Spa Marketing

I nearly let out a holler when I realized that, as of tomorrow, the holiday season officially begins.

To help kick off the festivities to your clients, we've just uploaded a whole new set of Email Marketing campaigns and Events to highlight the season and entice your customers into the giving spirit.

The first holiday giving Email Campaign starts on 11/13, while the first seasonal Event shows up on 11/3. Here's all you do to take full advantage:

• Go to Setup, Events and click on "Give Thanks With an Instant Gift Certificate!" and select a couple of services that make fantastic gifts for holiday hosts and hostesses, family, and friends. This is the most important step!
• If you'd like to change your email campaign, go to Setup, Email Marketing and click on "Give Thanks with a Gift of Pampering". Your services that you've selected above will automatically be added to your email. Use "Send Test Email" to see exactly what it looks like. Adjust the colors to your liking, and see the changes on the bottom of your screen.
• Go to Setup, Instant POP and print out a mini-poster to promote Instant GCs in your retail location.

If you want to customize your marketing for the next couple of months, you can — we've already set up a few Holiday items in Events, Email Marketing and Instant POP, so go to it!

Here's a list of the promotions we've set up (even into 2008):

Events

Give Thanks With an Instant Gift Certificate!, launch date 11/3/07
Perfect Holiday Gift Choice!, launch date 11/22/07
New Year Cheer with Instant Gift Certificates!, launch date 12/27/07
Help Cupid Shoot His Arrow!, launch date 1/14/07

Email Newsletters

Give Thanks with a Gift of Pampering, launch date 11/14/07
The Gift of Holiday Present, launch date 11/23/07
Last Minute Holiday Gifts, launch date 12/20/07
Happy New Year!, launch date 12/27/07

Instant POP

Holidays
Holiday Gift
Happy New Year

As always, we value your feedback. Let us know how we can help your spa sell more!

Posted in Spa Marketing • 8 Comments »

I'm so frustrated. I can't believe all the spa and salon owners I come across, who simply fail to appreciate, understand or execute on what I believe are absolute "no brainers," to making more money and becoming more successful.

Let me tell you a bit about my background. I'm one of the few that "made it" in this industry. I started my own spa and salon from scratch, making it a Salon Today "Top 200 Salon" two years in a row, and eventually sold it for a tidy profit three years ago. That salon and spa still exists, and is doing well. It is Anna Luis Salon and Day Spa in Michigan. Since then, I've been a consultant working on startup and turnaround spas and salons all across the nation. I work hard to help these owners realize their dreams: Opening and maintaining a healthy and growing business.

My clients, like the clients of other consultants in this industry, have a leg up on their competition: They made the difficult decision of hiring a consultant. They realize that engaging an expert provides valuable input, a second pair of eyes, and raises difficult questions that ultimately have one goal in mind: Success.

There are scores of spa and salon owners who are having trouble staying out of the red, bringing in business, keeping their employees, maintaining outstanding service levels, etc, yet steadfastly refuse to hire a consultant. Worse, they refuse to implement what I believe are absolute no brainers. Over the rest of this year, I'm going to post a number of no-brainers. These no brainers are easy, inexpensive and absolutely critical to your success.

No Brainer #1: Get a Professional Logo.

How do you feel, when you try to do business with someone with a crappy logo? Did you have low expectations about that company? Did it leave you feeling a bit anxious about their product or service?

Every business needs a professional logo to help the customer feel comfortable and identify the promise of the goods or services they are about to receive. Professional means that it doesn't look like a photograph, business card or plain text. It must exemplify and promote your brand (i.e. The promise you want to make to everyone about what they will experience when they do business with you). It must be easy to recognize and read at any size (large or small).

For an experiment, go to Spa Emergency and type in your zip code or metro area. Quickly scan the logos. What catches your eye? What looks the most professional? Now search for "Michigan," and scan that list. Notice the logo for Grande Med Spa (one of my clients)? How does that logo look in comparison to the competition?

The Grande Med Spa logo highlights several important issues:

• It's professional and stands out amongst the rest.
• We know they are targeting men and women.
• We know it's a medical spa.
• We feel comfortable that it's a quality establishment (i.e. It forms a high expectation of the potential experience).

By the way for you SpaBoomers: The Grande Med Spa logo also takes advantage of SpaBoom's "transparent" logo capability, which allows the logo to "float" above the background image. This makes for really beautiful gift certificates. Check out SpaBoom's help for logos, for more information.

I really recommend spending the money to hire a spa consultant (who understands branding concepts) to come up with a logo for you (Of course, I'm biased on this ). If you're the "hands-on" type and REALLY have some creative, artistic skills; then I'd suggest checking out Logo Maker. You build it yourself and spend approximately $40. Word of caution: Make sure you get at least five of your friends to review and give you a thumbs up before etching your new logo in glass!

Some additional tips to consider when coming up with a logo include:

• Build it to last - It should never have to be redesigned.
• Don't make a photograph your logo - Make sure it looks good in black-and-white (i.e. newspaper advertisement), and can be reduced in size to look great on a business card.
• Make sure it can be adapted to work on other products, marketing and sales collateral.
• It must work with your overall marketing strategy.
• Use a combination of your company name and emblem.

It's been said before, but this is one proverb that bears repeating: You never get a second chance to make a first impression. If you don't have a logo, or you have a crappy logo, make this your top priority. It's a no brainer.

With almost 10 years experience in new business start-ups and transformations, Ana Loiselle-Donahue is a specialist in finding new sources of revenue and growth for companies of all sizes. She founded theSECRET in 2004 to help businesses flourish through creative —and powerful —new solutions; including brand development, strategic financial planning and employee training. Mrs. Loiselle-Donahue can be reached at 866/288-7353 or at www.thesecretconsultant.com.

Posted in the SECRET, Spa Marketing, Spa Business Management, General • 7 Comments »

Or, Where Form and Function Meet on Your Website

Spas and salons adopt the current feeling of their industry as a matter of course. You probably wouldn't choose to decorate with a retro interior if your audience clearly preferred a warmer and more nurturing look and feel–earth tones, sage green and lots of creamy colors would likely be your pick. Many of you have moved to more botanical-based products and away from the traditional higher-tech but less natural products of yore. Some of you have even ventured further into the organic realm, and offer only products that meet that standard.

You're sensitive to the needs of your clientele, and you adjust. You hone your professional skills with classes designed to update on new techniques and products, and as a result you stay ahead of clients' expectations. After all, you want to give them what they want, while practicing the arts of bodywork, esthetics and haircare with expertise and professionalism. The environments you've created reflect your passion and your hard-won knowledge of how best to relax and treat your lucky clients.

Your website should do the same.

Your style should extend to your website. I know, I know, we're always telling you about usability and conversion (of visitors to appointments or Instant GC buyers–and that's a constant), so you're probably a little skittish when it comes to extending your unique, and yes differentiating style, to your website. But this is where form and function can meet, and nicely coexist.

If you're using one of our Dynamic Websites you've already heard about how we've designed our sites to be customizable from a content, color palette and graphics standpoint, and how easy they are to update. We make sure the fundamentals are designed in for you, minimizing the effort you need to expend when you choose a new site.

If you're using an existing website that you've had created elsewhere, don't worry, but do consider some things.

First, be sure you keep your content fresh. If this means adding a new paragraph to your home page and shipping it over to your web master on a monthly basis, go ahead and make it part of your routine. Content needs to be fresh to be interesting to keep your clients coming back for more about you.

Second, consider changing out graphics on occasion. Have you updated your spa or salon look and feel lately? Maybe changed the color palette or brought in new furniture or a new product line? Be sure pictures of your changes show up on your website. People like pictures–they paint a thousand words about how you're working with your business.

Third, and admittedly I've repeated this tons of times during the last few years but here we go again, decide what makes you different and show that on your website. If it's a unique theme to bodywraps or massage style, a special product line that speaks to your overall esthetic philosophy, or a preference for a particular haircutting technique, be certain you've shown that on your site.

You need to stand out from the rest of the sites out there to be noticed anymore. Bamboo is beautiful, pictures of water are relaxing, photos of people receiving massages are nice, and while they convey the overall intended relaxing, nurturing experience, they're rather generic and may not tell what YOU do, and do so well.

It's possible to mix form and function, so get with it, take a look at your website as an outsider would (yes, we like you to play the role of the visitor, don't we?) and determine if it's serving your business best. If it's not, it may be time to adjust its look and feel to best reflect what you do better or differently than anyone else out there.

Posted in Spa Marketing • 2 Comments »

Can you feel it?

When I was a child — shamelessly naive to the worries of being a homeowner — I delighted in the calm before the storm. The sky looked different. The wind still. Animals nervous. There seemed to be electricity in the air.

Today, I have that same feeling. It's hard to shake. At SpaBoom, this time of year is typically slow for new spa sign-ups of our Instant Gift Certificate functionality. We use this time as an excuse to work hard on initiatives that will increase our customer base, as well as help our clients become more effective at selling gift certificates. Well, we're finishing up on a number of very exciting initiatives and will start making a number of significant announcements shortly. It's very exciting, and I truly feel like we at SpaBoom are in the calm before the storm.

For our spa and salon clients, you have approximately three months before the holidays are upon us. The calm before the storm. What you do — right now this very moment — will dictate the intensity of that storm. The results are so significant, so predictable; it's stunning. The key is to start early, and not wait until the holidays are already upon you. What do you need to do? Read our Spa Marketing Guide. It has everything you need.

Posted in Spa Marketing, General • 1 Comment »

Email marketing can be powerful stuff for your spa. It's no cost marketing for SpaBoomers to the very people most important to you: your clients and prospective clients that have asked for you to talk to them.

That power comes from email marketing being permission based. To begin, you should confirm that everyone that is on your client list is appropriately marked as a "yea" or a "nay" on the "Send Email Marketing?" checkbox. Make sure your list is updated, and you'll know that those who receive your marketing emails are only the people who are already receptive to communications from your business.

Second, even if you have sent out your own Email Marketing campaigns before, you'll need to go into the Settings and adjust all of the colors to make them your own.

Some default marketing colors are shown on the screen (which could differ from those below):

…but they are just there to demonstrate a basic color palette. Until you adjust each of the five colors and save them, you will get the system's default colors and they might not be what you are expecting, which brings us to the final, crucial tip:

Use the "Send Test Email" link early and often as you craft the message. You might find that the colors need more tweaking, or the text could be refined.

Once everything looks great, you'll be ready to send off to your list of clients with confidence!

[As to what happens after you send the email, see our other post about email delivery.]

Posted in Creating Customers, Tutorials, Spa Marketing • Comment »

While doing some research I came across a promotional video from a spa company that sells franchises. The information they provided was solid and in alignment with what I had read in other materials. They stated that 17% of Americans received massages in 2004, which means the industry performed 117 million massages in 2004, and the day spa segment generated approximately $6 billion in sales. They also stated that Spa goers want: the ability to make appointments in the spur of the moment, Spa locations to be in high traffic central areas (preferably near other stores), and reasonable prices. This got me thinking about Spa customers and what it is that they really, really want from a Spa visit.

According to the most recent statistics published by the International Spa Association (ISPA) in 2006 we had; 13,757 Spas throughout the USA, with 131 million spa visits in 2005, and $9.7 billion in revenue generated by the Spa industry. These numbers simply continue to prove that the Day Spa Industry is growing and that we will continue to see new day spas opening near us. It also made me wonder about the level of services that is being provided. In a recent article published by The New York Times, what most consumers complained about was the inconsistency of the level of service in the treatment room.

As consumers we are bombarded by email promotions, fliers, newspaper ads, magazine ads, and local TV ads to entice us to try the newest Day Spa or the existing Day Spa in our community. Unless you are still in an area where you do not have any competition in a 40 mile radius, we are all competing for the same client; the one that is shopping in the same mall we are located at, or the one that resides only a few miles away from our business. We think we know what they want; we have extensive menus of services, we create excellent seasonal promotions, we cater to their needs, we keep their birthday dates and anniversary dates on file and we want to make sure they stay as our client for ever and ever. Yet, sometimes we forget the most important aspect of what we are supposed to be offering; I hear about expectations not being met, appointment times not being available, service not being equal to the last visit, etc. etc.

When we think of promotional practices we tend to think of specials, treatment series, gift certificates and discounts, which are typical sales strategies for all kinds of businesses. I submit to you, that in addition to the above you also have to consider the experience that all these customers will be receiving. Don't over promise and under deliver, because you will never see them again, and they will tell ten more people about their negative experience.

Everyone has competitors and just implementing something that is working at the Spa a block away will not insure increased sales or customer satisfaction. Service is the number ONE factor that contributes to a customer's overall satisfaction; it is the total experience what will have them coming back to you time after time. We all want to provide excellent customer service; we want 100% customer satisfaction. Then every action, every word, every gesture, every day, plays a part in the overall service experience. This includes any telephone interaction your client has with your spa; it includes the state of the facilities when they visit, was the changing area clean, were there enough towels, was Suzy at the Reception area efficient, pleasant and effective?

EVERYTHING counts! The promotion, advertisement, or special service might bring them in once, but it will NOT keep them coming if they do not leave feeling 100% satisfied. Marketing research data tells us that if a customer has a complaint, 54-70% of those customers will do business with you again. However if the complaint is resolved then 94% will give you another chance if it is resolved quickly, immediately on the spot. Complaints could happen daily and if not dealt with correctly, empathetically and with true care it will cause you to lose business.

I repeat: there is a lot of competition out there, it is not about offering the latest service, the latest product, the most advanced, and it is not about having the most expensively decorated facility with all the amenities imaginable. It is about offering the highest quality service for the best price. To meet these expectations and to rise above competition, it is up to you to ensure that every single team member at your location provides that 100% excellent customer service all day, every day, without fail. Our job as owners and/or managers is a never ending story, we have to want to do this every single day to be successful, it will not happen on its own. If we don't take the time to set up the foundation in our business, with the right employee selection, recruitment, training and follow-up, we will not be able to provide this level of service in a way that will have our clients coming back for more.

Let's continuously put ourselves in our customers' shoes and look at our services, our facility and our staff interactions from their perspective. If we do this every day and make the necessary adjustments to how we do business, we will be a step ahead of our competition. Here at Resources & Development we believe in excellence in customer service. Helping you to achieve greater customer service is part of who we are and why we exist. Let's roll up our sleeves and work together.

Zahira J. Coll is a Human Resources Executive, Executive Spa Director and business owner with over fourteen years (14) of experience in the hospitality industry. Ms. Coll has a unique combination of talents, expertise and experience. She began her career in Human Resources Management, and for the past eight years she has been involved in Hotel-Spa operations at an Executive level. She has participated in numerous projects as a Consultant, designing and implementing all the aspects of opening and operating a Spa, Hotel, Casino and Retail center. Ms. Coll is also Founder & CEO of Resources and Development.

Posted in Resources and Development, Spa Marketing, Spa Business Management • 1 Comment »

Anyone who's ever played the Road Warrior role knows that it's a mixed blessing. On one hand being out there representing your business and making things happen is incredibly exhilarating, on the other it's about schlepping through airports, stripping down for security, cabbing through traffic, presenting well-prepared material to your business audience with an eye to dazzling same, entertaining clients until the wee hours, and generally tapping into all personal resources, all the time.

Face it, you can't be a wimp and survive long as a Road Warrior. In fact overcoming and adapting as soon as possible will ensure survival in the marathon that is life on the business road. Nurturing the child within (and the sore traveler muscles on the outside!) with some pampering, massage, skin care or other fabulous rejuvenation offers up an essential boost in the face of crazy schedules.

The May/June edition of Pulse, ISPA's publication, noted this:

This trend means spas need to cultivate that business audience! Form relationships with local business class hotels, and let them know you offer not just fabulous services, but offer Instant Gift Certificates online, which makes obtaining a service super convenient.

Create premium Instant Gift Certificate packages that include services bundled specifically with the Road Warrior in mind. Consider including a nice takeaway product in the packages, maybe private labeled lovely lotions or bath items that will reinforce the great treatments those travelers enjoy in your spa.

Posted in Creating Customers, Spa Marketing, Spa Gift Certificates • Comment »

Got your posters printed out of SpaBoom and prominently hung so all can see the coolness and beauty of your Instant Gift Certificates? Forgot how? Just login to SpaBoom, go into Setup, Instant POP and see what's all set up for you. Feel free to tailor at will, then preview to be sure that color of text you chose/message you wrote looks good in poster format. Once you've done that, print out and find a push pin or tape and let people know you think Dads rock, too!

Have you checked your email newsletter to be sure it's ready? We've set up one to launch automatically on June 2nd. You can get into it via Setup, Email Marketing, and selecting the Father's Day Gift Solution newsletter. Send a test email to see what it looks like now, and if you make changes, once you've made changes to be sure it looks right. If you don't want to use it, please go into Setup, Email Marketing and delete the Father's Day Gift Solution newsletter from your list. If you simply wish to adjust the date of launch from the 2nd, to maybe the 5th, you can do that in Setup, Email Marketing, too.

At the risk of repeating myself (I tend to do this a lot — I'm not sure if it's age or confusion setting in, but please bear with me), remember to tell clients that you offer Instant Gift Certificates — your voicemail and front desk should be sure to include mention of the gift giving option. Show them how cool they are by displaying samples, and by including samples in your retail bags.

Reminding your clientele of how hip and with it you are by offering the perfect gift solution — available online and instantly — is a great and simple way to boost your Father's Day GC sales!

Posted in Spa Marketing • Comment »

Every year, thousands of salon and spa businesses fail. No business owner plans to fail, but they fail all the same. One of the main reasons for the high failure rate is an over reliance on getting new clients.

Marketing isn't about the medium; it's about getting and keeping customers. In order to succeed, every salon or spa must have brochures and other forms of printed sales literature to hand out to customers and prospects. Brochures can help, but only if you use it in conjunction with other tools.

A salon or spa needs printed marketing literature for two reasons:

Credibility - People expect a "real" company to have printed sales literature. Anyone can spend $60 on business cards and letterhead and call themselves a company. But if you want people to know you mean business, you need a brochure.

Time - People want printed material to take home and read at their leisure. Brochures also support other advertising, direct mail, and online promotions. In short, a good brochure sells.

Here are 12 tips on writing a brochure that will support your marketing efforts and increase your sales.

1. Know what your reader wants - Write your brochure from the customer's point of view. What are your customers' concerns? What do they need to know before they come in for a service or make a purchase? Try writing down all the questions you hear from your customers and try and answer them in your collateral.
2. Motivate your reader to look inside - The first page your reader will see is the front cover. Get it wrong and you will likely lose the sale. Start with the benefits of your product, or use thought-provoking statements that motivate the reader to pick up the brochure and open it. Tell the reader there's something inside just for them — an exclusive invitation, a free report, a special discount, or advance notice of sales. Don't put just your company logo or product name on the front. That will not work.
3. List the contents - In brochures of eight pages or more, a table of contents is essential. Design it so that the table of contents stands out from the rest of the text. Use the contents to sell the brochure. Don't use mind-numbing words like "Introduction" or "Services." Use your key sales points in your headings.
4. List your product's benefits - Purchasers care about benefits, not features. To develop a list of benefits, draw up a list of service features and add the words "which means that…" after each point. For example, "This treatment includes a foot massage, which means that…it feels o-so-good." Or, "This facial has an exfoliation component, which means… your skin will glow." Benefits are what sell products.
5. Make the brochure a keeper - Putting helpful information in your brochure will encourage the reader to keep it, refer to it often, or pass it on to other people. If you are selling skin care products, you can give your readers tips on how to combat pimples, dry skin, fine lines, and wrinkles.
6. Alter the shape - Who says a brochure has to be 8 ½ by 11? If you are selling massage, design a brochure in the shape of a person’s body. Hair coloring services? Design it in the shape of a paint brush. Use your imagination to come up with an original, eye-catching piece. Try tall and slim, square, oblong, whatever you like. The only limitation is your imagination, and, of course, your budget.
7. Make it personal - An experienced speaker talking to a large audience will pick out someone in the crowd, and talk directly to him or her. This connection allows the speaker to make the talk more personal. In a similar fashion, write your brochure with an imaginary person in mind. Why? Because writing in a direct "I'm-talking-only-to-you" style will increase response.
8. Add atmosphere - You don't want your brochure to sound aloof. Let your reader share your feelings. A description about a body treatment does not need to go into the ins and outs of how the body treatment is performed. Instead let your words show them how warm, snug and relaxed they'll be when they get one of your body treatments.
9. Start selling right away - Not everyone needs to know about every aspect of your product or service. Don't waste their time telling them about things that don't convey a benefit.
10. Address your reader's needs - Don't get carried away with your own interests. Talk about your reader, not yourself.
11. Give directions - Organize your brochure so readers can flip through the pages and easily find what they want. Provide clear signposts or headlines throughout the brochure and make sure each one says "Hey, pay attention to me!"
12. Ask for action - Regardless of how you organize your brochure, there's only one way to end it. Ask for action. If you want your reader to come to your salon or spa and get a service or purchase products, include an 800 number, gift with purchase offer, or some form of response mechanism. In fact, to increase your brochure's selling power, include your offer and a response mechanism on every page.

Ana Loiselle, President of the Secret Salon and Spa by Design in Royal Oak, Michigan. A former salon and spa owner, Ms. Loiselle can be reached at 248/546-4312 or at www.thesecretconsultant.com.

Posted in the SECRET, Spa Marketing, General • 3 Comments »

I'm on the board of directors for the New Mexico Spa Association and at our past few conferences, Massage Envy has been mentioned or brought up. In every conversation there are basically two points of view about Massage Envy. The first relates to some level of anxiety and concern about their business model, and how that might erode already modest (if any) profits. The second relates to how Massage Envy isn't a threat, because they don't want customers who shop by price anyway, and prefer the customers who are paying for the experience.

After obtaining a massage from Massage Envy, I don't believe either position is quite right.

Let me explain.

As a vendor to spas and salons, I do my best to visit and pay for services from those spas and salons who are SpaBoom clients. I'm located in Albuquerque, and have visited quite a few of our clients located here (and there's still many more to visit). Every experience has been enjoyable, but different.

I visited Massage Envy last week, and have to say the experience was also enjoyable — who doesn't like to receive a massage — but different.

What this means is, Massage Envy has successfully created a niche for themselves, by offering low-cost, moderate-quality massage for the non-discriminating client. If a spa has a Massage Envy in its neck of the woods, and they don't have a strong, obvious differentiator, I do believe they will need to compete on price to remain competitive against Massage Envy.

You may disagree with me, but do yourself a favor: Go clandestine and pay the $39 introductory price for a massage at Massage Envy.

Then, go back to your spa. Really think about the type of clients you have, your differentiators, your quality of service, and the availability of potential clients in your region that your differentiators appeal to. Do you have a winning mix? If not, reformulate. Work harder at marketing. Provide incentives for client referrals.

Make it clear what your differentiators are. This is tough. Unlike the car business, your prospects cannot "kick the tires" of a massage. So, if your differentiator is experiential based, come up with methods that allow potential customers to experience your difference. Here's a suggestion: Have a "free massage" day, once a month or once a quarter. Or, make some PR for yourself, and invite the local police and fire departments to come in for a free massage.

Don't suffer "Massage Envy envy." Don't become anxious and give up. But… don't sit on your laurels and pretend that everything is the same, either.

Posted in Spa Marketing, Spa Business Management, General • 207 Comments »

Understanding the Differences Between a Day Spa and a Resort Spa

Sometimes we get caught up in the fact that we are all part of one big industry performing many of the same tasks and trying to do the best that we can within a new and burgeoning marketplace. Sometimes we are so close to our day to day operations that we fail to see the forest through the trees. It is easy to draw similarities between Day Spas and Resort Spas, because we do the same type of work. What is harder to see is how different we are through our Clients’/Guests’ eyes, and how they have quite different expectations from each type of Spa. As a Consultant, I find that often my Clients do not always have a clear picture of these differences, and consequently end up offering the wrong menu of services to their Client/Guest or worse yet, building the wrong facility.

For example: You are a savvy traveler; you have been to some of the finest Resorts in the world. You sometimes wish that you had such a Spa in your backyard and you figure that others wish for the same thing. So you plan to build a Day Spa that is reminiscent of these fine Resort Spas that you have been to. However, if you understood the dynamics of why Day Spas are different and what makes them successful, you wouldn't be so confident in your decision to build this Spa.

In a Resort Spa we call our customers “Guests” in a Day Spa we call them “Clients”, that says a lot about the difference doesn’t it? Resorts are successful when they sell a “Spa Package” because they need to sell as much as they can during the Guest’s short stay, while Day Spas need to sell in “Series” because they need the Client to come back time after time, to create a desired habit, and the Day Spa makes its money over months and years of Client loyalty. Because Resort Spa Guests are “getting away” often for romantic or family vacations, they go to the Spa with someone else more often than when they go to a Day Spa. They are also more “experimental” and looking for a Spa visit that is more “experiential”.

When they visit a Day Spa it is usually alone and looking for results, be it beauty or wellness, it is more about results than the experience, it is usually for maintenance, not about relaxation or pampering. That is not to say that relaxation and pampering can’t happen in a Day Spa, or that results can’t happen in a Resort Spa. However those are not the core reasons for the Spa Goers’ visit, it is a bonus they may receive.

I like to think of the Day Spa like a good Café, a place you eat at weekly. You go there because you are hungry, they serve good food, and they deliver what you would expect. On the other hand, the Resort Spa is like a Fine Dining restaurant, you don’t go there because you are hungry, you go there for the experience, and usually only on special occasions.

The Café counts on loyalty and many future return visits, it could not afford to offer high end Fine Dining service or experience, and you could not afford it on a regular basis if they provided it. So it would be a mistake for a Café to try to emulate a Fine Dining restaurant, in much the same way it would be a mistake for a Day Spa to emulate either the facility or amenities of a Resort Spa as well as its menu of services.

I know we always talk about “the customer experience” and it is important indeed, however, there is a big difference in selling “an experience” vs. selling “results”. People will buy an experience once, but it becomes harder and harder to sell the same experience over and over to the same neighborhood, and if you try you will only sell Spa services on a special occasions.

A Resort can sell “the experience” because they know that statistics say that only a very low percentage of Guests will ever return (even if the experience was perfect), and almost none will return within a 12 month period. Conversely, a Day Spa would starve if most of its Clients never returned or only returned once a year.

So the difference between Resort and Day Spas from the consumers point of view (even if it is more intuitive than analytical) is; “give me a wide variety of services that focus less on results and more on ‘the experience’ when I am away from home, and give me a very narrow focus of specialties that can deliver incredible results each time when I am at home.”

Day Spas should NOT try to be everything to everybody, the most successful ones are the ones that focus on one or two specialties and become better at them than anyone else in town, that is how they build a reputation in their community, not by being a “one stop shop”.

Square footage and the use of the space are important in both types of Spas. It goes without saying that a common mistake for a Spa is having too much amenity space and not enough revenue space. That mistake is even more critical in a Day Spa environment where the price points are lower and the rent and advertising expenses (unlike a Resort Spa) need to be factored in. It is for that reason that “waterfall Jacuzzis”, Steam, Sauna, and other amenities that take copious space are often inadvisable in a Day Spa environment, while completely acceptable at a Resort Spa.

Spa Management for Resort Spas have to be concerned with the overall Guest Experience even outside the Spa, as the goal is just as much about “putting heads on beds” as it is about making budget in the Spa.

To conclude, understand what you are and who your market is. Specialize if you’re a Day Spa, have a wide offering if you’re a Resort. Keep the amenities to a minimum when you’re a Day Spa, and don’t get carried away with amenities when you’re a Resort Spa. Understand the goals of your business and don’t try to be something you are not (or should not) be. Have a focused niche when you’re a Day Spa, have a broad menu of services when you’re a Resort Spa. “Results” is the watch word for Day Spas, “Experience” is the goal for Resorts.

I hope that this little article will help you to think through what is appropriate for your Spa. It isn’t always easy to stay focused on “The Mission”, it is easy to try to be more than we are, but understanding your Guests’/Clients’ needs as well as your own strengths and weaknesses are paramount in making your Spa a success.

Skip Williams, the author of “The Reluctant Spa Director and the Mission Dream”, is a recognized speaker and author in the spa arena, recently voted “Spa Person of the Year”, with over thirteen (13) years of experience in the Management, Financial Development & Operational fields, in the Spa and Hospitality Industry as Spa Director, Controller and Business project Consultant. He brings his previous years of analytical business experience in a broad variety of manufacturing, retail and service businesses to studying Resort Spas, Day Spas, Medical Spas, Wellness Centers, and Salons: their profitability, how they operate, and what makes them successful. Skip is also Vice President of Resources and Development.

Posted in Spa Marketing, Spa Business Management • 4 Comments »

Or, never dial 1-411 again…

There's really no reason to ever pay the phone company for a 411 call again:

• 1-800-Free-411 works like a 411 call, but plays a short ad before giving you the requested phone number. If you ask for the local pizza joint's number, you may hear an ad for Domino's first, and get the option to connect to either one. Anyone want to see if this advertising works for spas?
• 1-800-GOOG-411 is Google's version. It uses voice recognition to figure out whose number you want, and there's no advertising.

Google uses its own local search information, so this is another good reason to look your spa up on Google Local and update your information.

As for those old fashioned 411 calls, here's how TechCrunch puts it:

Posted in Spa Marketing • 2 Comments »

Mother's Day represents an enormous Instant Gift Certificate sales event, one that deserves a little up front work to reap its fullest potential. We've set up promotions to help you focus your online efforts this year, with an Event, two Marketing Emails and an Instant POP out there for you to customize at will.

And those of you who add featured services for Mother's Day in Events will definitely make life easier for your GC buyers as well as increase your revenues to boot. Gift buyers love to see services tailored for special holidays, so put some together and make life better for everyone!

The Mother's Day campaign begins 4/13. Here’s all you do to take full advantage:

• Go to Setup, Events and click on “Mother's Day Gift Idea” and select a couple of services that make great Mother's Day gifts. This is by far the most important step!
• If you’d like to change your email campaign, go to Setup, Email Marketing and click on “Mother's Day Gift” and "Perfect Mother's Day Gift". Your services that you selected above will automatically be added to your email. Use “Send Test Email” to see exactly what it looks like.
• Go to Setup, Instant POP and print out a mini-poster to promote Instant GCs in your retail location.

We’ve already set up Graduation and Father’s Day items in Events, Email Marketing and Instant POP, so if you want to get ahead of the planning game go ahead and customize them while you're at it!

Here’s a list of the promotions we’ve set up:

Events

Mother’s Day Gift Idea!, launch date 4/13/07
Graduation Made Easy, launch date 5/18/07
Father’s Day Gift Solution!, launch date 6/1/07

Email Newsletters

Mother’s Day Gift, launch date 4/13/07
Perfect Mother’s Day Gift (last minute), launch date 5/11/07
Graduation Gift Perfection, launch date 5/18/07
Father’s Day Gift Solution, launch date 6/2/07

Instant POP

Mother’s Day Gift Idea!
Father’s Day Gift Solution!

A few minutes setting up services to go with events will pay dividends, so make sure you line your ducks up before the Mother's Day rumpus starts!

Posted in Spa Marketing, General • Comment »

SpaTrade has a new article today, Making Online Review Sites Work For You, by Peggy Wynne Borgman:

Borgman goes on to give great advice about how to make online review sites work for you. It's well worth the read, along with a more indepth version in American Spa.

Borgman calls Yelp the "fastest growing and arguably most influential online review site," which is true in some metro areas, but CitySearch is still the granddaddy. The best thing is to find the local review sites with the most activity for your area. A great tactic is to do a search on Google Local for “category: Spas Beauty & Day” and your city, and see where it's getting reviews for spas.

Posted in Spa Marketing • Comment »

If you've recently opened a brand new small spa or started a massage therapy practice, you're facing the daunting challenge of bringing in new clientele while facing much more established competitors. But you have an advantage — chances are few of those long-time businesses realize the value of taking a spa online.

It does seem like a little bit of a contradiction after all — spas are all about the in-person experience. But your prospective clients are online, and that's where you need to be.

There are a ton of no-cost marketing opportunities online when you need more business. Don't have an appointment at 3pm? Pick a project, and go do it:

• You have to start by having a website that you can easily update, like a Dynamic Spa Website.
• Follow the search engine optimization (SEO) recommendations in the Spa Marketing Guide.
• Write an article every week to post on your website. Talk about the benefits of massage, attractions for tourists in your area, the perfect local B&B to stay at, corporate chair massage, rejuvenating facials — anything interesting related to your spa and the area you serve.
• Get links! Reach out to local bloggers, complimentary businesses (like the B&B you just wrote about), associations, tourism bureaus, etc. Offer to write an article for them, and make sure it includes a link back to your website.
• Post on online forums focused on your area about any and all passions that drive you. Include a link to your website in your signature line.
• Get listed and reviewed on CitySearch and other local directories that show activity for your area. Encourage clients to review you, trade services with other businesses with a review as part of the deal and get family and friends to write you up.

Posted in Spa Marketing, Starting a Spa • 2 Comments »

Get more mileage out of your printed newsletters by posting them on your website using SpaBoom Events.

The first step is to get a PDF version of your newsletter. If you use an advertising agency or graphics designer, just ask them to send you a PDF whenever they create something for you. If you design your newsletters in-house, see if your software has a "Save to PDF" option, or check out free tools like PrimoPDF or PDFOnline.

Once you've got a PDF, it's easy to post it on your website:

1. Go to Setup, Events and Add Event.
2. Make up a Headline and some Narrative to describe your newsletter.
3. Change the type to "News".
4. For Link to PDF File, select "New file", then click on the Browse button and select your PDF file.
5. Enter an appropriate name in Link text for your PDF, like "March Newsletter".
6. Enter the Start date for when you'd like the PDF to first appear on your website.
7. If you'd like it to automatically disappear, enter an End date. Otherwise, leave it blank — Events automatically shows your latest three News items.

For Dynamic Spa Websites, your News item will automatically appear in the sidebar of your website. For linked-in sites, it will appear on your Specials and Events page (see Help to add the link to your website).

Fliers

The same approach works great for fliers, too. Just use an "Announcement" or "Occasion" type for the event instead, and enter an End date for when the flier is no longer relevant.

News Page

You can also add a "News" page to Dynamic Websites to show the history of all of your News items. This is particularly useful if you're using News for newsletters or other timely pieces like press releases:

1. Go to Setup, Website and Add Page, calling it something clever like "News".
2. Click on the edit main content icon, and change "Your Headline" to something like "News", and "your text" to "{news}". It's that little tag, with the funny curly braces around it, that causes your news events to appear on the page.
3. Add a link to your new page in main navigation and/or the main content of your home page.

Posted in Tutorials, Spa Marketing • Comment »

Right after the major gift giving holidays, birthdays are the #1 driver of sales of Instant Gift Certificates from SpaBoomers. So, we're going to highlight Instant GCs for birthdays in the next marketing campaign for your spa!

The Birthday Gift campaign starts on 4/1. Here's all you do to take full advantage:

• Go to Setup, Events and click on "Birthday Gift" and select a couple of services that make great birthday gifts. This is the most important step!
• If you'd like to change your email campaign, go to Setup, Email Marketing and click on "Searching for the perfect birthday gift?". Your services that you selected above will automatically be added to your email. Use "Send Test Email" to see exactly what it looks like.
• Go to Setup, Instant POP and print out a mini-poster to promote Instant GCs in your retail location.

If you want to customize your marketing for the next couple of months, you can — we've already set up Mother's Day, Graduation, and Father's Day items in Events, Email Marketing and Instant POP, so go to it!

Here's a list of the promotions we've set up:

Events

Birthday Gift, launch date 4/1/07
Mother's Day Gift Idea!, launch date 4/13/07
Graduation Made Easy, launch date 5/18/07
Father's Day Gift Solution!, launch date 6/1/07

Email Newsletters

Searching for the perfect birthday gift?, launch date 4/1/07
Mother's Day Gift, launch date 4/13/07
Perfect Mother's Day Gift (last minute), launch date 5/11/07
Graduation Gift Perfection, launch date 5/18/07
Father's Day Gift Solution, launch date 6/2/07

Instant POP

Birthday Gift
Mother's Day Gift Idea!
Father's Day Gift Solution!

As always, we value your feedback. Let us know how we can help your spa sell more!

Posted in Spa Marketing • 8 Comments »

We've just added two great new features to Dynamic Spa Websites to make it easy for word-of-mouth to spread about your spa.

Spa Wish List

Sometimes it takes a little nudge, and the Spa Wish List is the perfect way for your clients to drop a little hint to that someone special that what they really want is the gift of spa.

• Go to Setup, Website and then Settings and check "Spa Wish List" to turn it on.
• That will add "Buy" and "Wish" buttons to your services menu. "Buy" takes your visitor to Instant Gift Certificates, and "Wish" adds the service to their Spa Wish List.
• Your Spa Wish List will automatically appear in the sidebar of your website. Customize "Spa Wish List" in Events.
• Try it out! Send yourself a email to see what it's like; you change the "Wish List" email in Email Marketing. But, be careful: it's the tags like "{wish_list}" within the email that make it work. If you leave those in place, it's easy to change or add text.

Share With a Friend

The key to great viral marketing is making it easy to share. Once someone has found your website, we them to tell their friends!

• Turn on Share With a Friend the same way, in Setup, Website and then Settings.
• You can also customize "Share With a Friend" in Events and Email Marketing.

Tips

• If you make changes to the events or emails, it's a great idea to try out on your website and send a test email to yourself. Make sure you're getting the result you want!
• You can add Spa Wish List and/or Share With a Friend to your main navigation, if you desire. In Setup, Website, click on the little signpost icon to change your main menu. Click the "Add Link / Page" task, and then select the "spa-wish-list" or "spa-share-with-a-friend" page. After you save, use the little green arrows to rearrange your menu.

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

Every email address from a client is like a little sparkling diamond — one whose value keeps increasing over time with the magic of email marketing.

It's easy to start building your collection:

• Ask for email addresses on intake forms.
• Have an email newsletter signup form at your front desk.
• Include email newsletter signup on your website. For Dynamic Websites, it's automatic and for linked sites, it's included on your Specials page (check out Help for adding the link to your website).

For email addresses you collect manually, go to the Clients tab and click Add. You can just enter their name and email address leaving everything else blank, if you desire. Then sit back and let Email Marketing polish up those little gems on a regular basis.

Posted in Spa Marketing, Starting a Spa • 3 Comments »

The Email Campaigns report will tell you in a glance the results of your email marketing efforts, showing each campaign, when it was sent and the salient details:

• Emails is the number of emails sent for this campaign.
• Responses shows the number of recipients that clicked on a link in the email.
• GCs Sold is the number of Instant Gift Certificates you sold from a recipient clicking on a link in the email.
• Appointments is the number of appointments scheduled by recipients after clicking on a link in the email.
• Conversion % is the percentage of recipients that purchased a GC or scheduled an appointment.
• Unsubscribes shows how many recipients unsubscribed from your email newsletter.

Many dedicated email marketing services track an open rate, theoritically how many people have looked at the email. We've chosen not to because the number is horribly unreliable. Most email programs now block showing external images, which is how open rates are determined. The technique also throws up red flags for some spam filters.

Response rate is a very accurate measurement, tracking how many recipients click on a link in your email. But that has its limits, too: someone who receives your email and then pops over to their browser and types in your website address or clicks on a bookmark isn't going to be included. It's only if they actually click on the link in the email. Same thing applies to GCs Sold.

Posted in SpaBoom New Features, Spa Marketing • Comment »