AMTA Top News Stories of 2002

Parade Magazine Article

More than 450 people called the toll-free number for AMTA’s Find a Massage Therapist in the first two weeks following a feature article on the benefits of massage in the October 13 issue of Parade magazine.  The AMTA Web site saw a jump of approximately 1,000 users of the locator service in the same period.

AMTA worked with writers at Parade for two months before the article appeared.  The article included information from AMTA’s 2002 consumer survey, announced National Massage Therapy Awareness Week (NMTAW) and told readers to use AMTA’s locator service to find a massage therapist.

Many callers said they had hesitated to go to a massage therapist in the past, because they weren’t sure how to determine if the person was qualified.  They also said they would give the toll-free locator number to others or refer friends to the AMTA member they contact.

 

More than 10,000 articles

More than 10,000 articles were published in magazines and newspapers this year about massage.  That’s more than 25% higher than it was just two years ago.

The three largest circulation magazines in the U.S. are Parade magazine (35.6 million), Modern Maturity (changing to AARP: The Magazine, is listed as 17.8 million) and Reader's Digest (12.6 million).  Between October 2001 and Nov. 2002, AMTA was in all three and all three wrote very positively about massage.  The December issue of Arthritis Today also included a recommendation for readers to use AMTA’s Find a Massage Therapist national locator service to locate a massage therapist with experience in working with people who have arthritis.  This is a wonderful endorsement of our Professional members.  Other major articles in 2002 about massage were published in Time magazine, the Chicago Tribune, and The New York Times.

 

Canadian massage associations support NMTAW

Created by the AMTA Board of Directors in 1990, variations of AMTA’s National Massage Therapy Awareness Week™ (NMTAW) are emerging in other countries. The Canadian Massage Therapist Alliance (CMTA), based in Oakville, Ontario, organized a themed week in October to coincide with AMTA’s NMTAW week.

The dates for the CMTA week were October21-27, with the theme “Focus on Health.” For CMTA’s massage awareness week, events were coordinated through each province, or were done individually. To help in the public relations efforts, members were offered pictures to download from the organization’s Web site; a press release, which makes reference to AMTA’s NMTAW; and an ad that could be given to local newspapers, which is shown above.

CMTA has been doing a type of massage awareness week for quite some time. “I would

say that we’ve been having the awareness week for about 10 years,” says Daniel Masson, CMTA NMTAW chair. “Last year we decided to go with the AMTA’s week every year because it made more sense to join efforts with AMTA.” “It would be nice to see all groups on the North American continent promoting massage awareness the same week,” continues Masson. The Association des Massothrapeutes

Professionnels du Qubec (AMPQ), based in St-Lonard, Qubec, had the same dates for its massage awareness week as CMTA, says Masson, with the theme, coincidently, “Bye Bye Stress.” (AMTA’s theme was “Massage Relieves Stress.”) AMPQ worked independently to come up with its week and theme. While the Qubec group did not work with AMTA, it’s useful to mention since AMPQ is still working to promote massage to the public and consumers in Canada.

The first AMTA National Massage Therapy Awareness Week took place in 1997. It is designated each year for the last full week of October. This year, AMTA again worked with Home Depot stores for its Building Better Health program. Look for more efforts from AMTA’s 2002 National Massage Therapy Awareness Weekin future AMTA communication vehicles.

Members’ Section of Web site

The Members’ Only section of AMTA's Web site has a fresh new look, which was unveiled at AMTA’s 2002 National Convention in Portland, Oregon, in early October.

AMTA members can now enter their own personalized portal. New navigation links make it easy for members to find forms and marketing tools appropriate to their respective member classification. Professional members can even look up their CEU records. The biggest change for members is the entry into the Members’ section. Instead of using “friction” and “biceps,” members log on from AMTA’s home page with their last name and AMTA personal member ID.  Online renewal of membership  became even easier with changes in the Web site. Sixty days prior to a member's  renewal date, a message will automatically appear as they enter the AMTA Web site, telling them it is time to renew. It will provide a direct link to the proper renewal form, which can be printed out and either faxed or mailed. Members also can renew online with a credit card.