If you have been looking for new ways to market your massage therapy practice, you may have asked yourself: Does my practice need an e-newsletter?
The short answer: Yes. Every massage practice should have an email massage newsletter. The benefits you will receive will far exceed the time and energy you will put into creating and sending the newsletter. A newsletter is an effective tool to build clients’ top-of-mind awareness of your practice, which increases frequency of visits and referrals. Also, offers you include in your e-newsletter can immediately be redeemed, which quickly increases your cash flow.
Here’s how to create a massage newsletter that will get opened, get read and get clients in the door.
Make it interesting
Your clients are just like you and me. We all love to get emails—as long as those emails have information on things we find interesting. We dislike, maybe even hate, emails containing irrelevant and useless information. The key is to make sure what you send in your massage newsletter is relevant and interesting. If you do, your emails will always be welcome.
Even the most interesting subjects, if presented in an uninspired way, are boring. Clients who are on your e-newsletter list want to hear about exciting things happening at your practice; more specifically, things that are exciting because they directly benefit those clients. Such things include special deals, discounts and contests; a new therapist joining your team; seasonal products you offer for retail sale; or an event you’re holding to raise money for a community organization. You can also write about specialties, success stories, expanded hours or anything else that increases the value of your practice in the eyes of your clients and other subscribers. Include colorful, eye-catching images along with your text.
Make it client-focused
Even though people are really interested in your practice, the percentage of your e-newsletter that is about your practice should be much smaller than the percentage of your newsletter that is about the client. Your massage newsletter should be packed with value-added information that directly helps your clients. Offer incentives for them to refer family and friends. Keep an eye on news in the industry and write about these topics when appropriate—for example, a short article on how massage helps ease post-workout muscle soreness might be well-received during the month of January, when many people are trying to start New Year’s fitness routines. An August article on fighting the effects of stress with regular massage could make a welcome read for parents with frazzled, back-to-school nerves.
Make partnerships
Other local businesses you deem strategic partners can also help. These partners should be willing to do something special for your clients for a chance to reach them through your e-newsletter. Often, ideal strategic partners are also in the health field, but do not compete with you directly. These partners might include a health-food store, personal trainer or midwife. These are the best types of partners to have, as they provide your practice health-related value adds, but won’t create competition for your services.
As your email list grows, you will find more strategic partners who are willing to send information about your practice to their list, if you do the same for them. This is a virtually free form of local marketing that gets your practice directly in front of possible new clients. When information about your practice is included in another local and trusted business owner’s or health care professional’s newsletter, the impact on the reader is very similar to that of a personal recommendation or referral.
Make it easy on yourself
To send your massage newsletter, you will want to use an online program designed for commercial email. These programs will have everything you need built into them for you to stay compliant with anti-spam laws. (Using your own email address may work for a short time, but as your list grows, you will have problems.) Some also come with access to images and templates so you can make your newsletters visually engaging and appealing.
Another benefit to using a newsletter program is your email newsletter will automatically be optimized for viewing on any type of device. That includes mobile phones, laptops, tablets and large desktop monitors. The email will also include a link, so readers can view the newsletter in a web browser if they prefer.
Many businesses send weekly emails and a monthly newsletter. Statistically, newsletters are by far the most-read type of email message; people love a monthly roundup. If you already send a weekly email, you can often combine the highlights of the weekly emails to make a monthly newsletter.
Just as with the rest of your marketing, the most important thing to remember when creating your email massage newsletter is to make it a full expression of your practice’s uniqueness, because your uniqueness attracts new clients, keeps current clients talking about you, and differentiates you from the competition—which is a must if you want your practice to grow.
About the Author
Matthew Fiorenza has more than 25 years of sales and marketing experience, and is the senior marketing consultant at Text I.Q. (www.mytextiq.com), a company that provides text and mobile marketing services for health care practitioners.