Running a massage business extends well past the healing talent of your hands. Knowledge and an acute business acumen is a necessity if you want to run a massage practice efficiently and successfully.
Growing your client base is essential if you want to survive. By learning the practice of massage marketing and other business practices in the privacy of your home or office through home-study courses, massage therapists can easily implement these tools into their practice.
The current economic slump in the business market hasn’t spared massage practices, leaving therapists to search for cost-effective ways to increase business and productivity. An Internet search revealed numerous home-study courses any massage therapist can take to fulfill his or her continuing education requirements.
Some of the topics offered in these home-study courses include massage therapy as a low-cost, health care option, product sales, product integrity, expense cutting, ethical marketing practices, beneficial business habits, legal marketing restrictions and ethical representation of advertising.
Social media as a marketing tool has become a way of life for small business owners. It’s cheap, fast and the potential to attract new clients is nearly limitless. So if you don’t know social media programs by now, it’s time to start getting familiar with them. Social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+ and Foursquare need to be in your vocabulary. These are simple, free marketing tools you can use to target your customers.
In these venues, therapists can network directly with existing customers and expand their resources through promotions on the different sites.
Other home-study resources can teach you how to utilize these sites to your advantage. For instance, they can help you develop your online profile, help target your online contacts as prospective clients and how to avoid online business blunders.
Make sure to check with your national and state licensing bodies to make sure the courses you select are acceptable for continuing education credits.