Cool Tool: Ambient Mixer

So, Berin (Bodywork Buddy co-founder and massage software programmer extraordinaire) discovered this great online ambient mixer. What an awesome tool for your massage business! 

You can stream one of their pre-made mixes, or create your own. Great for in the background of your regular massage music, or on it's own. Similar to the site I shared in this post last year, except this mixer has more customizable options.

Check it out, create your own mixes, and let us know which ones you like best for your massage business.
Ambient Mixer


Tweetable: What a cool tool for your massage business!

Cindy Iwlew is co-founder of Bodywork Buddy Massage Software, a complete online management solution for independent massage therapists that includes online scheduling.

She continues to operate her own private massage practice of 14 years. www.BodyworkBuddy.com


Music Photo: freedigitalphotos.net

How to Write Fabulous Massage Brochures That Clients Will Love

How To Write Fabulous Massage Brochures That Clients Will Love

By Amy Roberts


I was in New Zealand teaching a group of Massage Therapists about a year or so ago. I was conducting a lecture about writing brochures for a massage business. I found that Massage Therapists had one thing in common that stopped them writing their massage brochures. It was definitely not a lack of intelligence or will power, it was not knowing 'how to get started' on writing their massage brochures. Not knowing how to get started on writing a massage brochure is not the same as not having the ability or capability. In fact creating your massage brochure is pretty easy. The secret to massage brochure writing? It's all about following a system.
Following a writing system when writing your massage brochure will cut down hours of 'writers block', frustration, feeling in adequate and overwhelmed. It's true; you can feel all these things when you start your massage brochure writing. So now, I'm going to teach you how to start feeling confident, satisfied and proud of your massage brochure writing. With practice you'll become a master at creating your own massage brochures.

Let's get started on the system of writing your massage brochure. Not just any old brochure, a fabulous massage brochure that clients will love.
Firstly, it's important for your massage brochure experience to be a positive one. Clear your mind and make a decision that you will not bring any past negative feelings "to the table" when you sit down and begin to write your brochure.

Your massage brochure needs to reflect utmost professionalism. In your experience as a massage therapist you'll know that people have loved your massage and wanted more. This needs to be reflected in your presentation. Only use the highest quality paper and the best printing service in town. You have a significantly higher chance of impressing potential massage clients them further with your skills in the marketing and business side of things as well. Whether you do Trigger Point massage, Swedish massage, Bowen therapy or deep tissue massage all massage therapy modalities need to be reflected in this way.

Secondly, you need to understand that potential massage therapy clients are not looking for the features of massage therapy such as "increased blood flow, increased muscle tone, improved oxygenation to the muscles" or "helps disperse lactic acid build up in the muscles." Yes, it's all great that massage therapy does that, but it's not what clients are looking for in your massage brochures.

Think of it this way. When you yourself are looking for a massage from a colleague, what is going through your mind at the time? Is it "I must get a massage so I can disperse the lactic acid in my muscles" or "this neck pain is really bad, I must get a massage to relieve it"? The latter of course! Well that's exactly what your potential massage clients are thinking too! When they pick up your massage brochure they are undoubtedly thinking about how they can get relief from something. And they will search for it in your massage brochure. So make it easy for them to make a decision to have your massage treatments by stating the benefits of your massage treatment straight away rather than the features in your massage brochure. (People start looking for massage therapy when the pain has become a problem and usually not before.)

Thirdly, always use 'easy to understand' language. We often forget that as massage therapists, our potential clients are seeking benefits in the form of relief from discomfort. What I mean by this is what is going through their minds is the language that we must use in our massage brochures. If they are thinking it, we must say it. That's why it's important for us to state in our massage brochures phrases like "my treatment will give you relief from neck pain, allowing you to move freely and without pain. After just a few of my massage treatments you'll be feeling more flexible and free again."

Just remember that with all massage brochures you must 'get into your clients head'. Speak plain language in your brochures and don't use your qualifications upfront as a strategy for attracting clients. Most of our massage therapy clients have no idea about massage or the school we went to or the hard work we did to become skillful at it. And that's ok! Right now our goal in writing massage brochures is to make it easy for them to decide to want to have massage with us and offer our massage therapy in a way that's easy for them.

There's a lot to teach on this subject of massage brochures. Which is why I've written a few ebooks about it, so if you want to know how to write massage brochures, please click on the link below. I have designed a simple step by step system for you to follow to write fabulous massage brochures that clients will love.
Amy Roberts

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amy_Roberts


http://EzineArticles.com/?How-To-Write-Fabulous-Massage-Brochures-That-Clients-Will-Love&id=501731








Photo: freedigitalphotos.net

How To Lose Customers [Infographic]

Browse more data visualizations.

Massage Without Borders / Follow-Up to Fundraiser Auction

A few weeks ago I wrote this post about Massage Without Borders and their online auction to raise funds to help massage therapists who have been affected by disaster.

Bodywork Buddy massage software donated a lifetime subscription to the auction, and we're thrilled to announce that the winning bid raised $455 to help Massage Without Borders!  Thank you to everyone who bid, and a big thank you to Chelsea M. for the winning bid.

MWB is run completely by volunteers.  They are always looking for more people to help, so if you're interested - check out their website and contact them to see how you can get involved.

Watch the video for more information on MWB and the great things they are doing to help our colleagues.



Tweetable: the winning bid raised $455 to help Massage Without Borders!

Video Tips from Massage Nerd

Today we have a guest post from Ryan Hoyme (aka Massage Nerd) with some tips on using videos to market your massage business.

Did you watch the Super Bowl ONLY for the commercials?

I did!

One thing they had in common, was most of them were 30-60 seconds and that is what can keep the average viewer's attention. Even thou I didn’t like most of them; they at least kept me glued to the Internet (I watched the Super Bowl online). 

Making a commercial for your business should have the same time frame as it does for TV commercials. You want to grab the person’s attention and keep them there as long as they are viewing the commercial. I made huge mistakes when I first started out, but having very long videos and in my youtube insights, I noticed most of my longer videos were only being watched for a few minutes at a time…on a good day. 

Tips to keep the viewer…viewing:

• 30-60 seconds for your commercial.
  
  
• Not shorter than 20 seconds.
  
  
• Use different angles in the commercial (one frame one angle, another frame a side angle, and so on).
  
  
• Keep your intro clip down to 2-4 seconds.
  
  
• Audio is 2/3 of the video, so have a proper microphone.
  
  
• If your video is educational, then you can break the rule of 30-60 seconds (usually 2-4 minutes is decent)
  
  
• Have a respectable intro clip and even hire someone to make one, because it will help with branding, and you will use it on all your future videos.
  
  
• Have an outro clip how they can find you and keep it at 4-6 seconds, because if you put your website on there, you want them to be able to see it.
  
  
• You can have a sound effect or little bit of music on your intro/outro clip, to make it enticing. Make sure you don’t use copyrighted music and there are places like www.incompetech.com , that are free to use and all they ask for is proper credit and a donation if you would like. Plus, you can purchase music for commercial use too.
  
  
• Having a picture popup every now and then will keep them glued to your video.

I tend to break the above rules all the time, but I’m always trying to see what works and doesn’t. The business world is all about taking risks, and if you don’t take any, it will be hard to grow your business to the next level. 

I will be submitting regular blog posts on www.theyoungthumbs.com about video tips and other things related to massage and if you ever KNEAD help making videos for your business, I’m just a website away at www.ryanhoyme.com  

Favorite Things: Biotone Dual Purpose Massage Creme

I remember the first time I was introduced to Biotone's Dual Purpose Massage Creme.  I thought it was WAY TOO THICK to work with and what was up with that tube?  How was that supposed to be handy in the middle of a session?

www.biotone.com

Well, it simply took a few times of trying this cream to absolutely fall in love with it.  Rather than seeing it as a super thick cream, I now see it for the silky goodness that it is... it simply melts as you begin to work with it and it has a beautiful glide.  A little actually goes a long way.  I don't find myself having to constantly re-apply.

I thought the fact that it's not pumpable was going to be a major problem, but the tube fits in a universal holster.  If you keep the cap off and have it in your holster upside down, you can single-handedly squeeze the cream out right into your hand.   The fact that this is pretty silent compared to most pumps is an added bonus.  (As long as you have an adequate amount of cream in the tube.)

I've been playing around with using different creams in the last year after having developed an allergy to one and looking into using paraben free products.  I can honestly say that Biotone Dual Purpose has quickly become my favorite.  Even for Ashiatsu.

I still use jojoba oil for hot stone massage and massage cupping, and some other creams for swedish, but deep tissue work - it's Biotone Dual Purpose all the way.

Have you tried this cream yet?  What has been your experience?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Cindy Iwlew is co-founder of Bodywork Buddy Massage Software, a complete online management solution for independent massage therapists that includes online scheduling.

She continues to operate her own private massage practice of 14 years.
www.BodyworkBuddy.com

Cool Tool - Cardmunch

Check this out - turn business cards into contacts on your phone.
http://www.cardmunch.com/

I can think of all sorts of situations that this would come in handy!  What do you think?  Conventions, meetups, BNI meetings?

According to statisticbrain.com, 88% of business cards handed out with be thrown out in less than a week.  So of course, it'd be awesome if you could somehow get your clients to download this app and card munch YOUR card... but I suppose that is probably unlikely.  However, if you're like me and can't stand cluttering up your desk, wallet, purse, etc with tons of cards - (only to forget you even have them!) - this could be a good tool, especially to help organize people you meet at business opportunities.

The free iphone app 
that turns business cards
into contacts.

It’s easy and smart.

Take a picture with the app and a business card

is converted to a contact automatically.

We'll also show you LinkedIn profile information

and connections you have in common.

Tweetable: According to statisticbrain.com, 88% of business cards handed out with be thrown out in less than a week.

Cindy Iwlew is co-founder of Bodywork Buddy Massage Software, a complete online management solution for independent massage therapists that includes online scheduling.

She continues to operate her own private massage practice of 13 years.
www.BodyworkBuddy.com

Picture: freedigitalphotos.net