Starting a Massage Business Successfully and Attract Clients
Start Your Massage Practice with Confidence
How to Start a Massage Business?
Starting a massage business can feel incredibly overwhelming when you’ve never done it before. Any business requires patience and time, allowing you to plan, market, and create a strong online and local presence – through Google and social media, and more. Before you start with your web design, it’s imperative that you start with research before anything else. Each state will have different licensing and business laws, and some will be governed by individual municipalities instead of the state itself. You’ll want to make sure that you follow all laws required by your state or municipality, which usually require a training of at least 500 hours – some are more, like in Oregon. You may also need a business license in your city, as well as other things like massage insurance.
After that, you’ll want to choose a location that works well for both you and your ideal clients. If you’re not sure who your ideal clients are, no worries. If you’ve been practicing for a bit, then think about the types of people that tend to come to see you. You can also read more about creating your personas here. Depending on the local laws, you may be able to practice outside of your home, but I usually recommend that you have a space separate from your home due to privacy and safety issues. Many states will require you to register your business, and it’s not a good idea to have your personal address associated with that as it’s then public record. If you’re opening a massage business, then you’ll also need to purchase a massage table, and quality supplies like essential oils, creams, lotions, linens, and décor.
To help your massage business stand out amongst your competitors, you’ll want to do a thorough SWOT analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This should include what makes you, as a practitioner, unique. What skills do you have? What additional training have you taken? What’s your general style of massage? Do you specialize in a specific type of massage? Do you offer add-on’s that no one else does? Your web design also plays a strategic role in ensuring that your business stands out against your competitors, enhancing your digital image.
Consider the four P’s of your marketing mix – product (in this case a service), price, promotion, and place. What will your price be? Is it higher, lower, or about average in comparison to your local market? You’ll also need to plan where and how you’ll promote your business. You want to determine the key channels of where you’ll advertise before you start your massage business so that you can start getting new clients before your doors even open. SEO marketing along with content marketing play a crucial role in helping you to get new local clients as well. Make sure that you spend time on your SEO or hire out for someone to help you with it because more than 80% of people are still using the internet to find their new massage therapist.
When you’re starting a massage business, a well-designed website can truly help you stand out from the crowd. It’s your digital business card and will be the first-place new clients go to see your brand, what services you provide, as well as your pricing, products you offer, read testimonials, and to generally learn more about you.
Why Starting a Massage Business is Worth It
I’ve been in the industry for 15 years and have owned and operated two successful massage businesses. Starting a massage business is a personal development journey disguised as a financial opportunity. It will help you to grow both professionally and personally. I’ve experienced first-hand the incredible freedom that having your own massage business can bring, as well as the professional fulfillment from having built and sold two massage businesses from zero to $10k months. When you work for someone else doing massage, or if you’re working a 9-5, you don’t have control over your schedule – or your life. When you start your own massage business, you’ll be able to set your own boundaries, create your schedule, work when it works with your schedule, and build long-lasting relationships with clients (who will no doubt become lifelong friends). You have the power to shape your own massage practice – and destiny – that reflects your values and expertise. Starting your own massage business will also give you more stability, flexibility, and fair pay.
One of the best things about starting my own massage business has been the ability to create an entire brand. When you start your own massage business, you’ll get to choose what services you provide, design your studio and room, and make sure that every detail of the business reflects your unique essence, allowing you to attract clients that are kindred spirits. For massage therapists to become and stay competitive, you also need to invest in web design and SEO. Doing so will allow you to focus on what you love most – helping your clients – and it will help you to attract more clients to your business. Through my businesses, I’ve found that when I focused on massage therapist marketing through my website and content marketing, that helped to build trust and authentic connections with potential clients. This resulted in higher credibility and trust before they even booked a session with me.
You’ll also experience greater financial freedom when you own a massage business because you get to set your own rates and attract the clients that truly appreciate your services. In both my businesses, I’ve learned that massage businesses do so much better when they invest in organic marketing strategies, like search engine optimization. When you leverage local SEO, which I highly recommend for a local service-based business, you will attract clients that are looking for your exact services, exactly when they’re looking for them. It’s also much more cost-effective than doing Google ads but does take more time and consistent effort along with strategy. That’s why when you’re first starting a massage business, I typically recommend doing both to get the ball rolling. Owning a massage business has not only offered me financial stability, but it’s also given me joy in doing work that actually means something while getting to work on a schedule that works for me.
How We Help with Opening a Massage Business & Massage Therapist Marketing
Local SEO
Local SEO will help you get noticed in your local area. It's important to get in the Google Local Pack to make sure you're getting local leads to your business daily.
SEO Marketing
SEO Marketing is a way to organically market your business to make sure that you're ranking well in the search engines, increasing site traffic and getting new business.
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
After we get traffic to your site, we also want to make sure that your website has a solid CRO strategy. We'll work with you to determine your most important KPIs.
Content Marketing
We'll help you with your content marketing to make sure that you're attracting your ideal clients and boosting local website traffic to your site.
Google Local Ads
No matter what stage of business you're in, Google Local Ads can help get you more local traffic to your business.
Facebook Advertising
We'll help you set up Facebook Advertising campaigns that attract new, local clients to your website and convert them into paying customers.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much it costs to start a massage business really depends on a couple major factors – location and the types of clients you want to service. You’ll of course need the basics when starting out – a table (or floor mat if you’re doing Thai massage), plus the sheets, oils/lotions/creams, and then some sort of booking platform. I typically do all mine digitally, but I still know plenty of massage therapists that do theirs with old fashioned pen and paper. To each their own! If you have a clientele that’s a bit more upscale, then you’ll also want to invest in higher quality sheets with a higher thread count, organic essential oils, and extras like hot stones, a table warmer, and a hot towel warmer. You’ll need to also cover expenses like your massage insurance, license, business license, and rent for the space – along with advertising expenditures.
When it comes to advertising your massage business, the options are truly endless – a blessing and a curse (it all depends on your perspective!). I happen love marketing - hence the marketing major in college - so figuring out how to market my business has always been part of the fun. It all comes down to how much time and extra funds you have to invest. For me, the way that I advertised my second business varied greatly in comparison to how I advertised my first business. For my first business, I did networking events and built relationships. That didn’t work well for me the second time around because it was post Covid, and I was also a mom. The networking times didn’t work out for me. No matter what though, there’s always a cost to marketing. I’ve found that when I created a super strong local presence, that allowed me to 10x the clients I was attracting. I focused on my web design and optimized for local SEO, and then consistently worked on my SEO. Search engine optimization isn't a one-and-done thing; it takes consistent effort and time if you want to see your business hit the first page of Google. Social media is another tool in your marketing toolbelt, and can also tie into your off-page SEO strategy. Just make sure that you optimize your social media profiles! You can also create local partnerships with other nearby wellness businesses, host community events, and also create referral programs to help boost your visibility (and theirs!). The best marketing approach usually consists of a blend of marketing strategies.
Growing a massage business can take an immense amount of time, work, dedication, and patience. If you don’t have any clients yet, you can feel like a hamster in a wheel trying to get a new body on your table. Once you get the new client, you then have to work to retain them. It takes three or four times the work to get a new client as it does to keep them. So make sure you treat your clients like gold. If you’re still working to get clients, then start focusing on your web design and search engine optimization. That will allow you to start to attract new clients over time. While you’re working on that, you can also run Google ads to get new clients in right away, as well as get listed on other sites like ClassPass and SpaFinder. They take a pretty decent cut of your sales, but at least you’ll be making something and building up your reviews. You can also network during this time, which will also help you to create a funnel of new clients. Offering packages, loyalty programs, and seasonal promotions along with unique services that they won’t find elsewhere are how you’ll keep your clients for the long run. Focus on the client in all respects, and your business will grow sustainably.
Yes! A massage business can be as profitable as you want and allow it to be. If it wasn't possible to earn a profit off of a massage business, then there wouldn’t be so many Massage Envy’s all over the country! I've personally earned more than $10k per month through my massage practice, so yes, it's absolutely possible. True profitability all comes down to being able to attract new clients and then keep them, while having a price they’re willing to pay along with keeping your expenses as low as the market will allow. For instance, you’re probably not going to charge $300 per hour if you’re operating out of a dingy space. When you effectively market using techniques like local SEO, this brings in new clients and also helps you to build a loyal client base over time. On top of that, when you differentiate your services with other wellness and massage businesses, you will also increase your profitability and even cater to a niche client base.
Start Your Massage Business Today!
Rachael helped me understand web design and SEO that was easy to understand and implement.
Heather
I started getting more traffic to my site in just 1 month!
Evelyn
I love my website. It's beautiful and my clients compliment me on it all the time!
Rae
Rachael is easy to work with and incredibly knowledgeable. I wouldn't trust anyone else.
Paola