Creating Customers

Are you ready for the holidays?

September 22, 2022

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It’s September, and everyone is enjoying the beginning of autumn. We’re already seeing Halloween decorations in stores and enjoying pumpkin spice lattes and other fall treats. It feels like the holiday season is still so far off, but the time to plan and prepare is NOW. Here are some tips to save you time and help supercharge your holiday sales.

Plan your holiday promotional calendar and marketing

It’s always a good idea to be proactive in marketing. Take some time to look at sales over the past year and what did well during the previous holiday season. Consider what kind of promotions you want to run and when you want to run them. Map out what your marketing calendar will look like and how you will communicate with your clients and share your promotions. Having a plan in place makes it easy to promote your business throughout the holiday season.

Update your service descriptions

Updating your service descriptions is something you should be doing regularly, but it’s a good idea to make sure your menu is up to date before the holiday season starts. Take some time to review your menu. Are all the services you offer listed? Are there services you no longer offer that should be removed? Is your pricing up to date? Take some time to update your service menu descriptions to accurately describe the service, grab attention, and inspire your shoppers. It is also a great opportunity to create some new packages for the holiday season.

Update your instant gift certificate designs

spaboom has hundreds of gift certificate designs available, and we release new designs all the time. Reach out to our support team to be added to the list to be notified when new designs are available. Our team is here to help you update your library of gift certificate designs, so your clients can always find the perfect design for the holiday season. We can even create custom designs for you or teach you how to create and add your own designs.

The spaboom team is here to help you promote your business and any new products, services, or events you want to feature this holiday season. We are committed to helping you get the most out of your account and look forward to sharing more details about our services, showcasing how-to videos, and offering tips and tricks for marketing your business. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

We are here to support you!

Call us at 800.940.0458 or email support@spaboom.com

Communication is Key

August 15, 2022

Communication is at the heart of your business. With so many opportunities for personal interactions during spa visits or treatments, it can be challenging to know how best to communicate with your customers when you’re not interacting with them face-to-face. Email marketing and social media are the best ways to communicate with your customers. Each of these effectively connects 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 communications that are specific to each of your customers every time. But 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. Instead of taking a “One size fits all” approach, create smaller subgroups and tailor specific email campaigns to each group. You can do this in many different ways. Segment your list into groups such as VIP clients or only those clients interested in a specific category of services (such as facials or massage). You now have the flexibility to tailor your email communications to address the interests and needs of each group directly. These more targeted emails give your clients the feeling that you are speaking directly to them about things they find interesting and help nurture their 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 respond to their replies. By using social media as a way to interact with your clients socially, 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

Nowadays, it’s so easy to communicate with everyone online and forget the importance of interacting with them in person. But your business is built on face-to-face interactions. Don’t neglect the opportunities you have to connect with your clients when they visit for a treatment or to purchase a product or service. Prioritizing great 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 learn about their expectations and needs.

Figuring out the right time and place to communicate with your clients helps you streamline the planning of your marketing calendar. Striking the right balance is key and directly translates into growth in your business.

The spaboom team is here to help you promote your business and any new products, services, or events you want to feature. That includes helping you with email campaigns and social media posts. Our team can help you set up and schedule email campaigns and create social media posts that drive interest.

We are committed to helping you get the most out of your account and look forward to sharing more details about our services, showcasing how-to videos, and offering tips and tricks for marketing your business. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

We are here to support you!

Call us at 800.940.0458 or email support@spaboom.com

Planning Great Promotions

July 18, 2022

Planning out your marketing year means less stress and more creative energy for promotions. Here are some tips to help make your promo planning easy.

Have an overall plan

When we’re talking about a promotional plan, we’re talking about looking at the big picture. Your promotional plan or schedule should be for the next three to six months at a minimum. This provides a good timeline to understand what promotions you want to run, how many, and when. It helps provide a good consistent base that helps keep you top of mind with your customers.

Utilize different types of promos

You should never just run the same promo over and over all year. Promotions give you the opportunity to showcase what you’re great at, but also introduce services and products that your clients may not know about. Let’s talk about the three main types of promos you can run through your spaboom account:

Buy one, Get one (BOGO)

This is a fun promo for the customer because they get something extra that they can either keep for themselves or gift to someone else. It could be an additional service or a product, depending on what you want to promote. And you can also tier BOGOs to offer more than one freebee: Purchase $100, Get $10, Purchase $200, Get $20, etc. The benefit of running a BOGO is that it often creates 2 visits out of one purchase. Get creative and come up with interesting offerings for the Get One section of the promo. Something like, purchase $200 and get a free haircut. Or, purchase $100 and get a free product. A good time to run a BOGO is when you know you’re going to have an influx of gift purchases, such as during the holidays. Or run one during your anniversary month to celebrate your business’s birthday.

Percentage discount

Everyone loves a discount. They make your customers feel like they’re saving money on things they already do and can help drive additional sales on services that a customer may want to try out but at a discounted price. You don’t want to run a discount all the time because it can devalue your services and overall brand if it is always available, but these types of discounts are great to run a few times a year. Discount promos discount all services universally across your menu by whatever percentage you offer. Take a look at the average ticket prices of your more popular services and products as well as discounts you have offered in the past. This will help you determine when it makes sense to offer a discount and how much the discount should be. We generally recommend running a deeper discount for a shorter timeframe or a smaller discount for a slightly longer timeframe.

Featured services

We believe you should be promoting something at your business all the time. It’s why you often see featured services included in our monthly promo messaging. But having a featured service does not mean you need to have a discounted price or create something new. Utilize your featured services to draw attention to services at your business that may not get as much attention or feature a shorter version of a popular service to help introduce people to your offerings. You can even stack featured services to feature more than one service. Pro tip: Don’t use featured services to feature your best seller. Featured services give people an opportunity to learn about the different services you offer that they may not be familiar with and that can help increase interest.

Build in flexibility

Just because you have a plan doesn’t mean it needs to be set in stone. Your promo calendar should be specific enough that you know the types of promos you want to run every month. But you shouldn’t create all the verbiage in advance. Let the landscape of what is going on in the world, in your community, and with your customers drive that messaging closer to the time it runs. Keeping the messaging fluid and your audience engaged is the best way to promote your business in a way that shows you are part of the community.

Need ideas or help setting up your next promos? The spaboom team is here to help you get them set up on your website.

We are here to support you!

Call us at 800.940.0458 or email support@spaboom.com

Resourcefulness – A Success Secret

December 2, 2020

Resourcefulness is the ability to find quick and innovative ways to overcome challenges. This year has given us all a crash course in learning to be resilient and resourceful. 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 and helping strengthen your business to survive hard times.

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 and to strengthen your business during tough times.

The Value of Timing

September 18, 2015

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.

Focus On Your Customers

June 10, 2015

Your customers are the most important part of your business. Without them, you wouldn’t be there. Understanding what they want is key to creating and growing a healthy business. And happy repeat customers spend on average 30% more than new clients and are more likely to refer new business to you. So make sure that a key part of your business plan and day to day operations is focused on building relationships with your existing customers. Here are some key areas to consider when focusing on your customers.

Communication is Key

Your customers are interacting with you and your business every day, both in person and online. Make sure you spend some time getting to know them and that every interaction with your business is a positive one. Communicate with them when and where they want, whether it’s a quick tweet or a more detailed newsletter. Consider segmenting your email list in order to customize the communications they receive. Ask them how you’re doing and what they would like to see in the future. And then, act on their feedback.

Be responsive

We want to feel like someone is listening and that our opinions and ideas have value. So take the time to listen to your customers and to be responsive when they reach out to you with a question or problem. Sometimes the perfect solution to a problem or challenge you are having in your business will come from one of your regular customers. If a customer reaches out to you make sure you respond to them in a timely manner. And if a customer has a complaint, make sure you handle it quickly and efficiently. An upset customer who has been turned into a satisfied one is one of your greatest assets.

Reward them for their loyalty

Loyal and happy customers are your greatest resource for generating revenue and also for referring new business to you. So implement a plan to reward them for their loyalty. Whether it is a rewards program that provides incentives for their continued business or a referral program that rewards them for sending friends and family your way, having some sort of loyalty system in place will make your customers feel valued.
Your customers are key to the health and growth of your business. So make sure that a focus on them is one of the foundations of your business. Make them feel like part of the family with every interaction and they’ll remain loyal customers for years to come.

3 Keys to Build a Strong Online Community

May 19, 2015

Last time, we talked about mistakes you might be making in your online communities. Today, the discussion continues with tips on building a stronger online community.

Most of us are good at building a community. We have groups of family and friends who we interact with on a regular basis, spend time with, and gather together for celebrations and other events. We have strong relationships within our real life communities and they create a space for us to live and grow authentic lives. A strong online community can create the same thing for your brand and your business.

But how do you build a strong community online? We all know that establishing and building relationships with our clients is the best way to strengthen and grow our business. We just don’t always know the best way to go about it.

Here are three keys to building a healthy online community.

Be Consistent

People thrive on consistency. If they’re going to follow you on social media, or read your blog, then give them something to follow and something to read. Post regularly rather than sporadically. Posting consistently creates anticipation and allows your followers to make you part of their regular routine. So create a posting schedule and then stick to it.

Provide Valuable Content

You’ve gotten people to follow you online. That’s the easy part. The hard part is keeping them interested and engaged. Providing good content that is valuable to them is the key to keeping them interested. You also want to make sure the content is relevant to your brand, whether it is an “Ask the Expert” series or sharing content that is interesting for your readers and has a tie-in to your field. Also, keep in mind that valuable content does not include sales pitches or ads for promotions. You are asking your followers to make you part of their routine. Making sure you provide content that is valuable and relevant is key to getting and keeping your online community happy.

Listen to Your Community

Not sure what to post or whether your posts are effective? Listen to your community. Ask them what they’d like to see or where they want the conversation to go. Take a look at engagement rates and things like click thru rates, shares, likes, and comments. They’ll tell you what is working and what is not working. By listening to your community and allowing them to drive discussions online, you’ll have a much better idea of what new services you need to consider offering, or what direction you should be taking your business offline.

The important thing in building a community is the interaction between you and your followers. Interaction is key, because otherwise you just have an audience whom you are speaking to rather than a community you are communicating with. By taking the time and effort to focus on building those relationships online, you’ll start to see positive results in business growth overall.

4 Mistakes You’re Making With Your Social Media Community

May 12, 2015

You’ve done what you’re supposed to do. You have accounts on Facebook and Twitter. But having a social media presence is not the same as building a healthy social media community. Here are some mistakes you’re probably making, and how to turn them around.

Assuming that just having an account is enough

You’ve set up a Facebook page and you have a Twitter feed. There are links to them on your website. But that’s not enough. You need to post regularly, engage your followers, and make it a valuable experience. Nobody is going to want to follow you if you never post anything or, even worse, only post sales and promotions. Building an online community requires time and effort, and people who understand how to create interaction and foster the right kinds of conversations. Everyone has a Facebook page these days. You need to create a more valuable experience for your followers.

Valuing follower numbers over engagement numbers

Many of us assume that large, or growing, follower numbers are an indication of positive growth. But it doesn’t really matter how many followers you have if none of them are interacting. Engagement numbers are a much more powerful indicator of how successful your social media strategy is. Instead of paying attention to how many followers you’ve gained this week, dig a bit deeper and determine how many engagements (click thru rates, likes, shares, or comments) you’re receiving. That is a much truer indicator of how successful and effective your social media community is.

Not engaging with your followers

You are building an online community, and that means that you need to create and foster conversations on your social media feeds. So post regularly. Provide valuable information. Create conversations. And then continue to participate in them. If a follower posts a comment or engages with one of your posts, respond to them. A community means that everyone participates in an ongoing conversation. So don’t just post and run. Nobody wants to feel deserted or like their opinion is not valued.

Treating your social media as a sales channel

Your online community should be just that – a community. Nobody wants to follow a page that is just one long string of ads and promotions. Can you post information about sales or promotions? Of course! But it should not be the primary focus of your social media content. Focus on fostering community and providing valuable information and you’ll see your sales improve all on their own.

Studies show that one of the top things consumers are doing on their mobile devices is engaging in social media. It’s one of the most powerful tools in your marketing arsenal. Make sure you’re doing it right and you’ll see it pay off in increased sales and business growth.

Next time, we’ll continue the discussion with tips on building an even stronger online community.

Creating Customers For Life

April 28, 2015

We all work very hard to bring customers in the doors. But did you know that bringing in new customers costs 5-10% more than retaining the customers you already have? It is definitely worth your time and effort to keep your existing customers happy.

By building on the relationship you have already established with them, you can turn these customers into lifelong customers who will continue to come back to you again and again over the years.

Here are three key things to do when creating customers for life.

Provide stellar customer service

From consistency and quality in the services & products you provide to the attention and service your staff provides to them, every single contact your customers have with your company should be a positive one. So make customer service a top priority with your staff and follow through to make sure that your clients are happy with what they are receiving.

Show your appreciation

Show your customers how much their loyalty means to you and your business. You can do this in lots of different ways, but the two most effective are a simple thank you message (not one tied into a promotion) and a well designed loyalty program that rewards them for doing business with you. Need ideas on setting up a loyalty program? Check out our blog post from last year: Ready to Setup a Rewards Program

Give your customers what they want

Whenever you aren’t sure whether what you’re doing is working or if you should change or do something differently, the best people to ask are your customers. So go out and get feedback from them. Ask them what they want. Find out from them what you could be doing better or what they think you should change. Really listen to them. Then follow their advice. Make the necessary changes to match their needs and they’ll continue to bring you their business. Never underestimate the value of making someone feel valued.

Creating customers for life is one of the more powerful business strategies you can utilize. Loyal customers positively impact your bottom line in many different ways. They visit you more regularly and spend more money per visit than new customers. And they recommend you to their friends and family, helping you grow your business even more. In every way, loyal customers are more valuable to gain and to keep.

Ways to Make Your Business More Efficient

January 28, 2015

Running a small business in this economy can be challenging. You need to run your business as efficiently as possible in order to remain competitive in the marketplace. Here are a few things you can do to make your business run even more efficiently.

Don’t expand too quickly.

Your business is successful because you’ve got the proper workflow, staffing, and systems in place. But if you expand too quickly, you may not give yourself enough time to evaluate these workflows and determine if they will work on a larger scale. But expanding slowly, you give yourself the time to ensure that all the workflows, systems, and technology is scalable.

Streamline your workflows

By testing and regularly tweaking your workflows to be more efficient, you will save you and your staff time and money in the long run. Workflows should never be implemented until they are tested and all of your staff should understand how they work and why they exist. Your staff is also your greatest resource for testing and improving workflows. Listen to their feedback.

Cross train your staff

Training can increase your employees knowledge and comfort level in their own job. But cross training your employees so they can perform other tasks or cover other positions in the company can make your business even more efficient. It also increases employee satisfaction and retention. An employee who feels you are invested in their professional growth is less likely to leave the company. Employees who feel valued and have the knowledge and resources to do multiple jobs means you can focus more resources on growing your business and less on training new hires.

Be communicative with your staff

Maintain open lines of communication with your staff. Don’t make them wonder what the thinking is behind workflows or company decisions and don’t let them hear it second hand. Involve them in discussions about the company vision and listen to them when they have thoughts or ideas on improving the business. A company will run much more efficiently if everyone is always on the same page.

In the long run, making your business more efficient will save you time and money. Take some time to look at your business plan and evaluate where you can implement these changes to streamline how your business runs.