Cost effective ways to find clients for your therapy business

20 May 2009

If you are a therapist and the economic downturn has left you struggling to find new clients, you might be interested to hear about some measures you can take to help you do just that, at little or no cost.

Most therapy businesses need to target people from a relatively local area. No matter how reputable you are, there is a limit to how far clients will travel to see you. There are many ways you can pursue the local patrons that your business needs to thrive. Here are just a few:

Local press releases
Press coverage is better than advertising, because it is perceived to be more impartial and, unlike advertising, it is free. However, it is harder to acquire press coverage than it is to book an advert. To give yourself the best possible chance of gaining precious column inches, give your local papers what they want; an interesting story, with a good angle, that will interest their readers.

This might sound daunting, but start by considering what benefit your service offers to clients and use that as your angle. For example, most complementary therapies help combat stress, or perhaps yours offers a service that helps people stop smoking.

There are national awareness days for stress and non-smoking, amongst hundreds of other topics. With a little bit of internet research, you could find one that ties in nicely with your business. Congratulations, you have now found your hook.

If you have a client who seems to particularly appreciate your service, ask them if they would mind being quoted in your marketing material; anonymously if they prefer. This will give you a case study, which will lend some authority to your promotion.

A well-timed press release, with a good case study, planned in anticipation of an awareness day (or other appropriate hook), could give you a great chance of securing some valuable publicity.

Local businesses
You may find that you can advertise by placing information on the notice board or intranet of a local company. You could try researching these companies online or through a local directory and calling them up ‘cold’, but you are likely to have more success if you are recommended by a friend or existing client; so get someone to put in a good word for you if you can.

However, don’t be disheartened if you are rejected. Simply try calling at a later date and if possible, speak to a different person, all the time emphasising the benefits of your services. Keep a log of prospects and categorise them depending on how receptive you think they were.  

Ultimately, you could aim to become an ‘in-house’ therapist. Many larger companies have an on-site masseur or therapist who visits their office regularly and treats several staff on the same day. It could be worth sending your details through to the HR department, as they are often responsible for proposing such initiatives.

You may have more success if you contact the area of a business that you think is likely to be subject to the most work-related stress. Salespeople, including directors, are often anxious about their targets, especially at the end of each quarter (the end of March, June, September and December) while, in the public sector, members of the emergency services regularly witness traumatic incidents. Local authorities have become more and more receptive to the idea of offering counselling to victims of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, for example. You may find helping these people especially rewarding.

Perhaps you could try offering your services for free, as a one off, and then when you have ‘a foot in the door’, use the opportunity to distribute promotional material and your contact details. If you send even one client away satisfied, they could act as an advocate for your services and demand could snowball.

Non-competing businesses
There may be other businesses near you that are visited or used by, the same type of client that you want to attract. These needn’t necessarily be competitors. In fact, this may include businesses that you use yourself. Try building a rapport with a manager or member of staff next time you visit.

For example, let’s say you’re a complementary therapist. Your potential clients are obviously interested in their wellbeing, so they are likely to frequent other businesses like health food shops, beauty therapists or gyms.

You could ask these businesses to promote your service in return for your custom or enquire about the possibility of a reciprocal marketing scheme.  You could even offer them free treatments if they can introduce you to new clients.

The internet
If you’re not technically-minded, you might not feel confident finding clients through the internet, but it can be easier than you think, even if you don’t have a web site.

Social networking web sites, such as Facebook and professional networking web sites, such as LinkedIn, allow you to join or create special interest groups where you can promote your service to a receptive audience. These web sites now go to great lengths to ensure they give a self-explanatory experience so that they are accessible to all. If you are concerned about privacy, do remember that you can choose exactly how much information you would like to divulge.

Google Maps
If you go to Google and search for a service, combined with the name of an area (e.g. “Reflexologist Leeds”), near the top of the results, you will usually see a Google map with businesses plotted on it. The service is frequented by people in your area who are looking for services like yours.
To, quite literally, ‘put your businesses on the map’, you just need to register for free with Google. Then, simply write a listing in Google Business Centre and submit.

You will be sent a postcard with a validation code and some instructions. You just need to log in, enter your validation code and Google will take your listing live. You can find out more on the Local Business Centre page of Google.

Online listings
If you’re a member of, or are affiliated to, any professional bodies, make sure you’re making the most of any “find a member” facilities they offer on their web site. Professional bodies generally show up well in search engines for the professions that they represent, so it makes sense to tap in to their strength rather than try and go it alone.

Many professional bodies will even let you have your own profile page to explain what you offer. This is a much cheaper way to get started than having your own web site.

Google AdWords
If you already have a web site, this can be a great way to find people looking for services like yours. Google AdWords is a ‘pay-per-click’ platform for online advertising.  It allows you to target people who have used specific search phrases on Google. It is quick and easy to set up and you only pay anything when someone actually clicks on your advertisement. It costs just £5 to set up and you can restrict the advertisement so that it targets only customers within your local area.  You can have a listing up and running within minutes. Find out more at http://adwords.google.com/

There are other web portals that offer a similar service such as Yahoo (Yahoo Network) and MSN (Microsoft Advertising).

These are just some of the cheap, low-risk ways you can try to find new clients for your business. You are likely to have more success if you test plenty of new ideas to try to find the ones that work for you. Whenever a new customer contacts you, make sure you always ask them how they found you so you know which methods are the most effective.

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