Creating an Online Spa Marketing Plan for the Holiday Season

It’s the holiday season, or, as the popular song claims it to be: The most wonderful time of the year. It’s also the perfect opportunity to showcase your online spa marketing plan—the only problem is, you might not have one. What, with the inevitable and increased busyness leading up to November and December, it’s easy enough to put off creating a plan. By doing so, however, you’re missing out on the perfect opportunity to end the year on a high note and also boost monthly revenues. The good news is—it’s never too late. Let’s get started.

Defining Your Target Market

There are so many options when it comes to holiday marketing, but it’s helpful to narrow down the various types of purchasing opportunities for your clientele so that you can focus your time and energy on those specific promotions. Consider some of the following ideas:

• Gifts for friends, lovers, spouses, kids, teachers, etc.
• “Big package deals” for the person who wants to treat herself/himself or that special person in their lives
• Holiday-themed service packages and gifts with services, such as peppermint facials, pumpkin aromatherapy add-ons, etc.
• Party marketing—events and giveaways that can be promoted on social media

When you’re making decisions about holiday marketing, consider other marketing efforts that have been successful for you throughout the year, and how you can tie similar efforts into the season’s festivities. There’s no sense in repeating lukewarm responses; seize only on those through which you’ve gained maximum momentum.

Online, Defined

These days, there are basically four avenues of online marketing:

• Pay-Per-Click (PPC) – including tools such as Google Ad Words, which displays your ads based on popular keyword searches and directs viewers to your website.

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – getting free or “organic” search results that improve your website’s page rankings on popular search engines such as Google.

• Social Media – including social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and more.

• Email – regular/consistent electronic communication with recipients who have provided you with their email address.

Consistency is Key

Reaching as many potential clients as possible is essential, and the easiest way to do that is by spreading your message across multiple avenues. While it may be tempting to “mix things up” across, say, Facebook, email, and PPC—that strategy may actually work against you: viewers want consistency, whether they realize it or not. Be sure to make the same basic offer across all channels—just say it in a slightly different way. For example: on Facebook, you could post a short quiz about microneedling, with an accompanying offer; on Instagram, you could post a before/after picture of a microneedling treatment, along with a discount for treatment; in your weekly email, you’d talk about the benefits of microneedling and offer a special price or discount code for readers. Some people will receive all of your communications; others will receive only one or two. Regardless, everyone with whom you’re in contact will know what treatment on which you’re currently focusing, and that you’re offering a limited time offer in conjunction with that treatment.

Timing is Everything

As mentioned previously, it’s all too easy to put off holiday promotions until, well, the holidays—but that’s really too late. Everyone gets caught up in the whirlwind of activities and sales after Thanksgiving, and your promotion should be not only prominent but also consistent. Start promoting your online spa marketing plan at least four weeks before the holidays actually hit. In a perfect world, that would mean you start with your first promotion just before Black Friday, then keep going on a regular (whether that’s daily, twice weekly, or weekly) basis. 

Plan your graphics ahead of time, too. You can create your own or use free or low-cost services such as Shutterstock; keep in mind that pictures are worth a thousand words, and fresh graphics keep people interested. 

If you’re planning to extend your holiday hours, post that ahead of time, too, and encourage clients to book ahead of time to ensure their special occasion needs are met.

Planning Your Schedule

Take a few moments to sit down and write out a schedule that includes spa marketing efforts on pay-per-click, SEO, social media, and email. Having that schedule in place will save you time and also allow you to schedule communications in advance—you can even use social media platforms such as Hootsuite to schedule posts for you. Be sure to consider whether your communications are expressing the right message for your business. Are they the right size for desktop and mobile devices? Do they load quickly? Did you try them out first on a mobile device? 

Of course, you’ll want to keep your website in mind, too. A few simple changes and/or updated holiday-themed graphics (or an updated blog) can keep things fresh for the season and assure viewers that your content is timely.

Getting Your Staff on Board

No matter what you do as far as online spa marketing for the holidays, one of the easiest ways to reinforce your efforts is to get staff on board. Let everyone know what you’re posting, emailing, and advertising—and incentivize staff for talking up those campaigns. Visual reminders such as post cards and point-of-sale flyers are excellent ways to keep your message front-and-center for both staff and clients.

What’s Your Budget?

While it isn’t necessary to spend a lot of money developing a successful online spa marketing plan for the holidays, you should at least have a budget in mind. Social media channels such as Facebook and Instagram are free, which is a significant advantage, but pay-per-click opportunities cost money and that cost should be factored in to your overall marketing budget. Even if you spend only $5/day on pay-per-click advertising, you’ll want to do some research regarding the keywords on which people are searching for your type of business, then pinpoint those keywords across all of your online efforts to get the maximum bang for your buck.

Keeping Things Interesting

While your content should be consistent as far as what you’re promoting, alternate “sales” content with seasonal beauty tips, gift card campaigns, retail promotions, and just plain ole fun and entertaining posts. I always suggest that for every sales post, there should be at least four or five non-sales posts; this will keep viewers wanting to hear from you, rather than avoiding you like the holiday plague.

Summary

Don’t let the words “holiday marketing plan” overwhelm you. With just a little bit of thought, planning, and creativity—you, too, can easily develop a plan that will help grow your business by leaps and bounds, just in time for the ho-ho-holidays.   

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Louis “The Laser Guy” Silberman is CEO of National Laser Institute, a national cosmetic laser and medical esthetic training center founded a decade ago, and owns medical spas in Scottsdale and Dallas. He’s the author of Make It Happen Online and a motivational marketing speaker. Silberman created the sixth most visited health/beauty website and was a semi-finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2014. Contact him at louis@nationallaserinstitute.com.