Marketing advice for Spas, Salons and Massage Therapists

Service Menu Descriptions that Reach Out and Grab Attention

February 4, 2014

One great way to deliver more punch with your service menu is to craft your descriptions to garner attention. And by attention, we mean your website visitors, of course, but we also mean search engines. All of the content on your website matters, and can help you be seen online.

For example, if you offer up a signature 90 minute massage using indigenous essential oils, and the techniques employed are a blend of Swedish and Deep Tissue, and a complementary de-puffing eye mask provides the finishing touch to an hour and a half of pure bliss, then you need to share at least some of that in your description.

So your service could be: Elementals Spa Signature 90 Minute Bliss Massage.

The description could be: Abandon yourself to our famous blended modality massage using indignenous essential oils. Our talented therapists banish tension, invigorate your spirit, and transform you into your better self! Special relaxing and de-puffing eye mask tops the treatment and leaves you refreshed and relaxed!

Including rich description that also contains key information about your services will pique the interest of your clients and broaden your appeal from a search engine standpoint. Not only will search engines like that you have interesting, relevant descriptions in place, they’ll give you credit for updating your website content.

Review your service menu, then ask yourself why each item is special, because they all are for one cool reason or another, then take a moment to rework the descriptions. Performing this exercise will rejuvenate your perspective on the amazing services you offer which will also translate to more enthusiasm as you describe to phone or walk-in clients the various offerings you’ve worked so hard to create.

Go ahead, get focused and enjoy the process as well as the benefits!

Promotions that Generate Last-Minute Gift Sales

January 30, 2014

It may come as no surprise to learn that the majority of your gift sales around holidays happen within 24 hours of the event. This fact means you need to get in front of your gift buyers and stay there as they’re making their purchases. Fun fact – this behavior is why SpaBoom came into being, actually. Turns out one of our own procrastinated a bit before buying a special gift for a loved one. Faced with an inability to purchase, online, a very special gift of spa, he knew there was a real business opportunity to be had. He knew that he couldn’t be the only one who’d ever been caught up in life and then found himself faced with a big event requiring a special gift, and he was right.

Yes, some people plan. We know them, and appreciate their foresightedness when it comes to sharing. Those people will need to hear from you and see you well before a gift giving event. Weeks before. They’re the ones you create packages for and promote all over your website and on social media and with in house promotional imagery like POP.

Most people, however, wait until the last minute and then find themselves in a panic. For your procrasinators, you need to promote as well, but waiting a little longer to get that BOGO offering up a $20 gift certificate with a $100 purchase will catch their eye and generate significant last-minutes sales.

Promoting these great offers is pretty straightforward. Last-minute promos mean you need to use venues we like for transactional reach – emails, social media, and in house imagery (POP). Try sending an email a week before, then one just 48 or 24 hours before Valentine’s Day and see what happens. And know that social media is your friend when it comes to last-minute promotions. The visual piece – the POP – will help you not only capture the interest of clients already visiting, they’ll help you trigger and reinforce the promotional messages you’ve already sent.

As Valentine’s Day barrels down, be sure to come up with one or two fun promos that will help your gift buyers make the right purchase, then enjoy capturing the sales opportunity. It’s about meeting your gift buyers, where, and when, they’re making their decisions.

Valentine Packages that Sell

January 27, 2014

Choice is good. Too much choice paralyzes.

Why should you care about that? You’re trying to capitalize on Valentine’s Day sales, that’s why!

Creating a set of packages that offer up indulgent services and suit all of your potential gift buyers is a no brainer. Really.

First, let’s think about what we know from recent data, then we’ll go from there. The average gift certificate sale over the recent holidays was $85.

Second, most men who are buying for their loved one want a solution, not decisions to make. They’re trying to do the right thing by purchasing a gift of experience, but their patience for answering a multitude of questions while they do it is very limited. Packages offer the perfect way for them to do the right thing, no headaches involved!

Third, you already have what it takes to solve the gift giving conundrums with ease!

We recommend setting up three packages, one higher-end, one based on your average gift certificate sale amount (yours may be a little different from ours since ours is an aggregate – use the number that makes the most sense for you for this middle-priced package), and one value package.

That would look something like this:

Platinum Pampering Package, $125-$130

Joyous Indulgence Package, $85-$90

Loving the VDay Package, $50-$60

The key to packages is to leave room for upsell. Including services that lend themselves to add on’s means you’ll have an opportunity to provide more of your magic for your clients and generate more revenue while you do it.

Once you’ve created your packages, be sure to let your clientele know via blog posts, emails, and social media. Get the word out that you’re catering to the Valentine’s Day gift buyer, and then do that voodoo that you do to indulge, pamper, and create great customer retention once your gift recipients come in to redeem their treat!

Brand Management – What Is It and Why Is It So Important?

January 22, 2014

In today’s marketplace, effective brand management is key to growing and maintaining a successful business. But what is brand management and why is it so important?

Brand management is defined as the process of creating a relationship between a product or company and the emotional perceptions of the client in order to build loyalty. Effective brand management can mean the difference between your client seeking you out time after time or visiting a similar business because they cannot tell the difference.

So what can we learn about brand management from iconic brands like Apple or Coca Cola? Here are three brand management strategies used by these big companies that help create a strong and successful brand identity:

Establish your brand identity – the most important aspect of good brand management is to establish your true brand identity early on and then continually streamline and improve it. This is true whether you are known for being on trend, taking a holistic approach in your treatments, or using all natural products. By incorporating your company identity into your brand, you set yourself apart from others in your field.

Market to your target demographic – You have to know who your target audience is and design your marketing for them in order to garner their business time after time. This means communicating with your target clients where and when they want. Utilizing social media and email marketing is key to cultivating a relationship that drives future business.

Ensure Consistency – The most important aspect of successful brand management is to be consistent. Your clients need to know that they will receive a consistent product or service every single time they visit. This promotes good feelings when they see your brand or look at your marketing. The repeat business and referrals this generates can drive business growth over time.

Your brand identifies your business and sets you apart from others in the same field. But the most important thing about your brand is how your clients feel when they see it. Your brand is your reputation and it reminds people of how they feel about your business and the services it provides. Effective brand management can ensure that your clients think good things when they see your brand. And that can only lead to success.

Strategic Marketing for Valentine’s Day

January 21, 2014

Valentine’s Day is one of the Big Three gifting holidays each year, which means you need to capitalize on every selling opportunity around the event. Your goals should be simple but focused on three key marketing goals:

Generating Revenue
Growing Your Client Base
Retaining Your Clientele

It’s that simple. None of these stand alone, but are, in fact part of an overall strategy that you need to employ.

How should that work?

You’ll need to design well-timed, finely-targeted promotions and compelling packages that garner the interest of gift buyers. Once you have the attention of that audience, you’ll want to deliver gift options that fit their needs perfectly.

Simple, right? Of course! The good news is all the hard work you do designing great promotions and packages will help you prepare for and succeed with the next upcoming event, Mother’s Day!

Keep in mind the following things as you move forward:

Who is your audience?
What exactly are you wanting to sell?

A solid understanding of these key items will go a long way to shaping your messaging and offers, and will keep you focused and clear as you do it!

Resourcefulness – A Success Secret

January 15, 2014

Resourcefulness is the ability to find quick and innovative ways to overcome challenges. As a small business owner, finding creative ways to meet the needs of your business, your staff, and your clients is a necessity, but also the number one way to promote growth and success for your business. Being resourceful in all of your business decisions and practices, will lead to better, more streamlined processes, allowing you to save time and money.

Here are a few key components that resourceful owners use to promote growth and stay in touch with their business needs.

Be Open to Change

First and foremost, you need to be open to change. Having an open mind and being open to new and innovative ways of thinking about a routine process or situation is what will make a better solution possible. Cultivating the idea that a better solution is out there can make it much easier to go out there and make the changes that you need in order to run a more streamlined business.

Analyze – And be realistic

Next up, you need to be able to objectively assess the situations or processes of your business in order to determine where a change needs to be made. The first step in thinking outside the box is to determine what you want to change and what you have to work with. Developing a detailed objective list and then pairing resources that you have to make the change a reality creates a roadmap for easy execution.

Optimize What You Have – Be creative

This is where thinking outside the box really comes into play. Coming up with solutions for doing more with less in a stream-lined way could be as simple as asking, “if we didn’t have this resource or process, how would we get along without it?” Maybe a system you already have in place can be expanded or adapted to handle other processes. Or maybe a shuffling of duties, or scheduled tasks, could lead to a more eloquent solution.

Stay Focused

Finally, when you decide to implement change, be sure to stay focused. You can’t change or improve everything all at once, so be purposeful when selecting and implementing changes. Focusing time and effort on the change and following it through to the end can mean the difference between the intended outcome or having to return to the drawing board.

As a small business owner, you are in the unique position of being flexible enough to make improvements regularly and to implement them quickly. Doing more with less because you have created an innovative and clever solution is a savvy and smart way to continually develop your business strategy.

Joy of Spa News: Love Is Better Than Chocolate

Joy of Spa News: Love is Better Than Chocolate, now ready for you to customize, is complete as is, but you are always welcome to make it yours by playing with the introduction, which follows:

“All you need is love.” (Lennon/Mc-Cartney) As we approach the holiday dedicated to love, let’s take a moment to reflect upon the endless variations that love can take, and appreciate each and every one of them for their ability to heal, transform, uplift, and make the world a better place. Many wishes of warmth, love, and happiness to all of you! Team Joy

Our Valentine’s edition of Joy of Spa News contemplates love – its forms, its flavors, its endless healing ability. This edition will launch over a three day period, January 22nd-24th, unless you’ve opted to change the date it goes out. Be sure to make any changes prior to that date! (And be sure to send yourself a test email after making any edits, and remember that Events that encompass the date on which your email is sent will be included in the email as well.)

Note: The articles that accompany this edition of the Joy of Spa News will appear magically in your test email, and in the real deal come January 22nd.

Creating specials to accompany this edition of the Joy of Spa News will make it a no-brainer for your readers to respond immediately to the theme – experiences vs just stuff – and enjoy your services! Remember, the Joy of Spa News is branded with your spa’s logo and when your client clicks to read more, the website is branded with your logo, too! Not yet signed up to send a beautiful, branded newsletter to your clients on a regular basis? Now is your time to get on-board! Go to Setup, Basics to put Joy of Spa to work for your spa. (As always, give us a call if you need help turning on the Joy!)

Spa Trends for 2014

January 13, 2014

With 2013 wrapped up, We thought it would be fun to take a look at what trends are poised to drive spa in 2014. Here are some of the prominent themes we expect to see emerge and continue through out 2014.

Inclusive Wellness and Preventive Health
Many people now view regular spa treatments as a way of promoting overall health and wellness rather than simple pampering. With a growing focus on maintaining health as part of an overall wellness lifestyle, it will be key for spas to shift their offerings to address this theme. Creating services that enable your clients to address and manage their overall health, and offering solutions for incorporating regular spa treatments into a wellness routine, will only become more important this year. As people continue to focus on preventive care and inclusive wellness, offering new treatments and services that meet these needs will keep you competitive and successful going forward.

Spa for Men
An emerging trend for the past several years, spa treatments for men will continue to grow in 2014. More men are devoting time and money to skin & hair care, as well as overall wellness treatments such as massage. Catering to your male clients and their needs by creating treatments and packages especially for them will benefit your business and broaden your audience base.
Wondering how to market to men, it’s easy. You already have a built in referral service in your regular female clientele, who can pass along the benefits of spa, as well as your offerings, to the men in their lives.

Value-Added Packages and Add-Ons
In today’s economy, your clients are looking for ways to maintain their healthy lifestyle while also maximizing their budget. Creating smaller add on services will work to build awareness about different services and offer affordable upgrades for your clients. Small value add-ons, such as adding hot stones to a massage or offering a 15 minute reflexology add-on to a pedicure, will change the experience your client has, and offer an upsell opportunity for your spa.

Wellness Travel and Staycations
The trend towards wellness travel and spa vacations will be more important than ever this year. But an important subtrend emerging from this will be the idea of the wellness staycation. In this economic climate, not everyone can afford to go on a spa vacation. By creating treatments and packages that offer your clients a mini wellness vacation at home you can offer many of the benefits of a wellness vacation from the comfort of their own hometown spa. Packages featuring international techniques or botanicals will continue to drive the popularity of this trend.

So there you have it, our list of new and continuing trends in the spa market as 2014 begins to shape up. This is the perfect time of year to evaluate what worked and didn’t work for your business over the past year and create a plan for a successful 2014. Incorporating some of these ideas into your service menu is one way to ensure continued growth and success in the coming year.

Support the Resolute!

January 9, 2014

Resolution season is upon us, and with it comes the burden of upholding any lofty goals we’ve set. The burden, though, is really an opportunity to examine personal behaviors and improve and evolve where we’ve chosen to focus. As your clients work to meet their New Year’s goals, you are in a wonderful place to support those efforts and encourage fortitude in the face of the daily challenges to come!

Some fun facts:

Those of us who limit the number of resolutions we make tend to be more successful, overall. And the American Psychiatric Association recommends using language like ‘goals’ or ‘intentions’ in lieu of ‘resolutions’, since those terms denote processes vs absolutes.
Having a strategy to work toward your new goals is key. Also, a deep inquiry into whether a life change is realistic at this point can help prevent failures. Face it, there are times when we have the wherewithal to stick to a new goal, and there are times when we are already overburdened by life and simply don’t have the resources to expend on a new endeavor. There’s no shame in being aware of our own capacity.
Willpower, as it turns out, takes energy, real energy, meaning glucose. If we sustain a goal for a long period of time, we’re using real resources. Ironically, if weight loss is a goal, and we’re limiting our caloric/food intake, we’re also limiting our body’s ability to produce adequate amounts of fuel for the fight we’ve undertaken. It’s important to factor in things like this to ensure we’re not only supporting our efforts, but not depleting our bodies in the process.
Knowing setbacks are normal, not showstoppers, is important.
Accountability to friends, family or a support group related to your goal encourages us to stick with a plan. Transparency of this type encourages us to remain focused and be honest at all times, which in itself is liberating and empowering.

Those of you who provide services that make people feel better, live healthier lives, and look fabulous can really help your clients along their improvement paths! Who won’t feel more resolute with glowing skin, a body humming from a therapeutic massage, or a chic new ‘do to help them along their path?

Why not set up some services whose names reflect your support and appreciation of your clients’ New Year’s needs? You need not implement new services, simply adapt existing offerings that fit the bill to help energize and strengthen the resolve of those who have chosen to make changes as a way to begin the year.

Sensitivity and timeliness are good qualities. Have a little fun and let your clientele know you ‘get’ what they’re all about.

Happy New Year! Now What’s Your Plan?

January 6, 2014

A new year brings an opportunity to renew and strengthen your business. With that opportunity comes the need to plan and focus your energy on business activities that will bear fruit in terms of generating business as well as nurturing those most precious treasures you’ve already worked so hard to gain – your existing clientele.

Visibility is key

Your clientele need gentle reminders that you are around and eager to make them look and feel fabulous, at their convenience. Why not establish a simple email marketing strategy and schedule right now that will help you stay on track? Emails need not be cumbersome epic novels. A paragraph or two, perhaps from a blog article you’ve already written, is all you need to send. Be sure to mention the ease with which they can book services with you, and include a link to your Booking page. Always include a mention of and link to your Instant Gift Certificates page as well. Many milions of dollars are spent every year by email recipients just clicking on those links when they’re reminded of a gift need or are encouraged to book a service!

How often should you send emails? One every couple of weeks will inform and educate your recipients without annoying them. You want people to open your missives, not automatically delete them. That line is a fine one, and we tend to err to the conservative. After all, if your readers want to hear more from you, they can pop into your blog, too!

Visibility across all media is now your goal. That means your Social Media needs to be a place of give and take. Images that connect directly to your message du jour will really help catch the eye and reinforce your message. Are you offering up a great new non-drying color technique in your salon? Cool! Be sure to include an image of a client having their hair colored/conditioned to support a headline of Come in for a Deep Nourishing Color Treatment! for example. You get my point..don’t just include random images that look anonymous and aren’t really tied to your message. The social media audience just responds well to concise copy and clearly tied images.

Wherever you are, be there on a regular basis. And always be sure your website is showcasing any new services or products. That will be a default location for your audience to learn more about what you’re up to at any given point.

Consistency is key, too.

Starting out with a bang and ending with a fizzle isn’t an optimal marketing strategy. At a time when information flows at the speed of light, if you only send out one email campaign every quarter or write one blog article every couple of months, or are less than regular with your Facebook or Twitter posts, you’ll be doing your business a disservice.

Again, length of message isn’t really what’s important, it’s the regular reception of that message by your audience that ensures you’re presenting an organized and professional marketing effort. Your clients and prospects will appreciate your efforts with visits and word of mouth referrals.

Keeping your brand clear and maintaining that clarity everywhere your message is distributed? Also key.

Yes, there are lots of keys to marketing, but they’re all related. If you write consistent blog articles about your areas of expertise, generate emails, then create social media posts based upon those blog posts, you’re meeting the key criteria with a minimum of effort. Maybe we should have called this post Your Blog Posts – Keys to Your Entire Marketing Strategy?

Clarity, though, that’s important in a whole different way. If you are clear about what your business represents, what you’re doing, what you bring to the spa or salon or massage experience, etc., then that will flow through into every bit of content you produce. Knowing what you want to be known for is huge, and keeping that front and center on your website, (with imagery as well as content, of course), in your blog posts, in your emails, and out in the social media realm will ensure you’re drawing the clientele that fits your sweet spot and will set the stage for building long-term relationships that net consistent business over time.

Simple tricks like posting your mission statement, or a similar reminder of just who you are and what you’re trying to be to your audience, right above wherever you go to write content are helpful. Who doesn’t get carried away by the Muse of Random Tangents from time to time? Stay on track, and always depict the true essence of your business as you write.

Maintaining clarity isn’t easy in a time when many businesses are trying new things to garner business. Know your true self and stick with that. Doing otherwise can alienate your audience and confuse in general, which usually makes people just go somewhere else. Nobody likes to try to figure you out. Your job is to be so clear, so consistent, and so visible that the natural decision for them to make when seeking spa or salon services is your business.

Laying a simple but comprehensive marketing foundation sooner rather than later will put you ahead of the game, and the work you do now will serve you well for the entire year to come!