Monthly Massage Marketing Tip
By Michael Humphreys, N.C.T.M.B.

This month's massage marketing tip will focus on a group that I'm quite familiar with: stressed out new parents. In case you missed last month's issue, my wife Sarah and I just had our first child, a wonderful baby girl named Emily.

While I'm very familiar with stressed out new moms on a professional level, I've gotten an even closer, in-depth look at what a new mom goes through a daily basis. While dads can be stressed out parents too, I'm going to focus strictly on the new moms for this article and make it easier to follow my advice.

The Number One Problem of New Moms: Lack of Sleep

During the first few months of a new baby's life, they are extremely dependent on their parents, especially their mother. It's not uncommon for a newborn to need to feed every two to three hours. During the first month alone, a new baby will go through two different distinct growth spurts. These periods of faster growth will result in the baby eating more food and eating more often.

If the mother has chosen to feed her baby naturally, it creates even more demands on her - physically, mentally, and emotionally. It's no longer one of the parents just soothing the baby when he cries. It's mom having to feed that baby, when he's hungry, even if it's 3 a.m. and mom is dead tired already.

For example, my wife Sarah is currently averaging about four hours to five hours sleep per night. She feels strongly about doing natural feedings for our child rather than using any formula. The tradeoff is that she gets less quality sleep each night and has to get up during the night each time that the baby is hungry.

With natural feedings, the baby takes in everything that the mom eats and drinks. So Sarah is deliberately limiting the amount of caffeine that she consumes, even though she is a huge coffee fan like me.

The Number Two Problem of New Moms: High Levels Of Stress

If you are a parent yourself or have ever helped care for a newborn child, you know how stressful it can be. That wonderful bundle of joy can be quite a handful at times!

A newborn baby can only do one thing to communicate and that's to holler or scream when something is bothering him. They may scream when they are upset, have a full diaper, are hungry, are cold, are tired, and any number of other reasons. It's up to you to quickly figure out what the problem is.

Imagine spending 30 minutes or more, trying to calm down a crying baby without success and you'll have an idea of how stressful it can be. Worse, if the baby suffers from a medical condition called colic, they may scream uncontrollably for hours!

The Number Three Problem of
New Moms: The New Physical Demands

As a new parent, you never realize how physically demanding caring for a baby can be. New parents start doing tasks that they normally don't do.

Bending over and grabbing a baby out of the crib can really play havoc with your low back. Holding the baby in one arm for an hour straight while they feed or sleep, can cause your upper back muscles to tighten up in knots. New parents are frequently surprised by how quickly they can develop stiff and sore muscles, doing these "routine" baby care tasks.

How To Identify The New Parents Who Are
Already Members Of Your Massage Client List.

First, keep a list of every client, who you do a prenatal massage on. Ask them when the baby is due and write this due date on your calendar.

Make it a point to call them after the babies due date and find out if they had a healthy baby boy or girl. It's a nice customer service touch, and they will be pleasantly surprised that you remembered their special occasion.

Second, send them a post card or letter congratulating them on the birth of the child. If you feel so inclined, make them a special offer like a 90 minute massage for the price of 60 minute massage.

How To Identify New Parents Who Aren't Already Your Clients

One way could be to run an ad in any of the magazines, newspapers, and other local periodicals in your area that specialize in either pregnancy related or baby related niches.

Another way could be to listen to your existing clients. When they mention that someone they know just had a baby, give them a gift certificate to pass along to the new mom. Make that gift certificate good for a fr*ee 10 minute chair massage or paraffin treatment at your office.

Why New Parents Make Great Clients

New parents deal with a lot of stress and that stress is not going to go away anytime soon. Massage is one of the most effective ways to combat stress, reduce aches and pains, and improve quality of life.

The massage that a new parent receives on your massage table will feel like a wonderful escape from the daily stresses they face while caring for their infant at home.

As their child grows, these parents will face other stresses and challenges. Because you have established a positive relationship as their health care provider, they will look to you for help with their stress relief instead of exploring other stress relief options.

In addition, they frequently socialize with other parents. When a friend of Mrs. Smith starts complaining about a sore back, and Mrs. Smith is a loyal client of yours, who do you think Mrs. Smith is going to recommend? The answer is you, the massage therapist, who has helped her during some of the most painful and stressful times in her past.

Which Is More Believable: An Advertisement Or
A Personal Recommendation?

Obviously, most people will take the recommendation over an advertisement. And the more clients you have recommending you, the less advertisements you'll need to run to grow your business.

Try focusing on this target market of stressed-out new parents and see how much it helps your massage practice. Your bank account and your clients will thank you!

That’s all for this month. On behalf of Eric, we'll look forward to talking with you next month.

Seize The Day,

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