No matter what business you have, you will have to embrace marketing to grow and maintain a solid customer base - and increase revenue. Spas and Salons can offer a wide range of services, but if you don’t market them well - you will face a difficult time of staying in business. It all may seem daunting at first, but the result, security and revenue are worth the effort.
Today, the number of marketing channels, methods and ideas are numerous, making it easier than ever to get clients through your doors. I’d like to discuss just 5 essential tips and tricks to help you market your media-spa and attract new clients to become more successful.
But first, let me tell you a story.
At 17, I was working at a weight loss centre to pay for my Business and Marketing degree at University. A friend of mine who happened to be in the same industry was going through a personal crisis. She was getting divorced and wanted to sell her weight loss business and she was willing to sell it to me on a payment plan for $160,000. Yes, that's right, a 17-year-old with $160,000 debt!
But I was actually very lucky. My friend mentored me in how to run my first business and I was able to pay off that loan within 3 months. And I did it using all the techniques I described below – starting with the existing 20 clients that came with the business and building it to more than 120 within that short 3 month period (BTW, if you’re good with numbers, that means on average my clients spent approximately $400 each month with me).
Then my clients began asking about laser treatments and I invested $200,000, in what today is one of my competitors lasers - and the number one reason why I started Nubody and began selling an affordable alternative with my Dermalase IPL - that would allow others to be as successful as I was in an industry we love.
If you’re ready to take your business to the next level - lets look at my Top 5 Marketing Tips and Tricks.
1) Referrals
'92% of customers trust referrals from people they know - over advertising'. No matter what you sell or offer, your best advertisement is a happy customer. A delighted and satisfied customer will share your business for you by word-of-mouth. However, even if statistics tell us that ’83% of consumers are willing to refer after a positive experience - only 29% actually do’. What this means is we, the business owners, have to encourage our satisfied customers to share their experience - and one of the most successful ways of doing this is through referral programs.
Give your customers something worth sharing - offer a special discount on their next treatment if they refer a customer to your business - and be sure to make is substantial enough they really promote your business.
You can also prompt your existing customers to leave positive testimonials and reviews on your social media accounts - and watch your customer base grow.
Holidays throughout the year are great opportunities to offer unique referral programs. You could choose to create a time-limited referral offer.
Here’s an example with a twist from my Dermalase IPL customer sales & marketing newsletter.
For the month of February, if you bring in your partner
Receive a HIS and HERS
2 for the price of 1
Bikini or Brazilian
hair removal treatment!
Now, that may seem like an expensive treatment to 'give away', but lets look at this from a business point of view. You are going to perform two treatments valued at approximately $300, but only charge $150. But, your initial customer and their partner will both come back for another 4-6 treatments, which will earn you more than $3000 – and you still have the opportunity to introduce them on your other services, leading to more potential sales.
LET'S RECAP; What did you give away? You gave up 30 minutes of your time for a single Bikini or Brazilian service to potentially earn over $3000!
There are so many special occasions throughout the year, like Mother's Day, Christmas and New Years - to name a few - that the number of referral offers you can create are unlimited.
Be sure to advertise your referrals in your Spa or Salon so that customers can see it when they visit, but also promote them on your social networks, posters around town, flyers, etc – make sure your message is heard.
2) Social Media
I wish social media was available when I had my first business. Back then, I printed thousands of flyers and personally put them on car windshields in parking lots that were within a 15 minute drive of my salon. Today, if I still had my salon, I could simply target a 10, 15 or 20 mile radius of my business location and put ads in front of thousands of potential customers through Facebook or Instagram.
There are tons of ways to attract a social media audience and first of all, I would ask my customers to like and follow my page. I’d offer them the chance to be the first to learn about new products, promotions, discounts and contests. Oh yes, did I mention how effective contests are to build your online brand? You can hold them for a free treatment - a great way to bring in a new client. You could send existing clients a chance to be entered into a contest draw to win a prize if they leave a great review on your social site.
Be sure to be consistent with posting on your social media channels so your followers know to expect interesting content for them to view, like and share.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Related article link:
_________________________________________________________________________________
3) New Service Campaigns
Marketing 101 - your existing customers already like and trust you and they are the easiest people to sell to. If you’re thinking of adding a new product or service - like the Dermalase IPL Hair Removal & Skin Rejuvenation device - many of the traditional barriers and objections are eliminated when you focus on your current client base. It’s also far less costly than trying to find an entirely new buyer.
One way to market a new service is by creating a special promotion to get your existing customer to try another service. For example, you can bundle a discount when your customer purchased both a hair removal treatment and another service you already offer. Since hair removal treatments require multiple visits, you’ve created an opportunity to increase revenue.
4) Email Marketing
You are collecting your customers email contact information - right? Email, for both existing and lost customers is a super cost effective way to bring them into your salon. You can run drip campaigns to your customers promoting services or send an occasional newsletter that may offer them some value in the form of beauty advice, tips and tricks. Remember that when marketing via email, to always have a point, include a call-to-action if appropriate and be consistent.
For my company, Nubody Equipment, I’ve produced a sales and marketing newsletter to help teach my customers not only the value of marketing and sales, but give them practical advice, tips and steps and tools to ensure they are successful. This is how I have created a loyal customer base of our Dermalase IPL owners, that often sends me referrals, shares great testimonials and word-of-mouth.
5) Consistency
This is probably the most important tip that I can share. Even after I had built my client list so quickly - I constantly continued my marketing efforts - which in turn kept my spa growing, my existing clients happy and gave me piece of mind, knowing that my business was secure.
Marketing is an ongoing commitment that can take months and years. I’ve seen businesses run successful campaigns that generated great results - and then they stopped. Shortly after, their phone calls diminished, they were faced with no-shows to appointments as well as cancellations. If they had continued to be consistent with their efforts, they would have continued to produce results.
Of course, some campaigns and ideas become a bit stale. It’s not only important to commit to regular marketing, but to keep it fresh so your clients remain loyal fans of your efforts.
If you constantly follow any of these ideas, you will be rewarded. Remember, owning a business takes more than putting up your sign outside the front door – it takes some marketing and sales – after all, we are selling not only our products and services, but ourselves.
__________________
Related article link:
______________________________________________________________________________
All the best,
Amanda Hall
Owner Nubody Equipment Sales Ltd. - home of the Dermalase IPL
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
If you want to learn more about the Dermalase IPL - the lowest priced, Health Canada approved Hair Removal and Skin Rejuvenation device manufactured and serviced right here in Canada, including training and certification - just give us a call at 604-788-3413 to book your FREE demonstration.