Marketing Tips

Promoting Spa Services

Marketing Minute - July 2010

As many tanning salons are "going spa" these days, their success depends on effectively marketing and promoting those services. Sometimes a salon owner has to get creative, especially when promoting spa services. Learn what opportunities are available and how Nancy King, Owner of Bronze Bodies marketed spa services as an up-sell to clients and also attracted new ones!

Offering spa services and products gives salon owners an opportunity to up-sell current clients and attract new ones. If you're planning to add to your salon's menu, you'll need some solid marketing ideas to enjoy the success these add-on services can provide.

The term "Try it before you buy it" is one of the simplest marketing concepts, yet it also can be one of the most effective. Salon owners should try any spa product or service before deciding whether to offer it in their salons. If you or staff personally have great results with teeth whitening systems such as the Shine White or the UV-activated Twilight Teeth, customers are more likely to ask how they can get a smile as white as yours. If you display products prominently on the front counter, many clients will ask about it. This creates the perfect opportunity to discuss the product with them, and show your personal enthusiasm for it. They usually end up trying it and enjoying the results, and soon become regular users.

Salon owners can create packages to sell current tanners on spa services, and can also create customizable packages that cater to new clients who may only want one service such as teeth-whitening. Give clients the option to try a spa service with the purchase of a tanning lotion or package.

Nancy King, Salon Owner of Bronze Bodies in Edmonton, Alberta decided to create 'Look Good...Feel Great! Packages to get people interested in more than just tanning. She writes, "Offering these packages will help get people to try other services and feel good at the same time. This will generate good cash flow as well as word of mouth advertising for new clientele." Nancy created 3 monthly packages where clients can choose the Gold, Silver, or Bronze starting at $300. The Gold package includes all her available services; 1 underarm laser session, 5 teeth whitening sessions, 12 infrared sauna sessions, 12 vibrational trainer sessions, and 12 tanning sessions.

Offering spa services also helps to compete with other tanning salons that only offer tanning. Your salon can become a one-stop "Feel Good" shop! Therefore it's a good idea to advertise spa services in your community and its surrounding area. When you advertise spa services beyond your salon's central location, specific menu items like massage or teeth-whitening services can make people more willing to travel the extra distance to your salon.

Spray Tanning Services

Marketing Minute - July 2010

If you are truly in the tanning business you should offer customers the opportunity to choose from either UV or Spray Tan options. Spray Tanning services are a great way to increase your revenue. Discover what fits your budget with all the Spray Tanning options available to salons!

If you can't afford equipment bring in the self or take home spray tanning lotion. There is a whole line of products dedicated to the Do It Yourself spray tan market. Establish yourself as the tanning expert. Some customers may prefer you to spray them at your salon with one of the single use spray options. The next step would be to buy a portable Spray Tan unit. These usually cost between $1-2,000. Payback is pretty quick depending on how many sprays you do a day. For salons that see over 50 people a day I would recommend the new Spray Tan booths by Mystic Tan, VersaSpa or California Tan. In the U.S they are finding that approximately 10% of clients in a salon will use the spray tan equipment. Look at your numbers. See what makes sense for you. But don't ignore this fast growing market.