Spa Marketing

We are so excited that many of you could join us as Janell went over 3 common mistakes that spas and salons make with their email marketing campaigns. These mistakes could damage reputations and squash potential relationships! We discussed the mistakes and how to increase your email list to achieve success.

If you missed all the fun, just view and download our webinar files and catch up on your own schedule – but do it soon and capture some hot summer interest.

Watch the Video: Email Marketing Success or Failure

Download and follow along with our presentation [PDF]

Posted in Spa Business Management, Spa Marketing, SpaBoom Webinars • Comment »

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 »

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 »

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'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 »

Variety is the spice of life. Your spa is unique, so you should have choices in email templates. To give you more selection, our graphic team has delivered a batch of fresh, new email designs to give you an edge. The new designs  highlight your message, include current offers and blog posts to engage your readers and give your spa a polished look. The new templates are clean and sophisticated, perfect for showcasing your brand with a design that fits your aesthetic.

Like all SpaBoom emails, they can be automatically generated and sent with your existing offers and promotions or be as customized as you like. All the email templates are professionally designed and included as part of the overall cross-channel marketing integration features we offer SpaBoom clients.

To access these new email designs simply select which email design you'd like to use the next time you create an email campaign, or choose the default which will be used for all of your future emails in the Marketing tab under Marketing Settings. We recommend you choose the design that you love and stick with it – consistency for your clients is a great thing. Here's what the setting looks like:

When you change your settings in Marketing, ALL of your upcoming campaigns will acquire the new look – so your message and branding are consistent, with just one easy step!

So that you can see the subtle variations between all four new designs, here they are as seen from an email client (the iPad, actually), using the same content for each, and labeled with their names:

ORGANIC DESIGN

SIMPLE DESIGN

SLEEK DESIGN

BIG DESIGN

Posted in Spa Marketing, SpaBoom New Features, Tutorials • 2 Comments »

You might have missed your chance to take in the webinar about secrets that helped local spas and salons execute successful online promotions and drive more sales than they ever imagined.

Seth and Janell used three wildly successful promotions as examples – what made them blockbusters and how you can easily implement similar programs in your spa or salon.

If you missed all the fun, just view and download our webinar files and catch up on your own schedule.

Watch the Video: Three Successful Promotions with Big Results

Download and follow along with our presentation [PDF]

Posted in Creating Customers, Group Deals, Social Media, Spa Marketing, SpaFinder • 2 Comments »

Everything you need to know in 2 ½ minutes

SpaBoom's Client Services group enjoys nothing more than walking our clients through various features so they can get the absolute most out of SpaBoom. A great call is one that ends in a client saying, "Thanks! I've got it! I'm all set and ready to promote that new service. Appreciate your help!"

We also work hard on our Help files, so you can find what you need there, too. We want you to have not only access to tools that help you effectively market your business online, but also guidance to use those tools to their fullest.

Now we're creating Video Tutorials for those of us who like being walked through a feature, regardless of whether we're at our desk at work or at home late at night in our 'jammies preparing for the next day!

Our first video, Sweepstakes on Facebook for Spas, takes you through the super straightforward steps in setting up a Sweepstakes for your spa, salon or massage therapy practice in just 2 ½ minutes.

We've also added a complete description of Spa Sweepstakes for Facebook on the SpaBoom website, complete with this video, for your reference.

Give the video a watch, and tell us what you think! We're producing more as we speak, and will let you know as they're ready for prime time.

Posted in Social Media, Spa Marketing, Spa Technology, SpaBoom New Features • 7 Comments »

You might have missed your chance to take in the full personality and sparkle of our webinar on Wednesday with Seth and Janell, but you can still take advantage of all the marketing features in your arsenal to build repeat clientele and make sales sizzle, even in the lull of summer — just view and download our webinar files and catch up on your own schedule.

Janell and Seth reveal how to leverage promotional opportunities with a marketing strategy designed to keep your spa busy and double your sales this summer.

Watch the Video: Double Your Summer

Download and follow along with our presentation [PDF]

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

Today YouTube celebrates their 6th birthday and an impressive milestone: 3 billion views per day, a 50% increase over last year.

Online video has become an integral source of information for the online consumer and a valuable marketing and SEO tool for businesses including local spas.

Businesses are using video to educate and provide service demonstrations, which can increase conversions and take relevance to the next level with information that written content can't convey.

The visual experience of seeing spa services in action can put potential clients at ease and ultimately seal the deal. According to Google, 52% of people took action as a result of watching video online.

Video testimonials are a valuable way for online consumers to see satisfied spa clients; their enthusiasm becomes an infectious incentive that can lead to increased sales. First hand experience goes a long way in encouraging online viewers to book an appointment and ultimately step into your spa.

Given this explosive growth, SpaBoom's goal is to make it easy for spas to use video on their website. We have created a new dynamic website theme that incorporates video indexed by Google and gives your website an advantage in local SEO over time.

Posted in General, Spa Marketing, Spa Search Engine Optimization (SEO) • 3 Comments »

The Joy of Spa News: Wedding 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: Wedding Edition will launch over a three day period, June 5-7th, 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.)

We highly recommend creating Wedding and Bridal Events and 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 General, Joy of Spa News, Spa Gift Certificates, Spa Marketing • 5 Comments »

Now is your chance to take full advantage of all the marketing features in your arsenal to build repeat clientele and make sales sizzle, even in the lull of summer.

Join us as we reveal how to leverage promotional opportunities with a marketing strategy designed to keep your spa busy and double your sales this summer.

Double Your Summer — Free Webinar

Reserve your Webinar Seat Now!

Title: Double your Summer — Free Webinar
Date: Wednesday, May 25th , 2011
Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EDT

Posted in Creating Customers, General, Spa Marketing, SpaBoom Webinars • 2 Comments »

We'll be at the upcoming IECSC Las Vegas, so come by, catch up with our team and let us show you our newest features! We will be at booth number 1459.

Our very own Seth Gardenswartz will be speaking at IECSC, Las Vegas so make sure you take this opportunity to learn more about the New Gift Law and how it affects your spa.

How the New Gift Law Affects Your Spa
Sunday, June 19, 2:45pm-3:45pm

Celebrating its 20th year, IECSC Las Vegas is the largest spa conference and exposition in the U.S. With a leading conference program and dynamic trade show floor, you'll have the opportunity to purchase products, see the latest trends and learn the newest techniques emerging in the spa and medical spa industries.

Your $37 Daily Admission ticket to IECSC Las Vegas includes:

• 600+ Exhibitors on the Tradeshow Floor
• 100+ FREE Manufacturer Education classes
• FREE admission to the Spa Business Conference
• Admission to the International Beauty Show — Las Vegas

SPECIAL TICKET OFFER:

Register by May 23 for $37 Daily Admission. Visit IECSC Las Vegas or call 800.498.6984.

Posted in General, Spa Marketing • Comment »

Google has scoured our streets with specially outfitted cars to create Street View, which lets prospective clients see the outside of your spa without ever getting in their own cars. That, however, is not good enough and now Google wants people to be able to peek inside your business. In the competition with Yelp and all the other local-focused sites, it makes a lot of sense. And it's a project with the kind of scale that is difficult for but a few like Google to take on. Google is hiring photographers to go inside your spa and take photos just for Google Places.

They're starting with businesses in:

• Orange County, CA
• Pheonix, AZ
• Bay Area, CA
• San Antonio, TX
• St. Petersburg, FL

That doesn't mean you can't throw your hat in the ring if you're not in one of the initial chosen locales — Google will be using requests to help pick where they go next. You can find out more here and request online that Google come photograph your spa.

Well filled out profiles is one of the factors that Google uses for rankings, and this is just another way to make your spa look better in Google Places. Check out their Wallace & Gromit inspired promotional video below:

Posted in Spa Marketing, Spa Search Engine Optimization (SEO) • 2 Comments »

Many spas have taken the time to create a Facebook page for their business. But did you know you can personalize it with a custom web address, commonly referred to as a vanity URL?

Taking time to create your Facebook vanity URL is worth the effort. It will help the SEO value of your website and make it easier for consumers to find your business on Facebook or Google. A URL with your name rather than a jumble of letters also creates a more professional Facebook page and gives your customers a familiar address that ties in seamlessly to your spa.

Bella Santé Spas have locations in Boston, Lexington and Wellesely, Ma. They are a great example of a day spa business that has taken advantage of the opportunity to create a Facebook vanity URL.

Their Facebook URL is: http://www.facebook.com/bellasante, and it's super easy to search for them on Facebook. If you type in Bella Sante Spa they show up immediately.

When I do a Google search for Bella Sante Spas, their Facebook vanity URL shows up in the search results:

To create a Facebook vanity URL for your spa's business page you must first choose a username for the page associated with your spa's business and have at least 25 fans. Make sure you choose your spa's business name so it is easy for consumers to find you on Facebook and will show up in organic search results.

Click here to get started!

Posted in General, Social Media, Spa Marketing, Spa Search Engine Optimization (SEO) • Comment »

We've added a series of Events, beginning with Graduation and spanning through Summer; plus five email 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.

As a reminder, the email campaigns are now segmented by spa and salon type to include: Day Spa, Salon and Spa, Massage Therapist, Medical Spa and Aesthetician. It means the emails are now tailored for your business with more exacting language, allowing you to utilize default emails that are specific to your target client type. In addition, we have created both relational and transactional emails for you to send to your client list.

Please go and review – and test – the new event campaigns, making sure they look great and have your own look and feel. You can still tailor the message to fit your specific needs. If you have a special promotion that you would like to add, now is the time to do it!

Events and Email Campaigns:

• Graduates Prefer Spa (transactional email) 5/15/11
• Celebrate Graduation with an Instant Spa Gift Event: 5/15/11 – 5/30/11
• Wedding Stress Demands a Spa Intervention (relational email) 5/31/11
• Wedding Stress Demands a Spa Intervention Event: 5/31/11 – 6/11/11
• Give Dad Spa Instantly (transactional email) 6/12/11
• Give Dad Spa Instantly Event: 6/12/11 – 6/19/11
• Give the Couple an Instant Gift of Spa (transactional email) 6/20/11
• Wedding Bliss Starts with Spa Event: 6/20/11 – 7/10/11
• Enhance Your Healthy Summer Glow with Spa (Relational email) 7/11/11
• Maintain Your Healthy Summer Glow Event: 7/11/11 – 8/01/11

Posted in Spa Business Management, Spa Gift Certificates, Spa Marketing, Spa Technology • Comment »

BoomTime Sweepstakes for Facebook, of course!

Now that social media has become a key component of online marketing campaigns, you're asking us at every turn how to grow your Facbook fan base. We hear it during webinars, in emails, via phone calls to our team – you're focusing on the right thing and we can help you out!

First a follow-up on my last post, where we were running a Sweepstakes for Joy of Spa. We ended up with 208 entries, and 962 fan invites. The person who won hadn't been invited, just entered the Sweepstakes on her own, so we ended up giving away one $100 Joy of Spa Gift Certificate. Had she been invited, the person who invited her would have also won, and we'd have given away two.

SpaBoom clients who have run Sweepstakes have all grown their fan bases. The Wellness Spa in Kelowna, BC went from 38 to 84 fans. Bodyworks Massage in Vernon, CT, went from 34 to 82. Spa Constantine in Downers Grove, IL, whose Sweepstakes ends later today, has gone from 439 to 529, and with luck will increase by a magic 100 before it's all over.

Relative increases differ, of course, based on your beginning fan base number. Doubling is awesome, particularly when you're just beginning to build it. Increasing by 25% is also great, especially when your beginning number is much higher.

How to encourage people to enter your Sweepstakes

Ask yourself what your most popular service is at the moment. Then offer that up, maybe with a small lovely add on, like a massage oil takeaway, or a neck massage with a salon service, or something that sweetens what you know is a well-loved service already.

Really, it's always ok to just ask yourself, 'What would make me enter a sweepstakes?', then trust your gut reaction. You already know what works!

Since you'll want to run a series of Sweepstakes to continue to grow your Facebook fan base over time, pay close attention to what's popular at any given moment and use that to design subsequent Sweepstakes offers. Being current really matters, and really works, and the good news is you'll always know exactly what's making your spa, salon or massage therapy clientele happy at any given point, so there's no guessing involved.

Not that we're against guessing, but you can save a lot of time and energy using what's already working, right?

Posted in General, Social Media, Spa Marketing, SpaBoom New Features • 15 Comments »

Thank you if you joined us today as we gave you the winning Mother's Day strategy to maximize revenue and swoop-in to capture the flurry of last minute online Instant Gift Certificate sales. We hope it was a fabulous webinar full of useful information for your business strategy. If you could NOT make it, don't despair – we have love to go around, in the form of video and slideshow.

You won't hear the Q & A at the end, but feel free to call us and one of our folks can handle your questions from the nuts and bolts to "I am not a client yet but want to be". We love those calls! (It is 800-940-0458, if you've forgotten.)

Watch the Video: Increase Your Mother's Day Sales in 2011

Download and follow along with our presentation [PDF]

Posted in Spa Business Management, Spa Marketing, SpaBoom New Features, SpaBoom Webinars • 1 Comment »

And the cool thing is, they're really easy to run! I know this because I set one up for Joy of Spa just last week, and it took less than 10 minutes… for my very first time!

Why you want to run Sweepstakes

Growing a FaceBook fan base is key to a thriving social media campaign, and we really encourage you to work to nurture your social media marketing. After all, it's where a lot of your audience is spending free time, and you need to engage them while they're out there.

You should see a bump in your fans with each sweepstakes. Adjusting your offer from Sweepstakes to Sweepstakes will help you figure out just what triggers your FaceBook audience to join so you can enjoy bigger and bigger increases in your fan base over time.

You can monitor the progress of each Sweepstakes as it's running by going back into Events and clicking on the Sweepstakes currently underway, and at the end the winners' names will also appear on the Sweepstakes record. As of this post, 170 of our fans have entered the Joy of Spa Spring Refresh Sweepstakes, and those entrants have invited 813 friends to join.

How much should you give away?

Offering up a giveaway that will cover a full treatment for spa, salon care, or massage therapy is where you should start. What does that look like for you? A range of between $75 and $100 is what we're seeing our businesses use as they begin adopting Sweepstakes, but the amount is entirely up to you.

We chose to give away a $100 Joy of Spa Gift Certificate this time, and if the winner was invited by another person who entered the Sweepstakes, the person who invited also wins, so in essence we could be giving away 2-$100 Joy of Spa Gift Certificates at the end of the contest.

How hard is it to set up?

If you can set up an Event in SpaBoom, you can set up a Sweepstakes. In fact, Sweepstakes are a type of Event.

You'll need to choose an image to accompany the Sweepstakes, use the Event content field to describe the Sweepstakes compellingly (after all, you want people to participate!), and then you can even send an Email out to your clients letting them know you're running a Sweepstakes.

The new "Add Email" task in Events makes it super easy to create an email campaign, and by default uses the copy you wrote to describe the Sweepstakes in the event, which you can add on to if you wish, or simply let fly verbatim.

Any additional Events you have running can be included in the email, too, so you have an additional opportunity to promote Events underway while you're announcing your current Sweepstakes.

Who gets to use BoomTime Sweepstakes for FaceBook?

If you currently have the SpaBoom Marketing Suite (all Spaboom Dynamic Websites are automatically included), then follow our simple steps to run Sweepstakes.

If you are currently an Instant Gift Certificates client, you will need to upgrade to the SpaBoom Marketing Suite to activate your Sweepstakes functionality. It's easy, and risk-free. Send us an or call us at 800.940.0458. We're here to help!

Posted in General, Social Media, Spa Gift Certificates, Spa Marketing, SpaBoom New Features • 3 Comments »

In 2010, SpaBoomers sold a record $4.35 million for Mother's Day and days spas are on track to surpass that record this year. Our average day spa increased online sales 12%, with just under $2,500 in sales and the top 10 sellers averaged over $37,000.

SpaBoom works closely with our top sellers and we know exactly what they do to crash through sales records each and every Mother's Day.

Join us as we give you the winning Mother's Day strategy to maximize revenue and swoop-in to capture the flurry of last minute online Instant Gift Certificate sales.

Reserve your Webinar Seat Now!

Title: Increase Mother's Day Sales 12% or More – Free Webinar
Date: Wednesday, April 6th , 2011
Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EDT

Posted in General, Spa Marketing • 1 Comment »