Massage Marketing - What Speed Are You Moving At?

I want to start right off the bat by shattering a marketing myth that we've all been lead to believe. For many years, I also bought into this false belief before the light bulb went off.

That belief was that when it came to marketing our massage business, it's better to move slow and don't take too many chances.

You'll often hear people say, "Try one thing at a time...don't get in over your head...slow down...don't bite off more than you can chew...real success takes time...if it looks too good to be true, it probably is...” And I'm here to tell ya that it's all garbage!

The meaning of course, is that going slow is better than going fast. The reality is that in business and marketing...

Fast is entirely better than slow.

I don't know where this brainwashing first came from, but it doesn't make any sense.

This is even truer in Western society – especially in America.

Take a look at our own culture. Everything is meant to be fast, instantaneous. The more a business improves on that specific part of their business, the better.

However, when listening to marketing advice, the opposite is usually recommended. Even the phrase, 'Get rich quick' has a negative connotation. We're taught not to believe that success can or should happen that way.

What you have to remember is that this way of thinking is coming from someone who only knows that experience. That's all they know! Just because somebody grinded out a business after years and years of struggle doesn't mean you have to!

I'll even go a little further.

Have you ever noticed that if you don't act on an idea immediately or if you purposefully stretched it out over a long period of time that it usually withers away and dies? That's happened to me many times because I didn't act fast enough.

Still skeptical that fast isn't better?

Here's a quote I came across recently regarding Aesop's Fable, The Tortoise and The Hare. This comes from art historian and novelist, Anita Brooker. Now I don't know who this woman is, but I believe this quote is dead-on accurate.

She says:

"In real life, of course, it is the hare who wins. Every time. Look around you. And in any case, it is my contention that Aesop has written for the tortoise market. Hares have no time to read such things. They're too busy winning the race."

They're too busy winning the race! The more I examine what works for successful people, I noticed that they all have this trait in common. No real successful business person buys into the nonsense that going slow in business and marketing is the best speed.

Do you think Donald Trump takes things slow before moving on to the next step? Of course not! The same should be true of your practice. Do NOT buy into this belief that it's supposed to take years before you build a consistent, solid stream of clients. The people who dish out this 'advice' only know slow. They haven't experienced fast success. Don't model yourself after them.

Now, with that being said, I'm NOT saying that what marketing information we do provide is deficient or lacking in any manner, or that we don't keep an eye on or track our results!

We must provide quality lead-generation information to our target market and track the results.

Here's an example.

Let's say you've decided to send out 500 mailers in postcard form in regards to your massage business.

Keep track of these questions and this information:

• Who did I mail these to? (What target market? Doctors, Lawyers, your neighborhood, etc., etc.)

• What was my lead-generating message?

• When did I mail them? (Set a time limit on redemption and keep track of the time of year you ran this promotion.)

• Where did I mail them? (Demographics.)

• Why did I mail them?

Get moving! DO something! We don't have to take this step-by-step! As long as we provide quality information and keep track of our results, we can and SHOULD do as much as we can as fast as we can!

I'll also go as far to say that we can also market several 'projects' at once! Why not? Just keep track of them! We’ve got to know exactly Where each client came from and Why they chose us!

How?

This is getting a bit long, so I'll save the rest for the next article...

Kris