The Classic Fishbowl Contest (With A Twist)

There are a number of ways to drum up interest in your massage therapy business as well as to simply gain exposure for it. One of the most effective ways to do both of these things is by holding a fish bowl contest. People love contests since it gives them a chance to win something - and they’ll often enter even if they are unfamiliar with the company holding the contest. 

A fishbowl contest is a particularly easy contest to run and an easy contest to enter, which means the odds are good that you’ll get plenty of entries. The following are some helpful tips for running a fishbowl contest:

Setting up the Contest
The first thing you’ll want to do is strike up a conversation with some of the local businesses in your area. Try finding businesses that might be more relevant to your massage therapy practices. For example, a yoga studio or a health foods store. Speak with the owners and ask them if you can leave a fishbowl by their cash register with a description of your contest. You can offer to advertise their businesses at your massage therapy business in return. In fact, the added benefit of holding a contest like this is that it forces you to network with other local businesses.

Tip: Not everyone has a business card, so consider leaving a pad of paper with the fishbowl with sections for name, email address, and phone number. People can fill out one of these forms instead of using a business card.

Rules of the Contest
Instruct participants to simply drop their business cards into your fishbowl for a chance to win. Set a specific date on which the contest ends and a date for when you determine the winners. Once the contest end date comes around, go collect the fish bowls that you left at various businesses. 

Picking A Winner
Pick a winner out of each bowl. The prize is up to you - something like a free treatment is a valuable prize that will get plenty of people interested. However, here's the twist, don’t ignore the other entrants! These are all leads on people that have shown interest in getting a massage so you should call or email each one and offer them a $10 discount as a consolation prize. This will help turn those business card leads into long-term customers!

A fish bowl contest is a great way to connect with local businesses as well as to increase awareness of your massage therapy practice. By offering all participants a reward of some kind - even if it’s a small discount - you increase the chances of expanding your customer base.