Holistic Healthcare and Internet Usage Have Similar Trends

Education and socio-economic status are the lead indicators of who is using holistic healthcare according to the National Institute of Health and who is using the internet according to a 2001 Princeton study. The demographic overlap provides massage therapists and other holistic healthcare providers with an opportunity to boost their practice by using web tools. Are web tools right for your practice? The holistic healthcare industry continues to grow. Approximately 50% of the US population was using some form of Complementary and Alternative Medicine by 2000 and massage therapy was one of the most widely used forms of holistic therapy. Reports by the National Institute of Health indicated that individuals with higher education levels and socio-economic status are more likely to use holistic healthcare. Holistic healthcare consumption will continue to grow as complementary and alternative therapies become more accepted and accessible. Internet usage continues to grow as well. Several studies indicate that over 50% of the US population is online; a Princeton study reported 54% and a CyberAtlas article reported 66% of the population was online in 2001. The greatest indicators of internet usage are education level and socio-economic status. In 2001 80% with a college degree and over 65% with some college was using the internet. Over 80% of households making over $75,000 annually are online. Respectively, over 70% and 60% of households bringing home $60 to 75,000 and $40 to 60,000 annually are using the internet. Plus, the more internet experience one has the more they use the web according to the 2003 Pew report. Experienced internet users are spending more time online and continually finding new ways of using the web: information gathering, communication, community, entertainment, and commerce. The lack of accessibility to technology by the lower socio-economic classes is being minimized by school and community education initiatives as well as the falling price of technology. The overlap in demographics between holistic healthcare and internet usage should not come as a surprise. Individuals who are more open to new technologies such as the internet are also more open to new approaches to their healthcare such as massage therapy. They also tend to be able to afford both. In addition, the internet helped drive the growth of the holistic healthcare industry. The web allows clients to discover and research a wide variety of complementary and alternative therapies. The relationship between holistic healthcare and internet usage provides obvious opportunities, but a massage therapist should reflect upon several questions in order to determine whether a web strategy is the right fit for their practice. Am I open to using technology to better manage my practice? Massage therapists, without web experience, must be willing to embrace technology in order to enjoy the advantages of the web. A 2003 Pew study discovered that the more someone uses the internet the more likely they are to believe that technology can help them become more efficient in their lives. In contrast, the less experience someone has on the internet the more likely they are to believe that technology makes their lives more overwhelming. Are my current clients a part of the web community? If your clients are able to afford a regular massage, statistics indicate they are online. Once thought of as a place for geeks, hackers, and academics, today’s web community includes a majority of the US population. Internet users can be found in all age ranges. Women surpassed men in internet usage in 2003 and seniors are the fastest growing population entering the web community. But, the best way to answer this question for your practice is to directly ask your clients. Are my future clients using the internet? If your current clients are not online, perhaps your future new clients should be. Client attrition rates make a steady new client flow a must for a thriving practice. The advantages of effectively reaching ideal clients via the web make online marketing very promising, especially if the web tool makes a massage practice more manageable. What web tools are available? There are several web tools available to massage therapists: personal websites, online directories, and web services. A website can allow a therapist the ability to educate clients on the benefits of massage and differentiate themselves from other therapists; creating a website and gaining traffic, however, takes a degree of technical expertise. An easier way to gain an online presence is posting a profile on an online directory. There are numerous online directories that focus on driving traffic to their website where therapist can list their contact information and in some case a short profile. Some directory sites are free while others charge an annual or monthly fee, and most massage associations offer a directory listing for their members. Online schedulers are a powerful web service which first became available for small business around the year 2000. Online schedulers, like Time Trade and Appointment Quest, can be added to an existing website for set-up and monthly fees; unfortunately, they still require the therapist to design and administer a website and generate enough traffic to out-weight the cost of the service. The next generation of web services will provide a bundle of customized, user-friendly tools that require minimal technical expertise. Quality of Touch is an example of this new generation of web tools that will allow massage therapists to focus on their passion. The internet evolves very quickly and massage therapists should continue to evaluate emerging technologies that will allow them to concentrate on the healing and better manage their practice.