Social Media Marketing and Websites for spas, salons and massage therapists
Our customer service team will be available for phone support on Thursday, December 24th, from 8am – 12pm Mountain and via email support until 1pm Mountain. We will be closed on Friday December 25th.
We will also provide customer support on New Year’s Eve, from 8am – 12pm Mountain, and will be closed New Year’s Day, January 1st.
Wishing you and yours a joyous holiday season!
Team SpaBoom
SpaBoom will be closed on Thursday, November 26th for Thanksgiving. Our customer service technicians will be available on Friday, November 27th from 9am – 1pm MST should you need assistance.
Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving Weekend!
Team SpaBoom
Communication is at the heart of your business, and email marketing and social media are the best ways to communicate with your customers. They each offer effective ways of connecting with your customers when and where they want to hear from you. But, in marketing and communication, balance is key. Your customers don’t want to feel like they’re just one among many. And you don’t have time to create individualized communications all the time. So striking a balance between automated communications and those with a more personal touch is key to a successful marketing strategy.
Here are a few things to think about when designing a communication and marketing strategy:
Segment Your List
One of the most effective ways to make your email communications more personal is to segment your client list into smaller sub-categories. Instead of taking a “One size fits all” approach, create smaller subgroups and then tailor specific email campaigns to each specific group. You can do this in many different ways. Segment your list into groups such as VIP clients or those clients only interested in a specific group of services (such as facials or massage). You now have the flexibility to tailor your email communications to directly address the interests and needs of each group. These more targeted emails give your clients the feeling that you are speaking directly to them about things they have an interest in. And that helps establish and support the feeling of a relationship with your business.
Initiate Online Conversations
Technology has made it possible for you to interact with your clients online. So don’t use social media just to talk at your clients. Use it as a forum to start conversations with them. Ask them questions, look for feedback, and then be responsive to their replies. By using social media as a way to socially interact with your clients, you’re establishing a relationship with them that feels more real than an automated email. And that can lead to more loyal customers who spend more money.
Don’t Forget the Importance of Face to Face
In this day and age, it’s so easy to communicate with everyone online and never even think about interacting in person. But your business is built on face to face interactions. So don’t neglect the opportunities you have to connect with your clients in person. Creating good in-person interactions should be a key part of your marketing strategy. It’s the perfect time to build a relationship, get to know your clients, and really talk with them about their expectations and needs.
Striking the right balance between automated and personal communications can be a real challenge. But figuring out the right time and way to communicate with your clients will help streamline the planning of your marketing calendar. It will also translate into growth in your business.
The holidays don’t really start for another month or so. It feels like you still have plenty of time to plan them out and get ready. But the reality is that they will be here before you know it and now is the time to put your plan together. Here are three steps to take today to get ready for the holiday season.
Think about your holiday packages
The time to start putting together your packages for the holidays is not the day before Thanksgiving. It’s now! The perfect holiday packages offer good value and services that are attractive to the customer while also not putting your bottom line into the red. Take some time to look at what has been popular with your customers this year, as well as what sold well during the holiday season last year. Then put together packages that your clients will love and get them loaded and ready to go.
Plan out your holiday campaigns
Once you have your packages and specials created, it’s time to start planning out your holiday campaigns. Think about how to keep your clients engaged during the season, both through social media and email. Then put together your holiday promotions and get them scheduled to go out. Taking the time now to plan out and write your promotions means they’ll be better written and more engaging than if you wait until the last minute.
Consider your staffing needs
Demand for services tends to rise during the holiday season and into the new year. Your regular clients are coming in more frequently to get ready for holiday celebrations and demand is also going up due to higher gift certificate sales. So take some time to think about what your staffing needs will be like. Do you need to schedule more people or extend your hours on certain days to meet the increased demand for services? Does your staff need additional training in order to deliver the most popular services on a larger scale? Taking a look at last years numbers and then making some time now to work out what your holiday schedule will look like will make the holidays run much more smoothly.
The holidays will be here before you know it. Taking the time now to put together your packages and plan out your promotions will have you ahead of the game and give you a jump on the competition. And that translates into better sales, happier customers, and a smooth and easy holiday season for you.
They say timing is everything. Knowing when to connect with your clients is as important as how you connect with them. The timing of your marketing campaigns is one of the most important components of your strategic marketing plan.
But how do you effectively reach out and connect with your customer base at the right time to generate a sale? Here are some key things to consider when creating your marketing campaigns.
Plan Ahead
As business owners, we all know our annual financial trends. We can forecast the times in a year when we’ll have the greatest sales and the times when things will be a bit slow. So take some time to map out what your year typically looks like, and then plan your customer communications to capitalize on these trends. For instance, if you know that the bulk of your sales will occur before big holidays (such as Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Christmas), then plan your marketing accordingly. Make sure you’re laying the groundwork with your clients well before those holidays with email communications to help them “get ready” for the holidays. Plant the seed that you are the perfect gift solution for them and then carry that regular communication on through to the holiday.
On the other hand, if you know that a slower time of the year is approaching, now might be a good time to create some packages or specials. Capitalize on current events or occasions that are happening in your clients’ lives. By planning ahead you’ll be able to maintain a relationship, and the associated revenue, even during the slower times of the year.
Meet Customer Needs
Your customers have changing needs throughout the year. Make sure you are anticipating them and offering solutions. It could be something as simple as knowing they sent a birthday gift certificate to someone at this time last year and sending them a reminder that the date is coming up again. It could be a follow up email offer sent at a set time following a treatment or service they booked. Showing your customers that you understand and anticipate their needs (before they even think about them) can lead to a stronger relationship.
Be consistent with trends
In this business, trends are important. Whether it’s the latest hair and makeup trends or a new skin or body treatment, a lot of our business is driven by new offerings in the market. So make sure your offerings and communications stay consistent with trends. It could be something as simple as a blog post or email newsletter explaining a new treatment and why it is beneficial, or offering mini-treatments that change quarterly and are an opportunity for you and your customers to try out new treatments and trends. By its very definition, a trend is something current or currently in style. Building flexibility into your marketing strategy to act on emerging trends will allow you to capitalize on these opportunities.
Paying more attention to timing in your marketing strategy can be a game changer. It allows you to drive business in your market. It makes your customers feel like you understand them and their needs. It’s another important piece in establishing and building a strong relationship with your clients and your community.
SpaBoom will be closed on Monday, September 7th, for Labor Day. We hope that everyone will have a chance to relax over the long weekend!
We’ll be back bright and early on Tuesday, September 8th, rested and ready to hear from you!
Have a safe weekend!
Your SpaBoom team
You probably spend a good bit of time and effort creating content for your marketing needs, from in store displays to content on your website or social media. But have you really taken the time to analyze your audience and the content they want, or to pay attention to whether or not your current content is even working well? Here are three content marketing mistakes you’re probably making now.
Producing content for the sake of having content
You need to have a plan for your marketing and content and then you need to stick to it. Creating campaigns or content just because you feel like you need more content does you no good. Focus on creating a marketing strategy and then don’t produce content unless it aligns with your strategy.
Not tracking or analyzing your campaigns
If you never take any time to analyze your campaigns, how will you even know if they are working? Measure campaigns based on the goals of your marketing plan. Are you trying to increase sales, grow your client base, or increase engagement? If you don’t know what you want to measure, then you won’t be able to measure it, or to create the right type of content to drive the desired behavior. Decide what your goal is and then pay attention to how you’re doing.
Not knowing your audience
You have to take the time to identify and understand your audience in order to create content that will grab their attention. Once you know your target audience, you’ll be better able to create content that drives your marketing goals. So spend a bit of time testing different formats, study your analytics to see which ones work best, and even ask your existing clients how they would prefer to hear from you. Then create content that meets your clients’ needs.
By taking the time to analyze both your audience and your content, you could be producing much more effective content. Effective content marketing is what will set you up as an industry leader and help you grow your business.
Goal setting is important for a successful and growing business. Goals are a conscious decision you and your company make to help you clearly define and understand where you are and where you want to be. Setting goals gives you and your staff a defined purpose and a road-map to get there. Let’s talk about some of the key things to consider when setting goals.
Figure Out Where You are First
Before you can set any goals, you need to know where you’re starting. So take some time to evaluate where you and your business are currently. It’s important to do this evaluation first so that you have a solid framework on which to build your new goals. So sit down with your business plan, take a look at what you’re doing currently, write it all down, and evaluate the parts that are measurable.
Then Create a Plan
Once you have figured out where you are now is the time to decide where you would like to be and to put together a plan for achieving your goals.
Goals should be S.M.A.R.T.
Goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-sensitive
Let’s talk about each of those pieces:
Focus on One Key Goal at A Time
Focusing on one key goal at a time can help you from spreading yourself too thin or getting distracted by other goals or activities. So pick one long-term goal at a time, supported by smaller short-term goals along the way. This will help sharpen your focus and make it easier to allocate your resources.
Schedule Time in Your Plan for Regular Evaluation
Take some time periodically to re-evaluate both your goals and how successful you’ve been at achieving them. Do they need to shift due to changes in the marketplace or your business model? If so, these evaluations are the perfect time to make any minor changes to redirect your efforts.
Goals should be part of your overall business plan and they should be something you are focusing on, evaluating, and refining on a regular basis. By taking the time to properly evaluate where you currently are and putting together a plan to get you to where you want to be down the road, you’re providing the focus and drive needed for stable, scalable business growth.
Want to have a healthy, flourishing business? Then you need to have a solid marketing plan in place. A solid plan brings clarity to your business practices, allows you to define your marketing strategy and goals for the year, and details how you plan to implement those strategies. Here are a few key benefits of having a healthy marketing plan in place.
A Marketing Plan gets everyone on the same page.
Having a detailed marketing plan that can be referred to means that everyone is on the same page and knows what the ultimate goals and daily practices are. It means that you can focus your resources and that everyone is working towards a common goal rather than off doing their own things. Having everyone on the same page helps to streamline your business practices and operate more efficiently. It also means that even when people come and go in your business, you’re not losing knowledge or focus.
It allows your business to be proactive and aligned with your vision & goals.
Having a detailed plan in place with strategies for how and where you will focus your energies allows your business to be calm and proactive when unexpected things come your way. Rather than being reactive, the plan makes it easy to determine what steps to take to keep your business on track. So you’ll spend less time worrying about how to react to new things and be able to focus your time and energy on reaching your goals.
A plan makes it easy to evaluate new opportunities.
Do those new opportunities support the overall marketing goals and plan you already have in place? If so, then maybe they’re worth considering. If not, then it’s easy to walk away knowing you’ve made the right decision for your overall needs and goals. The plan makes it easy to take a look at these new opportunities and decide quickly what to do.
Having a plan means that your goals are measurable.
A marketing plan means that you have a framework within which to measure your progress. You can take what you have accomplished by a specific milestone and see if it matches up with what you laid out in your plan. This also provides you with the opportunity to re-evaluate and potentially refine or rewrite part of your plan.
By taking the time to evaluate your business strategies, and lay out a healthy marketing plan, you’re setting your business up for success.
In celebration of Independence Day, SpaBoom will be closed Friday July 3rd, 2015.
We will resume regular support hours on Monday July 6th, from 7am to 6pm MST.
Wishing everyone a safe and fabulous 4th of July Weekend!
Team SpaBoom
SpaBoom provides world class online marketing functionality for your business. We help your reach your audience through the most up-to-date word of mouth technology. Stay top-of-mind, build loyalty, and generate revenue while you do it. Work with us today!