How to advertise Swedish or holistic?

[Rowan Hall]

Hi there I am just starting up my own businss. I have just typed up a sample leaflet. My family reckons that it is not safe to have swedish massage down incase i attract the wrong kind of person. IS it ok to put down holistic massage instead.

 

[nona_goldencat]

Hiya

Personally I advertise as a Holistic Therapist, I then list the massage prices on the next page so Holistic therapist is the first bit clieents see. i'm studying Reflexology also so thought this would come under the whole umbrella once I've qualified.

Hope this helps

Kind Regards

Sarah

 

[queen bee]

Hi Beccie, This really is an awkward one, I have just qualified in the same and although I am a 45 year old male I am still faced with the same dilemma. |The trouble is in the past massage has been advertised as a smoke screen for more illicit trades. The safest way for a young woman to go about building up a client base is by word of mouth. That way your more likely to know or know of the client. Another safe way, that I am thinking about doing, is targeting a certain client base, i.e. Post your leaflets to schools and professional bodies where there are high levels of stress and a real need, whether they know it or not, for holistic/therapeutic treatments. make sure you introduce yourself in the leaflet, you could include a photo, and explain your qualification and the benefits of massage, stress relief, reduced muscle tension, lymphatic drainage etc, but most of all be safe and do not accept bookings from any one who asks do you do extras. You will probably find that those who are searching for the more elicit treatment will ask this before making a booking although not always.
I cannot comment on your leaflet as I haven't seen it but if you PM it to me I can give you my views.
Take care, be safe and best wishes for the future

Beau

 

[IReallyDunno]

Yes I completely agree with the above post. I only work on recomendation at present, family of friends or work colleagues. I also take along my partner to wait in the car as an extra precaution, as I am a mobile therapist

 

[Pompal 09.]

bm,

I'd remove your email from the body of your post here before it gets harvested by spam-bots - always better to PM it than publish it.

derekw

 

[the showstopper]

Hi Beau

I have removed the email address from the body of your post as that is not allowed on the forums

In answer to the question, I alway use the term massage therapist or massage therapy but it still does not stop people asking for other things, you just have to learn to say no and not get offended

 

[Meghan M]

Is it just the Stereo-Typical Guys asking for "extra's", or are there females who ask for these?

 

[frmthesouthgrl]

I was invited to bed after massaging a female client in her home but politely declined and made a joke of it. Funny thing is she was a fellow student lol.

 

[U R Sofa King]

Hiyas Beau, I can understand how that goes, LOL.

When I was doing my Course, we had a group of American Athletes over, for some freindly international competions in the local Sports College, so as part of our training, we used some of the USA Athletes as our practise/test cases for massage, Sports Therapy & Swedish. On numerous occasions, the femaleswouldn't wait for us to grab the Oversized towels we were told by our tutors touse,to wrap-around them as they got off the couches, they saw it as we get to see them 'in the buff' as a treat for such a good massage session.

I did mention to 1 or 2 of the USA Ladies that they are supposed to wait a few minutes after the massage finishes, to relax, & we can then get a large oversized towel to help them with their modesty as they get off the tables. They saw it as "Why wait, we want to get back out on the field, & it's only a naked body anyway!". We got used to them ladiesvery quickly.

 

[DeaDanauiu]

Iwas thinking that,to get around the idea of the "shady" people asking for "extras",advertising massage on my website, as"Holistic Theraputic Massage", with a small description to the benefits of Massage.

 

[Visualize whirled PEAS]

You could put your awarding body and initals after your name.

I still freeze on the phone for a few seconds when a man rings me on my mobile and asks for a massage. I let them lead the conversation and only give minimal information out. I then am either happy to expand on the call or know to cut it short as they start to explain what they want.

I had a man ring me on tuesday asking for a massage and could I fit him in. I asked him what was the problem and he remarked that he'd hurt his shoulder. I advised him to ring back when the chiropody clinic receptionist was in to take the appointment. He didn't ring back.

 

[Alone in the dark]

Reverting to the original query:



I think that the next question is: how widely are you going to circulate such a leaflet? If you only give it to people whom you already know, then one would hope that most of them would realise that you are a legitimate massage therapist. But I have heard of newly-qualified therapists distributing leaflets on a ‘door-to-door’ basis, and then having to field a lot of queries from callers who assume, or hope, that they are actually offering sexual services (in the same way that the term ‘massage’ is widely used in local newspapers as a euphemism for sexual services). I would be very cautious about circulating a ‘home-made’ leaflet.

There is some good advice about therapists’ safety on the earlier thread [link=http://www.healthypages.net/forum/fb.asp?m=422530]http://www.healthypages.net/forum/fb.asp?m=422530[/link]

Alan

 

[Pompal 09.]

I've been putting my details on the free ad sites on the net, but always check them out fully first.
One of the sites I looked at yesterday horrified me completely. In the massage category they had about 50 people offering every type of exotic massage you could imagine (for those with no imagination, it was a site for sex) but sadly tucked away in amongst these ads were bona fida massage therapists offering holistic therapies, and with all the correct credentials.

Now, I could tell straight off who was a legit therapist and who was a prostitute, but the majority of people going onto that site wouldn't differentiate between them.