Once you’ve become a licensed massage therapist, the next step is to figure out how you are going to make it work. While you may want to start with gaining experience by working at a resort, spa, or at a chiropractor or physical therapist’s office, the truth is that the best way to make a living as a massage therapist it to start your own business. Not only does starting your own practice allow you to set your own hours, but it also allows you to control your own pricing and choose the type of clients that you want to work with.
However, the most difficult part of learning how to start a massage therapy business is finding clients. Just because you want to start your own practice, does not mean you will have the clients to do so. However, getting clients is not as difficult as it sounds. All it requires is an integrated marketing approach that will allow your massage therapy business to build out its online presence. This includes a professionally created website, active social media accounts, an email marketing strategy, a referral program, and positive online reviews. With that in mind, here is why you will need each of these to succeed with your massage therapy business.
Professional website and active social media accounts
Most people’s first impression of your business is what they find online. These tend to include a website or social media account depending on where you are most active and where you marketing efforts are spent. Both a professionally designed website and active social media accounts will give potential customers the impression that your business is active. They will also give social proof as to the quality of your business – after all, if you do not spend efforts in staying current online, clients will assume that your services are of low quality or are outdated.
Email marketing and referral program
Email marketing and referrals are perhaps two of the most straightforward methods of acquiring clients. Emails can be collected through lead magnets such as eBooks on massage therapy or live events, and referrals can be collected through your current clients or your personal network. Massage is particularly geared toward referrals, and giving incentives for referrals through your email marketing strategy can help to boost your client appointments from underbooked to overbooked.
Positive online reviews
Online reviews are the lifeblood of any small business. Massage therapy businesses in particularly thrive on online reviews, and you should make every effort to gain online reviews on platforms like Yelp and Google. Doing so will not only show to others that your massage services are of the utmost quality, but they will also have a snowball effect in allowing you to become more discoverable on these platforms. This, in turn, will lead to you gaining more clients. To get these reviews, you may want to ask your clients directly if they are having a great experience, or even offer a small future discount or incentive in exchange for a review.
In summary
Acquiring clients for your newly minted massage therapy business is not an easy task. However, with an approach toward creating a fully integrated marketing strategy you will be able to acquire new clients in no time. By focusing on creating a robust online presence through your website, online reviews, and social media accounts, and using email marketing and referrals to drive the sale home, you’ll have more clients for your massage therapy business than you’ll know what to do with.
