Massage Marketing

January 31, 2005

There’s almost nothing more relaxing than a massage as issued by a true professional. When you awake from the near daze that you have been placed into, you can be so zoned out that it might take a half hour for you to fully regain consciousness, and that is the beauty of it.

In fact, although massaging has been around throughout all of history, the modern practices that make it so satisfying are relatively new. Modern masseuses must learn techniques from several different countries around the world, and then combine them in new and exciting ways to create a personal technique, the kind that brings clients back again and again.

But even though masseuses practice their art with a steady diligence year after year, they can often neglect some of the key elements of massage marketing that can make their parlor a profit center, and a long term source of earnings for you and your employees.

Successful massage parlors are often known for their marketing techniques. Juan Robles in New York City offers discounts when you buy packages of 3 or more massages. “I find that offering deals on higher purchases keeps the customers coming back,” Juan says, “someone who would ordinarily only buy one massage might buy a package of five just to save money.”

Running a massage parlor is just like running any other small business, and massage marketing must play a huge role in you operations. One highly neglected side of advertising is the use of search-based advertising to bring your services to people online.

Basically, search-based advertising allows your company to piggy back on some of the highest searched verticals in your community, the end result being that an ad for your massage parlor gets seen by every single person in you town or city who might be interested in getting a massage.

Casting this wide a net offline would require an enormous amount of funds, but online massage marketing is extremely cost-effective, offering the best value for dollar on advertising in the world right now.

Over 100 million Americans log on every day, and this number is increasing every second. From research to finances, people look up everything they want to know or need to do. When someone is thinking about getting a massage today, they will turn to the computer as the most valuable database of information about their community, and the savvy massage marketer will know to place an ad right where these people can see it.

Working the kinks out of you massage marketing system involves reaching the largest amount of people for the least amount of money. With search-based, online advertising you can do just that, and directly target the customers that you want.

Written by Brad Geddes aka eWhisper · Filed Under Vertical Marketing | Comments Off

A few Directories

January 22, 2005

Kwik Goblin Web Directory
Elib Directory:
Marketing Services in Illinois:Companies who do needs assessment, market research, production design and development.
http://www.01webdirectory.com
http://www.directorydude.com
http://www.4intrepid.com
http://www.abilogic.com
http://www.agada.info/web-directory/
http://www.ajdee.com
http://www.allthewebsites.org/
http://www.bigall.com
http://blue.daffodil.uk.com/directory/
http://www.businessseek.biz/
http://www.canlinks.net
Business Plexus
Data Recovery
Computer Repair
http://www.dc2net.com
Kwik Goblin Web Directory
B2BToday.com

Written by Brad Geddes aka eWhisper · Filed Under eWhisper's Notebook | Leave a Comment

AdWords Display URLs

January 20, 2005

Preferences (from lots of testing).
If domain is one word, split test:
example.com
Example.com
example.com/keyword
Example.com/keyword
Keyword.Example.com

I find that example.com IF it’s an ‘authority’ word/site and IF the company specializes in one product works very well.

If it is an authority site, but doesn’t meet the above criteria or isn’t an authority site at all, then example.com/keyword usually works well - but still test.

An example of the above is HP.com.
HP makes laptops, computers, printers, PDAs, etc.
Often users are afraid that clicking on an HP type ad can result in a lot of confusion of where they’re going. In this case, HP.com/printers often works better than HP.com as a display URL.

If domain is two words, split test:
WidgetExamples.com
WidgetExamples.com/Keyword
Keyword.WidgetExamples.com

(widgetexamples.com just doesn’t cut it).

If keyword is 3 or more words:
Same as above, but often Keyword.ThreeWidgetExamples.com or ThreeWidgetExamples.com/Keyword is so long it starts to wear on the user and usually ends up with less clicks, unless it’s a parody/joke type ad.

Demographic Responses
One of the reasons to test all the possible variations is that some markets respond more strongly to one over the other. For user demographics that aren’t net savvy, the /keyword or keyword.domain.com usually works better. For interent savvy markets, the reverse is often true. (Not always - just often - test)

From AdWords Hypothetical Formula.

I think the TLD discussion an interesting perspective to bring into the URL formula as well.

Written by Brad Geddes aka eWhisper · Filed Under Google AdWords, PPC Info | 1 Comment

Medical Marketing

January 15, 2005

It is often said that in order to work in medicine, with its long hours and stressful conditions, you must have a calling. And while it is true that most of the people working in the medical profession today began there careers with the sole intention of helping people in need, it does not mean that they cannot make money while they are doing it.

But making money in the medical profession is not always easy. In fact, without the proper marketing, the average practice can go under very quickly. Many practices go under in the first year of operation, bringing everyone back to square one, or below.

Because of the high rate of failure-due in large part to hassles of insurance claims, but also due to lack of exposure-it is important that a new medical practice hits the ground running, and that a somewhat more developed practice keep up the expansion of their client base.

The eternal question in all fields of business, even in that most hallowed of grounds, medicine, is how to gain exposure beyond what word of mouth and the print yellow pages gets you. Indeed, this may be even truer with a medical practice, due to the fact that so many of the practices that fail rely on simple word of mouth alone.

There is no excuse for avoiding medical marketing when it comes to promoting your business. With all the fees that can be incurred while dealing with insurance companies, increasing your base of clients is the only way to make sure that the expenses don’t bring you under.

Citizens in the US spend billions of dollars on medical care every year, and with a targeted, search-based online marketing campaign, a larger piece of that pie could be yours.

Although the old standby of “word of mouth” advertising is not necessarily a bad thing, it is a bad thing to rely solely on old Bessie to tell her friends on the block what a nice young doctor she has started visiting.

The best bet is to set up a dynamic Internet medical marketing campaign that suits your needs and helps get your name on the map.

Whether you are an ear nose and throat doctor, or a fresh out of medical school proctologist, showcasing your practice to the right people-future customers-is a great way to get ahead of the crowd in your particular field.

And with all the competition around the world, a high-end practice deserves to be seen above all others. Why waste any more time getting what you deserve, set up your medical marketing campaign today and watch the clients start rolling on in.

Written by Brad Geddes aka eWhisper · Filed Under Vertical Marketing | Comments Off