You Mean That Worked?

In one hour today I got 4 appointments from 4 new clients in the demographic I'm specifically targeting. With a random gesture.

I'm in Washington DC. We got about a foot of snow overnight. City is shut down. Everyone is at home and/or shoveling their sidewalks.

All the clients I had scheduled for today had to cancel because of the storm. Schedule: gutted.

My husband suggested I put a note out on the local listserves last night. What can it hurt? Here's what I said:

If you can walk, you can get a professional massage tomorrow (Thursday, snow day!). I practice out of my home, all my Thursday clients have to cancel tomorrow, so I've got a table and time. And in honor of Snow Day, it's Pay What You Can all day. 

Give me a call if you're interested. 17th & D NE.

How's that for some fancy writing?

Now, I've tried this sort of thing before and gotten zero response. Today? I was full within an hour and I'm now having to turn people away (really, I told them I'd honor the same deal if they booked by the end of the month). What was different this time?

Did I write the message better?

Was the Pay What You Can more attractive than it usually is?

Did I time it just perfectly this morning?

Did I hit just the right time of the year? We've had about 6 city-is-closed days and I think everyone is getting tired of being at home; what was fun in December can get tedious by February.

I have no idea.

So, what can we learn from this?

Keep trying.

Try things again if you want. The fact that it didn't work out the first time doesn't necessarily mean it won't work out the second time. This posting cost me 15 minutes of time. That's it.

What works for someone else might not work for you. What works for you might not work for someone else.

And most important: marketing is a mystery way more than it's a science (despite the fact that you can get a college degree in it). Trial and error is necessary.

There are so many ways you can market yourself. Want a fun list? Get Laura Allen's book "One Year To A Successful Massage Practice". Or ask around. Everyone's got ideas.

Be willing to experiment. Be willing to try. Be willing to do things that don't work. Along the way you'll discover the things that do.