The official date of the 10th Annual National Spring Spa Week is April 21–27. According to www.spaweek.com, Spa Week is a bi-annual event focused on consumers' personal health and wellness. Every April and October, hundreds of spa and wellness locations across North America provide two to three full-service spa treatments (valued at 100 to 500 dollars) for just $50 each, offering everyone access to the spa and wellness lifestyle.
First of all, let me state for the record that I think this is a brilliant promotion, and the Spa Week Media Group has successfully executed it. This promotion has done a lot to educate the consumer that spa is more about health and less indulgence. If this type of involvement fits your business model, I highly recommend exploring it as an option. It’s obviously too late to get listed on this spring’s event directory. (Think Fall)
However, it’s not too late to offer specials to your clients that week. By taking advantage of the larger spa industry's marketing push, you can expose clients to the wonderful benefits provided by the spa treatments on your menu. One option is to combine full-service treatments such as massage or facials with aromatherapy wraps and polishes. Another option is to offer packages combining added value treatments with your massage sessions: i.e., Golfers Special: heated scalp, torso, and foot treatments. Check Biotone’s Spa Menu Ideas for inspiration on how-to’s and recipes.
There are several ways to effectively let your clients know that a special event is coming. The fastest is social media, ie. Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, etc. Don’t neglect the power of in-house promotion/displays. If you have the time, inclination, and (hopefully) a mailing/email list, you can send out a visual promo piece or postcard.
Whatever you do, make sure you notify other businesses that share your target market: wellness, health, and fitness professionals. It might spark an opportunity to join forces with them for future PR events. The opportunities become exponentially more interesting when you form cooperatives. For example, consider the impact of integrating a promotion that supports a featured charity event. I love being able to be creative and contribute to my community, don’t you?
Those of you still not on board with the necessity of offering therapeutic spa as a valuable modality, pay attention. I saw this statement recently on Skin Inc.com – “According to the International Spa Association, 72% of spa-goers are now influenced by stress in their decision to visit a spa, while 88% of all spa-goers said that spas improve their health and well-being. No longer classified as luxuries, spa visits are now viewed as necessities as more people are taking control of their own health and well-being. Recent years have shown an explosion of medical evidence about the proven health benefits of spa visits, creating higher consumer demand to easily (and affordably) obtain spa and wellness services."
I’m telling you that is great for us! One of the wonderful things about spa treatments is that they are not restricted to “spas.” Even if you are a sole practitioner, you can easily tap into this therapeutic modality. I’m double dog daring you to take advantage of Spa Week to promote the therapeutic spa benefits. FYI My Spa Week promotion: Complementary spa enhancements (with funny animal tie-in names) and a prominently featured donation jar for a local animal charity.
Be well, Do good work, and Write us about your community service projects.