What marketing does a new massage practice need first?

Four things, and none of them is advertising:

• A complete Google Business Profile with real photos. This is where local demand surfaces, it is free, and many established competitors have left theirs half finished. Include your modalities as services and get your first reviews from early clients.
• A website publishing prices and describing the first session. Session lengths with prices, your license, real photos of the room, and a full walkthrough of what happens on a first visit. Those remove the two barriers that actually stop bookings.
• Online booking with real availability. Massage is booked at odd hours by people who do not want to phone. Real-time availability will out-convert a contact form substantially.
• The habit of asking every client to rebook before they leave. This is not a marketing asset, it is a behaviour, and it matters more than the other three combined for a practice with fixed capacity.

After those, build two or three practitioner referral relationships. Paid advertising last, and only for a specific modality.