Niche Of Cake: Taking The Struggle Out Of Niche Marketing

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Niche Of Cake: Taking The Struggle Out Of Niche Marketing Webinar Transcription

Hi, everyone.
Just wanted to kick off the chat and let us know where you're logging in from today.
It's going to let some people trickle in here a little bit.
Just give everybody a little bit of time.
Hi everyone.
Welcome to the Massage Magazine Insurance Plus webinar series in session.
My name is Matt and I'm the marketing specialist for MIPS.
I'm excited to be your co-host today.
For those of you who are not familiar with MIPS, we are an all-inclusive liability insurance
provider for massage therapists, body work professionals, reiki practitioners, and more
in the US.
Our primary mission is to support you with quality coverage.
Just a quick reminder that the webinar today is an hour and is being recorded.
The recording will be sent to everyone via email within the next day or so.
We also encourage questions, so please feel free to use the chat or the question feature
and we'll monitor them.
We will also reserve 15 minutes at the end of the webinar for a quick Q&A.
With that said, we're very excited to welcome our guest host today, Kirby Clark Ellis.
Kirby is a board certified massage therapist, a CE provider, a self-proclaimed massage
therapy historian, and an advocate volunteer with national organizations such as AMTA,
FSMTV, AFMTE, IMPACT, and MIPS.
Kirby has also recently been appointed to Arkansas's regulatory agency, the Massage Therapy
Technical Advisory Committee.
Please welcome Kirby, and thank you for tuning in to MIPS in session webinar series.
Greetings, everyone, and thank you, Matt, for that warm introduction.
Let's go ahead and get a screen share going here.
So, this is Nisha Cake taking the struggle out of niche marketing, and I like to do a
little bit about me.
Again, my name is Kirby Clark Ellis.
I'm a massage therapist instructor in the state of Arkansas.
I'm also board certified in therapeutic massage and body work, and if you are someone out there
who is not board certified, you should give that careful consideration.
The ones that I use are they, them, and theirs.
I've been a massage therapist for 10 years, and actually this week I start my 11th year.
In that time, I've had over 7,000 total career hours providing massage.
I've instructed for BlueClip College and the Healing Edge Massage Academy.
I'm now a traveling CE provider.
Like Matt kind of talked about, I am on the marketing committee chair for AFMTE, the Education
Task Force for FSMTB, Ambassador for the Arkansas in the Interstate Massage Compact,
President and founding member of the Society of Massage Archives, and recently been appointed
to the Massage Therapy Technical Advisory Committee in Arkansas, as well as being a former chapter
president for AMTA.
I, disclaimer, I am not an expert on niche marketing or niche marketing.
My background has largely been informed by my work experience in the franchise businesses,
so there are blind spots from the experiences that I don't have.
But since being approached by Massage Magazine Insurance Plus to present this material, I've
learned a lot about my own niche marketing.
And I like to do ice breakers kind of like intakes that I would do with clients to learn
a little bit more about you, but since this isn't a live class, these are things that
I want you to just keep in mind as we go throughout this presentation.
So think about how long have you been a Massage Therapist?
Where is it that you currently work?
Do you have any specialties?
And then I want to know, this is a fun little interactive poll, how do you pronounce niche?
Do you pronounce it rhyming with piece?
Or do you pronounce it rhyming with itch, like niche, niche or niche?
So we've got an interactive poll here for you to engage in, and sorry, the poll is
up here for me and I can't minimize it.
Bear with me everyone.
It's looking like most people rhyming it with piece, piece, niche.
That's how I think that's the traditional French pronunciation of it, and I'm still,
I don't know where my cursor is, let me try and stop my share and see if that helps real
quick.
Okay.
You know what, let me do that.
I'm stuck on, won't let me exit out of this.
I could just tell you the results to help you out and make it a little bit easier.
Sure.
Actually, I can just end the poll right now, perfect, that might work, share is all awesome.
But there's still 33%, that's, you know, two thirds pronounce it like I do with niche
and another third pronounces it niche.
I wonder if I can close that on my own.
So what is your experience with nicheing?
And importantly, how do you feel about nicheing?
It's important to acknowledge our feelings about something that we're considering doing
or starting.
Do you already have a niche and if so, what is it that is your niche or do you have one
in mind?
And if so, what is it?
And finally, why are you here?
Why have you taken the time to join us in this webinar?
So just some things that I want you to keep in mind.
This is our syllabus checklist and navigation, so we've got five sections to this presentation.
We're going to do an overview of niche.
We're going to talk about what it is, what is nicheing make you think of.
We're going to talk about the difference between marketing to everybody, marketing to
a target and marketing to a niche, and then we're going to talk about some benefits or
indications of why you might start niche marketing.
Our second section is identifying our niche, what it takes.
And for me, I think there are three key ingredients to a successful niche marketing perspective.
It's introspection, creativity, and continuing education.
And then we've got a couple of contemplative activities.
We won't go through them together, but I'll give some examples of the activities.
Our third section has developing a marketing plan.
We're going to talk about market research.
We're going to share our niche, creating communities, setting goals, and another activity.
Our fourth section is taking action, how to market to our niche, storytelling through
niche marketing, where to market to your niche, success through action, and our third
and final activity.
And then we've got our final section is a Q&A, where I'm going to share some additional resources
for everybody and ask you to open the floor to what did I miss, what questions do you
still have?
So without further ado, let's jump right into the meat of potatoes of this.
What is a niche?
So a niche can be either a noun, a person, place, and thing.
And as a noun, a niche is defined as a segment of the market for a particular service.
On the other hand, as an adjective, meaning it's a describing word, a niche is a word that
describes products or services that will appeal to small specialized sections of the
population.
Simply put, niches are groups of people that have common attributes.
So they have similar problems, similar needs, and similar desires.
Products and services are going to be developed specifically to serve them.
A niche is not a modality.
A lot of massage therapists like to think that niche is just picking a modality, and that's
your niche marketing.
Be mindful that modalities are not your niche.
Your modalities are your tools in order to serve your niche.
I also find that a lot of massage therapists get nervous around the idea of niche marketing
because they have this fear that they're being discriminatory.
But niche marketing is not the same as discrimination.
Because discrimination is the unjust treatment of people.
It's often based off of ethnicity, age, gender, sex, or disability.
Another thing to keep in mind about niche marketing is that you're probably already unintentionally
nicheing.
If you stop to think about it, you might start to notice patterns with the clients that you're
already working with.
It's just a matter of being intentional with your niche marketing.
This is a really great quote.
I'm a words kind of person.
So I love quotes.
It is, I cannot give you the formula for success.
But I can give you the formula for failure, which is try to please everybody.
That's a quote from Herbert B. Swope, who was an American journalist of the early 20th century.
It was also the recipient of the first Pulitzer Prize for reporting in 1917.
So what I think of whenever that I hear niche marketing is this very specific movie musical
kinky boots.
It's a movie.
It's also Broadway musical.
It's based off of a true story.
Both adaptations follow the character of Charlie Price.
He inherits his family's multi-generational struggling shoe factory.
The shoes are built to last, but in trying to market to everybody, trying to appeal
to everyone, they've lost their place in the market.
As Charlie faces financial ruin, he happens to dance to encounter Lola, this vibrant drag
queen, who inspires Charlie to produce a line of stylish but sturdy boots for the very
niche market of men who perform in drag.
The theme of niche marketing is central to the story of kinky boots.
Charlie learns to focus on a niche market, specifically drag performers and their supporters.
Rather than trying to appeal to a mainstream market, Charlie, his strategic pivot in his
business revitalizes his factory and demonstrates how embracing a niche can lead not only to
business success, but also embracing community.
So that's what I think of whenever I hear niche marketing.
So to talk a little bit about the difference between marketing to everybody, marketing to
a target and marketing to niches, when you say that you market to everybody, something
to keep in mind is that, of course, everybody could potentially benefit in some way from
your services, but when you market to anyone, it comes across as insincere.
Everybody has different needs.
When you market to a target, it's a little bit more specific than just marketing towards
everybody, but it's not as specific as nicheing is.
A target is a specific population, but stopping at just a target, it doesn't really help you.
It doesn't take into consideration the needs of those specific clientele.
And finally, niche, it's very specific.
It takes into account the client's identity, the client's problems, and the client's needs.
You can niche based on population, modality, and or conditions.
And I'd like to read from a short paragraph from one of our additional resources.
It says that target marketing is similar to archery.
In archery, the goal is to get your arrow as close to the center as possible.
The outer rings are bigger and easier to hit, but the high score comes from hitting the center.
The same goes for attracting clients.
You can appeal to the general masses, which would be the outer rings.
And it takes more money and more time having to use multiple arrows to get the same return
on your marketing investment than it would be to just focus on the target market, hitting
the bull's-eye with just one arrow right in the center.
Some benefits and indications for niche marketing.
The benefits include specialized and customized services.
You want your clients when they hear about your services and your offerings to think that's
made just for me.
That is specifically what I'm looking for and what will fit perfect in my life.
Specialized products, if you're into retail, if your space has retail, it reduces competition.
So think of generalists and versus specialists.
A generalist practitioner is going to have a lot of competition, but specialists have less competition.
It helps you to establish an expertise status.
So this will also help you with marketing.
It can improve your rapport with clients.
It can improve client retention, helping you to build brand loyalty.
And increase your bookings, your booking rate, as well as increase your revenue.
You do this through, again, that brand loyalty and referrals.
People want to send people to a specialist that can help meet the exact needs of someone.
When you niche, you can also charge a more premium price when you specialize.
And then some indications.
If your business has any of these points, it might be an indication that it's time to consider
niche marketing.
So if your schedules are empty, it might be time to consider nicheing.
Or on the other side of the coin, if your books are full, but you don't have any return clients.
You'll never come back for a second or third or regular sessions.
If you're starting to feel uninspired with your work or you're starting to lean towards
burnout, if you can focus on a niche and really dive deep into it, you can help to prevent
yourself from burnout.
If your clients struggle to identify what it is that you do or who you do it for, that's
an indication to consider niche marketing.
If you don't enjoy working with the clients that you currently have, if your work starts
to feel stale to either you or to your clients or both, if you spend more time marketing than
you do actually working with clients, it might be worth niche marketing.
And if your business blends in easily with the rest of practitioners around you, if it's
hard for clients to really tell what sets you apart as a practitioner, it might be time
to niche market.
So this is back to our syllabus checklist and navigation.
We just got through the first section and we're going to move right along to what it takes
to identify your niche.
I think it takes three things and specifically those are introspection, creativity, and continuing
education.
So with introspection, I want you to know yourself.
The first step to getting yourself known is to be able to know yourself.
If you don't know yourself, how can you expect others to get to know who you are?
So consider these questions.
Who are you?
Why massage therapy?
What keeps you in massage therapy?
What got you started in massage therapy?
Consider what are your strengths as a practitioner and on the flip side of that, what are some
opportunities where you're not as strong for you to have some growth as a professional?
Get really deep and honest with yourself about these and be vulnerable with yourself
as you ask these questions.
What are your core values?
Consider where and how you would like to work.
You should integrate yourself into your marketing.
This will help to inform your potential clients about who you are, but have fun with it.
In successful marketing, who you are should come across to a prospective client in creative
and ways that are natural so that they don't feel quite as phony.
Keep in mind that your outward image should reflect your vision of yourself, your personality,
your philosophy, your integrity as a professional.
Your outward image should reflect your vision of your clients.
What are their wants, their needs, what they do, where they are, how you can find them.
And finally, your outward image should also reflect your vision of your practice.
The services that you provide should also give a sense of who you are.
That allows your clients to decide whether or not they want to utilize you.
And finally, always remember that you are the one that gets to define what it is that
you do.
Not your title is a massage therapist and not the assumptions that the public makes about
what you do.
One of the second key ingredients to niche marketing is to know your clientele.
And I think this takes some creativity.
When therapists start to describe their niche, they often start by using the word people.
But in niche marketing, there are no people.
You should try to avoid using the word people to describe your niche.
And why would you want to avoid using the word people?
It's too broad.
You want to really get specific and down in the nitty gritty when you're niche marketing.
So ask yourself, what is it that this specific population, this very specific group of people,
what do they want?
What is it that your niche does?
If you're doing really great niche marketing, you should be able to describe a stereotypical
day in the life of your niche.
Where does your niche hang out?
Where are they?
What are their communities?
What are their hubs?
Where are they already gathering together?
And how can you find your niche?
How would you reach out to them?
Knowing where their hubs are is going to help you answer that question.
And then finally, maybe most importantly, when niche marketing, you need to ask yourself,
are there enough people in your niche to be able to make it worth your time to do this?
There is such a thing as nicheing down too narrowly and too specifically.
So ask yourself, is it worth my time if there isn't strong enough numbers in the population
of this niche?
You should be able to easily identify your niche by considering their needs, their preferences
and their identity.
And when we talk about a niche's identity, we're talking about demographics as well as
psychographics.
And some examples of demographics are things that are more outwards on these clients that
could include what their ages, their income level, their occupation, their gender, geographic
location of the client and their education level.
And then conversely, psychographics are more internal representations of the client.
They could be things like their special interest activities, their philosophic beliefs, social
factors that go into their decision making, cultural norms and cultural activities that
they're engaged in, and of course, again, their needs and what goals they have.
Why do they come in to work with a massage therapist in the first place?
And then the third part to successful niche marketing, I think, would be continuing education.
And there's two parts to this last part of knowing that I practice.
Continuing education, I'm talking about selecting your massage education.
Ask yourself, are you niche based off of population modality or condition?
There are CE classes that are specific to any one of those ways that you choose to niche
market.
And then what services or modalities would best fit with your niche?
Another really great question that I really would ask if you're considering niche marketing
is what CE providers that are out there are either a part of or are super aligned with
the niche that you're working with.
For example, if you're nicheing with athletic runners, are there CE providers out there that
are also runners, whether for recreation or marathon runners, consider taking classes
with them because people are going to be able, CE providers are going to come from a perspective
from their lived experience, and they're going to present from that way.
Ask yourselves, what are your blind spots with this specific niche, whether it's based
off of population modality or condition, and then fill in those blind spots.
Really immerse yourself in the culture and community of this niche population.
The other side of continuing education is learning about your niche.
So again, where are they at?
Where are they hanging out?
What are their hubs?
What are their community?
What services would best fit with them and their lifestyle?
And how can you customize, specialize your practice in order to meet the needs of that
niche?
And always remember that value is going to resonate deeper with clients than credentials
and all of these classes and tools and stuff like that that you have value is always going
to resonate deeper.
So really ask yourselves, how can you specialize and customize your practice to meet the needs
of your client?
Why is it of value to them?
And then we've reached our first contemplative activity.
I got this from another one of our additional resources that I'll share at the end of this.
So choose three of the most popular modalities that spark the most joy or interest in you.
And then which of these would you consciously choose to specialize in in the long term?
And this is a long list of them, but I'm going to give you the examples that I would run with.
So the three that I would pick would be for me cranial sacral therapy, myofascial therapies,
and reflexology.
So for the next two activities, we're going to look at those a little more in depth.
But we've just made it through our first two sections of this presentation, moving right
along to market research.
So the purpose for market research is to determine where your position is in contrast to another
business's position in the same market.
This is going to help you to develop an advantageous strategy.
Everyone should be about distinguishing yourself.
You're not better than your competition, you're just different than your competition.
Some research questions to ask while you're doing market research is first and foremost,
who is practicing?
Where are they located?
What do they charge?
What is their price point?
And how have they positioned themselves in the market?
But don't fall too far into the rabbit hole, don't obsess over this market research.
It's just data, go from the perspective of you're just gathering information.
Educating your niche, educating is going to be the greatest portion of the work that you
do with your niche.
You need to educate your niche on problems that you can help them solve with your work.
As well as educating those that are outside of your niche, let them know of how you specialize
in this and why you're specializing in it.
Educating your niche will help build your credibility within your niche as well as those
who are outside of your niche.
Educating establishes you as an authority and eventually evolves you into an expert status.
You can educate through a blog, blog, or podcasts are really popular these days.
You can educate through speaking engagements and events.
You can educate through brochures, very succinct way to educate, as well as website and social
media is a great tool to use to educate your niche and those outside of it.
And finally, don't forget about the opportunities to write articles or to have your articles
anything you want to write in niche printing, very specific publications that speak to a very
specialized segment of the population.
Another thing as a part of your marketing plan is consider creating a community and consider
about how you could foster community among your niche through the following ways.
You could partner with and bring in allied professionals that can also meet the problems
of your niche that might be outside of your scope.
Most informal parties for your niche help them to network with one another.
Help to bring solutions to them.
I like the idea of one-stop shopping for a very specific niche.
And finally, become a resource for connecting people.
If you can start to build this community, it deepens the value of what you're able to
provide this client.
Setting goals.
I like the acronym of SMART goals and SMART is an acronym that stands for specific, so
you want to set goals that aren't too vague.
You want to set goals that are measurable, that you can easily measure your success with.
Your goals need to be achievable, so be realistic.
With your goal setting, don't be like me and fly a little bit too close to the sun, that
tends to be my modus upper end eye.
Set goals that are relevant.
That means setting goals that are worth your time, worthwhile, and then also ranking
your goals on priority, which one is most important to you.
And finally, the T in SMART goals is timeliness.
Give yourself a time frame to work within for your goals.
You need to analyze and reevaluate your goals that you've set at regular intervals, usually
quarterly, but this will keep you and your business and your marketing really timely.
Keep track of your budget and evaluate what is working and what's not working for your
goals.
And then always make adjustments to your marketing plan based off the insights that you gain from
data and while you're tracking your goals.
This is our Contemplative Activity 2, so from the three modalities that we chose earlier,
start writing in descriptions for the clients that these modalities would likely attract,
where you could find them and what problems you can help them with.
So this is the blank and we'll fill it in together.
So modality one was cranial sacral therapy.
Client description might include those who are holistically minded, they're constantly
working, they're constantly anxious.
You could find them potentially at neurologists, maybe at behavioral therapists, or some sort
of yoga or mindfulness activity.
And finally, problems that you could help them with with cranial sacral would be if the
client desires stillness, if they just need to be a human being instead of a human doing,
if they're restless or hyperactive.
The second modality that we're working with is an example of myofascial therapies.
Client description might be those who come in and use the words deep tissue, but they also
might be open minded.
They could be an athlete or they could be a weekend warrior.
You could find them at physical therapists, gyms, spas, chiropractors.
And you could help them with musculoskeletal tension or limited range of motion to free
up some of that movement.
And finally, our third modality was reflexology.
Client description would be, again, those of that are holistically minded or constantly
on their feet.
You could find them maybe in nurses groups, they're always on their feet, runner groups,
or even sales associates, those that are helping you check out and cashiers and stuff like that.
And finally, problems that you could help them with might be plantar fasciitis, generalized
foot pain, generalized leg and calf pain or tension.
So making our way through those three sections, we're going to start with another quote then
as we move into talking about marketing.
Marketing is everything that you do in order to get clients in the door, on the table,
and retained through rebooking.
So how you can market to your niche, you need to start slowly.
It doesn't have to be an overnight, complete rebranding.
You can take your time with this, but at the same time, you want to really commit to it
and you want to speak it.
Let your clients know, this is what I do.
This is who I work with.
Concise and direct messaging will help provide clarity in your marketing efforts.
You can still accommodate the needs of clients that are outside of your niche while simultaneously
introducing them to your area of expertise.
So you don't have to turn away clients at the door if they don't fit your specific niche.
You can still work with them.
Ways to market to your niche include updating your website, so it's very clear what your
focus is.
Also updating your business card in a similar way with images and fonts that fit the vibe
and really speak to the niche market that you're working with.
But also no when to refer out.
It helps to have a referral partner or a referral plan for clients that don't fit your niche
that you don't want to work with.
For example, I have a great referral partner here in northwest Arkansas that specializes
in Ashyatsu or Barefoot Massage and Thai Massage and those that really need deeper work
than I'm able to give them and that I don't really want to give them.
I have a great referral partner here.
Remember that you cannot be everything to everyone.
That's a very unloving expectation to have on yourself.
It's also too broad of a view if you remember back to our discussion about target marketing
and it usually comes from a scarcity versus an abundance mindset.
But also remember that nothing is set in stone.
You can always change your niche at any time and you can have more than one niche.
To talk about storytelling, your marketing should effectively share a story, develop a
brand or an image and show the value of your services.
If you can do all three of those, you will attract clients.
Marketing should identify the needs, preferences and identity of your niche while also highlighting
the benefits, the differences and the features of your practice and then you want to kind
of marry those together.
Always remember that value will resonate deeper with your clients.
Collect your messages with phrasing, vibes and tones that speak to your chosen clients
and that comes through continued education like we talked about earlier, really immersing
yourself in the culture of your niche.
This is an exclusion.
It's being explicit in your specialization.
When you purposefully select your clients, that's going to benefit you as the practitioner,
the clients and also ultimately your business, your practice is going to benefit.
To talk about where we could market to our niche, television, radio, good old standbys,
newspapers as well as like we talked about earlier niche print materials, so things that
are distributed to your very specialized population, clubs and social media groups, events.
You could give samples or a chair massage.
You could also consider sponsoring portions of events.
Speaking engagements includes conventions, meetings, clubs, festivals, et cetera.
Signage such as billboards or banners are great places to market as well as your cards, brochures
and website and then success is going to come through action.
So develop an action plan.
This is a timeline that has specific tasks, responsibilities and deadlines for you to meet.
And then plug in your smart goals, your specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely
goals into this action plan and timeline.
Identify notable milestones in order to assess your progress in niche marketing.
You won't know where you're at until you can look back and see where you come from.
And then take the time to celebrate and enjoy your successes.
When you reach a goal, brag about it and consider throwing a party and invite your colleagues,
your referral partners and your clients.
When you win in marketing, everyone else that you work with is able to win and benefit too.
Back to our contemplative exercises.
So from those three modalities that we chose to specialize in and the client descriptions
that we brainstormed earlier, consider how these elements can come together to help you
differentiate yourself from others that are in the market.
So this is the blank slide and then to fill it in, modality one was cranial sacral therapy.
Ways that I differentiate my CST work is that it's done as a part of every service and it's
done with strokes as well.
So I'm also using strokes and then holds strokes and then holds with my cranial sacral therapy.
And then the value and impact that I can provide for the clients would be stillness, rustfulness
and encouraging that self correction that the body is capable of.
Modality two was myofascial therapies.
Ways that this is differentiated for me is that we use, in a franchise, we have a use
of massage mediums.
So that includes oils, lotions.
It's not the strictly traditional, very dry myofascial release.
And then the value and impact that this can provide is again, ease of movement, effective
while also being really relaxing work.
Finally modality three was reflexology.
Ways that this is.
We lost you there for a little bit Kirby.
Oh no, where'd we lose, man?
I think you're back just at the bottom of modality two.
Okay, awesome.
Well, we didn't get too far then.
So the value and impact that can be provided with myofascial therapy is ease of movement
and effective relaxing work.
It's effective work, meaning deep work, but it's also really relaxing work.
And then modality three was reflexology.
Ways that reflexology is differentiated when I'm doing it is that I perform it in prone.
So the foot is upside down.
And I also provide it in supine position.
And then the value and impact that can be provided with reflexology is relief of foot and ankle
pain, obviously.
So we've made it through all four of our meat and potatoes sections.
We're moving into Q and A. But before we do, I wanted to leave you with this, which is
hat, remember that it's not magic.
It's niche craft.
You can start today with nicheing or nicheing.
You have everything that you already need.
You're exactly where you need to be in your career to be able to start niche marketing.
Some additional resources and recommended reading include success from the start, business
principles for massage therapists, business mastery, a guide for creating a fulfilling,
thriving business and keeping it successful.
CE that I took in preparing for this course was developing a niche with TAD Hargrave.
And then podcasts, because I really love podcasts, massage business blueprint was a podcast from
2015 to 2023.
They have several, several episodes about niche marketing that I've listed here for you to
go and check out.
And finally, we'll open the floor.
What questions do you still have?
What did I miss in this presentation?
Let's see.
You can put the questions in the Q&A section or the chat section.
We see both.
Are you able to read those now?
Okay.
Hold on.
Let me try.
End my screen share.
There we go.
How's that?
Perfect.
All right.
Excellent.
Right now, it doesn't seem like we have any questions.
So I'll start us off.
Oh, actually, one just comment.
Excellent.
Samuel asked, how would you niche as a new massage therapist who is still finding their
way?
I think the first step that I would do is really some introspection.
What is it that really excites you?
What modalities?
What population are you already really drawn to?
You can start niche marketing even as a student.
In fact, I would encourage you to start as early as possible.
The podcast that I mentioned is an additional resource, has a really great episode about
that.
But really, it starts with introspection.
You've got to start with yourself.
What would make you happy as the practitioner?
They followed up with, what if you're not drawn to anything specific, at least not yet?
That is a little bit trickier.
I would go back to asking the question, what got you into massage in first place?
If there isn't anything really sticking out or drawing to you, or if you can't focus
on what is it that really excites you, what is it that you're really good at already,
I think is a good place to start?
What are some of those back to you?
Yeah, go ahead, Matt.
I was going to say just to add on to that question, which modalities do you think are
the most common for massage therapists in the niche space?
Well, sports is a really easy niche.
I think it's out there.
There are tons of training in it.
Structural integration is also probably a really hot one right now, if that's the question
that you're asking.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm trying to give Samuel some inspiration for different niches that they can check
out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sports is always a hot one.
Deep tissue is always a hot one.
I call it, I like to think a bit more is effective because that's really what the clients
mean anyway, as opposed to, you know, sometimes they come in looking for deep tissue, what they
really want is deep work or they want the work to be effective.
Let's see, do you have any other questions?
I'll give it another 20 seconds or so just to let anybody put in a question that they maybe
we're holding on to.
I'm surprised with myself.
I did pretty good on the time today.
I was nearly over.
You did perfect with the timing.
Excellent.
All right, it doesn't look like there is any other questions, which means you did a terrific
job.
You explained everything.
I'm just going back and scrolling through because I don't know if I'll be able to see
the chats later on.
So I just want to read all of the 13 years as an owner, institution and MT, congratulations.
It's awesome.
Oh, 90 minute massage instead of 60 minutes.
Why more than one massage is important.
Yeah, it's definitely important to get them retained and really demonstrate the value of
why they should also be returning back.
And if you niche effectively, you know, that should come on.
Hey, there, Crystal, I see you in the chat.
Thank you for attending.
Just saw Lori's message.
Thank you for attending.
We really appreciate it.
Looks like Lori.
Is that Lori?
Um, sorry.
Okay.
Yeah, she's up here a raking master for four years and owns an LLC.
Awesome.
Connecticut.
Connecticut help middle aged and retired when was stressed.
That's so important asking about recording.
Yeah, thank you, everybody.
This has been great.
And I'm really thankful to massage magazine insurance plus for asking me and helping me
throw all this together because obviously the technology up with that was worth its weight
in gold.
Thank you so much for hosting today, Kirby.
It's been a pleasure to work with you.
And I've learned a lot during the webinar and I really hope everybody else did.
Mm.
I got a last minute question in here that Carissa said I'd be curious to know your thoughts
on neurokinetic therapy.
This question is okay.
Every question is okay, Carissa.
I have not come across neurokinetic therapy.
I am assuming it has something to do with neurologic and movement, but that's just my best
estimated guess with no experience of coming across that term before neuromuscular therapy.
Mm.
I don't I don't have a ton of experience in that, but yeah, again, remember that these
modalities aren't your niche.
These modalities are tools in order to help you meet the needs and preferences of your
clients that I don't have any additional thoughts on neurokinetic therapy or neuromuscular therapy
other than just another great tool amongst other great tools, innovative approach to
manual muscle testing.
Yeah, not really my bag, so not a niche that I'm familiar with or a modality I should say
that I'm familiar with.
But it's probably also to harken back to I believe it was Samuel's question.
Maybe that might be a good place to start if you were interested in muscle testing and
stuff like that.
I'm sorry, I don't have much more for you, Carissa, but follow up with me.
Send emails, get in contact with me.
I love to hear your thoughts on the presentation, answer follow up questions that maybe you're
too camera shy to ask right now or you think of later on, I love to connect with people and
try to help point you in the right direction because I'm not the last word in this.
Thank you, Connie, I appreciate that.
Thank you everybody for joining the webinar and spending this hour with us.
We really appreciate it and again, thank you Kirby for putting on an amazing presentation
very helpful and educational and we hope that everyone has a great day.
If you'd like to check out Massage Magazine Insurance Plus, we are Massage Magazine Insurance
on socials and if you would like to check out Kirby Kirby's username on socials is KCE Massage.
I'll also put it in the chat right here real quick just so everybody has it.
If they would like to learn more or ask Kirby any questions or if you have any questions
for Massage Magazine Insurance Plus, just let us know.
Yeah, come meet me out with me, let's build a community, let's keep this conversation going
or start a new conversation, I love that too.
There we go, I put the usernames in the chat, please, if you have any other questions, reach
out and let us know.
I hope everybody has a phenomenal day and to anybody in the south.
I hope that you're staying safe during this hurricane and that's about it.
Thank you so much, Matt and Massage Magazine Insurance Plus, I really appreciate this and
thank you everybody for taking the time to spend with us today.
Thank you everyone.