Spa Clientéle Marketing Tips

Vegas anyone?

If you will be attending the IECSC show this upcoming weekend in Las Vegas, June 2 - 4, I would love to meet you in person!

I'll be stationed at the Yüm Gourmet Skincare booth #561, helping launch this very new, and very fresh naturally preserved skincare line.  Stop by, or send me an email, and we can chat over coffee or a drink -- or any beverage of your choice, really.  And for a sneak peak at the product line, visit http://www.yumskincare.com -- Good for your skin, your planet and your spa!

Are you leading your clients? Or following them.

Being a mom has taught me a LOT about a whole bunch of things, including how to be a better leader.  My children look to me as an expert in life; an all knowing-being about the big and little things like why is the sky blue to where is their Polly Pocket. [Clearly, I do not have teenagers.]   And in this expert role, I have found it much easier to reach the desired results [e.g., getting them dressed or well-fed] by providing leadership rather than allowing them to solely determine the path. 

I see a lot of similarities between parenting and being an expert in skincare, hair care or massage therapy.  While I'm not comparing your clients to little children, I am pointing out the similarity of the Expert-to-Learner role.  You have the training, experience and background that you have developed over the months, years or even decades. Your clients do not.  While some of them may be very savvy consumers, they very rarely understand the level of detailed knowledge that you carry about their hair, skin and body. 

When it comes to recommending the best homecare regimen and health practices to help your clients reach their goals, it is important to lead them down the right path.   Most of them WANT to be lead towards products and activities that help them look and feel better.  That's why they came to you in the first place.  While this may be easier for doctors and nurses in the medical spa world, or master hair stylists and estheticians -- it is often a challenge for spa practitioners to feel comfortable recommending products to clients.  Yet, from a business standpoint -- this is the highest profit center and a wonderful long-term relationship builder with you client.   

Some quotes on leadership that inspire me, and I hope inspire you:

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.   - John Quincy Adams

A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be.  - Rosalynn Carter

The real leader has no need to lead - he is content to point the way. - Henry Miller

If you think you can do a thing or that you cannot do a thing, in either case you are right. - Henry Ford

The price of greatness is responsibility. - Winston Churchill

and my personal favorite leader by example....

You must do the thing you think you cannot do. - Eleanor Roosevelt

If you do hesitate to lead your clients towards products and habits out of fear of rejection or being perceived as being too pushy --- take a moment to remind yourself that you are providing value to your client that they are looking for in scheduling an appointment with you.

As always -- Don't let me be the final word here.  Do you agree?  Disagree?  What has been your experience with this in your business.  Just add your comment below and discuss.

Must-Do Marketing for Solos

Whether you are a solo esthetician, stylist or massage therapist – going it on your own has its benefits and challenges.  This post today is just for you.

Without a retail location, you may feel that you are at a marketing disadvantage to salons ore day spas.  Little do you know, most of those day spas and retails paying a pretty penny for retail space are thinking YOU are a smart cookie--- because you have very little overhead and no employees.  Just like most things in life, the grass is always greener on the other side.   As for building your solo practice, here are must-do marketing actions to take to bring new clients.

1. Get a marketing plan.  If you are a rabid Friends fan like me, you might remember the first season episode when Phoebe laments “Get a plan?! I don’t even have a pluh.”  And while it may seem overwhelming to create one, it is can actually make your life easier once you have one.  The beauty of a marketing plan is that you know what you are going to spend, do (and NOT do) for marketing month by month.  If you don’t know where to start, drop me a note or call me.  With a few phone calls and emails, I’ll get to know your goals, budget, background and help you craft a plan that will put you in control.  Start yours now with Smart Spa Marketing.

2.  Set up a client contact system. This can be paper-based or using a client database on your computer. The goal here is to remind you to reach out to clients you have seen before.  Some occasions to do this are:

• Two days post treatment to see if they have any questions.  Inquire about how they feel about their skin (any flare-ups?), their neck/back/etc. that they mentioned prior to their massage or if they have any styling questions about their new cut.
• Birthdays. You may be the only person to send them a card!
• If you have seen them in six weeks – or whatever would be your recommended interval for the next service.
• Three weeks after purchasing a product – do they need more?
• Client anniversary thank you – every year they have been a client, send them a little thank you note.  Hand written cards are so very special these days, but email greeting cards are just as effective as getting the point across that you appreciate their loyalty.

You can see that tracking client activities and creating a system to remind you of these things is essential.

3.  Reward for referrals.  Review my No Cost Referrals tips and create a system that works for you.  Building your business by word of mouth is the most inexpensive marketing around…don’t be afraid to be generous to clients you refer you.  A $25 Starbucks card for one client can save you from a $800 newspaper ad that brings in the same number of new clients (you got…just one.)  No need for a fancy points system…your business cards (yes you need ‘em) will do the trick.  Give your clients extras when they book an appointment and list on your cards: “I build my business through referrals and would be delighted to help your friends or relatives.”

4. Leverage the Internet. Having a website is, in my humble opinion, absolutely critical for any business.  Use lower cost hosted solutions like Inspirational Web Hosting or SpaBoom – businesses that understand yours and provide low cost and easy to use solutions. On your site, be sure to collect emails and allow instant gift certificate purchase.  Online sales is a nice perk, but not for everyone because you have to then ship out products very quickly after receiving the online order. If you are in a treatment room all day, this might be cause a delay…just be careful to correctly set customer expectations.

While there are several more marketing activities I’d recommend like a professional logo, or printing a brochure, there are also things you should not waste money on.  Avoid advertisements and direct mail.  The cost will most certainly outweigh the benefit you’d receive as a single practitioner.   

Be sure to track your marketing pennies well.  It is important to be conscious about how much (and where) you are spending your marketing dollars so you can decide whether to continue or not. 

Client events for increased sales and free publicity

"Let's have an event."

Ever had this thought as an idea to boost your marketing and maybe attract new clients to your salon, day spa or medical spa?  Well, you are on the right track.  When well planned and marketed, a customer appreciation, open house or educational seminar can be a great way to generate some buzz.  However, events alone are usually not enough to generate media interest.  But by joining forces with another organization, like your adopted charity or another complementary business, the opportunity for media attention from a reporter is great.  But you have to craft the story in advance and have a well planned event.  Here is the countdown of activities and decisions to consider in the eight weeks prior to a marketing event for your salon, day spa or medical spa.

8 weeks before the event

• Set the date. Weeknights are best for shorter events such as classes, or pre-holiday gift certificate exclusive discount nights.  Weekends are better for 4 - 6 hour open  houses or elaborate grand openings.
• Establish your business goals for the event. How will you know this event is a success?  Are you looking for new clients or a boost to your gift certificate sales? Or are you just wanting to get some local media attention.  You don't have to pick one...just pick something that you can measure.
• Craft your story.  Why would a reporter want to cover the event?  Is there a recent news story that you can piggyback onto?  Like a recent research that links the ingredients in one of your products to health benefits.   Read the newspaper with the constant question "how can this story relate to my business?" to find new links to current events that reporters crave.  When Brittany got her recent "fat dissolving" services, medical spa directors should see that as an opportunity to talk about their Lipodissolve or Mesotheraphy treatments that dissolve fat cells.
• Pick your promotion.  Why will people come to the event?  Be careful here, you don't need to give them a 10% or 20% off coupon.  Actually -- do NOT give them a 10% or 20% coupon.  There are several other things of value you can offer without operating at a loss on future services.  Consider partnering with a local business, as I talked about in my last post Trade for Mutual Marketing.  I am a fan of classes, but you could also create exclusive discounts only available that night (e.g., buy a $100 gift certificate and receive $10 for you -- requires two separate visits to redeem.)  Or offer free mini-services or makeup application.  These are all ideas to pick from -- I wouldn't recommend doing them all at once!

7 weeks before the event

• Create your marketing plan. How will you communicate your event?  The beauty of events is that you can list them on as many community calendars as you can find.  This is real reason why you want to start your planning early.  Most local free circulars, the ones paid for by advertisers, require all calendar event notices be posted the month prior.  You'll only need to do this research once, but seek out every free circular and find out how to notify them of an event.  Look at their online sites as well. 
  
  Other key activities to decide on this week include advertising and direct mail.  If you have the budget, and it is a large event that you are prepared to entertain and host, a direct mail would be a better option than advertising.  However, if you have already purchased placement for the next six editions you may want to take advantage of that and advertise your upcoming event.  As a rule, I don't recommend advertising for event awareness alone.
  
  Don't forget about planning e-mail invitations and your website in your marketing plan.  On your website you should have a prominent banner about your upcoming event and how to RSVP.

6 weeks before the event

• Start communicating!  Print and mail out your direct mail postcards.  Update your website. Start submitting the event to community calendars.  Start including the event in a column of your e-mail newsletter.  If you don't have a e-mail newsletter--send out your very first e-mail announcement to your clients.
• Finalize any event related reservations. If you are bringing in an outside speaker, discuss set up and needed equipment.  Will you need to rent chairs?  Are you going to cater food?  If you are having a large event, will you need to reserve a DJ or entertainment? Will you need to make extra staff arrangements for mini-services, etc.?
• Release a press release about the event. Write a short story about the event, as if you are writing the article you'd like to see written about you.  Here's an example I wrote for a client's Mother's Day event . You can post one at www.pr.com -- it is free -- and then link it from your website.  Keep in mind, any document you place on the web that talks about your business or that points to your website is another opportunity to drive traffic your way. 

5 weeks before the event

• Send your press release to beauty or lifestyle editors in local publications.  Again, you'll need to do this research once, but find out the heath, beauty, lifestyle and business editors in your local newspapers and magazines.   Call the main offices and research their websites, to find names and contact information.  Ideally you'll get their email and phone.  But at the least a name and central fax number can do. Write a personalized cover letter about your event and briefly explain your story. You can offer a complimentary service for first hand experience of your services. For more information on pitching stories to journalists, review free articles at Publicity Hound or buy a book on the topic.  Hiring a publicist is also an option if you want to delegate this whole effort entirely.

4 weeks before the event

• Keep communicating.  Send out another reminder of the event to your e-mail subscribers...ideally as a sidebar in your e-newsletter.  If you haven't mailed a direct mail postcard, this week would be the last week do it. Post fliers of the event in local coffee shops (if they allow it) or other community posting areas (e.g., library, grocery store, etc.).  If you haven't contacted all the possible local media outlets (like TV and radio), keep working at it. Be sure you are mentioning the event to your clients and chatting it up.

Last 3 weeks before the event

• Stay on top of details. Get your place sparkly clean.  Confirm any reservations with rented equipment, caterers or entertainment. Confirm staff hours if you need them to work on that night.  Prepare gift bags or door prizes (if you do a raffle of donated items).

Two days before the event

• E-mail a reminder about the event to e-mail subscribers. Keep it short and in an invitation format. Encourage them to forward the email and bring a friend.

The day of your event

• Have fun! Try to not chain yourself to the cash register if it is large event.  Mingle with your guests, if you are the owner clients will be happy to talk with you and get to know you.
• Take pictures. Assign someone to take high-resolution pictures that you can later post on your website or reference for a journalist.

The days after your event

• Measure your success. How many showed up? How many new client appointments were scheduled? How many gift certificates were purchased? Review what went well, what could have been smoother about the event with your staff so that you are all better prepared for the next event.
• Release another press release about the event. Post it on www.pr.com and re-contact the same journalists. Link to available photos if you have them.  If you raised significant funds for your charity, or had a huge turnout for your educational class, or had a spectacular grand opening...take this opportunity to tell the world about it.
• Don't forget to update your website. It's easy to forget to take down a promotion after is completed!
• Congratulate yourself on a job well done! It may not have been easy, but with advanced planning it can be really worthwhile for the free publicity, increased revenues and new clients!   

Trade for mutual marketing

I know it is a common practice to "trade" services with another business to help you run yours.  As a service business doing hair, skincare or massage -- your services are in demand by anyone.  And small businesses providing printing, painting, graphic artist, catering, plumbing...anything that you need for your business...may offer a possible trade. You do have to be careful to track the value of what you trade for taxation purposes, and make sure everything is even-steven.  You may want to consider trade as a way to mutually market two or more businesses.

Perks and Promotions.  A very inexpensive way to mutually promote is to offer a donated gift from another business when your client books a specific service.  For example, a free entree at a nearby and new restaurant when your clients book a pedicure.  Or a free hour of personal training or chiropractic adjustment when they book a massage.  This works especially well with new businesses in your neighborhood.  Try approaching one with an offer to market them to your clients if they donate a service to interested clients.

Customer Appreciation/Charitable Events. If it is a business that you know well, consider throwing a joint client appreciation event/open house.  Your clients will have the opportunity to tour their business, perhaps sample services or products...and visa versa.  Put a charitable spin on it and collect cash donations or have a raffle of donated goods for a local charity.  These types of events, when well publicized and planned out, can create a nice community buzz about your businesses. The objectives of these events are 1) to make contact and develop relationships with prospective new clients; and 2) have a reason to talk to the media; and 3) do some good for a community organization.  The more health or beauty focused your partnering business and charity are, the tighter the marketing message can be about your event.

Informational Classes.  There are several organizations and speakers that are interested in speaking at no cost.   Your product sales reps (hair care, skincare, makeup) might be willing to do a class that relates to their product -- keeping it informative of course.  For example: learn different hair styles for the same hair cut; get an overview of product ingredients and which ones are 'best' for anti-aging/acne/etc.; or see a demonstration of new eye shadow techniques or makeup application for teens.  You are trading access to your clients for the sales rep opportunity to exclusively market their products.

Other speakers could be volunteers from health-focused charities such as American Cancer Society (how to prevent skin cancer) or Cardiac Foundation (stress as a leading cause of women's heart attacks).   Some day spas work with independent sales reps of "party" marketers (clothing, bras, jewelry) to host a party in the spa.

The key to successful mutual marketing is finding the right business to partner up with.  They should be in the health or beauty industry and should not compete with you in any way.  Your clients should logically be interested being a client in both businesses.  In addition to sharing the marketing costs, you could be exponentially increase your business.

Fresh New Trend: More tea please

Tea has been getting a lot of good press these days.  Reuters just published a story about the positive effects of drinking tea and a connection with lower skin cancer risk.  In 2004, Oprah highlighted Dr. Perricone's Prescription that switching from coffee to green tea will cause you to lose 10 lbs in six weeks.  That show alone kicked off a major "green tea/weight loss" marketing frenzy in the diet pill industry.  [And was the cause of my one month ban on coffee where I didn't lose any weight -- and thus returned happily to coffee.] However, with this new scientific link between the antioxidants in tea and reduced skin cancer, it should be interesting to see what the media and skincare industry will do with it.

I hearby predict that tea-inspired skincare products and spa treatments will continue to increase in popularity and availability. 

To beat this trend, you may want to update your services to include "more tea please" -- in the products, the treatment itself or your spa experience.  Some ideas:

• Herbal tea bags as your signature hydrotherapy instead of salts or oil
• Foot or hand soaks in herbal tea blends for mani/pedi
• When you serve iced or hot tea after a treatment, be sure to explain the benefits to their skin; consider an educational flyer in your relaxation room
• Have a customer apprecitation afternoon tea party.  Serve 2 or 3 blends of tea (iced or hot or decaf), small scones and finger sandwiches .  Clients can enjoy the afternoon tea while they receive mini-services and buy products and gift certificates for an upcoming holiday. [Best before a gift-giving holiday, but could be a pick-me-up during slower months.]
• Considering adding new products with green, white and red (roobios) teas (Preston Private Label* has a full skincare line with all of these together.)  Or use green tea as a calming agent in serum intensives, such as Green Tea Calming Serum from Yüm Gourmet Skincare*
• Slightly modify the protocols in your current basic services (facial, massage, pedicure) to create an exclusive package that uses the powerful antioxidant power of tea in the soaks, the products and aromatherapy (green tea incense anyone?)
• Sell more teas in your retail area -- or simply take them out of hiding from behind other products.
• If you add a new service, write a press release about it and post it to www.pr.com (a free service).  Refer to studies like one highlighted in the Reuters story to establish credibility and explain your new super-antioxidant service.  You may even want to send it do your local newspaper as they like connections to larger consumer trends.  Give them the idea to write the story about how your fabulous new facial uses teas, which is linked to reducing the risk of skin cancer.

Whether you make a big or small or no change to leverage media coverage of popular spa ingredients, be aware of what that coverage is.  Your clients will be interested to hear your expert opinion on what some journeyman reporter said last night on the news.  And whether you agree or disagree with that reporter, the point is that your clients will listen to you because they trust you to take care of them and their skin.

*I am a sales rep for both Preston Private Label and Yüm Gourmet Skincare and would be happy to answer any questions you may have about products with green, white, roobios and black teas. Email me or call me: 800.766.0375 x116.

Mother's Day web marketing with Virtual Mom

You may have noticed my "SitePal" gal that I have on this blog.  It is a fun service that can personalize and spice up your website -- either as a "virtual you" or a cyber-spokesperson. Web marketing research shows that personalizing your website with an audio recording or video (or both) will increase the time web visitors stay on your site and increase your online sales.  Ideally, your salon or spa focuses on building strong relationships with your clients, and the earlier you can start sharing your personality to connect with prospective clients the better.

They just sent me an email with a really great Mother's Day promotion idea using their service.  You can create a "virtual mom" that would guide your website visitors to your Mother's Day specials or packages, even tell them what "she really wants" for Mother's Day.  Check out this example of 'virtual mom.'

And they also had another idea to have a "young person" (someone your clients would relate to) recommend ideas for mom.  Check out that example.

These examples are with professional voice talent, but you could record it in your own voice -- I found that easy to do was really easy to do.

It took me a few minutes to set up and add it to my website and a few hours to figure out what the heck to say!  (I find the hardest think in marketing is finding the right words.)  And my daughter had a lot of fun telling me which outfit looked best on "me."  They have a free trial period, so you may want to test it out and see if you see a higher amount of online gift certificate sales on your website when you use a SitePal for a month.  Their website is www.sitepal.com. 

If anything, you can have fun dressing up your avatar!

Define your spa brand in one day

I know it can be overwhelming dealing with the development of a unique and memorable brand for your salon or spa. And while it can be a longer process to refine it, mull it over and ask everyones opinion, it can also be done very quickly. So often we read about great ideas and yet never implement them.

I think this is true for many things we all do, including training and making change happen in your salon or spa.  It feels good to learn new things, or even purchase a training CD -- but that effort is pretty much wasted if you don't take action on those new ideas.

Ed Roach of Small Business Branding has written the 5 Baby Steps to Focused Corporate Branding.  But you certainly don't have to be a corporation to use them.  In a nutshell, he is what he recommends to take bite-sized steps to clarify your salon or spa brand.  While you could do it in a few hours, you could also spread it our over a week.

It starts with market research with employees & suppliers (ask them "what do we do") as well as customers (ask them "If we went away, would you miss us?").  This will tell you a lot about your current brand.

It also includes some time on the web, doing some research -- reviewing your competitors and your own website.  First, go to your main competitors websites and take note of their positioning from a client perspective -- how does your competition describe themselves.  Write down their taglines, the first few sentences in their opening paragraph and other key points that you think your clients would be interested in. Does any of it sound familiar?   This might be an easy area for you to fix as you do not want to sound like them.

Next, evaluate your own website from a client perspective.  Does it match your brochures with words?  Are the updated photos of your salon or spa interior?  Compare it to ads you place or newsletters you send.  Does everything look unified with the same images, words and colors?  If not, you might be unintentionally confusing your clients with inconsistent branding.

Finally, go back to your competition's website and review their color branding.  Visually, do you stand out from the crowd?  While soft colors are relaxing and popular, you don't want to blend into the crowd.  Take note if any of your top three colors are not seen at your competition -- you may want to consider being more prominent with that color as it will support your salon or spa brand.

After all this research (which might take an hour or less), create your plan.  What are TWO things you can do today that will improve your branding.  Let your employees now what you learned and plan to do going forward.   Once you get a taste for the big changes you can make with small steps, it can be a motivation to keep going.