By David Wrobel
David Wrobel's experience has been in the direct sales industry building a company with a partner from two people to more than 500 and $15 million in annual sales in five years. He brings a unique perspective to the day spa and health club industry through his marketing and business coaching. David has authored two books: Life Balloon and 45 Little Known Marketing Strategies That Will Have Your Health Club/Day Spa Leap Frogging Over the Competition.
To pump up your day spa’s profits and attract new clients, consider investing in an advertising campaign. While many businesses turn to radio or TV advertising, these marketing methods often lack measurable results. From my experience, direct mail is the most cost effective, easiest and quickest way to build your day spa.
1. Pick your list.
Day spas often spend the least amount of time choosing their list or target market. Here’s the breakdown on the percentage each part of the mailer plays in getting a response:
Timing —10 percent
Obviously if the list affects the biggest percentage of the success rate, you need to spend at least 55 percent of your time selecting the right target market who would benefit the most from using your spa services. There are three lists that you should be mailing to on a consistent basis:
1. Your house list or your client base.
2. A response list comprised of people who have responded to related offers.
3. A compiled list of people or businesses that are put on a list from the demographics you give to a list broker or list owner.
Day spa owners will receive the greatest return on mailing to your house list. You have a 1:2 chance of selling to an existing customer and a 1:12 chance of selling to a prospect. It only makes sense that you should continually market to your current clients on an ongoing basis. The more you can stay in front of your clients and prospects, the quicker you will build your day spa.
2. Have a strong offer.
Your offer has to be so unbelievable (like a free massage) that anyone remotely interested in your product or service cannot resist it. Your offer, combined with your call to action and deadline, will give you a high return on your marketing efforts. You can produce special reports on “Beauty Tips for Younger Looking Skin” for next to nothing that make great giveaways or use promotional gifts like a T-shirt (which has a perceived value of at least $10) with any purchase. The more creative you get, the more effective you can make your promotions. You can even strike a deal with a local restaurant to give away a dinner when someone makes a purchase. Many businesses will go along with it because they get practically free advertising.
3. Make a call to action.
A call to action is one of the many components to having a successful ad campaign. For example, if you just have a basic advertisement for your day spa on a billboard, your customers may drive by and not even notice it, but if you include a call to action such as “Call or stop in by June 30 (2 week time period) and receive $25 off your first service at ABC Day Spa,” I guarantee your billboard will cause a traffic jam to your spa.
The same applies to newspaper ads or direct mail. People need to be told when and how they will purchase or else you are governed by their spending habits, which may not be in your favor. Give them no more than two weeks to respond, and reward them with some kind of special promotion. Make it easy for them, and tell them exactly how you want them to respond: stop in, call an 800 number or respond by mail.
4. Gather customer information.
One of the greatest blunders day spa owners make is forgetting to ask clients to fill out an information card on their first visit. The more information you gather, the more opportunities you have to contact them. You can never have enough information on your clients.
5. Look long term.
Most business owners have no system for deciding how much money they will spend to get a new customer.
For example, if your average client spends $45 a visit and comes in every six weeks for a service that’s $405 a year, you could ultimately spend $405 to acquire that new client and be profitable after one year, based on the fact you have a system to keep them coming back. If you look at the long-term profits of satisfied clients, you will more likely spend more money to acquire new clients and build your business much quicker than only allowing a certain dollar amount of $2-$3 per new customer.
By effectively marketing your day spa and keeping in close contact with current clients, you can build your business and watch your profits soar.