When I was a kid, I watched my dad sketching out ads every week. Every week, 52 of ’em in a year, the family store would run an ad in the Washington Post. Long lists of names and numbers.
It was only after I was an adult that my dad let me know those ads cost $100,000 a year to run. Holy macaroni, a hundred thou?
In the late 1990’s my dad stopped running those ads and replaced them with something that cost $29.95/month. The other $99,640.60 went to boost the profit figures.
That $29.95 was for an AOL account. He faithfully used that AOL account even after his email list reached 10,000 people. He had to bend the ear of a favored customer who worked at AOL to get an exception since he was sending it all from his personal address book.
Eventually he gave in to my pleading and signed up with an autoresponder service. I’m pretty sure he did it just because he couldn’t stand to watch his grown son cry.
Other statistics? Fewer customers came in, but each one spent more. They made the same annual revenue but kept more of it as profit. When he stopped advertising lists of low prices, those whose only loyalty was to the lowest price stopped coming in.
The difference wasn’t email versus advertising. The impact changed because he was telling stories about the wine and the winemakers, instead of just listing names and numbers.
Advertising That Does Work
My grandfather “Doc” Eisenberg founded the store in 1933 right after Prohibition. And when he died, God rest his soul, the Washington Post ran advertising in his obituary. His own advertising from the 1950s and 1960s.
When Washington, D.C. burned in the 1960s, Doc ran a series of ads “Is This My City?” When competitors started running price wars, he ran the “The Mystery Men” ads, with noirish drawings of men in fedoras and sharp suits who surreptitiously slipped in and out of competing wine shops taking note of the prices.
These types of ads made an impact and created loyalty that allowed the store to flourish for over seven decades. Because they told stories.
You Don’t Even Have a Bottle To Sell
My dad at least had bottles with pretty pictures on the labels to sell, and salesman on the floor offering little sippy cups of what was inside. If you’re a service provider, you don’t have bottles.
When you talk to potential clients, what pulls ’em in? Do you read the ingredient label on the back of the bottle, and tell them all about the arcane intricacies of how you do what you do?
You already know their eyes just glaze over when you try that.
The ingredients don’t sell. You don’t have bottles with pretty labels. All you’ve got left are the stories.
Does Every Massage Therapist Need a Blog?
At first glance it seems completely gonzo that every acupuncturist, every consultant, every landscaper, every service professional needs to publish content to a blog, an email list, and Facebook to be successful.
I know you don’t have to blog to be successful. But you do need stories.
I know a therapist who every week met a different therapist for lunch. After several years she had a vibrant referral network, built one lunch at a time. I didn’t eavesdrop, but I bet those lunches were full of story-telling. And the therapists who referred people to her were able to tell her story, at least a little. “Yeah, I know this therapist you should see because she… .”
I Don’t Mean to Be Intimidating
If you don’t see yourself as a writer, I know it can be intimidating as all git out watching someone like me churn out a story every week. So don’t do it like me. Do it like the therapist.
Or you can do it like a client of ours who did decorative faux painting and sent out a full color postcard of his artwork every month to a list of potential clients.
However you do it, please wrap your heart around story telling. Your clients are waiting for you.
27 Responses
Great post. I am often trying to explain to people that social media isn’t necessarily right for them. Social media suits some markets, but not all of them.
A blog takes a lot of work, you need to be sure you will get the return to make it worthwhile.
You are so right, Alex. There’s no one size fits all solution.
Hey Mark, I always love to read what you write. Thank you for being you.
When I saw that ‘Doc’ Eisenberg was your grandfather… I smiled at the way paths cross.
One of my assessment clients here in Atlanta for the past 5 years has been Walter Eisenberg of Pearsons Wine, Liquor and Beer.
He’s a wonderful, energetic-he never stops moving, stubborn, good heart-ed man.
I’ve never paid attention to your last name… I assume he is related. Small world, huh?
Love your points – meaning life, meaning business, successful life, successful business — all come from connecting with people, creating high-trust relationships.
Focusing on trust and being true to yourself first and delivering your best to others IS the BEST marketing/business plan.
All the Best, and More to You Today and Every Day!
Suzie
Small world indeed, Suzie. Walter is my uncle, my mother’s brother. Fun to have an intersection like that.
Thanks for your kind words- all the best to you as well. 🙂
Hi Mark,
Glad you wrote about this topic. The whole idea behind owning your business is to free yourself and call your own shots. Otherwise, you’d just work for a corporation and do what you’re told.
If writing is not a biz owner’s strength, then perhaps s/he can “invent” something that works for them, like you mention above. Blogging is the semi-latest “it” thing. Someone that let’s his/her imagination go can find the next or parallel “it” that works for them.
Storytelling has been around forever. The old way of communicating. Somewhere between then and now — a lot of our stories got suppressed – maybe when TV started. Blogging is one contemporary way to do that.
That said, most folks can release themselves enough to storytell from the heart. Your class sounds terrific!
G.
Giulietta- yes, exactly! We can’t let go of storytelling, no matter what the medium.
My father had a highly successful real estate business. Almost all our ads (I learned much of my writing ability from him) told a story. He even paid for a column ad in the LA Times which was almost pure story… he would have blogged.
But not everyone can sustain such story telling in print or on screen.
I’d say every massage therapist needs a way for me to find her easily online – the blog form of website allows easy updating without requiring daily or weekly posts.
Love the title, Mark, and the article.
A
Thanks, Anne. That’s wonderful to hear about your father- how fun is that? And yes, I agree- not everyone can sustain that kind of written story telling. Yet story telling as a skill needs to be acquired, or that website they put up won’t pull anyone in. But you know that. 🙂
Brilliant message Mark! Really lured me in and then (of course) the message was timely to me personally. I’ve just accepted that it’s worth striving to expand my own art of telling story and writing.
So while my daughter is busy this month writing a 50K word novel as part of NANOWRIMO (National Write A Novel Month…really! http://www.nanowrimo.org/) I’m getting in the creative zone along with her.
She and I are reading and sharing from two wonderful books, Spunk & Bite (turns Shrunk & White on it’s head, so to speak, in the most fun and respectful way) and Bird By Bird; both wonderful, inspiring books on bringing more energy into one’s writing.
I’m realizing that for me, it’s about giving myself permission to get creative. And part of that creativity is to play with the wonderful curriculum you have offered us in the MoneyFlow in the Article Writing and Copy Writing blocks.
Thanks again. Great reminder and great message from the Universe that I’m on the right path.
Deborah
Deborah- I’ve been so inspired watching friends dive into nanowrimo.org – I just might have to do it next year. 🙂 And thanks for the Spunk and Bit and Bird By Bird references- I’ll have to check them out!
And thanks for your kind words. It’s been a pleasure working with you this year.
After watching an interview with Michael Margolis from GetStoried.com, I soon realized just how important it is for a business to have their own narrative. Sharing facts can be important, but stories ENGAGE and CAPTIVATE people. It pulls them into your business narrative much better than just spitting information.
Hi Steven- isn’t it, though? Thanks for mentioning GetStoried- I didn’t know about them. Such a critical skill.
Glad to you to share this article,I
Thanks, Anne. That
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Thank you for article,I
How important it is for a business to have their own narrative
As far as the narrative of our business, I believe we have to listen to voice that we are speaking and the reach we are longing to reach…somewhere in this, is the narrative.
Writing is one word at a time, same with marketing and taking a breath or learning anything new! Blogging is like this and especially with the line, ‘wrap your heart around it’! Can I steal this line?…. of course with your name on it! In all that we do, I find this is the forgotten ingredient in the recipe. Thanks again Mark…
http://www.what-matters-most.com
One word, one breath at time, one heart-beat at a time. You said it, Lizbeth.
Great benefits you have described.It was great how you pointed out that massages are beneficial to the body because it improves blood flow and brings nutrients to the different parts of the body.
Wow great write-up for Massage benefits. We often ignore the long-term benefits but we should take care of our body always. Thank you so much for nice sharing with everyone. Keep posting!
Hi Mark,
I want to thank you for bringing the message to us by this blog. I think every business should have a blog. But maintaining a blog is such a time-consuming work. Again, all therapist is not a techie so it might be hard for them to start.
I would say, every professional should have their blog up and running.
Hi Mark,
I just go through with your blog. I really liked it. Excited for your next post. Keep sharing!!
Such an amazing article. very great points thank you so much for sharing this article.
I think a blog is an important tool for massage therapist. I can imagine that it is a valuable resource for reviews on massage tables or other accessories. Personal experience is really an advantage over feedback that you see in online stores.
Nicely done, Mark.
There are so many reasons to have a blog with quality content that’s written with the clear intent of solving a problem that people have – and that can be solved by massage therapy – at least to some degree.
We see a direct correlation between the quality and frequency of content created by massage therapists for their practices and how many new clients they’re able to attract. One resource if you’re looking for ideas and illustrations for your blog posts is to use the ones provided by MassageBook for free, like the ones in this blog: https://www.massagebook.com/marketing/3-end-of-summer-illustrations-that-just-get-us/