Online Marketing Education

A new marketing-and-practice-building Web site aims to help massage therapists succeed in business. The site, massagebusinessuniversity.com, launched in January.

For a fee of $9.97 per month, site members can access practice-building articles written by educators in the massage field, such as Cherie Sohnen-Moe; audio recordings with experts such as Vivian Madison-Mahoney and Steve Capellini; and video clips analyzing real massage-therapy marketing materials. There is also a forum for member discussion, case studies and downloadable marketing pieces. Content on the site is updated every three days.

"We see that massage therapists need marketing and practice-building education, but they can't always afford it," says proprietor Todd Brown, a marketing professional who worked in the fitness industry before branching into the massage field. (He also started an online marketing program for chiropractors.) "We decided to create a member site where there were going to be limited costs for us, and make the best resource for massage therapists that we possibly could."