riverside_krista__ jul 24, 2025 001_radical_massage the

3:17PM Jul 24, 2025

Speakers:

Krista Dicks

Keywords:

Brand building

massage therapy

social media

client engagement

video techniques

client education

podcast production

TikTok trends

client journey

authenticity

clinic branding

mentorship

podcast monetization

client expectations

professional growth.

Hey, radical massage therapist, welcome back to the radical massage therapist podcast, where we talk all things freedom, flexibility, financial success and building a massage practice you don't secretly want to run away from, or maybe not so secretly sometimes, today's a solo Ask Me Anything episode. It is a long time coming, and I'm answering the questions that you sent in, and I so appreciate you for sending those questions in to me. I see them a lot on different podcasts, and I know that Connor Collins did an episode of an Ask me anything, so that was my inspiration behind it. And I'm just glad that you were willing to participate. We're talking brand building tips that most therapists miss. How much time I actually spend on this podcast, what to do when a client finds you through Tiktok trends, and yes, I'll even share if and how I monetize this podcast and what that process looks like behind the scenes, plus, as part of this Ask Me Anything, of course, I'm going to pull in some of the amazing knowledge that I've gained from interviewing some incredible radical massage therapists. So this episode also features some wisdom from past guests like Joanna Sapir and Trevor chisman, who dropped gold when it comes to building a brand that actually reflects you, think long term client journeys and unapologetically showing your tattoos. So grab a coffee, get comfy, and let's dive into your questions. And hey, if you love this format, message me or comment AMA on Instagram, so I know to do more of these in the future. So

firstly, I was having some trouble with my software to record, and it was really just a user error because my ear pods were not connecting to the system, but now they are, so that's wonderful. One of the questions that was asked is, what's your biggest brand building success tip that most therapists aren't doing well, I will be honest that I am very fortunate that as being in practice for 18 years, I'm really not building a brand for myself. And I never had to build sort of that, that brand outwards, like as a massage therapist, and I'm certainly not building the brand as an RMT on social media. Certainly, I'm there as the radical massage therapist, podcast and mentor, and just showing you the behind the scenes of the career that I feel you deserve. But I don't, haven't had to build my own clientele, like through a brand or social media as well. As you know, I am an aligned clinic owner. While I did not create that brand, I certainly support that brand and represent that brand, but I have not been at the forefront of promoting that brand and marketing for it. So I don't come from a place of personal experience, but I will share as the question says, You know what? What's my biggest takeaway, what I see is working or not working for massage therapists who are trying to build their brand. I do love this question, and it really can depend, from my perspective, I think, I think the thing I see most massage therapists skip is that they don't show up as themselves online, and you are your brand. You are responsible for your own success. You are like representing yourself as a registered massage therapist, and sort of the the broad spectrum of massage therapy in general, I feel like massage therapists are hiding behind generic posts and they're not being too creative and or they're hiding behind technical language that the average person coming across your posts on social media might not relate to. So part of this has to do I understand, with being part of a healthcare profession. I know in Ontario, our college can be very particular about the types of posts and the type of marketing that we're doing, and that's not a bad thing, because it's keeping us within our scope of practice, and we're not making any false promises to the public so that it eventually doesn't come back on us. It is very particular. So I can understand why there might be some hesitation when massage therapists are putting themselves out there. But I really want to share with you that as you're posting on social media or building your brand, you really need to start sharing your personality and your values, not just your credentials or your techniques. People book you, not your modalities. And so I encourage you to show your face, tell stories, share what you're passionate about, outside and inside. Of massage therapy, even if it feels a little scary at first, you got to put it out there and then just see what the response is. And sometimes it doesn't always feel like you and that. So that's okay. You don't have to always do that type of post, or you're going to figure out what is more relatable for you and what people are resonating with and what you feel comfortable putting out, but it's okay to kind of go a little bit outside the box just to try something. Then if you're like, Nah, that really didn't feel like me, then you don't have to do another post like that. The therapist I see standing out are the ones being real, relatable and consistent. Potential clients want to know who they are coming to see and what your treatment room looks like. You know how even how to like where's the front door? How do I access? Is there parking? All of these little things can just create small opportunities for a client to get to know you and your brand. Because although there's so much more education, and clients are a little bit more aware of what to expect. There might still be some fear and uncertainty about what they're going to be walking into. So showing as much as you can about what the client can expect from the client's perspective is really important. And you know, you can also show what some of the massage techniques look like, so that they have an idea, again, of what to expect in treatment. If you're just going to put your modalities online, like the names, that's probably not going to give them much information. And I have talked about this in previous podcast episodes, but you want to demonstrate that technique a video like is amazing. Not even like a picture like, I'm resonating more when I see like a video of somebody doing a technique, even if it's a stretch, um. As a massage therapist as well, I really appreciate this, because there's certain things that I've forgotten, or there's certain ways of doing things that I'm like, oh, that's genius. Like, that's that is wonderful. I never would have thought of moving the arm that way for that type of stretch. And that's just crazy that I know my anatomy, but I still kind of get stuck in my rut 18 years later, of course. So I highly recommend that you start to show your face, start to show who you are behind the scenes and what a client can expect from you. If you are on social media, please don't use a logo as your icon. Avatar, I think is it's called, use your face a nice close up. Few smiling, happy. I recommend the brand, the brand background color to kind of show that there's consistency there. But people want to see you. They don't necessarily want to see a logo. And I understand if you're a clinic, then maybe the logo is more familiar. But I also feel that you can show an element of your clinic that invokes the value of your clinic, so maybe you have a specific like statue that you really love in your clinic that represents like relaxation, or you have like plants, like you can put those as your image, and then maybe the name on top. But really, your face is more important for people to see and to draw them in than the logo. So that would be my, my my first recommendation going back to like the video techniques and what people can expect, again, I think we're doing really well with education, but in the media, things can get a little bit skewed, and movies and television can make might show a different type of massage experience. And so I encourage you to do video. It doesn't have to be high tech at all or professional, just so clients can understand what it is to get a massage, because even images these days are still not great, right? Like the woman with her head turned to the side, who's only covered by a towel and she's got like a flower in her hair. Like these are not realistic images for a massage therapist in the real world, and clients might think that that's what it is and that it's only appropriate in, like on a vacation setting, but it's not. And I've encouraged, you know, people in my clinic, that if something's unfamiliar to a client, if it's a technique or a service that just might not seem day to day conversation, reflexology is a big one. They don't necessarily know what that word means, so I've encouraged my reflexologist that I work with to do a video of what it looks. Looks like to have a reflexology session, because if they understand that it's the feet, and they can be fully clothed on the table, and they're relaxed, and they're still covered up by a blanket, and the table is warm, and they can close their eyes and just have their feet worked on, that might really change their perspective, or they know they might understand that this might be the right thing for them. On top of that, anytime you think about the feet, people immediately think that they need to have their feet in like pristine to

in pristine condition, and they need to get a pedicure before they come for reflexology appointment. But I've even volunteered my own feet to the reflexologist to make a video to show a very general session so that people can see, oh, well, she doesn't have a pedicure, and she's getting reflexology treatment. And it all, it all the reflexologist like wipes down the feet before she starts like, that's gonna make sense to them and make them feel less nervous about coming, or less self less self conscious about coming for a treatment. The response that I get, though, is that the reflexologist is concerned more about what their hands look like while working on the client. And again, that's not reality. It's wonderful if you want to get a like a mini manicure before you're going to do any promo video. But it's not necessary, because the reality is, we don't have a perfectly, perfectly done nails in this profession or any profession that they work with their hands. So back to like the video settings. It helps, but please don't think it has to be perfect, and that reflexology example is just one of the strains that I have with one of my own practitioners with some resistance about creating content so that they can potentially attract more clients, but they have their own resistance and excuses, and I don't want the same for you. Back to the brand building and what to post. Joanna Sapir, she's episode 46 and number 121 of the things that she actually said that really surprised me, but once she explained it, I did understand that what clients are not attracted to necessarily about us is when we start to do demo videos. It might seem really helpful that we want to offer a stretch, or we want to offer as mini exercise for a client that might be going through some back pain, or maybe you want to teach them how to lift better, or you want to teach them how to like a little exercise to strengthen their golf swing. She says, People save them, but then they might never come back to them. And I am guilty of this as well. I see a little Pilates move, and I'm like, Oh, that's cute. Maybe I'll come back to that. No, I never do. So it might seem like we're sharing value, but it's not building our business. Joanna emphasizes the importance of aligning your brand with your ideal client journey, and she encourages practitioners to build systems that not only enroll clients into long term programs, but also clearly communicate who the work is for and who it's not for. So as you're presenting yourself in your branding, it's going to separate those who are right for you and those who are not. One of the difficulties that we get into in this profession is that we want to be able to treat everybody, and sure we can, but maybe ultimately, we have more success with different types of injuries different types of client populations, and we should work towards that. This clarity helps filter out the wrong clients and attracts the right ones, making your brand more effective and your practice more enjoyable. Have a listen to Joanna's episode. It's might be a bit challenging to wrap your head around as a Canadian practitioner, but I still feel that there is a value when she's talking about creating a system and how you want your client to enroll with you as a client long term, because she doesn't even have a book now button as her example, you know, she wants to do a consultation first, before somebody's even booking an appointment with you. So both of those episodes, 46 and 120 are very valuable, and so I highly recommend that you listen to those episodes with Joanna if you're interested in learning more about building your brand. Another example about building your brand and being authentically you and showing your true self so that you can attract the right clients, is to listen to the episode with Trevor chismin, and he's episode number 93 he is the massage Rebel, and he's amazing. Trevor is intentional. About how he shows up online. He makes sure his tattoos, and he's fully covered, are clearly visible in photos on his website and social media. Because, as he says, some people don't like tattoos. By doing this, he's not just showing his personality. He's letting potential clients pre qualify themselves. His approach to branding is unapologetically authentic, and it's a reminder to and it's a reminder to let your real self come through in your marketing so that the right people find you. Lastly, I don't feel that if you are building a brand and if you are a clinic owner, I don't feel that you should be using your name to build a clinic. I feel like a name of a business should not be your personal name. And I will pull an example from a dentist. A dentist does usually use their name on the on the sign, this is, you know, Dr so and so's dental office, and that's a bit more for credibility. I don't feel that the dental hygienist or the dental assistants or the receptionist that's working there is has a problem with that, because there is seniority and there's hierarchy and there's different levels of education. In this business, the dentist is the go to, and the business owner, and then everybody else works for that dentist. But in massage therapy, the clinic owner should be a massage therapist, in my opinion, but then you're having massage therapists work with you. In my opinion, we're all equal, and nobody wants to work with you if they are considered an associate or like a part of this, this business. We know that in every business, if you're working for a clinic, you're working for a split or you're paying rent, you're contributing to the operations of that clinic, but I feel there's a bit of a stickiness if you're working for a clinic that is under a personal name. And again, we're all equal. So, you know, rebrand, or you, if you're thinking of owning a clinic and you want to name it after yourself, try to think of other ways that you can name, name your clinic. I mean, we're align, you know, we're not, we're not Jana massage therapy and it just makes it feel like you are part of something, but you're not working for somebody. If that hope that makes sense. So that was my long answer for the question, what's your biggest brand building success tip that most therapists aren't doing. How many hours per month do you spend on the podcast in total? Well, this is a fun one. I'd say I actually spend about 12 to 24 hours a month on the podcast, depending on whether I have guests or solo episodes. That includes brainstorming topics, writing outlines, recording, research, editing, uploading and sharing on socials. I'm not gonna lie. Some months, some episodes, I'm super organized, and others I am editing at the last minute. My goal this year, 2025

was to release four episodes a month. I wanted two guest episodes and two solo episodes, and they would alternate. I have been really good and accountable about making sure the guest episodes are recorded and released, but I haven't been as good about releasing solo episodes. So there's that, but my priority is with the guests, of course, and then if I have time, the energy, the ideas for a solo episode, I run with it. But sometimes it goes a while without a solo and it's just a guest every other week working with a podcast studio. Shout out to pop up podcasting here in Ottawa makes it so much easier because the podcast is professionally recorded and edited. Whether I have a guest from Ottawa and they're in the studio with me, or it's a virtual session, it is totally worth it when it comes to creating an episode, especially with a guest, my standards are high, because I want them to have a great experience. I appreciate they are taking the time to record. We're all busy. I know they have great experience and stories to share, and I want it to be worth their time, and I want it to be an episode they. Are proud to share. Even after so many episodes, I am still nervous before recording with a guest, because I'm just like so excited at the same time to talk to a radical massage therapist who is doing something a little bit cooler than I am in the profession. So of course, I'm going to be a little bit nervous, but overall, this experience has been great for my growth. I am so grateful for the connections, conversations and feedback from all of you as listeners as well. The podcast continues to inspire my career as a massage therapist, and there is no shortage of radical massage therapists out there to interview. So I hope I can continue to do this for a while. Another question I got was from a massage therapist who's in school right now but is going to be out soon and do massage therapy techniques trend because of Tiktok. So when something trends on Tiktok, do we see more requests for that in our practice? I agree that yes, we do see an uptick of particular techniques requested, and it depends on what you do as a massage therapist as well, I have a background in lymphatic massage, Lymphedema Therapy and post pandemic like while a lot of people were working from home, still, of course, I saw a lot of bbls, so Brazilian Butt Lifts, and that work was either done here in the city or they were abroad, and then they came back and they needed lymphatic massage, and massage in General, usually liposuction is involved, and there were breast enhancements as well. So again, working lymphatic massage to you know, to eliminate the swelling, to improve the healing. It was recommended to them as part of their their recovery, to get lymphatic massage. This was a fascinating time for me as a registered massage therapist. The body is incredible the way that you know these these enhancements are done, and then the body's recovery process is just amazing to see, and then to be part of that of the hands on treatment, where we could also see some of this trend kind of up like up our demand again in that lymphatic massage category, but perhaps Tiktok has made it popular using the Word detox. And you think Gua Sha had some popularity for a while, and still is popular. And also the buccal massage. So the buccal facial massage, the problem is that there's a lot of bad information out there. We know this, and a potential client might see this Tiktok, and then they're just Googling lymphatic massage in your city, and then they come to see you, and they have really high expectations when you ask, like, what brings them in for a lymphatic massage? And they're like, Oh, I saw this thing, and it can reduce cellulite, or I just feel like I need a detox. Well, this is now an opportunity to politely educate the client about some of the benefits, but detoxing is not one of them. I give them an explanation simply, and try not to be condesce like condescending. I'm not judging. It's just that they were given some misinformation, and I want to encourage them to continue on with the treatment, but for the right reasons, I give them an explanation of what we can do in the treatment. Ask if this still sounds like a good fit for them. So I'm giving them an out and then complete the treatment. If they agree to, you know, to follow through, I will probably never see this client again, if that was their expectation. And I kind of shot it down, but I still, you know, I could not meet their expectations coming into the treatment. Can I provide a safe, effective, professional and ethical treatment? Absolutely. But this type of client is going to search out the type of practitioner who might be non registered, who is selling lymphatic massage for reasons that we as RMTS cannot support, and that's just gonna have to be okay, because I feel that I was not leading them on and just going. For the sale of like the treatment, I want to educate them, confirm that that's they want to continue on with the treatment and then, but probably never see them again. So these are opportunities when things trend, to be prepared that clients might come in for different reasons, and it's an opportunity to politely educate, and you never know some people might continue with you or refer. But it's probably not going to be something that lasts again. It's a trend. Now, what you can also do is if you start to see some of these trends peaking, especially with the Bucha massage. Well, there's a lot of non registered examples out there, and you are perfectly qualified to learn the buccal massage and to apply it to your clients in a safe and safe way, and to provide them with a treatment that's still within your scope of practice. So if you start to start to see these trends, and again, Bucha massage is a really big one, and I don't see it going away, that's maybe something that you want to consider, to get on that trend. But then make it part of your practice, and you're going to make it your own. You're going to make it, you know, within the boundaries of our scope of practice as massage therapists, but you're just going to bring your own style to it as well. So not a bad thing when we see these trends, as I said, with the bbls and liposuctions and all of that I ran with that. I really enjoyed it. And again, I haven't seen anybody with that since about like 2023, probably. But I think post pandemic, when people were working from home, they were going to these, going through these procedures because they were working from home and didn't have to go into the office, they could recover quite privately. And some of them were just very serious as well about their recovery and their home care. And it was so refreshing to see. Lastly, do you monetize your podcast?

I do not, but this is on me, because I haven't put myself out there to ask for sponsors. I haven't necessarily said I'm looking for people to support the podcast, but recently, I was contacted by a company that was looking to advertise on the podcast because their target audience was indeed massage therapists. When they approached me, they asked, Could you please provide me with information regarding your advertising pricing and a media kit, and share how many downloads you typically get, typically get per episode with 30 days of release. Because I have never considered what it would cost to advertise on the podcast. It was a time for me to reflect, and I had to come up with a few figures that felt right for me. I also had to figure out what the heck a media kit was and put that together. It turns out it is just a one page with all the main details of your podcast, some images who you are, your target audience, ages, genders, location, etc. Locating my typical downloads per episode was something I was curious about, and it also goes into that media kit. So here are the stats for the podcast if you're curious, because I had to look them up. It was really interesting for me to learn about. So the podcast has been going on since 2019 and part of sponsorship is also that you're going to be very consistent. I am the least consistent podcaster out there right now. Like I said, I do try to get those guest episodes out every other week, but the volume of output is usually a lot more when advertisers are looking at you. So the demographics of our audience is that 77% identify as women, and 17% identify as male. The Ages are primarily 35 to 44 second category 28 to 34 and the third category is 23 to 27 they're not too far behind the major category, though I've done over 130 episodes and on average, I mean, again, this is usually something that sponsors, sponsors are looking for. They want high download numbers. They want to, you know that that's going to be an individual listening to the podcast. We're a pretty small podcast, a niche, niche podcast, for sure. So we only get, on average, about 133 downloads in 30 days. Now, over time, that's going to accumulate all time downloads in since 2019 is 21,000 it's good, definitely for a small podcast like this one, but it's still probably not the volume that they're looking. For as sponsors, they're going to pay for advertising, and they want to reach the most massage therapists. The podcast has 834 followers, so there are those are people that have, like agreed to follow the podcast. So as soon as an episode comes up, it's pretty much automatically uploaded to their profile, which is really helpful for the numbers, and also just kind of puts it into their queue for listening, which is really great. As far as the episodes, the most popular episodes,

there's a top five, and these are

podcasts from as long as day one, as long ago as day one to most recently, I think January. So the most listened to Episode is called self care with Randy Kay. Now, Randy has a big audience, basically her big audience also tuned into this episode, which was wonderful. Nicki is candors Episode is Next, work less, earn more, travel often. So she and I recorded only, like a year ago. So that was really great. I think the self care episode was like early 2020, and then the very first episode of the podcast is also very popular. I appreciate that people are going back to listen at the very beginning, the guest is incredible. Me, probably not so much. I hope I've improved over the episodes. And of course, we've got number six in the top four of five. Here is Jana changing the dialog around, you know, massage therapy and about, like, the income and basically that it's a lie that we only last five years. So that one's very popular. I recommend that one a lot as well. And then the one in the top five here was only recorded in January. And that's pivot and thrive, how to build a massage career that lasts decades. And that's with Elaine santilla. So again, it's all over the place as to when the episode was released, but how popular it is, I think it can come down to the title of the podcast and the guest, which is pretty cool, but it also depends on their reach. I know that some massage therapists are very comfortable about sharing the episodes with their audience as well, and they are also just not shy about sharing it with massage groups, and I think that that helps in their numbers. As I said, the podcast is very niche. Some of my clients have tried to listen as supporters, but not many stick around because they feel it really is geared towards massage therapists, and it is like, not gonna, not gonna lie. I'm here to talk to massage therapists body workers, about their being having a more sustainable career. What has been interesting, though, is that other service industries such as hairstylists are reaching out to me, and they are finding value in the episodes, especially those about boundaries, creating systems and communicating with clients to have a more sustainable career. There's very interesting parallels between what we do and what a hairstylist does, or what anybody in the service industry does like an aesthetician. So I'm really glad that they are implementing these strategies in their own business, and they're achieving success in their own in their own business because of it now, in order to offset the cost of the podcast, especially when I record in the studio, because it is a luxury to be able to record in studio, and I love it. I mean, I it's expensive, so I offer mentorship to massage therapists. And this is something that Jana told me to do five years ago when I started the podcast, but I didn't feel ready, so I have been doing it more seriously since about September of last year. So if you are interested, I offer a free 15 minute to clarity chat, and I will put the link in the show notes. And then we can, you know, have a quick discussion about something that you're working on right now in your practice, or a question. And then if you wanted to set up more sessions for mentorship, I'm happy to do that as well. Doesn't always mean that you work with me. I might have a better resource for you as well, and that's just part of that. 15 minutes is just to connect and see if we are a good fit. If I can, if I can give you any insight, I just love talking to other massage therapists about their career, because sometimes it does just take an outside perspective. Just take somebody a little bit more experienced than you to have an outside perspective, and just give you some some tips. So if you have taken me up on that. Offer. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for trusting me, and I have enjoyed connecting with you so much. So as I said, the link will be in the show notes, or you can also find it on my Instagram bio. Thanks so much for these questions. I will ask me anything. I really appreciate you taking the time to write in the questions. And if you like this format, please share more questions. And I can do this type of episode every once in a while, as always. Thank you so much for listening, and I hope you have an awesome day.

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