During these tough economic times, many massage therapists and bodyworkers may be noticing a decline in client appointments, even among loyal clients who once booked their sessions on a regular basis. As people tighten their budgets, they may feel it necessary to cut out the expense of receiving consistent massage therapy or bodywork.

Of course, this is incredibly unfortunate, for difficult financial times usually equate to high stress levels for most people and may indicate they need massage therapy or bodywork more than ever to help cope, in a healthy way, with the daily ups and downs of life.

For massage therapists and bodyworkers, a decline in client appointments, whether it is due to the economic downturn or some unknown factor, is cause for concern. Less clients means less income, and that is a problem for anyone in who makes a living through their business of providing massage therapy or bodywork.

Refreshing your marketing methods may be one of the first steps you need to take if you begin to notice a reduction in the amount of appointments you are booking at your practice. For a long time, you may not even have needed to make any marketing efforts, because you could count on a certain number of clients booking appointments each week or each month no matter what the circumstances.

One effective and fairly simple way to remind people about the benefits of your services is by sending out a brochure or flier that includes your massage therapy or bodywork menu. If you do not have a menu for your practice, now may be the time to create one, and if the one you have is rather old, now may be the time to revamp it with creative offerings.

Consider using various high-end massage creams to theme your massage therapy or bodywork menu. For instance, pick out a quality massage cream that contains essential oils for a relaxing aromatherapy experience. Then, let clients know you are offering a relaxing aromatherapy massage with lavender essential oils.

If you live in a dry climate, you might select a massage cream that boasts luxurious moisturizing properties. Using the massage cream as the basis for the theme, you could then add an “ultra-moisturizing massage” to menu, and perhaps even tell people about a few of the ingredients contained in the massage cream, such as organic shea nut butter, vitamins and antioxidants.

Using a massage cream scented with exotic ingredients, such as coconut, pineapple or fragrant tropical flowers, you could even design a bodywork session based on the idea of escaping to the tropical islands.

With such examples as jump-off points, you can take these themes in so many different directions to best suit your practice and your clients. In this way, you can develop a dynamic massage therapy or bodywork menu for your practice, with various appealing massage creams as the driving force behind the different offerings.

Mail this flier or brochure out to everyone in your client database, whether they only came to see you once seven years ago or they were regular clients for years and only recently stopped booking appointments.

—Brandi Schlossberg