According to the American Massage Therapy Association, “While massage therapists work in a variety of work environments, sole practitioners account for the largest percentage of practicing therapists (69 percent).” As the number of massage practitioners continues to grow, attracting new clients is even more difficult, especially if you have no money to spend on advertising.
However, the following five steps can help you attract new massage clients without spending any money—allowing you to stand out from other sole practitioners in your area.
1. Distribute client-generating flyers. Design flyers that direct people to your practice Use a title such as, “Free 15-minute massage with the purchase of any 60-minute massage.”
2. Start a referral program. Current massage clients will not automatically refer you to others. You need to take the initiative and create an incentive for current clients to refer you.
Massage Envy has a referral program you may want to model after: “Introduce a new member to your Massage Envy home clinic in the first 30 days of your membership and receive a one-hour complimentary massage session.”
3. Get local businesses to endorse you. Spread the word about your massage business by having local businesses hand out coupons for a massage session to their clients.
4. Set up boxes to win a free massage. Place drawing boxes in waiting areas of local businesses for people to enter to win a free 30-minute massage. People will be enticed to enter their contact information, which you can use later to let them know about your referral program.
5. Create a website for free. Many massage therapists are intimidated by the idea of creating a website because of cost and time. Try such sites as Blogger, WordPress, Weebly or Yola for free to get your business name out there on the Web in 15 minutes, without having to understand HTML.
Each one of these steps should provide your massage business with one additional client per week. Luckily for you, these steps also don’t cost your business a dime.
Connor Bringas is a marketing specialist at Appointment-Plus.com, a leader in online scheduling software for massage therapists. You can check out other great tips from Bringas on Twitter.