Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/812910
78 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k m a y / j u n e 2 0 1 7 incorporate humor into our therapeutic practice. By fostering an environment that encourages and embraces laughter, we are creating a habitat where healing is all the more likely to take place. HUMOR AS MARKETING MUSE Throughout our nearly decade-long career, my husband and business partner, Shane, and I have implemented a variety of humorous ad campaigns. One of our favorite projects is a web series titled "Trigger Point Ninja." The show follows our hero as he travels the globe to obliterate members of a far-reaching terrorist organization of myofascial trigger points. You can see episodes at www.triggerpointninja.com. From giggle-inducing business cards to funny postcards and stickers, we're always looking for ways to infuse our promotional materials with some sass and spunk. It's not at all uncommon for one of our clients to pick up a few of our tongue-in-cheek business cards and tell us that they love handing them out to their friends and colleagues. Just the other day, a client told me, "Your business cards are so funny that when I hand one to someone, it's like I'm giving them a greeting card." When one of our current clients and a prospective client can share a chuckle as part of the referral process, then we've already made headway toward developing a promising professional relationship. Finding your own voice when injecting your marketing with humor can take some trial and error. It can be helpful to run When Humor Makes Sense Humor can play a vitally important role in one's massage practice in a variety of ways: • Humor can make clients feel more comfortable and receptive to their therapy. • Humor can help break the ice and put clients at ease about an encounter in which they may otherwise feel somewhat vulnerable and apprehensive. • Humor can help give clients a respite from their pain and stress. • Humor is a great teaching tool. It can help convey educational concepts when we are informing our clients about the therapies we offer and the therapeutic mechanisms of action at work. And humor can help students more easily grasp concepts in the classroom. • Humor is a wonderful way to ensure that our marketing messages stand out from the crowd. • Humor can offer a social buffer when the need arises to engage in awkward or uncomfortable conversations about boundaries, policies, and disagreements. • Humor can humanize us as practitioners and teachers, and endear us to our clients, colleagues, and students. • Humor can help us maintain an upbeat, relaxed work environment that can relieve our own stress and guard against burnout and compassion fatigue.