Complementary Healthcare with laurel alexander
Articles of Interest

 

GRASSROOTS MARKETING FOR COMPLEMENTARY THERAPISTS

Grassroots marketing delivers your core message to the people where you live, work and play and is ideal for small healthcare businesses that are on a budget.

It is all about integrating yourself into the community and developing a presence via word-of-mouth through a PR strategy. The key is to have your message delivered in a way that will get people talking - that way the campaign will spread through personal contact/dialogue.

You can use these techniques to get your word out to your target market and also to forge mutually rewarding with other businesses in your community.

Remember the 3 F’s of grassroots marketing:

Free: One of the best ways to get people excited about your service or product is having them use it. Sampling free products or services builds desired word-of-mouth.
Feel-good: Make it a memorable, feel-good campaign that motivates people and brings out their passion. Even if your program supports a serious cause like cancer research, you can excite the public by getting them involved in helping the organization. Spending time in the market meeting with local influencers is the best way to create ideas that resonate with that audience.
Frequent: Grassroots is about permeating a community and building relationships locally on many levels so the buzz grows. To do this, it’s important to have multiple layers of communication to keep the messages and excitement fresh, frequent and strong. Elements might include a kick-off announcement, multiple sampling events, assorted interview opportunities, a presentation at a town meeting and more. This also means tapping into the valuable resources of your business partners.

Grassroots marketing uses personal connections and direct contacts. Others are active participation in events of your target group. You target your marketing efforts to the actual users, not the decision makers. Thus the recommendation to buy your service or product doesn't reach the buyer through media marketing, but through word-of-mouth.

Some ideas for grassroots marketing:

Provide clients with extras

Provide your client with additional resources that they can utilize at home. For example, offer handouts on complementary therapeutic exercise, sample packets of stress-reducing bath salts, or research on the benefits of drinking more water or stretching before exercise. Clients like to buy from a therapist where they are "getting their money's worth".


Provide additional service benefits

You can do this in the form of an add-on treatment related to the therapies you offer e.g. massage therapists could offer a European facial while reflexologists might offer foot scrubs. Offer a packaged service with a reward through the purchase of five sessions with the sixth one free.

Show off your service

The best thing for your service might be to actually demonstrate how it works. For example, organize a morning or afternoon session in your local mall with another therapist, offering free tasters or demonstrations. Or take along your therapy to the local WI group or business networking group.

Sponsor a local event

Sponsoring a local community event would raise your profile and provide free advertising.

In search of a cause

Choose a local cause that is complementary to your own efforts or something that has specific meaning for you. If you can’t find one that you feel very strongly about, create your own. When you’ve identified a cause or created a cause, support them by donation, or by providing a free health-related service to the users or raise money for them e.g. through a sponsored reflexology sit-in where you offer 10 minute sessions to the public for £1 a foot.

Make a donation

This ties in with finding a local cause. You might choose to make a one-off donation, regular donations or contribute a percentage of a particular service or product sales to the cause.

Give your business a face

Many large corporations have a logo that represents them which they use on their business tools and marketing materials. That logo eventually becomes synonymous with the services or products of that business. Market your healthcare business by handing out a free product with your logo, name, website and phone number on, to clients and at any talks, demonstrations or exhibitions you do.

Offer samples

If you offer health-related products alongside your healthcare services, allow potential customers to sample the products prior to using them. When you offer samples, not only does it draw in customers, but it shows your customers that you have confidence in your products. Studies have shown that giving out samples greatly increases the likelihood of a sale.

Plan an event

Drawing people to your business through an event is another highly effective grassroots marketing technique. The event can offer a trial service or be part of you sponsoring a local community event. Think of something that will attract potential customers to your healthcare business. You can also take part in organized local events, like craft shows or school and church fundraisers to promote your business.

Create a press release

You may not be able to afford a celebrity endorsement but you can certainly make noise by sending a press release to your local news outlets to inform their readers about the exciting grand opening of your complementary health practice or what's so awesome about that new treatment you now offer.

Grassroots outreach

Utilizing this classic marketing technique to get others involved. Organize a group of complementary health practitioners to participate in a local wellness awareness event and take it to the street. Create fliers that support your activity and spread them around to interested individuals. The key is to get others involved and active in your team effort.

Evangelist

Cultivating advocates or volunteers that are encouraged to take a leadership role in actively spreading the word on your behalf is a great way of grassroots marketing. Natural “evangelists" for therapy are those clients who are so enthusiastic about your services that they have followed you through your educational hours to your own therapy practice. Usually these individuals feel that they have become part of your "team" and are only too happy to help your business grow.

Conversation starters

Conversation creation is where you send out interesting or fun advertising, emails, catch phrases, entertainment, or promotions designed to start word-of-mouth activity. Design an adverting campaign that stimulates interest, is fun or humorous, and creativity unique. Use it on all of your adverting materials for a specific period of time e.g. when you are implementing a new service. Create advanced interest with this type of word-of-mouth marketing.

Referral programs

Your referral program is a word-of-mouth marketing technique that you may have already set up. This is the most common word-of-mouth promotional method that therapists utilize. Your referral program is easily implemented by asking your current clients to talk about your services to their friends, family and co-workers. Offer free or reduced rates on specific services to reward your loyal client, while offering a sample service or a reduced rate sessions to their referral.

Develop a give-away product

Create a unique product related to what you do and give it away.

Co-op your products

Another grassroots marketing strategy is to find another local business that will allow you to display your products or advertise your services on their business premises. Many other businesses will allow you to do this for nothing. However, some businesses may require a trade of the same right. Offer them free or reduced price products or services for their cooperation. Online, this can be done by trading website links and displaying each other links on one another's site.

Launch an online “magazine”

If you have a website, publishing an online health-related magazine will increase traffic and boost your sales.

Put out “lead bags”

Curves International Fitness Clubs for Women are one of the hottest franchise companies around – one key reason? Yep. Grassroots marketing. One of the most effective tactics Curves hit on was to place “lead bags” in other local businesses. They look like gift bags and bear a prominent Curves logo, and accompanying the bag is a pad of forms that people can fill out to request more information about Curves and to register for a prize drawing of a free week of exercise. Franchisees ask the other business owners for permission to place the lead bags – and they’re willing to reciprocate as well. “The leads we get are highly qualified, because people have taken the trouble to fill out the form,” says Greg Hamilton, a Curves franchisee in Bakersfield, California.

 

Grassroots momentum is getting consumers and influencers in your key markets to care so much about what you are doing that they become your most vocal supporters. Then you have a credible, voluntary sales force that is carrying your message forward with more velocity than a single marketing department.

Grassroots marketing is about building strong, lasting relationships with a specific group or community. By being a valuable resource and helping tie your business objectives to the community’s needs, you can create a win for everyone. Ultimately, this leads to loyal consumers, enhanced reputation, strengthened awareness and increased sales.