How to Strengthen Your In-Spa Marketing

While we here at Spa Business Mastery typically focus on the ins and outs of digital marketing, today’s topic instead delves into how to strengthen your in-spa marketing both ASAP and in the long-term.

Why? Because, while the digital marketing aspects of your spa’s social media, email, and website is crucial to success in the modern age, we have to remember that we actually have a captive audience when clients physically come in– and so many in the spa biz aren’t leveraging that time or space as much as they should be!

So let’s dive into how to strengthen your in-spa marketing, why it matters, and our top tips for doing it right:

What is In-Spa Marketing?

In-spa marketing can take the form of face-to-face conversations, physical flyers or posters, and traditional advertising. It leverages the immediacy and conversational tone of being in a room with someone to heighten the chances of them being sold on a product or service.

When working with Kirsten Foss Coaching clients, we frame in-spa marketing just like we do digital marketing or events– with a comprehensive three-step system to ensure that you’re working smarter, not harder. 

In order, they are:

#1: Staff Meetings for Marketing Info Transfers

If you run a team, don’t underestimate the power of marketing info transfers!

During every staff meeting, you’ll want to carve out at least five minutes to share what’s coming up, what new features are being rolled out, what promos you have queued up, and which retail goals you are focusing on. As a spa owner, it is part of your responsibility to ensure that your team has the resources they need to be successful– and that starts with being generous in the information you’re handing out. The more detail, the better! They need to understand in order to effectively sell.

To know what to share, you can use your marketing notes to create a monthly marketing cheat sheet that details three key monthly features and their benefits. This can then be posted in your break room and the treatment room for them to reference on the fly.

#2: Utilizing the 80/20 Principle

Part of your cheat sheet should be reiterating the 80/20 principle: that chats with clients should be 80% education, 20% sales!

Those of us in the spa industry are naturally empathetic– but the downside of that is that client conversations tend to get… well, too conversational! While being actively engaged in your clients is a must, having a reminder to keep the focus of chats educational and sales-driven will help keep you and your team members on track without in-spa conversations becoming too sales-y.

Our marketing manager, Delia, shares, “I did a little trick at my spa. We’d have our meetings and would discuss what the features of that month’s promotion would be, whether it be a service, a retail product, or both. And then what we would do is assign one person every month to create these little cheat sheets. We’d then assign a different team member to teach the rest of the staff about the key benefits and talking points of that feature. It made it so everyone was involved and well-rehearsed!”

Utilizing the 80/20 principle will also work to yield:

• A more professional rapport with clients
• A more supportive framework for your sales goals
• A more results-driven environment for clients and staff alike

Talk about a win-win!

#3: Don’t Shirk In-Spa Marketing Materials

As we mentioned earlier, part of in-spa marketing includes physical marketing materials.

A common question we receive about this is, “I just don’t know where to put them!” The fantastic answer is that they work well in virtually any space.

Our go-to areas for posting in-spa marketing materials are in the reception area, in the guest lounge, in guest bathrooms, in each treatment room, in front of the mani/pedi stations, or beside a window.

At Delia’s spa, she actually had a cute poster stand that clients gravitated to upon first walking in!

Get Started and Strengthen Your In-Spa Marketing Today

The best part of in-spa marketing is that you can repurpose your regular digital marketing messaging to boost your bookings and retail sales– and even end up with a more educated team as a result!

In-spa marketing is crucial because, as we know, not everyone will see your digital marketing– but everyone will feel the connection of a one-on-one discussion and the immediacy of in-person flyers.

Need more inspiration for getting started (or buffing up) your in-spa marketing? Schedule a chat with us today!