Is Massage Envy moving into your neighborhood? It���s not all bad

Over the past several years, Massage Envy has expanded across North America, bringing a recognizable name and a fixed menu of treatment options. When a Massage Envy franchised location moves into your neighborhood, your first thoughts may be of dread. If everyone is hearing and talking about the new Massage Envy in town, will they stop coming to see you? 

Before you panic, though, take a closer look at what happens when Massage Envy comes to town. Massage Envy’s growth is built on bringing massage to the masses. To do that, they advertise. Individual franchisees invest in local marketing, and the national brand supplements their effort with its own ad spend, research and creative support. 

That’s good for them, of course. But, it’s also good for you. 

No, I’m not kidding. 

You know that saying, a rising tide lifts all ships? Well, when Massage Envy’s advertising raises awareness about massage and spa treatments, it raises awareness about the treatments you offer, too. 

Ride Massage Envy’s marketing wave to gain customers for your massage business

When you’re attempting to grow your business by bringing in new customers, you first have to make potential customers aware of the product or service you are selling. After this first step of awareness, potential customers go through several others before ultimately booking an appointment. 

The process goes something like this:

Massage marketing stages from ignorance to bliss

1. Unaware. These individuals don’t know anything about massage or its benefits and would never think of booking a massage. 
2. Problem aware. These are individuals who have a physical or wellness problem but don’t know that massage can help solve it. 
3. Solution aware. People at this stage have learned about massage therapy and realize it could help them achieve their health and wellness goals. 
4. Selection. Individuals at this stage are ready to choose a provider and are gathering information about their options.
5. Booked. These customers know that massage can solve their problem, have found a provider and are ready to book an appointment. 

Moving people through each stage of this process, from no knowledge of massage’s benefits to enjoying their first massage, requires educating them. How do you do that? Through marketing. 

Here’s where Massage Envy’s cost is your gain. Massage Envy’s business model depends on obtaining customers at scale. Its locations can’t survive by taking existing customers away from local massage businesses. It has to grow the total available market for massage and spa services. It has to get more people thinking and talking about massage and spa treatments. 

When Massage Envy comes to your region, it will invest in marketing to raise awareness about massage and spa services and their benefits. This type of marketing can be expensive, so you probably haven’t been able to do as much of it as you would like. But you can have Massage Envy build customer awareness for you. If consumers are learning about the benefits of massage, that benefits every massage therapy business. 

Instead of spending your time and money convincing people to book a massage, you just have to convince them to book that massage with you. Your massage practice is unique and provides an experience that clients won’t get at Massage Envy. Tell prospective customers what makes you special in your marketing campaigns and take advantage of the buzz that Massage Envy generates. You can even keep an eye on which marketing campaigns and messages have been a hit for Massage Envy and use similar strategies for your own business. 

In The Ultimate Guide to Beating Massage Envy, we share several ways that you can keep your existing clients and gain new ones when competing against Massage Envy. Learn to track the impact (if any) Massage Envy is having on your business and countermeasures you can take to survive and thrive. Download your free copy today and prepare for your ship to come in.