As a massage therapist, you’re inclined to think in terms of modality. It’s logical because it’s what you know. It can also trip you up when it comes to finding and carving out your niche.
Separating the two is crucial to positioning yourself as an expert, as well as targeting and attracting the right client base.
If you want to cut to the chase here it is:
Don’t worry if this distinction isn’t clear enough - we’ll cover everything you need to know about niche vs. modality in this blog.
Modality refers to a specific technique or skill set you use during a massage session. You can think of modalities as your toolkit. They’re the practical methods that you use to help your client address their physical issues and solve their problems.
To give you a few examples, techniques such as Swedish massage, deep tissue therapy, trigger point work, and reflexology are all modalities. These techniques may be crucial for your practice, but they don’t define who you serve or why clients seek you out.
Generally, clients don’t specifically search for modalities. They’re more inclined to search for the solution to a specific problem. Maybe their back feels tight from sitting in an office chair all day, or they need help recovering from a sports-related injury.
When you ask a new client what you can help them with, they usually share these physical concerns. Likewise, you wouldn’t open up the conversation by saying, “Are you here for trigger point work or deep tissue therapy?”
To succeed, it’s essential to understand what’s on your client’s mind. If you become overly focused on your modality, you might miss the opportunity to listen to your clients. The same goes for your marketing and targeting your clients.
In your marketing, if you focus too much on your techniques and not enough on what problems you solve or whom you help, you might be leaving money on the table. This is where your niche comes in.
Your niche is the specific target market or problems you solve as a massage therapist.
If your modality is the how behind solving your client's problems, your niche is the who and what. Niche is not about how you deliver your services but about what problems you solve and the target group for which you solve them.
Your niche might be helping athletes seeking injury recovery and enhancing their performance. Another example of a niche is addressing chronic stress in busy professionals. Notice that these examples of niches are client-centered and outcome-driven rather than being focused on your skills and techniques.
Again, when you begin your conversation with a new client, these problems are where you start. That’s why understanding your niche will help you position yourself as a problem solver for a targeted group of ideal clients.
You can make your marketing more impactful and effective by focusing on this niche so you can reach the right people and grow your practice.
As you know, growing your massage business takes more than just hoping people will come; hence, there is a need for marketing.
Of course, you specialize in massage therapy, not marketing! So, it can seem daunting at first but don’t worry—marketing your business will become easier once you realize it’s all about alignment.
Once you know with whom you want to work and what problems to solve, you can tailor your messaging. You can start by defining what you do and your target market in a single sentence. Here are some examples:
Notice that we are not focusing on modality here. If you were overly focused on modality, you might say, “I specialize in deep tissue massage.” That’s great, but what is the benefit of this technique? If it isn’t immediately obvious, you won’t garner their attention.
Clients need to immediately understand your value and how you can help them. They don’t want to learn about massage techniques that sound abstract or unfamiliar. If your messaging prompts an unanswered “So what?”, then it’s time to adjust it.
To reuse the above example, “I specialize in deep tissue massage.”
The client is inclined to respond with, “So what?”
You can respond, “I use deep tissue massage to reduce stress, improve circulation, and relieve muscle tension.”
Now, we’re getting somewhere. Keep it clear and concise, and make sure the benefits of working with you are easy to see.
With clear positioning and a defined niche, you will stand out in the massage industry, especially from highly general practitioners. In fact, you can become the go-to expert for a specific group or need. Instead of competing on price or general services, you can become the preferred choice by your target market.
This gives you the ability to justify a higher rate, and you can use this additional income to improve your practice, refine your services, and design a more fulfilled, richer life for yourself.
You might not have a clearly defined niche if you’re new to this or don’t know what you should specialize in. Here’s how you can get started:
Start by thinking about what excites you and what you’re good at. It’s important to find satisfaction and fulfillment in your work. You might enjoy helping athletes or the elderly. You might enjoy working on stress relief or injury recovery. What are some things you’re comfortable with? At the same time, what areas do you wish to avoid?
Write down your answers to these questions so you can think about what types of clients or issues help to energize you. The more you can write down now, the better the exercise will be, since it’s better to have more information than less. Plus, you can reflect on the “why” behind some of your choices.
You don’t need to market your massage practice to the whole world. However, you need to understand the local market to choose the right niche and effectively position yourself to them.
You might have opened your practice in an area full of office buildings and, therefore, office workers. A corporate office hub nearby opens up a great opportunity for you to work with professionals who need help with stress management, workplace wellness, and helping relieve back tension. Or, if you’re near a university, you’ll have the opportunity to focus on sports massage or injury prevention in local athletes.
Write down the target groups you might be able to serve based on your area.
With steps 1 and 2 already written down, you should be able to figure out where there’s an overlap between your passions and your local demographics. You might not be able to achieve a perfect overlap, but close enough will do for you to get started. You could always tweak your marketing as you go, and your niche is not set in stone.
Again, we want to focus on clarifying the benefits of working with you. Now that you have a more defined niche, you can adjust those benefits to your specific target audience.
To revisit the office worker example, you can highlight how your services help reduce back tension and enhance relaxation. If you can use client testimonials or case studies here, they are both a great way to demonstrate real results you’ve helped people achieve, helping you build trust and credibility.
If you don’t have any testimonials yet, ask for one from your next successful client session. It’s as simple as saying, “Would you mind sharing a few words about how you felt after today’s session? It would help me to help more people in your position.”
For more detailed information on finding your niche, check out our previous post, “How to Discover Your Massage Business Niche.”
Understanding the distinction between modality and niche can help you unlock a more successful approach to marketing and growing your massage business.
To recap, your niche defines who you serve and what problems you solve, while your modality is how you deliver those results. Ensure that your positioning is focused more on your niche, which is client-centered and outcome-focused, and that your messaging is clear, concise, and aligned with your target market.
If you want more insights on building your massage practice through strategies and actionable tips, check out our eBook "How to start a massage business - 10 steps to success"