Salon Marketing

Are you ready for the holidays?

September 22, 2022

Aroma,Sticks,With,Liquid,Scented,Water,In,Bottle,With,Burning

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 Balance of Communication

October 29, 2015

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 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.

3 Content Marketing Mistakes You’re Probably Making

July 28, 2015

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.

The Importance of Setting Goals

July 13, 2015

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:

Specific: You want to make sure you are very specific in your goal setting, because that will make it much easier to create a plan for achieving your goal.
Measurable: You want to make sure that you have built in some measurability, in order to be able to evaluate your progress. Take some time to consider how you will evaluate that progress.
Attainable: You want the goal to be challenging, but also achievable within the time frame you set.
Realistic: Make sure you are being realistic in your goal setting. A goal of 35 new sales per month is far more realistic than one of 3500 new sales per month. These are goals, not wishes.
Time-Sensitive: Goals have a time-frame put around them. A start date and an end date. Making a goal time-sensitive helps provide focus and drive. It also makes it much easier to measure your progress.

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.

The Benefits of a Healthy Marketing Plan

June 30, 2015

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.

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.