Holiday Promotion Brief

Holiday Promotion Brief:

• Background (situation Analysis).
• Target Audience.
• Measurable sales goal.
• Strategy.
• Tactics.
• Budget.

If you are like other small businesses out there your holiday budget may be getting squeezed. Savvy spas can benefit from their ability to adapt advertising plans to make the most of every dollar this holiday.

Take full advantage of the free SpaBoom email and newsletter marketing services, and be sure to check out our blog, to gather advertising ideas to make this holiday successful for your spa. Additionally, SpaBoom offers free POP downloads to highlight in-store holiday promotions. These all represent zero-cost resources already at your disposal!

Spa clients will be looking for ways to save this holiday. Stand out by developing an email offer for your best customers. It could be a spa treatment promotion that includes product or it could be associated with a holiday event. It is also easy to email clients and provide an incentive for booking treatments during slow periods. This creates a benefit for flexible clients and helps your bottom line.

Make sure you know how much your holiday promotions are costing you this year. It will give you the power to control expenditures and serve as a spending guide for 2009.

In this challenging economy ingenuity and tenacity will take your business further than advertising dollars. There are opportunities in this dynamic marketplace and the winners will enjoy rewards in seeing an opportunity and putting their own creativity, sweat and muscle behind them.

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Holiday Promotion Brief:

• Background (situation Analysis).
• Target Audience.
• Measurable sales goal.
• Strategy.
• Tactics.
• Budget.

Once a holiday promotions strategy is developed it is important to convert that strategy into implementable tactics or steps.

These tactics should be specialized, employed to carry out a specific strategy in an organized fashion. Some of these tactics will naturally come to life, an intuitive process born of the strategy conceived. Others will require a methodical approach to crank out.

Think about the 4 P's: Product, Price, Promotion and place (spa). Take each piece and think about what you need to execute the product, price, promotion and spa location components of the promotion.

Timing is important — it defines the nature of the promotion and its time limitations. Incorporating, “For a Limited Time Only” in any promotional offer should compel the consumer to take advantage of the valuable offer immediately. It is the fun and nature of promotion.

Timing is also very important in advertising when you are considering the lead-time for each element of the holiday promotion. If you plan to incorporate email communications to existing customers, make sure your email address list is ready. Then add as many addresses as you can before you send out your first email.

Using the SpaBoom email marketing tool is easy. You can write your copy for the email message and add it to the scheduler right now, today. All email communications can be ready to send out well before the holiday.

We wish you all the success this holiday season. It’s been a rough summer, I think just about everyone could use a spa day this holiday!

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Holiday Promotion Brief:

• Background (situation Analysis).
• Target Audience.
• Measurable sales goal.
• Strategy.
  
• Tactics.
• Budget.

Developing a promotions strategy provides an outline of what will be communicated to target customers and how it will be communicated.

A promotions strategy is a plan of action developed to meet specific quantitative and qualitative objectives. It defines the process that will be implemented to meet a specific set of objectives.

The holiday promotion may involve developing a specific product/service package that provides value to the consumer and compels them to act and make a reservation. In this case you want to define the package, the "call to action" and then determine the appropriate method of communication to reach consumers with the offer.

There are a variety of advertising methods that can be used to reach target customers:

• Email marketing.
• Holiday Newsletter.
• Direct Mail.
• In-store promotion display.
• Traditional advertising, media.
• Public relations.

Developing a promotions strategy for the holiday will create a plan of action to meet set objectives and define a clear message to the consumer.

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Let me be upfront right now. There is a reason I majored in marketing in college and not accounting. I just don’t have the patience for all those formulas that give you a sense of a business's bottom line. I know it is important but it lacks the excitement of my side of the business equation. That said, when it comes to advertising and holiday promotions I love to measure everything. It’s fun and there is nothing better than seeing a direct revenue jump from a planned holiday promotion that exceeds expectations. It just gives you a warm holiday feeling inside.

Your ability to measure your success based on original objectives also creates a benchmark for the future. If the promotion is successful, look for ways to improve and expand your holiday promotion next year and increase your budget accordingly. It will give you the confidence to build and grow your advertising plans.

Holiday Promotion Brief:

• Background (situation Analysis).
• Target Audience.
• Measurable sales goal.
• Strategy.
• Tactics.
• Budget.

Hit the mark this year by knowing what you want from your promotion before you put it in motion. The objective is to increase sales/margins over a particular time period based on previous years. It is a projection, a forecast and serves to guide future marketing investments.

It is critical to know how much your promotion costs, so add up all the expenses associated with the promotion. It is also important to try to identify the sales that result from the promotion over a specific time period. A concrete ROI (return on investment) will make your accountant sing.

Beyond quantitative there are the qualitative objectives that you hope to reach through your holiday promotion. Here are some favorites; you can add your own.

• Build awareness of your spa business and the services offered.
• Boost target customer traffic to your spa and business website.
• Increase the number of new customers utilizing your services.
• Encourage existing customer loyalty.

By understanding exactly what you want before you launch your holiday promotion you will be ready to meet success head on.

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I hover at the mailbox during the holiday because I love the catalogs I receive in the mail. I haul them in the house and go through them one by one, amazed at all the wonderful items that seem to fit my needs like a glove. After the glow fades, and the shame of my environmental blunder creeps into my brain, I reassess. Of course these catalogs are tailored to my particular consumer needs, I am their target audience and they have successfully reached me. I am hooked.

Anytime you plan to advertise your spa for the holiday you must consider your target audience. These are the people who most likely fit your customer profile. When you develop a holiday promotion you want to make sure it appeals to your target audience.

Companies conduct complex and in-depth market analysis to determine their target audience. You can perform a less formal market analysis by asking some basic questions.

Holiday Promotion Brief:

• Background (situation Analysis).
• Target Audience.
• Measurable sales goal.
• Strategy.
• Tactics.
• Budget.

Target Audience Questions:

• Who are your spa/salon customers now?
• Age
• Income
• Male/female?
• Where do they live?
• Do they come to the spa/salon from home or work?
• Do you get vacation traffic into the salon?
• Are your existing customers loyal and do they keep coming back?
• What keeps them coming back?

Knowing and understanding your target audience is critical to your business’s success. There are so many variables that can influence who will walk into your spa. Understanding those variables and looking for ways to optimize your business based on them can give your spa an edge. At the end of the day customers create your success. The better you understand them the easier you make it for them to use your spa services.

Posted in Holiday Promotion Brief, Creating Customers, General • 2 Comments »

In Spa's best holiday ever — Part 3, I espoused the benefits of developing an advertising brief to help organize and frame your holiday promotions. Companies large and small use this tool to keep their focus where it needs to be especially when things get hectic.

Let’s talk about the first component of a Brief, the Background or Situation Analysis. It is valuable to take some time to think about where you stand and where you want to go for the holidays.

Holiday Promotion Brief:

• Background (situation Analysis).
• Target Audience.
• Measurable sales goal.
• Strategy.
• Tactics.
• Budget.

Background (Situation Analysis):

This is an opportunity to describe your spa business as it is today. This is time well spent because a “this is where we are” statement creates a benchmark for future improvements.

• Describe your spa's services and products.
• Explain the spa's current holiday challenges and opportunities:
• Holiday Promotion Challenges:
• Getting the spa's message through the holiday clutter to reach target customers.
• Manpower/time restrictions in developing and executing a spa holiday promotion.
• The current economy.
• Holiday Promotion Opportunities:
  • A spa's existing customers are the best customers.
  • Take advantage of opportunities to get your spa's holiday message to existing customers starting right now.
  • 50% of gift buyers wait until the last 48 hours to purchase their gifts. Your spa sells gift certificates on-line; this is a huge opportunity for last minute gift purchases.
  • More than ever consumers will be shopping online this holiday.
  • SpaBoom online gift certificates benefits:
  • No shipping costs for instant spa gift certificates.
  • Gift certificates can go directly to the recipient.
  • No Shipping deadlines, consumers can purchase gifts on Christmas Day!
  • Don't have to get in your car to purchase a gift.
  • Buy a gift certificate 24/7 and on Christmas Day.
  • It is never too late to buy an instant gift certificate.

In the next blog post we will be talking about understanding a target audience and how spas can take advantage of relationships with existing customers to increase sales over the holidays.

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