Building and maintaining clientele is critical for business success. If you want to generate foot traffic, you need to get with the times. Whether you’re an independent contractor or the owner of your company, mobile marketing is critical.
Why Mobile Marketing Matters
Look around: How often do you see a person without a mobile device in his or her hand or at least in their purse or pocket? My guess is almost never. That’s the reality of the world today.
If you want to get in front of your target audience, you have to add mobile marketing to your marketing game.
Here are six easy ways to improve your massage practice’s marketing game:
1. Have a Responsive Website
Did you know that 80 percent of your current and potential clients are using his or her mobile phone to browse the internet? This means you need to be mobile-ready when they start searching for a nearby massage therapist. If they land on your website and your images don’t load, they might leave and never return.
You can avoid this by using a responsive website theme. The Seaside theme from Shopify is a great, customizable option for massage service businesses, especially if you want to sell products online.
Responsive themes can change to become aesthetically appealing on every browser. Images and text size shift to look good whether the visitor is on a PC or a mobile device. If your site isn’t responsive, it’s time to find a new theme or ask your web developer to update your current one.
2. Use Local Mobile Ads to Increase Your Foot Traffic
Local mobile advertising is going to drive a tremendous amount of foot traffic through your doors. Nearly 80 percent of local searches on mobile devices turned into purchases. So, mobile is the way to go if you plan on running local ad campaigns. Get your piece of the pie.
Also, Google takes up an estimated 95 percent of paid clicks from mobile advertising. Make sure to leverage the potential of the largest search engine.
Aside from running ad campaigns that could be hidden by ad-blocking tools, remember to optimize your website’s SEO for local searches. If you can rank in the top three listings on a Google search result page organically, it negates the need for advertising.
3. Leverage Mobile Apps
Additionally, 35 percent of your clients look at their phones as soon as they wake up in the morning. Whether they’re just checking the time, or they see who messaged them on Snapchat, you want to be sure your business is on their mobile at all times, too. You can do this without bothering anyone. Just create your own mobile app.
Customer loyalty programs are an effective marketing tool for massage practices. Why not leverage one that a customer always has access to?
Branded mobile apps are a fantastic way to keep you in front of your clients every day. Use a service like Adiante Apps to create a customized app that your clients can download to access valuable tools.
4. Learn About Text Messaging
Is it appropriate to text your clients? Yes! Not only is text messaging appropriate, but it’s one of the most effective ways to add mobile marketing tools to your practice. 90 percent of text messages are read within three minutes; this is unbeatable by any other channels. If you’re not texting with clients, you should be.
Your massage practice can use text messages for multiple purposes: to send appointment reminders, share discounts and promotions, fill empty slots after no-shows or cancellations. Also, texting works perfectly when you need to follow up after an appointment and invite clients to look at website content.
Be sure to ask clients if they want to become a part of your mobile contact list. They must confirm they want you to reach them via texting.
5. Become Listed in Directories
Directories are good if you want to get in front of existing directory traffic, and they’re great for building SEO. The more quality links pointing back to your website, the higher ranked you will be in Google searches. So, list your practice in as many relevant directories as you can find for both attracting more eyeballs and higher rankings in search engines.
Here is a list of places online where you can post links to your massage therapy website:
Post your business in local and regional directories as well. Simply do a Google search for “massage practice directories [your city or state here].” Try to list your business along with the URL of your website on all of the top-ranking pages.
6. Get Onboard with Blogging and Social Media
Content marketing is an important tool for massage therapy business. The idea is that you post relevant and engaging content on your blog and social media profiles and then get traffic to your website. Then you use a conversion strategy to collect leads.
Now, nearly 80 percent of social media time is spent on mobile devices. Facebook dominates the social media realm, but since your business is of a visual nature, you should also use Instagram and Pinterest to promote your services.
If you have time to post original content that’s relevant to your clientele, that’s what you should do; however, content curation is the easiest way to keep your blog and social media profiles populated.
Blogging Advice
Most massage therapy service blogs seem to contain content that is all about the business— “We Received a Shipment of Body Care Products” or “This is Our Winter Price Menu.” Strategies like this aren’t going to generate viral content. Instead, post articles that are extremely valuable to your clients: Massage Envy in Los Angeles has the right idea.
By posting an article about nourishing your skin, Massage Envy appeals to current clients (which are the only people who will be even remotely interested in whether or not you just got a new shipment aromatherapy oils), and targets potential clients as well. A post like this might go viral if shared with the right audience.
Why You Should Add Mobile
You need to jump on board the mobile marketing train if you want to maintain success. Here is a short mobile marketing checklist:
- The first thing to have is a responsive website.
- Next, use local mobile advertising to attract foot traffic.
- Then, learn to leverage mobile apps for loyalty rewards and other uses.
- Yes, text messaging is a brilliant way to deliver marketing content to your clients, and your practice’s website should be listed in relevant directories.
- Finally, your blogging and social media are critical elements of your mobile marketing strategy, so learn to develop an inbound approach that attracts new clients.
To reach today’s massage clients, you must use today’s marketing techniques—and in that regard, mobile marketing should be at the top of your list.
Alexa Lemzy is a seasoned customer service expert and a business author. She readily shares advice on how businesses can benefit from mobile marketing, thoughtful automation and well-defined communication strategies.