Don’t Kick Yourself – Facebook Banner Offer Ends Tonight…

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Eric

The special offer for $20 banners is now over and the price is now $100. However, as a BodyworkBiz newsletter subscriber you can get your banner for just $50 until Sunday, Feb 29th by using HALFOFFBANNER in the discount code box when checking out.

Click here to order your Facebook banner now before it’s too late

Why you need one…

I’ve written a whole article on this, but in summary…

When someone lands on your Facebook Page there is no obvious way for them to contact you. Facebook likes it that way. They want to keep the visitor on their site rather than send them to your site.

A Facebook banner is a quick way to tell visitors to your Page who you are, how you can help them and how they can make an appointment to see you now. They don’t need to scroll or click. All the information is there and available for them instantly.

This is vitally important because if you make them jump through hoops to find the information they need, they’ll go elsewhere.

It’s inexpensive…

When I looked for graphic design services to refer you to they were costly – from $50 to $100.
So I decided to allow my full time graphics design guy, Bryan, to spend four weeks creating these for my subscribers and their friends.

Instead of $100, they are just $20 for a limited time.

At $20 people are buying multiple banners and are having different ones designed for a variety of purposes: Valentine’s Day promotions, gift certificate sales, Holiday wishes, vacation notices, to highlight certain modalities or benefits, etc. Click the image to the right to see how one therapist has done this.

The catches:

At this price there are a couple of conditions:

You need to provide any images you want for you banner: logo, portrait, massage images, etc. You don’t have to provide images, but they do enhance the look of the banner.
You don’t get unlimited revisions. After you submit all your info you get one chance to make any changes you want to your banner.

What do they look like…

Here are some recent samples straight off the presses this morning before customer revisions:

How does this work…

Click here to purchase your banner

You’ll immediately be brought to a page where you tell us what you want to appear on your banner. Use the simple tool to upload any images you want and leave us any special instructions. We will also send an email with a link to that page, so that if you want to submit it when you have more time to think about it, you can do so.

Bryan has been swamped, so I’ve hired two more full time graphic designers for the next two weeks – Thammy and Mira. They will take your information and build a unique banner for you from scratch using the information you’ve provided.

Everyone waits until the last minute to purchase, so I anticipate a rush of orders today. Despite the rush, we should be able to complete your banner within ten business days.

The designer will send you an email with a link to a page where you can download your banner and view a video that shows you how to post it to your Facebook Page. You’ll also see a place to leave feedback for the designer and if you want to change your banner you can give them instructions there. The revisions are done within one business day and you have a fantastic custom banner to post to Facebook.

This is a special one time offer for my subscribers and friends:

Click here to order your banner now for just $20 bucks

A few tips…

Here are some tips for creating an effective banner. You’ll see some of these illustrated in the samples above:

At the top there is an image that draws the visitors’ eyes to your “Like” button and encourages them to click it.
There is a clear call to action like “Call 416-555-1212 Today!” or “Visit our website for this month’s special!”
You phone number and website address is clearly displayed to give visitors a way to easily contact you without having to hunt around for contact info.
There is the opportunity to outline your service area or the benefits of your service to motivate visitors to take action.
Keep text minimal. If you have many messages to communicate it is better to create multiple banners and rotate them.
A logo helps brand your business and improve instant recognition.
A photo of you puts a personal face to your service.

The offer expires tonight…

This offer comes off the table late tonight, so if you want to save $80 today:

Click here to order your banner now

Please share with others by clicking one of the buttons below…

Video Marketing: A Case Study

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Eric

There is a special webinar coming up this Thursday, February 9th at 8pm (ET) that will show you a seriously underutilized method to get your site ranked in Google and set yourself apart from the competition. You can read about it below, but first, here’s a short case study video that shows you how I was able to easily get visibility on the first page of Google for a website that really had no chance for getting ranked.

The strategies outlined in this video are the ones I’ll be sharing with you on Wednesday’s webinar. If you can’t attend on this date, recorded replays will be available afterward.

Part 1. Webinar: The explosive growth of online video and what it means for you

Creating and using video for marketing is surprisingly easy. Now, with the incredible growth in online video you have an unprecedented opportunity to engage potential customers like never before. In this webinar you’ll discover:

Why YouTube may be the second most important site on the web after Google
Why you must start communicating with your audience through video
How video can boost your visibility in the search engines
Three simple ways to create video
How to optimize your videos to be found by the search engines
How to syndicate your videos to a dozen video sharing sites quickly

Part 2. View it and do it

Follow along with Eric as he leads you through the process of creating and publishing a video. By the end of this two hour session you will accomplish the following:

Create and optimize your YouTube channel
Create/download a short video
Optimize your video for the search engines
Upload a video to YouTube
Register for a video syndication service

The cost of the three hour webinar is only $30.

Click here to register for this special video marketing webinar now

You can get this session and access to nine other special web marketing sessions by registering for the Web Marketing MBA program. This is an online group coaching program and will lead you through the process of getting clients through the web. When you register for all ten sessions, you get them for just half price.

(Note that six live sessions have already been done, but recorded replays are available for you to access anytime for up to one year.)

Take care,

Eric Brown

www.bodyworkbiz.com

PS If you can’t attend the live event, you can access a recorded replay immediately after.

Please click one of the buttons below to share with your friends…

6 Steps to Build a Better Practice

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Eric

I’m happy to announce that I have the feature story for the November/December issue of Massage & Bodywork Magazine. It’s not my first cover story, but I have to say it’s a darn good article and I’m quite proud of it. You can view the digital edition here: http://massagebodywork.idigitaledition.com/issues/21/34

For more practice building resources from Eric Brown and a free subscription to the BodyworkBiz Marketing Tips newsletter, go to: http://www.bodyworkbiz.com

Binge Marketing

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Eric

What Is Binge Marketing and Why You Should Never Fall Victim to It…

Don’t do it!

Don’t do binge marketing. I see this all too often where therapists suddenly find that their appointment book is looking a little light and figure they had better do some marketing. It was illustrated in an email I received today where the therapist mentioned that “Marketing may be important to me in a FEW WEEKS.”

The unfortunate part is this is an attitude that is widely shared. It’s not an isolated occurrence.

Where I see Binge Marketing in a big way is immediately before holidays like Christmas. I get panicked emails from BodyworkBiz newsletters subscribers asking, “How can I sell lots of gift certificates?” or “What can I do for a promotion for this holiday?”

The thing is, marketing is not something you just do in a few weeks to fix a slow practice. That’s like pulling out a Band Aid from the medicine cabinet to fix a gushing chest wound.

If your practice is not at the level you want it to be, I can almost guarantee that it’s not a techniques issue. You are probably very talented. Your massage does not suck. Taking another techniques class as a way to help your practice is a mistake.

If your practice is not at the level you want it to be, I can almost guarantee that it’s a marketing issue. You didn’t get 500 hours of practical business training in massage school. Your marketing probably sucks. Learning simple ways to incorporate ongoing marketing activities into your practice is the smart thing to do.

I’m not trying to insult anyone. I’m just tired of seeing talented therapists barely scraping by. I’m tired of seeing fantastic therapists leaving the profession because they can’t make a go at it. It’s painful for me to watch great therapists hit the ground, kamikaze style.

So I beg of you, don’t fall into to binge marketing mindset. Binge marketing might keep your business alive, but in the long term it just is not the answer for a satisfying and sustainable practice.

So what’s a therapist to do?

Start by learning more about marketing. If you do not have a highly successful business, then invest at least twice as much time, money and energy in your marketing education as you do in advancing your massage skills.

You can study with me or you can study with someone who you resonate more strongly with. Whatever you decide, make sure that the marketing person you work with is highly experienced and has not just personal success, but is able to translate that success to others with a proven marketing strategy.

For example, before I released the 60 Clients in 60 Days program, I tested the ideas on groups of massage therapists to make sure the strategy worked on a broad range of practices. It allowed me to create pretty much a foolproof strategy. You can read about the successes of the participants here. This is just one of many pages of success stories illustrating what happens when things are done right.

More recently, I’ve turned my attention to web marketing because it’s an important area, but one where most therapists are extremely weak. I have a great deal of expertise to share. Not only do I do large scale web projects like World Massage Conference, the largest event in the history of massage, but I’ve personally developed over 100 websites for massage therapists of which over 95% ended up on the first page of Google within weeks.

For this reason, I developed the Web Marketing MBA program that will pretty much allow someone to learn how to master web marketing. It’s not a binge marketing solution. In fact, the ten sessions are spread over almost a five month period to help encourage sustainability in your practice. I’d like to see you helping people through your hands on skills for the long run. I want you to be successful by taking regular action over the long term in a way that’s practical and doable. I welcome you to take advantage of this valuable and low cost resource:

http://www.bodyworkbiz.com/webmarketing

Whether you decide to join me or not, I want to do whatever I can to discourage you from doing any more binge marketing. Don’t do it. Learn some solid strategies that work and incorporate them into your daily practice to develop a strong sustainable practice that will allow you to benefit increasing numbers of people.

That’s all my ranting for today,

Eric Brown, Grand Massage Poobah
http://www.bodyworkbiz.com

Do you believe that more therapists need to avoid binge marketing. Vote “yes” by clicking the Like button below.

Press Release Power Guide – Only $7 Bucks!

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Eric

How do you establish your expertise, increase your credibility and get people talking about you?

Get press coverage!

I’m a big fan of leveraging the press and have done it very successfully, getting coverage for my massage practice in major daily and national newspapers, radio and television.

I’ve produced a comprehensive course about it called “Press Release Profits” that’s available at BodyworkBiz. It takes you step by step through the process of getting media coverage. That course is well worth the investment, but it might seem a little expensive for you right now.

So when I came across a manual called “Press Release Power” by Paul Clifford a press release specialist with Rave Press, I contacted him and made arrangements to get it to you at a very special price.

It’s a solid little guidebook that covers all the basics around press releases and is written by someone that actually knows what they are talking about.

In this 59 page e-book, you’ll learn how to:

Write a Press Release that works for you and not against you
Have you website rank higher as a result of press release backlinks
Get your release gets syndicated across the web
Get maximum SEO juice from Google by avoiding one very common mistake
Save time thinking up topics (you will get a list from the guide)
Select the keywords that actually matter
Write Headlines that make your press release spread virally
and much more!

Paul sells the book on Amazon for $18.99 and you can go to Amazon to check it out…

However, I’ve purchased the rights to distribute it and you can get right now for just $7. That’s probably less than the cost of lunch at McDonalds (although I never eat there, so I wouldn’t really know.)

I still like my press coverage course better and it’s much more comprehensive, but if you are just exploring the idea and want to know what the benefits are and the basics of getting a press release written and published, this is a fantastic primer at a price that won’t eat through your wallet.

Click here to purchase “Press Release Power” for only $7

This is an ebook and you will have instant access. Like almost everything at BodyworkBiz, it’s covered by my 100% no questions asked money back guarantee. So you have nothing to risk by taking action now.

A massage logo: Is it really necessary?

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Eric

Most newly graduated massage therapists can’t wait to print up their brand new massage business cards. As they start to put the design together one of the first things they come up against creating a massage logo for their card.

What’s the purpose of a massage logo and is it really necessary?

There are iconic logos all around us. They serve as a visual representation of a brand. For example, do you know what companies or brands these logos represent?

Logos are used in brand advertising to create and reinforce a certain level of familiarity with a product. They are also used to anchor and reproduce a certain feeling or emotion that the logo is associated with. For this reason logos (and branding in general) are much more important for commodity products, that is products where there is very little perceived difference in the customer’s mind.

Faced with a rack of chocolate bars at a supermarket checkout for example, an advertiser wants a consumer to feel an instant sense of familiarity and comfort with picking their brand. They do this primarily through logo design (there’s not room to put anything more than a logo on a chocolate bar wrapper) which has been associated with a certain message or certain feeling through extensive brand advertising on TV and in print media. If that chocolate bar doesn’t get picked instantly from the sea of similar sweets, then that manufacturer is out of luck.

Most small businesses, massage businesses included, don’t have the same need to brand as the chocolate bar manufacturer. Massage is not a “commodity” item. It’s what marketers would call a “high involvement” product. The typical consumer doesn’t see ten clinics lined up down the street and on a whim choose one. They research, get advice about, seek referrals to, talk about, and take time deciding before they pick up the phone to book a massage. The need for instant visual recognition is really not that strong.

So for therapists, massage logos tend to serve more as decorative elements in the design of stationery than any kind of sales or branding tool.

Rules and principles of massage logo design

Here are some basic rules and principles for creating your own massage logo.

1. Keep it simple

Avoid a lot of detail. Clients are only going to look at it momentarily and step away with an impression. Keeping the design simple makes your logo easier to remember and easy to reproduce.

2. Don’t get too literal

Your logo doesn’t have to convey what you do. Think of some of the greatest logos: Golden arches (nothing to do with burgers), a swoosh (nothing to do with running shoes) or an apple (nothing to do with computers). So you can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that you really don’t have to have hands in your logo… seriously, you don’t.

3. Make it memorable

To be memorable your logo should be bold, graphic and unique. Avoid clichés. There are so many logos that contain images of hands and the low back curves that they are now indistinguishable from one another.

4. It should work without colour

You never know how your logo will be reproduced, so it should look good in black and white or greyscale.

5. Be scalable

Your massage logo must look good whether big or small. You should be able to shrink your logo down to an inch and have it still be recognizable or readable. It should look good blown up on a storefront sign as well.

6. Aim for rectangular

Our eyes roll easily across images that are wider than they are tall. Go for a wide image rather than a tall one.

7. Use your company name

If it makes sense, use your name or your company name as your logo. This is called a logotype or wordmark. It does double duty making your name part of the design rather than an addendum. I’ve done this at BodyworkBiz…

In short, don’t sweat it. A logo is not going to make or break your massage business.

If you are just starting out, you can create appealing sales materials without a logo by using simple typefaces and good quality images.

If your logo is not up to snuff then consider tossing it. It’s better to have a clean layout in your website and collateral materials rather than stick with an ugly and impractical logo simply for the sake of having a logo.

I’ll post examples of good and bad massage logos to my blog over this next week so you can see how massage logos work or don’t work using these rules.

If you liked this post, please share on Facebook or your favorite sharing site by clicking the share button below.

Online ratings and reviews are important

Posted on August 13, 2011 by Eric

Here is some compiled stats by Bazaar Voice. Check out this post for some mind-blowing facts and figures…

83% of all holiday shoppers are influenced by customer reviews. (ChannelAdvisor “Consumer Shopping Habits Survey”, August 2010)
High product rating will increase likelihood of purchase for 55% of consumers. (eConsultancy, July 2010)
Availability of product ratings was a factor for 59% of UK shoppers, as was the availability of user-generated or consumer product reviews (57%). (eConsultancy, July 2010)
Nearly two-thirds (64%) of the UK population have researched products/services online within the last 3 months. (European Commission, May 2010)
Rubbermaid found that, when they added reviews to their free-standing inserts (ads included in newspapers), conversion for the coupons increased by 10%. (Rubbermaid Case Study, April 2010.)
By 2014, 53% of total retail sales (online and offline) will be affected by the Web, as consumers increasingly use the Internet to research products before purchasing. (Forrester, March 2010)
Luxury Institute research revealed that, of the customers who shop for high-end merchandise online, 78 percent of them did so in order to find the best price while nearly as many, 77 percent, did so to compare brands (BrandWeek, January 2010).
When making purchase decisions, North American Internet users trust recommendations from people they know and opinions posted by unknown consumers online more than advertisements on television, on the radio, in magazines and newspapers, or in other traditional media. (Nielsen Online, April 2009)

The bottom line: You must maximize your online presence if you want to be successful now and in the coming years.

Google Places Describes You

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Eric

Google Places is one of the easiest ways to get your site found at the top of Google rankings. And it just keeps getting more and more interesting. Now Google is rolling out descriptive words for your business within the listing. These are taken from sources all across the web, such as reviews, web pages and other online references, and they can help people quickly identify the characteristics that make a particular place unique.

If you haven’t claimed your free Google listing yet, do it today: http://www.google.com/places/

Eric Brown, BodyworkBiz Blog

Category Archives: Massage Business