Marketing advice for Spas, Salons and Massage Therapists

The Era of Mad Men Is Over. You’re Your Own Publisher Now.

April 10, 2013

Remember the days of big spends on splashy, glossy ads? And remember the almighty mullet? Us too, and thankfully both are out of vogue!

With regard to big ads, expensive agencies, and less than measurable results, the truth is that style of getting the word out about your spa or salon just doesn’t work anymore. Returns on that style of promotion have, in recent years, declined to the point of being very difficult to justify in a responsible marketing budget.

The mullet? We really don’t need to elaborate on why the demise of that particular trend is a good thing, right?

So what does it mean to you as a business that throwing money at big ads and marketing no longer works? It means you have essentially become your own publisher by harnessing the power of your website, email, mobile, and social media like Facebook and Twitter to promote your brand and grow your business. And establish and maintain a reasonable budget while you’re at it.

How to go about this self-publishing? It really boils down to using all of the tools at your disposal and being passionate about your work. Between creativity and technology? There’s not much you can’t accomplish!

A few ways to move ahead with Operation Self Promote:

Blog. Regularly, and on topics your audience cares about.
Harness social media. Begin conversations on Facebook that allow you to engage with your social media groupies on a regular basis. And be sure to be consistent with this one – once that very valuable social exchange has begun you’ll want to add more and more to the mix over time. And don’t be afraid to use images – Facebook has made it simpler to do that easily. And Twitter means you can send short messages out to an audience that loves snippets.
Email campaigns give you unlimited options to relate as well as to share great deals or information about specific services or products that you’re offering. Regularly scheduled communication via email is a wonderful way to ensure your audience receives a variety of messages, and is gently reminded that you are the perfect gifting choice regardless of the occasion.
Keep your website fresh. Current website copy means you’re respecting your online audience’s need for new and shiny as well as basic, go-to information about your spa or salon. Creating promotions that change over time means your site is interesting and you’re demonstrating you’re in touch with all of the places your clientele frequents.
Text promotions and specials and last minute opportunities for your clients. There’s nothing like receiving a notice that a 4 p.m. appointment has opened up or that the summer edition of a favorite product line is on the shelves!
Ensure your message is mobile. Deliver your content so that your followers will have access 24/7.

Your clients are spending more time online, and mobile, and on social media, than ever before. They’re engaging on many levels with the businesses they frequent, yours included. They’re looking for interesting information, occasionally a good deal, and mostly to be reminded why they choose you over competition time and again.

Don Draper made it look easy, but with a little thought, planning and creativity? You’re definitely ahead of the game in this modern era of marketing!

Small Tweaks for Big GC Sales, Every Holiday

April 8, 2013

It doesn’t take a lot of work to really increase your Instant Gift Certificate sales, it really doesn’t. Watch for a few simple ways to ensure you maximize your sales each gift giving opportunity.

All That and A Bag of Chips!

April 1, 2013

Selling beautiful, branded Instant Gift Certificates on your website, and via Facebook, is a great place to start. But we’ve never been happy with just the basics, and thought we should mention the other great tools you get with your SpaBoom Instant Gift Certificates. All of these are about keeping you in touch with your clients and generating significant revenue as a result.

Just know that SpaBoom has helped our clients generate over $175 million in sales, and our average client boosts their gift certificate sales by 35% in their first year using our service.

How we help:

Customized Instant Gift Certificate Page
We create a page for your website that’s yours and yours alone, with your branding right where it needs to be – front and center, and on every single Instant Gift Certificate that sells!
Lot of Instant Gift Certificate designs
Our library of Instant Gift Certificate designs is vast. Which means you have tons to choose from when it comes to selecting just the right designs for your business!
Customizable designs, too
Have your own special look and feel that you’d like to use for your Instant Gift Certificates? Great! We’ll share the specs so you can create exactly what you’d like, easy peasy.
Email campaigns
Your SpaBoom Instant Gift Certificate service comes complete with email campaigns that fly, automatically, around gift-giving holidays every year. Automatically. And each of those emails contains a link back to your Instant Gift Certificate page for easy gift buying. This alone generates sales. We know this. It turns out people remember upcoming gifting needs when a pretty email with your logo and a nice link to your Instant Gift Certificate page shows up.
Events to promote your Instant Gift Certificates
Telling the world that you sell great looking Instant Gift Certificates that they can purchase at their convenience, around the clock and when you’re closed? A solid idea any day of the week, and an easy one to accomplish with Events designed to promote your gift certificates right on your website.
Facebook integration
You’re working hard to cultivate your social media relationships, right? The ability to have a nice page on Facebook, and let people know you’re the very best choice for gift purchases is just another way to take advantage of your hard work and sell in the process. SpaBoom provides that for you.

The best part? We make it easy to use us. You pay just 5% commission after setup. No long-term contracts, no cancellation fees. Being where your audience is – online, on mobile and social – is where you need to be. SpaBoom can make that easy and fast and a revenue-generating decision that you’ll be happy you made!

A Pain In The Apps

March 27, 2013

Not to put too blunt of an edge on it, but there are about a bazillion apps out there, and not all of them are up to snuff. And some of them, well, are annoying, to say the least.

Some apps have been poorly written, and malfunction at inopportune moments, like, say, when sending a personal text to a friend…that gets sent to everyone in your phone book!
Some apps are spammers, hiding behind a thin technology veil.
Some apps share way too much personal data. We know of one story where a woman had bought tickets to an event, and then discovered that information had been distributed to Facebook without her knowledge, leaving her unhappy and feeling vulnerable and like her privacy had been breached in a most unwelcome way.
A particularly annoying habit of app providers, we’ve found, is sharing user data with third parties, like advertising networks. Imagine being besieged by advertisers after using what you assumed was a perfectly harmless app of some sort. Yuck. The Wall Street Journal discovered that this is a very common occurrence, and wrote an article listing offenders.

Clearly not everyone has the best interest of the consumer in mind when creating an app.

The good news? We’re going to heed all the mistakes that others have made and NOT repeat them. We also want you to NOT have to deal with yet another vendor for a cool app….we think you have a lot of vendors already, and one more is not really a great solution. And we want your clients to love your app, so much that they take advantage of all of the cool features SpaBaby will contain:

Specials and events you’ve designed just for them
Featured services or specialty treatments, and a way to purchase them right on the spot
Convenient booking or request appointment capability
Blogs articles galore
Instant Gift Certificates!

A few bad experiences can be enough to turn people off the app experience for good. We’re here to ensure that your clients love love love yours, and thank you for providing it the next time they walk in your door!

Who Are You Now?

March 25, 2013

Have you taken time lately to assess your business, and compare it to where you were a year ago? Or even a few months ago?

From a marketing perspective, continually looking closely at who and what we are and how we’ve evolved is essential to keeping all of our messaging consistent and fresh. We grow and change more than we realize, sometimes, and doing so with specific goals in mind and strategies for adjusting means we can do so comfortably and gracefully.

Things you need to ask yourself on a regular basis:

Have we added a new service that’s become a permanent offering? If so, have we added that to our service menu and any printed media that reflects services?
Have we shifted direction in any way? Become known for a particular offering or specialty? If so, have we mentioned that in emails, blog articles, social media and other outbound messaging? Have we updated our service menu accordingly?
Have we added to or changed our retail offerings? If so, do our clients all know our favorite product line(s) and why we feature them? People love to hear not just the what’s of what you do, but the why’s as well. You’re experts, and your opinion matters. Which also means any change warrants mention in an email, on your website, on social media, and certainly on your blog. People look for news from you in different places; be sure you’re reaching them in their individual information comfort zones.
Do we need to examine profitability and turn of our retail lines and adjust? Do we need to promote certain items more during services in order to move sluggish inventory? Do we need to discontinue items that simply do not appeal to our clientele? Look at your numbers, your average turn on retail, and on how you’re promoting. You may find hidden opportunities using only the communication between your practitioners and clients that will help create awareness and generate sales. And yes, you knew I was going to say this, talk about it on your website, in emails, in blog articles, and in social media. Make your audience feel like it has the inside track when it comes to info on your products. People like that.

Managing a spa or salon, or running a solo practitioner operation takes energy, creativity, passion and drive. Honest self-assessments work in all aspects of your operation, and small adjustments can mean big improvements on the face that you show your clients as well as the financial health of your business.

Take the time to reflect, and we’ll bet you’ll be pleased with the results.

The Lowerst Paid but Most Influential

March 20, 2013

Your front desk staff holds a lot of power in spite of the fact that they’re typically compensated less than anyone else. Training them well and to represent you best is key!

Your Very Own Mobile App Is Coming!

March 18, 2013

Did you know that there are 165M handheld devices out there now? That’s a whole lot of smart phones and tablets serving to connect people with their world. And if you think about that number relative to say, 2 years ago, it’s a bit shocking.

Who knew that the internet and mobile accessibility would change how we connect, live and work so completely in such a short time? Well, in all fairness, Steve Jobs (may he rest in peace) and Mark Zuckerberg did, but we can’t all see their version of the future.

Since mobile accessibility clearly isn’t going away, we’ve got a great marketing tool for your business to reach out — a mobile app for your spa or salon. You’ll be able to easily connect with all of those device users, and make that connection work for your business.

What you’ll be able to do, out of the gate:

Promote specials and events directly to your clients

Promote your featured service or specialty treatments in a location that allows for purchasing on the spot

Offer up convenient booking or request appointments accessibility

Serve up easy blog article access

Make it convenient to purchase Instant Gift Certificates directly on the smartphone or tablet

Doesn’t that sound perfect, especially if you don’t have to do anything to make those things happen? Just know, we’ve got your app on the way! SpaBoom is getting set to deliver the best mobile spa/salon app around!

Why? Because our experience in the spa and salon industry makes us very good at knowing what spas and salons need. And our success with thousands of marketing campaigns helps us predict what consumers are expecting.

We are in the final phase of development and would love to hear any suggestions you have regarding feature requests for the SpaBoom mobile app, or what we’re fondly referring to as – Our little ‘SpaBaby’.

The Best Secret Shopper Secrets — You Need Them!

Providing phenomenal services means knowing exactly what your clients are experiencing when they visit. Knowing what works is important, knowing what needs a little focus is critical to maintaining that great reputation you’ve worked so hard to achieve!