Building your Business

How you build your business is down to You.

Everyone running a successful business, whether a therapist, plumber or landscape gardener knows that most of their clients have come from personal recommendation. Your business is as much about how people feel about you, as the effect of your Bowen treatments.

Focus on the Benefit

Many therapists are uncomfortable with marketing, thinking it is only about promoting themselves. The key is to focus on promoting the benefit of what you offer, how Bowen may help someone. By focussing on others, rather than yourself, you will come across more confidently in how you can help them. They will then feel confident to recommend you.

Finding Your Niche

If you don’t already have a client base from other therapies, it can be easier in the beginning to target a specific group rather than everyone. Marketing consultants emphasise the importance of a niche market. Start focussed on one group and your business will expand from that.

Who are the clients you would like to work with?

Do you feel drawn to any particular group – sports people, the elderly, children, those with certain conditions?

Be Active

It takes time to build awareness of what you have to offer and there are a wide range of promotional activities to help you build your business.

Whether you plan on being a full or part time Bowen Practitioner, the more you do to promote your business the greater number of clients you will have to recommend you.

Leaving leaflets somewhere is passive (typical marketing campaigns expect less than 1% response rate). Actively engaging with others is much more likely to get you clients.

The following gives ideas as to how you can build your business:

Create a website
Give introductory talks at schools, W.I., societies and health clubs
Get testimonials from clients with permission to use on your website
Develop relationships with other therapists or yoga/pilates instructors. Offer treatments so they can understand what you do and how it may help their clients. Emphasise it complements their own work.
Participate in local health shows, work with others to take a stand at national events
Work together to target GP Wellness days
Arrange demos at health stores, local clinics or hairdressers
Participate in local Business Breakfast Groups to present and chat about the work of Bowen
Offer your services as prizes to companies who run staff incentive schemes
Arrange charity work sessions
Volunteer Bowen to care homes, hospices or MacMillan
Liaise with the NHS and GP surgeries (personally visit surgeries and speak to the Practice Manager)
Send in articles to the local press, local radio and magazines (free Press Release Service available from the Office)
Consider local radio interviews and ask for a Podcast to put on your website
Offer free taster treatments/reduced price vouchers for clients’ family and friends or run free sessions as part of a study into particular conditions or groups.
Create gift cards for clients to buy and share
Make You-Tube videos and use social media

Talks

If you are contacting a local club or organisation, consider how you will make contact. Do you already know someone within it? If not, who does their website direct you to? Consider whether you use email or phone, bearing in mind emails can easily be ignored.

If you want to give a talk, make that the reason for your contact. There is no need to give information about what it will be on until you know if they are interested.

Professionalism

You are the only face of your business. Your own health and wellbeing is just as important as that of your clients. The impression people have of you and your treatment area needs to reflect what you want to offer them. This is particularly important if you treat from your home. Consider all areas they will see as well as your treatment room.

An article published in the Spring 2018 newsletter covered aspects of this last point.