General

Banks take thousands of dollars out of the average spa or salon's profits by making credit card processing fees hopelessly confusing. However, if you understand how their shell game is played you'll keep more of your hard earned money.

Join us as we slice open the grizzly underbelly of credit card processing fees and give you the tools needed to negotiate a better deal.

In this hour, learn how to calculate your actual rates, understand the two dominant pricing structures all processors use and then we'll explain the new Durbin Amendment (commonly called the Dodd-Frank Bill or the "Swipe Fee" Law), which goes into effect on October 1st, 2011, and how it can save you money.

Reserve your Webinar Seat Now!

Title: What Credit Card Processors Don't Want You to Know – Webinar
Date: Tuesday, September 13th, 2011
Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EDT

Posted in General, Merchant Accounts, SpaBoom Webinars • Comment »

Labor Day is summer's last hurrah and the national holiday to honor our nation's workforce.

Whether you are headed to the beach or plan to soak up the last rays of summer we wish you all a safe and happy holiday with friends and family!

SpaBoom will be closed on Labor Day, Monday, September 5th, so that we may celebrate our hard work this year. We sincerely hope you are doing the same.

We will return to normal business hours on Tuesday, September 6th, starting at 6:00am MDT.

Our best wishes to all!

Your SpaBoom Team

Posted in General • Comment »

Daily deal data aggregator Yipit reports that the top 20 daily deal markets declined by 7% in July, with market leader Groupon down by 4%. It will be interesting to see what Groupon has to do to generate the cash to pay all of its spas, salons and restaurants, since it generally needs to keep growing to make its business model work.

Posted in General • 3 Comments »

Big brands may have large marketing departments, teams of copywriters and media buyers, but you have an equal (or better) opportunity to promote your brand where it really counts; via the friends of your current customers on Facebook.

There is no better or more powerful way to promote your business and develop your brand and, like Dorothy, you have access to all you need right now. No doubt, for spas and salons, an integrated approach to online marketing is vital to business and investing time and effort will pay off long-term.

Among all surveyed US small business owners (1-249 employees) who use social media for business, Facebook is the most popular platform (19%), followed by LinkedIn (15%), and Twitter (4%). marketingprofs.com

For good reason, Facebook is evolving as a perfect complement to more traditional advertising and SpaBoom's online platform is leveling the marketing playing field for local spa and salon brands. Just about any online marketing tactic a large beauty brand executes on a national scale can be replicated locally. Add to it, the power of being a local business and suddenly your spa or salon has an advantage.

Cross-Channel Marketing

Using Facebook to promote Instant Gift Certificates before gift giving holidays makes good sense for salons and spas. Your business is providing fans with a quick fast solution that drives them to your website for a purchase. When this is used in conjunction with email marketing it can extend your reach beyond social media and increase your revenue during these critical holidays.

Being Local Makes Engagement Powerful

All large beauty brands agree that Facebook is a platform for engaging with their own community of like minded fashionistas. What local spas and salons can do is take that engagement to the next level by adding layers of interaction. L. Spa is a local business in Sarasota Florida. They have combined fashion with spa to create a refreshingly bright and glamorous take on spa that truly celebrates luxury and relaxation.

Share Spa and beauty tips with their community.

Valuable content for your fans will build engagement over time. Bella Sante very consistently delivers information that is interesting, valuable and fun. They have their fans full attention and when they post to Facebook their fans look, read, listen and often respond. Their sophisticated and well-executed online marketing strategy is among the best.

Drive customers to your spa or salon website

Big brands are always driving customers to their websites. They use valuable content, offers and promotions to give their community good reason to click that button and check out their brand online.

Create strong promotions that drive fans to your website as a way to increase awareness and revenue. Take it a step further and create a special offer for Facebook fans only. Also, make your offers bit sized so fans will more readily take action. Facebook is valuable if fans engage with your brand. If your Facebook feed exclusively posts about your deals or offers you are like that person only talks about themselves at a party. Savvy guests will quickly ignore and abandon them. Instead you want to be the fascinating and engaging person that everyone wants to be around and know more about. If you don't know how your doing on this front just see how many comments you get on your average post. If its little or none you need to change the conversation. Any opportunity to provide something valuable that is easy for your customer to take advantage of is a win-win for everyone.

Special Rewards for Facebook Fans: Sweepstakes

SpaBoom has made setting up and running a sweepstakes on Facebook super straightforward. We know that growing your Facebook fan base is key to your spa, salon or massage therapy practice's social media management and SpaBoom gives you a super easy way to do it.

Facebook is such a valuable medium because it's built around social communities, a foundation that businesses can use to extend the reach of their brand and engage with fans. The very fact that clients become fans of your Facebook page validates your business to their friends just by interacting with you.

Customer Relationship Management

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) on Facebook is a tool for building community and enhancing your brand. It means monitoring your Facebook page and responding to questions and concerns within a reasonable time-frame. Creating a plan to monitor your Facebook page will reveal those ideal opportunities to engage and support your customers.

Posted in General • 1 Comment »

We've added a series of Events, beginning with Back to School and spanning through Fall Rejuvenation; plus 3 email newsletters to your Marketing campaigns, so please take a peek and tailor them to your exact preferences.

If you use Events and don't make changes, the Events will automatically appear on your website for the range of dates listed.

Event:

• Back to School (Runs 8/16–9/11)
• Seasonal Transitions (Runs 9/12–10/16)
• Fall Rejuvenation (Runs 10/17–11/27)

If you've opted in to our Email Marketing and you don't make changes, they will automatically fly, on the dates below.

Email Newsletters:

• Back to School (launches 8/16/11)
• Seasonal Transitions (launches 9/12/11)
• Fall Rejuvenation (launches 10/17/11)

You have the power to edit any Events and Emails we've created from within your SpaBoom account. Simply go to Marketing, Choose Email Marketing or Events from the list on the left side of your screen and edit away!

Note: We always recommend sending a test Email to yourself, even to multiple email accounts, to ensure it looks exactly how you'd like it to look. This gives you an opportunity to make changes to content, graphics, or even the colors if you like, before your clients see it.

As always, if you have questions about any of this, just give us a call and we'll help you out!

Posted in General, Spa Marketing • 4 Comments »

The Joy of Spa News: The Art of a Cool Summer edition is now ready for you to customize. It is complete as is, but you are always welcome to make it yours by playing with the introduction.

Joy of Spa News: The Art of a Cool Summer will launch over a three day period, August 7th-9th, unless you've opted to change the date it goes out. Be sure to make any changes prior to that date! (And be sure to send yourself a test email after making any edits, and remember that Events that encompass the date on which your email is sent will be included in the email as well.)

Note: The new articles that accompany this edition of the Joy of Spa News will appear magically before it goes out to your clients, even if you can't see them in their entirety when you send yourself a test email. No worries, they'll be in place! We promise!

We highly recommend creating Summer events and cooling, soothing, service packages to accompany this edition of Joy of Spa News. Helping people choose a great spa gift package for the occasion provides them a perfect gift solution while increasing the average amount of the gift certificates — a win win!

Remember, the Joy of Spa News is branded with your spa's logo and when your client clicks to read more, the website is branded with your logo, too!

Not yet signed up to send a beautiful, branded newsletter to your clients on a regular basis? Now is your time to get onboard! Go to Setup, Basics to put Joy of Spa to work for your spa!

Posted in Blogroll, Creating Customers, General, Joy of Spa, Joy of Spa Gift Certificates, Joy of Spa News, Spa Gift Certificates, Spa Marketing • Comment »

Research demonstrates that optimistic feelings induced by mild everyday, positive events, like congratulating a sweepstakes winner, can have a significant influence on social interactions and our overall thought processes.

Often people won't enter a sweepstakes on Facebook because they don't actually think they will win. That's why it's so critical to make sure your spa announces who wins each time you hold a sweepstakes on Facebook.

When your spa announces the sweepstakes winner on Facebook it generates instant engagement and a positive impression of your spa brand. Because winning is a true possibility, the announcement creates a tangible and affirming experience with your spa.

Fans who enter your spa sweepstakes get to see who wins, the winner loves to share their excitement using Facebook’s handy social interface and lastly, it is the perfect medium for friends to congratulate the winner giving your spa incredible social media reach.

We've had tremendous success with the Joy of Spa sweepstakes on Facebook because once the winner is randomly chosen, a Facebook post is generated linking to the winner and congratulating them on their win. The congratulating comments and likes begin to flow in from fans, friends and family creating a wealth of additional exposure for the brand.

Cloud 9 Spa Salon had a very successful Sweepstakes before Mother's Day. When it was all over, they posted the name of the winner and kept the Mother's Day excitement going with another promotion. In the end, Cloud 9 Spa and Salon had 1,346 people register for the sweepstakes. Those registered then invited 4,857 of their friends to become fans of the Cloud 9 Facebook page.

The morning after your sweepstakes ends, the winner will be randomly chosen. If the winner is a friend that was initially invited by someone else, then the person who invited them wins, too. Make sure you are ready to give away up two GCs, as you indicated in your initial Sweepstakes Event setup.

The winner(s) receive an email that contains a referral code that was generated by the Sweepstakes. Here is an example of the Sweepstakes winner email:

The winner simply clicks on the email link to claim their gift. They can use it themselves, or gift it to someone they adore – it's totally up to them. They'll be happy, and you'll have new clients to wow with everything that you offer.

You can monitor the sweepstakes event to see the number of entrants, friends invited and, once it's over, the winners in Events in the left sidebar. Included are links to the winning client(s) and the referral codes sent to them; the referral code detail will show you the value of the referral code and whether or not it's been used.

Setting up and running a sweepstakes on Facebook is super straightforward. We know that growing your Facebook fan base is key to your spa, salon or massage therapy practice's social media management and SpaBoom gives you a super easy way to do that!

Facebook is such a valuable medium because it's built around social communities, a foundation that businesses can use to extend the reach of their brand and engage with fans. The very fact that clients become fans of your Facebook page validates your business to their friends just by interacting with you.

Posted in General, Social Media, Spa Marketing • 2 Comments »

Creating strategic promotions can be tricky. Which type of promotion will deliver more sales, develop new clients, increase brand exposure or the winning combination of all three?

Join us as we discuss three specific promotion types (group deals, daily deals, featured specials) and the secrets of utilizing each one to generate maximum results for your spa or salon.

Reserve your Webinar Seat Now!

Title: Are You Creating Strategic Promotions? — Free Webinar
Date: Wednesday, July 27th, 2011
Time: 1:00 PM — 2:00 PM EDT

Posted in General • Comment »

Groupon's filing to go public has opened up the way their business works for everyone to see. And a lot of people have been looking. The most shocking thing? If Groupon's IPO doesn't work as planned, they don't even have the money to pay merchants that have already run Groupons:

What does that mean? They have $208 million in cash, but owe merchants $290 million.

Meanwhile, as the Wall Street Journal writes, Groupon increasingly has a competitive problem, because bargain hunters are willing to hunt anywhere:

Posted in General • 10 Comments »

What have you shared today?

Using social media to engage with clients and share information, video, new products, a great event or a new blog article is growing exponentially. We know that top spas in the country use SpaBoom's built-in social media tool to take advantage of social sharing and maximize their reach as part of an overall integrated marketing strategy.

According to Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, online sharing is growing at an exponential rate, a record 4 billion shares every day on Facebook.

750 million Facebook users spend more time on the site and each user shares twice as much as they did last year with approximately 2 billion shares per day in 2010 and 4 billion per day in 2011. Does that mean there will be 8 billion shares per day in 2012?

Spas and Salons must think about offering products and services in a social way and in conjunction with their overall marketing strategy. Facebook is the platform for sharing experiences, ideas and suggestions with friends and family. If your spa is not actively participating in that conversation it will be pushed to the margins.

It has never been more critical for businesses to be part of the conversation and that means doing more than using social media as a means to disseminate your latest offer or promotion. You must consistently and effectively communicate value in a way that engages and encourages your clients interact with your spa or salon brand.

Start Sharing Today:

• Create a social media schedule by picking a spa or salon industry topic that you can use to engage with clients each month (not a promotion but a topic).
• Look online for relevant articles, video, images, opinions or your own original blog articles to post to Facebook and Twitter.
• Use SpaBoom to schedule multiple social media posts in advance.
• Next, highlight a treatment or event that will complement your monthly spa or salon topic.
• Ask for feedback and respond to comments in a timely manner.

Congratulations, you have just created the base of a social media strategy for your spa or salon. 

Posted in General, Social Media, Spa Marketing • Comment »

With When Guests Check In, Their iPhones Check Out, the Wall Street Journal picks up on a new packaging/discount trend in travel and leisure:

I can easily see a half-day spa package for digital detoxing… I know I could use it!

Posted in General • Comment »

Flawless Skin Spa is set for growth here in New Mexico. We don’t always get to see spa clients take their first steps with such panache and style but they are doing everything right. Flawless Skin Spa specializes in advanced skincare and they have differentiated themselves with an inspired membership program that rewards loyalty.

Our graphic designers are raving about the Flawless Skin Spa logo because it’s clean and modern, by all measures fitting their business concept perfectly. The logo has the ability to evolve and develop significance as they establish their local brand in the community.

Ernest Hemingway taught us that getting the most from the least multiplies intensity. The contemporary look of the Flawless Skin Spa website exemplifies that ideal. Their strategic use of white space is clean and distinctive, a complement to their modern aesthetic.

The Flawless Skin Spa has launched their social media presence on Facebook and Twitter. This will help them build valuable connections in the local community and will evolve as they see their fan’s reactions to specific content, events and promotions. All their marketing efforts will continue to create a powerful synergy that extends their reach and delivers positive results.

The power infused into a spa brand over time is what gives it value. It’s cumulative, each spa experience, image, marketing communication, employee interaction and news item influences the way consumers think about your spa. You start with a blank slate and build each time you send an email or touch a client; all those collective impressions build in significance and ultimately acquire a representation of your spa brand.

In an increasingly social world it’s no longer just what you communicate that defines your brand, it starts and ends with the experience clients consistently have with your spa. Whether you participate or not consumers are talking about your business, using social media to review and discuss your brand. Make sure you’re part of that conversation by listening, engaging in the online dialog wherever it resides.

Posted in General, Social Media, Spa Marketing • Comment »

Thanks to all of you who attended Seth Gardenswartz's presentation at IECSC Las Vegas.  He discussed the new Credit CARD Act that took effect on August 22nd, 2010, changing the rules (radically, in some states) for gift card and certificate sales in the United States. Despite what you may have heard, it has a profound effect on small businesses who sell gift cards or gift certificates. As Vice-President of Business Development and Corporate Counsel for SpaBoom, his goal was simplify the complex new law and explain how spas and salons can  protect their business.

If you couldn't make it, below is a link to the presentation he prepared, and we are also posting a guide to the CARD Act for small businesses. If you have any questions please feel free to call 800-940-0458 to clarify how we handle legal terms on gift certificates.

Gift Card Law Presentation IECSC Las Vegas 6/19/11 CARD Act [PDF]

Posted in General • Comment »

Did you know there are 3 common mistakes that spas and salons make with their email marketing campaigns that damage their reputation and squash potential relationships?

Join us as we discuss the mistakes and how to increase your email list to achieve success.

Reserve your Webinar Seat Now!

Title: Email Marketing — Success or Failure? — Free Webinar
Date: Wednesday, July 13th, 2011
Time: 1:00 PM — 2:00 PM EDT

Posted in General, Spa Marketing, SpaBoom Webinars • Comment »

 
 
SpaBoom will be closed on Monday, July 4th, this year so that our team can celebrate the holiday with family and friends.

We will reopen with normal support hours at 7 a.m. Mountain on Tuesday, July 5th.

We wish you all a safe, happy, and festive 4th of July!

Team SpaBoom

Posted in General • Comment »

SpaBoom's new email templates were inspired by sophisticated and modern website themes recently created by our talented graphic designers.

The new templates are polished and designed to engage by allowing images to pop while seamlessly anchoring the email content. They also appeal to almost any color palette so they work with both subtle and bold backgrounds. The templates are more integrated, spas and salons can automatically include recent blog posts and relevant offers in the body of the email.

The best part? These new email design templates are also easy to access and set up in your account.

Simple and Big Templates:

Organic and Sleek Templates:

Posted in General, Spa Marketing • 4 Comments »

Reach your spa or salon clients where they are most accessible — their smart phones.

Text messaging is one of the quickest ways to encourage action with your existing client base.

Join us as we explore the best uses of text messaging for your salon or spa business to enhance relationships and fill those last minute appointments.

Text Messaging to Increase the Bottom Line — Free Webinar

Reserve your Webinar Seat Now!

Title: Text Messaging to Increase the Bottom Line — Free Webinar
Date: Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011
Time: 1:00 PM — 2:00 PM EDT

Posted in General, SpaBoom New Features, SpaBoom Webinars • Comment »

KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) is all you need to know about designing a great website. The rest is commentary. It turns out consumers don't care much for animated page flipping or a fade-to-pink musical ode to pampering. If this describes your site, 1995 is on the phone and wants its web design back.

Actually, customers care more about your spa and the services offered than some "cutting-edge" experience that a designer wants to charge $5,000 to build. Most visitors (76%) simply want a website that makes it easy to find the stuff they are looking for like a spa's hours of operation, accurate contact information and valuable features like the ability to purchase Instant Gift Certificates online.

Unfortunately, like a puppy fixated on a squirrel, many businesses are hyper-focused on the visual aesthetics of their website design and spend weeks (months) perseverating on the kerning, background and images on a splash page while the usability gets shoved to the side.

I know what you are going to say; "but spa and salon are visual industries" you cry! "We must feel good about how we look," you plead. Fear not! Below are new spa and salon websites that deliver both, clean navigation with a purpose and beautiful and modern designs that catch the end-users eye and beg for a closer look.

Clear and Simple Navigation

The Cheveux Salon website delivers beautiful images that complement its simple and clean navigation. When a design team manages to mesh all the important components of a business into a website, providing valuable online tools and easy to read content, the end-user tends to linger, peruse and purchase. Salon Cheveux is a great example of a clean, modern design that allows the website to do its job.

Images and White Space

ESSA Salon and Spa's website is an amazing example of eye-catching images and strategic use of white space to make important features shine through. The photo slides catch the eye and draw you into all the amazing hairstyles. The use of white space on the homepage naturally focuses attention on all the important components of the website that should be clearly emphasized. This website is packed with information that the end-user can immediately tap into with a single click. ESSA's Facebook integration is cutting edge and adds an up-to-date social component to the website.

Typography and Background Patterns

The Rommetta Salon website shows how strong typography and background patterns can work in concert to achieve a rich texture design that also manages to effortlessly take the end-user where they need to go. The navigation bar is so easy to see and read but also serves to ground the website design. Rommetta's website is content rich but the large photos manage to create balance without overpowering valuable information about the salon.

A Clearly Defined Brand

The beauty of the VIP Salon and spa website design is how perfectly it expresses VIP's brand identity. This is an award winning, innovative salon and spa that strives to give clients the most amazing experience possible. I wrote a blog post about VIP a while back and was taken then with their desire to make every client feel special. The new website perfectly reflects the sophistication and urban feel that VIP strives to maintain. The limo service featured on the website is the perfect way to start a spa experience at VIP Salon and Spa.

Leverage a Strong Local Presence

Athena Jean Salon and Spa is a successful businesses that has amassed incredible value to their logo, it is a highly identified local business. The goal was to bring balance to their overall website design and also give the spa website clear navigation that makes it simple for consumers to find what they want. Our graphic designer accomplished this brilliantly by pairing balance to the logo with clean navigation, still allowing their strong local brand presence to shine through.

Posted in General, Spa Website Design • Comment »

SpaBoom spas are doing awesome work when it comes to environmental awareness and adapting greener practices in their day to day operations.

Spa Gregorie's, located in Southern Cal (Orange County), with three locations, is one of those spas. They've just been recognized by OC Metro Magazine for their 'daily dedication to green practices.'

No stranger to national recognition for outstanding business performance, Spa Gregorie's, founded by Angela Cortright, is particularly proud of their inclusion in the 25 businesses OC Metro Magazine named as their 2011 Green Team.

Angela Cortright's thoughts on being part of OC Metro Magazine's Green Team, as shared in the June edition of DaySpa Magazine:

As part of their environmentally conscious practices, Spa Gregorie's has used recycled paper and soy ink, and has also donated towels to nonprofit organizations.

Congratulations Spa Gregorie's! Nice work!

Posted in General, Media Coverage, Spa Business Management • 1 Comment »

Consider that 60–93% (depending on who you read) of the United States adult population is on Facebook, and the average user spends more than 11 hours a month on the social network. One out of every eight online minutes is spent on Facebook (according to ComScore). Today, an effective Facebook page is  a critical component to any spa's success.

So you need fans (now "Likes") but how do you get them? Start by asking the question every new potential friend will ask you, "Why should I like you on Facebook?" So I will get 9 posts a day about open appointments, specials and the owner's political views?  With friends like that, who needs telemarketers? Rather than using Facebook like tired old media, invest the time to understand its true potential.  If Don Draper was using Facebook, he would understand that a business page is only effective if it's a place to engage, inspire and enrich the lives of your fans.

So how does a local spa business effectively and efficiently use Facebook to engage with their community of followers? The key is to focus on providing valuable content and exciting promotions that will keep them coming back.

Provide valuable content fans can share.

Facebook has made it very easy to share content online and it’s increasingly becoming the consumer's preferred vehicle for distribution. Make your Facebook page a resource for obtaining the latest information on spa, salon, beauty and health. There is an abundance of this content online so search for it and then post it on your Facebook page (with proper credit of course). Encourage your fans to read, share and comment on the information you provide to them.

If you get inspired to write a spa article based on your expertise, post it to your spa blog and on your spa’s Facebook page. For instance, it’s wedding season so write a short article about hair trends you are seeing or outline a bride’s ideal pre-wedding spa experience. Consistently give them insight and guidance they couldn’t get elsewhere and they will keep coming back.

Encourage fans to comment on Facebook posts.

Studies show that simply asking for comments up front will increase the number you receive. Make sure you follow up on all the comments that your loyal fans post on your spas Facebook page.

Powerful promotions increase fans and revenue

Promoting a sweepstakes on Facebook isn’t for big companies any more! SpaBoom’s new marketing feature makes it super easy for spas to deliver a sweepstakes promotion on Facebook.

The goal of sweepstakes is to increase your followers but it has a side benefit of collecting email addresses. Recently Cloud 9 Salon and Spa doubled their Facebook fans using the sweepstakes marketing tool we created for our spas.

Focus on your spas local brand.

Yes, Facebook now has 700 million users worldwide but you are a local spa and most of your followers live in your community. It is the connection you have with your clients that will ensure that your online engagement thrives. Your Facebook page is an extension of your day spa or salon, not a substitute for the experience they want to have in your business.

How dialed in are you to your local community? Do they know and love your spa? Is your business committed to giving back locally? The strength of your local brand has a direct impact on your ability to find success on Facebook. Make sure you respond to all the comments on your Facebook page quickly and remember to say thank you. It will go along way in getting your community tuned into your online message.

It is all about building connections with your online and offline community that will build success long term.

Posted in General, Social Media • 4 Comments »