Marketing ideas to get a few regular massage clients

[JayM]

Hi there. This is my first business so pls excuse obvious omissions, and I'm trying to get 4-5 regular massage clients to fit in around my main job.

I don't know much about marketing, but like to think I'm not completely daft lol.

I have been looking into the internet side of things a bit, and have just run a google ads campaign with different business names to select the most popular name. I will also try experimenting with the language on my website, which I've read should match up with my google keywords to make sure I get good value from them.

I have also seen a thread on here about it with some ideas, but my situation is a bit different as I don't want a high volume, I would rather get a few regulars. I also have to think about the cost/benefit of marketing things that I try as I'm doing it in my free time...so going to a lot of trade shows might not be the best.

2 ideas I have found are: make referral cards for clients, so the new person and the client get a discount.

Or write a letter/email to the client after the session offering them a discount for regular bookings. I quite like this as would be good to select people I can work with.

Everyone says word of mouth is the ultimate for massge, any ideas how I can kick start this?

 

[gurain12]

Hi, there are lots of techniques for advertising your business but you should choose one among of them according to your business category. Now these days mobile is going very popular to increase repeat business and customers. 90% of customers read their mobile text messages in minutes, 10% read email when they can. It’s very effective and fast so that you will get better result. You may go for it, I’m sure this will help you.

Best of luck!

 

[marketingquotes]

Hi There,

A suggestion would be social media.

Massage tends to be the sort of thing that is considered a luxury (like PT or lifestyle services) so perhaps the best route is to create a strong facebook/twitter following from people you know locally. Get involved with gyms (as many gym users will use massage) and sports clubs locally.

If you have a basic website, this is fine, it would really be the social element and networking that would be advised you plugging into.

Regards,

Marketing Quotes Support.

 

[JayM]

Thanks. I'll bear that in mind.

 

[arsi]

Hi, In above all this ideas you should spend a much more time to promote your business , in this way your business automatically developed in a good shape.
Good Luck

 

[Sausage76]

I think keeping email addresses of clients gives you the option of driving up business if your regulars go on holiday/stop coming etc. You can promote special deals, new oils, techiques etc. Mailchimp is a good free email tool or Aweber is good for automated stuff.

Maybe offer a discount if they book the next massage before they leave you? And offer gift vouchers, encourage them to pay for their friends and loved ones!

What about doing a pamper party and do clothes on back rubs, you could do a few people at once, make a little money but also meet a group of potential new clients. A local beauty person might be up for doing it with you?

Good luck.

 

[XanderMarketing]

There are many ways but here's an idea that may work and be different to your competitors:

- Write a guide...something like "A consumers guide to finding a masseuse" or "7 steps to finding the perfect massage for you...don't get a massage until you've read this guide". Provide free, useful information with a call to action at the end of the guide....50% off your first massage for example
- Create a simple landing page - people can download the guide in exchange for basic contact information
- Find some local magazines and advertise the guide in the magazine - not your services...just the guide and point them to the landing page. You could so something similar very locally with AdWords and Facebook as well as promoting the guide on your website

You could use the same tactics but with a more salesy message but that wouldn't set you apart from your competition.

 

[Paul21st]

Hi JayM
Why not print off a few flyers and hit up your local businesses with a discounted offer....Good Luck

 

[SuperYac]

2 ideas I have found are: make referral cards for clients, so the new person and the client get a discount.

If you do decide to go through with the referral cards please let me know. I will be able to offer you that at the best price available

 

[Globconference]

Hi there. This is my first business so pls excuse obvious omissions, and I'm trying to get 4-5 regular massage clients to fit in around my main job.

I don't know much about marketing, but like to think I'm not completely daft lol.

I have been looking into the internet side of things a bit, and have just run a google ads campaign with different business names to select the most popular name. I will also try experimenting with the language on my website, which I've read should match up with my google keywords to make sure I get good value from them.

I have also seen a thread on here about it with some ideas, but my situation is a bit different as I don't want a high volume, I would rather get a few regulars. I also have to think about the cost/benefit of marketing things that I try as I'm doing it in my free time...so going to a lot of trade shows might not be the best.

2 ideas I have found are: make referral cards for clients, so the new person and the client get a discount.

Or write a letter/email to the client after the session offering them a discount for regular bookings. I quite like this as would be good to select people I can work with.

Everyone says word of mouth is the ultimate for massge, any ideas how I can kick start this?

Hi Jay,

I have got a funtastic way for messaging. Please ring 07877419399

 

[JayM]

I'm not going to call a random number if you don't say anything about it.

Tx to everyone for help.

 

[Target]

I'd say forget the idea of Google ads. Your's is a local business delivered on a very personal basis, and I reckon people want to see the whites of your eyes before they strip off and hand over money!

Do you have a local gym or fitness club who would let you set up on a weekend and offer free massages, ideally in a visible public area? Invite people to sign up to your mailing list, and a couple of days of your time would probably see you gather enough clients and potential clients to get you going.

George

 

[truesilver]

You asked about getting word of mouth advertising going - networking meetings are great for that. Depends on where you are as to what's available. I like Business Scene at the moment and Best of events - you get a nice group of people, but everyone has their own preferences.

There are lots of ways to boost business in other ways and you seem to have some stuff to be getting on with. If you'd like to have a chat sometime about some of the ideas we've used in similar businesses feel free to DM me.

Good luck with it all.

L

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Do you have any professional qualifications, to help you stand out from the sex industry?

If so then doctors surgery's sports clubs, local papers but need to make it clear that sex is not part of the offering, (or maybe it is)

 

[Target]

Blimey! This should be interesting...

 

[maxh]

If you wanted to scale up you could consider Groupon.

 

[definitionaudio]

You could try the following

Gumtree - your local area adds are free
Vivastreet - free
Local Community Magazines - various advertising packages
do a search on google for free adverts
Get a professional flyer done - and put some in local hair salons, beauty salons, etc

cheers

 

[SuperYac]

make it clear that sex is not part of the offering, (or maybe it is)

here's hoping

 

[FlexF]

http://livingsocial.com/getfeatured ?

 

[SuperYac]

You could try the following

Gumtree - your local area adds are free
Vivastreet - free
Local Community Magazines - various advertising packages
do a search on google for free adverts
Get a professional flyer done - and put some in local hair salons, beauty salons, etc

cheers

Id also include

thediscdirectory.co.uk - free to list

 

[JayM]

Thanks for the ideas. Yes I'm qualified and not setting up a brothel lol.

 

[Marta_K]

I think, one of the best suggestions was to offer free/low cost trial at local place that is already established (like gym or beuty salon) and attracting your kind of customers - especially that you need only couple of customers, to make your side business viable. It a win-win for both sides, you get to meet potential clients, they add attraction to their offer. Make sure you giot plenty of business cards/appointment cards with you to give out at the trial!
Good luck!

 

[surgery_cards]

Firstly congratulations on setting up in business!

Have you thought about promoting your services to patients in local health centre? I can imagine lots of patients requiring your services. If we can assist any further with this, please let us know

 

[Igneous D]

a company came round to our office offering a free neck massae to our telemarketing team - they loved it and it has now become an incentive scheme for them getting a number of employees. It is very unique and awesome in a call centre environment or inbound office.

Plus it caused a buzz amongst other offices in the business park

Igneous Marketing

 

[jimbob79]

I would definatly look at the daily deal site like Groupon, Living Socal etc..

I just put a post on another page of this site but I will copy it any way:


One of my clients has used a couple of daily deal sites to run promotions for her domestic cleaning company and had some quite good results.

Basically she had to give a discount of 60% on a one off house clean and then the voucher sales revenue was split 60/40 in her favour so she was not left with much on the initial deal but she did get a lot of new customers from people booking regular cleaning arrangements after the one off clean as well as a lot of people calling her direct to book which of course meant that she did not have to split the revenue on these bookings.

She managed to secure the regular cleaning jobs by exceeding the clients expectations. For example the voucher entitled the buyer to a 4 hour clean but she allowed 6 to ensure that the customer was 100% happy.

One of the other things she did was to secure the email addresses of the customers which booked so that she could email them with a discount voucher to give to a friend which worked well.

I have personally purchased vouchers from groupon and others before for a few restaurants and have experienced both good and bad service which is strange because you would expect to be treated as royalty as a new customer to encourage you to return but it's not always the case. I think too many people just want to make a quick £ and don't think about the medium/long term prospects of the deal.

One site which dose have the deals from the top 3 UK daily deal sites is http://www.comparethevoucher.com
I registered with this site as it sends me the local deals to me each day on a single email but it also gives the details and links etc to the main players. The sites do seem to have a good mix of businesses listed compared to when it all first started with just restaurants and Spa's.

Good luck with it all.

 

[jonmcculloch]

Everyone says word of mouth is the ultimate for massge, any ideas how I can kick start this?

If you have clients already, ask for referrals.

You can even make it a "condition" of taking them on (Google Paddi Lund and see how he's done this as a dentist for years -- he's taken it one step further and you can't even get into his practice as a patient UNLESS you are referred by an existing one. I do that in my own business for my private clients, too).

The kind of language you can use, and this is off the top of my head, is something like, "I grow my business exclusively by referrals from my existing clients... so if you enjoy your time with and you feel relaxed and energised [or whatever] then I hope and expect you to encourage [or give me the names of] five of your friends and family so I can give them the same great experience" .

That's clunky because I'm doing it on the fly, but you get the picture.

Warmly,

Jon

 

[spencergate]

Jay - you anywhere near Nottingham?

I'm desperate to find a good masseur, but don't know how to find one, in case I accidentally fall into the 'wrong' end of the market.

Have you tried asking local chiropractors/osteopaths if they would refer/promote/allow you to publicise your services in their practise.