Use this as a guideline to market your spa successfully!
- Grand Opening Incentives: offer a free gift or a small discount for every first-time customer during your grand opening week.
- Flyers: More cost-effective advertising than print or direct mail. Design your flyers so they won’t get tossed into the trashcan without being read.
- Offer Product Samples to First time customers: Offer something to new customers.
- Mailing Lists: Create a monthly or bimonthly mailing to your clients, advertising your latest product, service or promotion and providing a health tip or two.
- Reward Customer Referrals: Give regular customers business or referral cards offering new customers a discount or free gift. Also reward your regular customer for any successful referrals. Remember word of mouth can be the best advertising.
- Customize It: Offer a customized product or service plan. The public usually loves products designed specifically for them. Use a database as a way to remember your client’s preferences. Offer health and beauty consultations to recommend the best products and treatments.
- Host a Contest: Use your spa’s products or services as a prize package. Place entry boxes in malls or other small businesses such as gyms or restaurants (with their permission). Then use the entries as a basis for a mailing list.
- Buy One Get One Coupons: Using buy one get one free, or half off or 10% off, for services on the same visit guarantees that you have at least two customers coming in on a single visit.
- Accept Competitor’s coupons: It can be expensive to print your own coupons so if there are competitors to your spa, offer to accept their coupons.
- Thank you Notes: Mail thank you notes to repeat customers offering a discount on their next visit.
- Happy Birthday Coupon: Mailing a birthday postcard offering a discount is a great way to maintain frequent customers and ensure that your mailings aren’t discarded.
- Sponsorships: Sponsor industry related events like a 5K race or a health fair. Make sure your spa name gets out before during and after the event.
- Write to a Newspaper’s Health and Beauty Section: Write a press release regarding a new product or service or write an industry-related article. Remember that the newspaper is going to be careful not to give you free advertising. Make sure press releases or feature articles are well written and relevant.
- Less Popular Holiday Promotions: Everybody does promotions for Valentine’s Day, Christmas and Easter, but what about St. Patrick’s Day or April Fool’s Day.
- Handwritten Notes: A handwritten note will catch a customer’s eye more than a general direct-mail letter.
- Cart Crazy: Advertise on grocery carts.
- Movie Madness: Advertise in movie theaters before the previews. You have a captive audience with nothing to do but stare at the big screen until the movie begins.
- Phone Fun: Advertise on phone booths. Maybe you can even post a flyer for free.
- More than What you Paid For: Many grocery stores offer advertising on the back of their receipts.
- Bathroom Reading: Many restaurants, malls or other public venues sell advertising in bathroom stalls.
- Advertising All Around You: There is advertising everywhere take a moment to notice all the potential advertising opportunities in your area: schools, health clubs, vending machines, taxis, etc.
- Team Up: Team up with other industry related companies to do a promotion, contest or sponsorship.
- Person Advertising: Advertise on your personalized license plate or on your car, give cards or coupons to your friends, doctors, dentists, car repair people, etc.
- “On Hold” Recordings: If you provide a recording while your customers are on hold try to make them humorous instead of a boring sales pitch. Use voice-overs, music, etc. Warning: don’t make it cheesy.
- Share Ideas with Other Spas: If you serve a local market, exchange tips with other spas in other locations.
- Keep on Eye on the Competition: Make sure you’re up to date on industry trends and specifically the products and services being offered by your competition. Know their promotions, coupons, etc.
- Newsletters: Producing a newsletter with relevant health, beauty and fitness articles may provide direct-mail that won’t get thrown away. Don’t forget to add in your latest promotion, product, service or coupon!
- Put your Name and Logo on it: If you provide things to your customers: tissues, pens, notepads, soap, or anything else, put your spa’s logo on it.
- Do Something Extra or Unique: Do something unique that will create word of mouth. For example, a shoe store in Texas gives foot massages while the salesperson searches for the correct shoe size.
Gift Certificates: Gift certificates are advertising by themselves. Regular customers may buy them for potentially new customers or they may be purchased by someone looking for a unique gift.- Testimonials: Include testimonials from real customers in other promotional materials. Don’t forget to encourage your regular customers to spread the word.
- Make them Stars: Instead of models and celebrities, use your customers as the stars. With their permission, use pictures in brochures or company newsletters. For a better effect, combine it with testimonials.
- A Real Star: If a prominent person in your community is a client, you may be able to use it: If you’re good enough for a famous person, you’re good enough for them.
- Create a Unique Business Card: Use contrasting colors, or create a vertical or abnormal shaped business card. Be careful not to use an abnormal shaped card for industry related or business to business use because they won’t fit in a rolodex or other business card holder.
- Local Welcome Wagon: Donate magnets or notepads with your logo to a local welcome wagon or community welcome organization.
- Hidden Discounts: Mail coupons with scratch off hidden discounts. You can also make the scratch coupons on valid when scratched off in your spa by an associate.
- Mascot: If you have a pet on your premises, use it as a mascot. If you have an animal in your logo, use it.
- Customer Anniversary Cards: Mail an anniversary card to your customers on the anniversary of their first visit.
- Celebrate Your Anniversary: Every year on the anniversary of your grand opening, plan a promotion to celebrate and thank your customers and community.
- FREE!: If you’re giving away a free gift, make sure any published material says “free” as much as possible.
- Buy and Ad in a High School Yearbook or Newspaper: Advertising your spa near prom or graduation may open up a new potential market.
- E-mail Ads: Some e-mail services offer user free e-mail in exchange for allowing an advertisement at the end of every e-mail message. Contact various service providers for more information.
- Build a Web site: People will often check for location, products and services via the Internet instead of picking up the phone. If you’re not Internet savvy and you’re on a budget, hire a college student to develop your site.
- List your Site on Search Engines: Get your site on search engines or people won’t be able to find it unless they already know your Web address.
- Web Banner Advertising: Many search engines or other Web sites offer banner advertising that also provides a direct link to your Web site.
- Sponsor a Float in your Town’s Next Parade: Especially if your spa caters to very local clientele.
- Participate in Your Community’s Street Fair or Festival: You may have the opportunity to hang a banner or rent a booth.
- Buy and Ad in a High School Yearbook or Newspaper: Advertising your spa near prom or graduation may open up a new potential market.
- E-mail Ads: Some e-mail services offer user free e-mail in exchange for allowing an advertisement at the end of every e-mail message. Contact various service providers for more information.
- Build a Web site: People will often check for location, products and services via the Internet instead of picking up the phone. If you’re not Internet savvy and you’re on a budget, hire a college student to develop your site.
- List your Site on Search Engines: Get your site on search engines or people won’t be able to find it unless they already know your Web address.
- Web Banner Advertising: Many search engines or other Web sites offer banner advertising that also provides a direct link to your Web site.
- Sponsor a Float in your Town’s Next Parade: Especially if your spa caters to very local clientele.
- Participate in Your Community’s Street Fair or Festival: You may have the opportunity to hang a banner or rent a booth.
- Join your Local Chamber of Commerce: They may host special events or fairs or sponsor various local events.
- You Could Win a Million Dollars: Attach a lottery ticket to your direct mailing.
- Calendars: Provide calendars to you clients marking sale events, providing health and beauty tips, etc.
- Go Green: As a health related industry, your spa can create an earth-friendly image by supporting environmental groups or environmentally safe products.
- Make Friends: Make friends with other businesses in your industry and refer business to each other. Be creative it may be health clubs or doctors, vitamin stores, etc.
- Costumes: Dressing up and costumes catch people’s eyes. If you’re handing out flyers or samples, think of something creative to wear.
Frequent Customer Program: Use punch cards or something else to monitor how often a customer comes and offer rewards at various intervals. It provides incentive for a customer to return to you instead of trying the competition.- Focus on a Small Market: Spas usually market to women. Try to create an event or promotion that might market to men or children. Take a risk to do something unique.
- Comeback Customer: Mail a $10 or $20 voucher to a customer you haven’t seen in a long period of time. Most won’t turn it down and most will spend more than $10.
- Tip Sheets: Create a tip sheet for any topic, for example summer or winter skin care, and mail it with a coupon for an appropriate product or service.
- Chatting: Enter online chat rooms where you can provide your expertise and sneak in a little publicity.
- Coupon Clicking: Provide coupons on your Web site. It costs you nothing to print and the customer is already interested enough to look up information on your site. You just have to bring them into your spa.
- Brand It: Carry a well known, respected brand name and use it in all your marketing materials to affiliate your spa with a previously established name brand.
- Fax Coversheets: In addition to the usual information on your fax coversheets, add something promoting your recent specials or new products. Since you’re faxing the coversheet anyway, you might as well add a market. Go Kid Crazy: Even though your spa probably does not market directly to children, try to do something that appeals to your client’s children. Happy children lead to happy parents.
- Double Up: Offer a second item free with purchase. For example with the purchase of a lotion you provide a sample of a similar product or an information booklet about skin care, etc.
- Tell Them What You Don’t Have: In addition to telling them the products and services you do offer, tell them what you don’t offer. It can make your spa seem more luxurious.
- Offer Your Expertise: Speak at community events related to health. It gets the word out about your business and demonstrates your expertise and concern for the community.
- Free Video: Create a video of 10 beauty tips, 10 ways to healthy skin, etc. and offer free to clients on their second visit, enticing them to come back.
- Letters to the Editor: If you see an article pertaining to your field, write a letter to the editor offering more beneficial information and providing your contact information.
- Make a Date: Contact publications that you’re interested in, requesting and editorial calendar. They will provide an outline of the articles, themes and topics the publication will cover throughout the year. This way you know when is best to pitch a related article. Remember you may need to pitch an article months in advance of its desired publication.
- Safety Conscious: Be socially responsible and recognize the safety concerns that accompany your products and services. For example the alcohol industry encourages people to drink responsibly. Recognizing a products potential risk will show your concern for your clients.
- The Envelope Please: Give an award to a member of your community. It will promote your spa while demonstrating your participation in the community.
- 100% Guarantee: Guarantee satisfaction in the products and services your offer. This demonstrates your confidence and your concern for your client’s satisfaction.
- Be on Top of It: People love “new,” so constantly be on the cutting edge of the industry with new products and services. Market yourself as innovative, new and keep clients apprised of your team’s advanced education.
- Repetition: People need to hear messages multiple times before they recognize it. Repetition in advertising is extremely important. Don’t forget you can market a product again. A client may have bought a product several months ago, like it, but hasn’t bought it again. Remind your clients how much they like a product.
- Can’t Have One Without the Other: Use promotions or coupons to increase sales of complementary products. For example: with the purchase of a shampoo, you receive $2 off the same brand conditioner.
- Follow Up: Telephone new customers a week after their first visit to see if they like their new product, etc. Make sure you have kept track of the products and services each customer buys to personalize the phone call.
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