Telling Your Story

I had (another) great conversation with my friend Kitty today. Kitty does a lot of geriatric massage. She was recently telling a robust geriatric client about going to the funeral of an older geriatric client. This led to a conversation about the difference between how Kitty works with these two.

It must be tough, he said. You never get the satisfaction of “making them better”. She explained that “better” is not her goal. “My goal in those 30 minutes is to make that client as connected and happy and as part of the world as he can be. What I want is that he and together would be in the moment.”

He said “you know that’s not my goal, right?” Kitty laughed and said “your goal is to get back on the golf course as quickly as possible and I’m OK with that.”

What a great way to explain her work! Most MTs I know struggle to explain their work in a compelling and compact way, especially if their work is outside the standard image of massage therapy. One friend has been working, diligently, for most of a year to explain her energy work.

Having our “message” about our work is so important. We need to be able to convey the essence of our work succintly, generally in 20-30 seconds, maybe a sentence or 3. That’s quite a communication challenge even for professional communicators.

Don’t be surprised if you can’t do it right away. Don’t be surprised if it actually takes you years to hone that message. Don’t be surprised if it changes and mutates over the length of your career. Kitty has been in practice for almost 13 years. I know that her explanation would not have been that elegant 5 years ago. She would have had a good explanation but I was really impressed with this explanation. It’s compelling. It’s visceral. It’s emotionally real. It’s simple.

It also doesn’t focus on techniques or technical skills (which most non-MTs aren’t all that interested in). It captures the heart of what she does.

Those are all good elements of a “message”. You don’t have to be slick or have a gimmick, though you can if that’s authentic to you. Depending on the audience, when people ask me what I do for a living I say “I rub naked people”. Trust me, people remember and they want to know more! But I also have a more serious message if that’s appropriate. What’s really important is that it sounds natural coming out of your mouth.

Kitty’s message wouldn’t sound right coming out of me. I’m not sure Kitty would ever say “I rub naked people”. They are both accurate for what we do but they don’t reflect our different personalities.

What about being unique? Saying something that no one else would ever think of saying? That’s great if you can do it. However, most of us are doing some variation on the same thing and there are only so many words in the English language so that might be tough. It doesn’t have to be utterly unique but it needs to capture the way you approach massage.

Don’t worry if you are always trying to hone your message. I’m still working on mine after almost 13 years. Keep playing with it. It’s a hugely valuable part of your marketing effort. There’s no better marketing opportunity than when someone, face to face, asks you about what you do. Work on being ready.