Do your clients think about your spa or massage practice the way you want them to? You may consider that your business is extremely professional and customer driven and yet online reviews and comments from clients reflect a different perspective. When that happens, you need to take stock of your brand and find out if what you aspire to be is the way clients perceive you.
Everything about your spa or massage practice goes into your brand, which embodies your values as well as offerings. Your brand is reflected in your messaging, logo, the colors and graphics of your marketing materials and signage on retail products. Even the professional products you use for massage or skin treatments say something about your brand. Most important, a powerful brand touches every interaction you have with clients, including when they call in or walk through the door, receive treatments, visit your website and follow your social media posts.
Ask long-term clients why they come back year after year and you’ll find that underlying their loyalty is an emotional connection based on their value of and belief in your brand. This connection not only leads to long-term client relationships, it encourages client advocacy. Clients that value your brand are a key to word-of-mouth marketing, which for small business owners is a major driver of new business.
Ensure strong brand success
To ensure brand success, you need to identify client touchpoints, which are all those places where your clients come in contact with your spa or massage practice brand, and ensure each one provides a positive and consistent experience. Here are potential touchpoints to evaluate and questions and issues to consider insuring brand consistency.
Reception
This includes interactions with clients entering your spa or massage practice and those calling in. You’ll want to evaluate how staff greets clients, answers their questions, directs them throughout your establishment and makes suggestions about future bookings, treatments and even retail products.
Website
When you look at your website critically ask yourself if it include all of your brand colors and does the imagery support your position in the market – sophisticated, homey, state of the art, etc.? Is the site easy to navigate and find information and does it answer typical client questions? If you provide e-commerce, is the process of buying gift certificates or at home products simple?
Social media
Does your social media content reflect the personality of your spa or massage practice, your position in the market and your philosophy about client services as well as describe the products and services you offer? If it doesn’t, you need to rethink your content strategy.
Promotions
Are your special promotions reflective of your service offering and price range? Do they offer the value you know clients have come to expect?
Marketing and PR
Whatever marketing and public relations activities you maintain on an ongoing basis – email marketing, direct mail, press releases, brochures, etc., - review them for messages to be sure they convey your brand proposition as well as provide information about your offerings and promotions. Where graphics are involved, be sure to include your logo, use your brand colors and also choose images that are consistent with your brand.
Community involvement
You gain client recognition for your spa or massage practice by volunteering your services for various community events. Since you may get a lot of requests, choose those that reinforce values. You may, for example, want to work with seniors or children or underserved communities if they are reflective of your values. On the other hand, if your service offering is geared to sports therapies, you may want to volunteer at community sporting events.
Your brand is comprehensive. It tells clients what you stand for and what kind of experience they can expect. Be sure it’s consistent throughout your spa or massage practice to make a powerful impact and keep clients coming back.