You’re running late to work and, on the way to the spa, you realize that you haven’t created this month’s newsletter. Now, in the stress and chaos of getting to work, you have to come up with something on the fly. Rather than doing something creative and fun, you decide to offer clients 10 percent off retail if they book a facial. “Boooorrrrriiiiinnnnnnggg!”
That’s not exciting or enticing and surely won’t get clients interested in coming in for a facial, waxing, or any other service that you offer. It’s a “#fail” because you didn’t plan!
IF YOU FAIL TO PLAN, YOU PLAN TO FAIL
Most day spas and solo aesthetician practices are built by a talented aesthetician with a dream. Aestheticians spend weeks researching equipment and product lines. They spend months coming up with the perfect treatment menu to make sure clients love their business. However, when it comes to ensuring they have a strong marketing message, most fail to plan well.
It’s not because aestheticians are not smart, talented, or savvy; it’s because marketing is just not their area of expertise. The truth about marketing is that it is very much a science, just like the anatomy, physiology, and chemistry in skin care.
MARKETING MAKEOVER
With a few simple suggestions, marketing calendars can be easy and fun to make.
Know Your Top Revenue Generating Treatments
If you’re going to focus on marketing for your business, be sure to promote your best-selling treatments. Look at your business and see which services generate the bulk of your sales, then, make sure that your marketing calendar includes those services.
Know Your Top Revenue Generating Holidays and Seasons
Remember that in the spa industry, some services are highly dependent on the season of the year. For example, waxing is huge in the summer, while advanced peels and lasers are generally more popular in fall and winter. It is also important to know if your business can generate revenue from gift certificate sales. Be sure to plan out when clients will want to purchase gift certificates for holidays.
Pick The Marketing Channels You’ll Use
You have to know how you’ll be sending your marketing messages. The areas where you distribute your message are called channels. Most businesses use the following:
- website
- social media (Facebook + Instagram)
- e-mail marketing
- blog articles
- in-store signs
- third party advertising
Be sure to have a list of all the ways that you will be distributing your message so that you can create a marketing checklist.
Create A Marketing Checklist on Google
If you’re going to be working on your marketing calendar with a team, Google is a great tool. You can create Docs and Sheets on Google and share them with the team. You can provide access to the team to ensure they are properly implementing the marketing plan. You can outline your plan in a Google Sheet to show what you’ll be doing in each Marketing Channel in a month by month, format with channels down the left side and months across the top.
Set Calendar Reminders
Don’t try to remember everything. Use your calendar to set reminders to implement all of the action items on the calendar. Be sure to set reminders well enough in advance so that you can have time to implement each item.
These are just a few of the helpful, time-saving tips that you can use to market your business. If you set up all of these systems; the plan should fall right into place. Just put on your creative hats and start to brainstorm some fun and exciting ways to promote the business.
Remember, networking is powerful! If you get stuck, you can always ask other skin care professionals how they market their business to help you get started. You can seek out marketing professionals who have programs that help aestheticians and spa owners market their businesses.
A complete marketing calendar with action items assigned to a calendar and ongoing reminders will help you to enjoy the day to day activities of marketing your business while also running it. Marketing will no longer become a last minute problem that you have to deal with. It will become a cohesive, well-oiled machine that will help you grow your business and find success!
Barry Eichner is the cofounder of Lipgloss + Aftershave, a marketing consulting firm that specializes in digital media content creation, as well as strategic planning and implementation for beauty brands. He and Jenni Nagle (cofounder) publish the namesake beauty blog and podcast – Lipgloss + Aftershave. Eichner writes monthly columns that cover topics such as digital marketing, as well as overall business development for the independent skin care professional and day spa. He is a featured speaker at industry tradeshows across the country. Eichner has been selected to emcee the 2019 Skin Games in Las Vegas. He’s also a published editorial and lifestyle photographer.
Co-founder of Lipgloss + Aftershave, Jenni Nagle has nearly two decades of experience in the skin care industry. She began her career as an aesthetician working in all aspects of the industry: day, medical, and resort spas. Nagle always gravitated towards the business and marketing aspect of the spa industry and eventually managed large spas and became the director of public and media relations for a skin care brand. Looking for even more opportunity, she created her own digital marketing and public relations firm offering consulting services to international skin care brands and currently runs Lipgloss + Aftershave, a personal care and lifestyle review website offering fresh, fun, and informative reviews of professional and retail skin care products, makeup, and hair care, as well as other unique personal care items.
