Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/1013756
Maybe you feel like you're trying the same marketing tactics as every other massage therapist and you wonder how you will ever stand out. Maybe you struggle to communicate the value of your bodywork to others and can't find a way to articulate what makes you great, aside from saying something generic like, "I help people relax and ease their pain." Here's the thing: while you may be great at what you do, it can be difficult for the general public to understand what makes you great, which means they'll have trouble figuring out why they should pick you over other massage therapists. There is a way to stand out. The key is specialization. Specialization Specialization means focusing your practice in a specific area or direction that sets you apart and increases your perceived (and actual) value to your clients. For an analogy, think of physicians. Family physicians are highly educated and provide a valuable service. However, you can find them pretty much everywhere, and they all sort of seem the same. You probably picked your family physician by asking a friend and just went with it. You're not going to be willing to travel very far to see your doctor, so you're going to look for one who is convenient and close to your home. However, let's say you develop a rare heart condition that requires surgery. Suddenly, your priorities shift and now you want the best heart surgeon you can find in your area. Maybe you're even willing to fly to another city to see the renowned heart surgeon everyone recommends. Here's something else: that heart surgeon is making a lot more money than your family physician. This is specialization in action. Specialization (or "niching") is focusing your massage practice in such a way that you become the sought-after specialist for a specific target market or issue. Specialization can have an extremely positive impact on your business. It can attract more of the right types of clients for you. It can get you talked about as the expert in your area and help you work from a position of greater authority. It can help focus your marketing efforts. And it can also help you make more money. So how do you specialize? There are generally three categories you can use to specialize your massage practice: market, discipline, and perspective. If you can niche your practice in one or more of these areas, you can command higher prices and attract more of the right types of clients for you. Let's unpack each category. Market Focusing in a target market means specializing your practice toward a specific group of people who share a common attribute. This can be job title, hobbies, lifestyle, specific events, or anything that draws people together in a common "tribe." Some of the most obvious examples of this can be found in sports. We know a successful massage therapist who focuses her practice exclusively on runners. She has named her practice with a running theme, she has built her website all around runners, she markets herself as a specialist for runners, and she even produces a podcast for runners in her area. Another practitioner has focused her practice on "weekend warriors," people who are very active in their spare time, including runners, cyclists, climbers, and other people who maintain active lifestyles as a hobby. She also produces a great podcast for this group and she boldly states that weekend warriors are her specialty. More examples of target markets that have worked for others include business owners (always stressed), nurses and similar caregivers (on their feet all day), pregnant women (no explanation needed), police officers, firefighters, plus-sized people, airplane mechanics, tennis players, golfers, dentists, teachers, and the list goes on. When you focus on a specific target market, you can immerse yourself in that market and gain real momentum by learning the lingo and terminology of that market, getting to know their wants and challenges better, and immersing yourself into the thinking of this community. You start to get more referrals because the people in this tribe talk to each other and recommend you. You start to speak their language and use terminology they relate to. You start to get better and better at addressing specific concerns common to everyone in this group. Everyone likes to feel special. By niching your practice toward a target market, you are inviting your market to self-select into your marketing by empowering them to say, "Yes, you are for people like me!" Your messaging will attract the right people for your business while avoiding people who are not ideal fits for you. Discipline The second area of specialization is discipline. This is the service you provide or the thing you do for your clients. Some examples of discipline can be a specific modality, like ashiatsu or Thai massage. These modalities are unique enough that they can help you stand out. 86 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k s e p t e m b e r / o c t o b e r 2 0 1 8