not be familiar with the modality I practice? by Jocelyne Chevrier
• A common problem is smoothing out the peaks and troughs where one week is very busy followed by a very quiet week. What do you suggest for achieving or a more consistent workflow? by Krishna
• How can you build credibility in a massage practice? by Peppy Burmer
• How can I build a practice quickly? by Eva
• What should I focus on? by Roland Myers
• I’m no good at selling myself. by Katherine
• How can I discipline myself to contain my treatment times and not overrun allocated session time? by Peter
• I’m about to take on my first staff member - how can I best ensure their loyalty to me, as well as maximise client loyalty to my business, rather than the new therapist (and any other therapists that follow!)? by Paula
• New practice - unsure of repeat biz as yet. by Rodney
• What am I responsible for? by Amanda
• What is the best way to advertise? Reuben Gill
• How can I make money without reaching burn out? by Michelle
• Working from home - a lonely existence? by Tara Jonson

If you’ve got anything to add, ask away in the comments (or send me an email). I will answer your question and you have the chance to win a Passionate Training.

I love all your advice. I live in a tiny town in South Africa and have a health practice - massage, reflexology, Indian Head Massage etc. The place is actually too small to specialise, which is why I have branched out. My question is -

What is the best way of attracting new business (apart from word of mouth)? How do I go about promoting myself?

The short answer is:

No one can tell you what the best way is for you. You need to test it out.

The longer answer: Specialise!

You say that you live in a tiny town. That is actually ideal. It makes it possible that you get known much more quickly for what you do.

Specialising does not mean to say: “I do Indian Head Massage only”.

Specialising means defining what problem you solve and for who.

Maybe you are a stress buster. People with a headache (often developed through stress), you use Indian Head Massage, people with tight muscles (often developed through stress) you massage and where the stress has manifested in problems with the organs, you use reflexology.

In each case, you make sure that your clients feel rejuvenated and relaxed after the treatment. My guess is that happens anyway, so it is just a matter of pointing it out.

You become the expert on stress, chronic stress, acute stress, etc.

Why?

Specialising puts a spin on your promotion. It does not limit what you do.

The biggest reason for putting that clear spin on it is that people can talk about you more easily and consistently. I know you wanted something else than word of mouth. And I ended up here anyway.

There is no way around it, word of mouth is the most effective marketing tool. With your help, it works faster and more effectively. Being a specialist with a clear message is one ingredient.

Giving a great service that over-delivers on your promise is the second important ingredient.

The detailed answer:

The Passionate Training consists of 25 detailed exercises to help you promote yourself.