Marketing myself at a salon/spa

[Kevin.Hiroki.Lee]

I have just gotten my first job at an independent salon and spa. Although I am an employee, the manager told me I would basically be running my own business as far as marketing myself and deciding what modalities to offer. I have found a number of great ideas looking through this site, and I'm looking for more ideas that would work in this situation - they are excited to hear new marketing ideas and willing to help implement them. I have lots of ideas but I am obviously totally new at this and kind of terrified! I am also not sure what to do as far as asking other practitioners to be involved - there is one other therapist but she is primarily a nail tech, and one esthetician who does relaxation. Hoping for help from more seasoned professionals...here are a few ideas I've been tossing around:

-Freebie chair massages or hand/arm massages to the salon guests - not totally sold on this but it sounds like they think this is a key idea
-Thank you notes to 1st time clients, maybe with a discount coupon (I do have the ability to discount my services)
-Multiple session discount
-Rebooking/referral discounts
-Leaving brochures/business cards on community boards
-Create a blog that could be linked to the main website with deals, client education, articles related to my specialization
-Run charity promotions and donate a perceneforum.xxxe of tips - this might be a really cool idea as I volunteer with a women's shelter - I could market myself, raise money, and raise awareness at the same time.
-This place is in a mall and I am expected to walk around and introduce myself to employees and whatnot - any tips or ideas for marketing in this way? What to say, what to leave with them, etc. I feel like such a schmuck going "door to door" like that but there must be a graceful way to accomplish it.

Do these sound like good ideas, bad ideas? Anything else to consider?

 

[eee]

Marketing myself at a salon/spa

I worked at 2 salon/spas. At both I gave away free hand,neck,feet massages. They thought it was just an added bonus to their service they were getting already. NO ONE I ever did this too ever booked an appt with me.

 

[JaneM]

Marketing myself at a salon/spa

I'd save the free massage for the other employees of the salon and maybe of the other businesses around you - and make them short teaser massages. I love the "one side" freebie. Massage a stylist's arm and she may soon book a massage so that the rest of her will feel that good! The other employees are the ones who will talk about you, and having others talk about you is always better than talking about yourself. Introducing yourself to others in the building will be more welcome, smoother and more memorable if you introduce yourself (when they are not busy with a customer) with a quick neck or hand massage.

 

[kld726]

Marketing myself at a salon/spa

I'd save the free massage for the other employees of the salon and maybe of the other businesses around you - and make them short teaser massages. I love the "one side" freebie. Massage a stylist's arm and she may soon book a massage so that the rest of her will feel that good! The other employees are the ones who will talk about you, and having others talk about you is always better than talking about yourself. Introducing yourself to others in the building will be more welcome, smoother and more memorable if you introduce yourself (when they are not busy with a customer) with a quick neck or hand massage.

Yep yep yep! What she said...

 

[Nostromo]

Marketing myself at a salon/spa

Salon owners always want you to set up the chair and give free massage to THEIR clients.
In my experience it NEVER gains you any bookings for table massage at all.
Same thing goes for doing chair massage for free at events.
I have earned money for a charity at an event but did not acquire any new clients.

Don't do it.

If you have a chair, you can offer chair massage as a paid service.

Your referral and package discounts are a good idea. Referral rewards to the other employees is good. Go ahead and give them some massage up front so they can "sell" you to their clients but do NOT get into the habit of giving them free massages whenever they want. Consider cross promotions with another service provider(s) for a "spa" package. Or trade discount coupons for first-time clients (you give hair or nail coupons to YOUR clients and they give massage coupons to theirs).

Getting people on your table is your priority - think of ways to do that.

btw - I worked at a salon for a short time and did a lot of marketing and created a lot of marketing materials. Overall - I feel that I did a lot of unpaid work to promote the salon itself. They benefitted far more than I did for my efforts. Make sure that you do NOT foot the bill for ANY of their marketing costs.

 

[Amy Y]

Marketing myself at a salon/spa

Yeah, I am really worried about this free chair massage thing. It was important enough for them to ask me about it in the interview, and I didn't argue with it then because I had never really thought about it before. Now that I have heard from other people that this rarely if ever gains you any clients, I am not sure how to bring this up tactfully. They don't have a whole lot of knowledge about MT (they offered me either commission or an hourly rate of $8!) so it may not be that they have shady motivations, but that they honestly think this is a good idea and don't understand why it isn't.

The two things they want to accomplish by giving freebies is for me to "get to know" the salon and spa clientele so I can introduce myself, and of course to create a memorable experience of the place itself. Here are my new and improved ideas...

-Freebie day(s) for the salon employees, maybe limited to the first month?
-Freebie day for the mall employees? Should I request at least an hourly/daily wage for this?
-Set up a raffle for current clients with the prize being a free massage

Do you think these would sound like good alternatives to an employer?

 

[the_beave]

Marketing myself at a salon/spa

I worked for a few weeks at a salon (supposedly doing massage in addition to receptionist work) and he brought up the free thing too. I simply said I did not believe in working for free, as people do not value what they get for nothing. I asked if the hair stylists and nail techs had been expected to give away free cuts or manicures when they started. Well of course not!

Setting a chair visibly, talking to people, coupons, drawings, all are good ways to market without giving away. I've done events where I will fill up a decorative jar with slips of paper, most say "$10 off your next massage!" and a few say "Free Chair Massage Today!" Everyone can draw one, no purchase required. And I don't mind giving away the occasional chair massage, I just think that many MTs are taken advaneforum.xxxe of (esp. new ones) by the old 'Giving free massage is a great way to build your business!' line. No, it's not. It's just a good way to work for nothing.

 

[howtodeal2008]

Marketing myself at a salon/spa

Giving away free massage was different for me because of the area. People aren't as familiar with what massage really is here and many are wary of it, not knowing what to expect. So when I gave away free massages, I was giving away knowledge of massage which really increased my business fast. It is different when you are in a competitive town with ppl who get massages regularly and are always looking for the cheapest deal. Just depends on the area you are in as to whether free massage will help you build, or not.

 

[Lee2332]

Marketing myself at a salon/spa

Yeah, I am really worried about this free chair massage thing. It was important enough for them to ask me about it in the interview, and I didn't argue with it then because I had never really thought about it before. Now that I have heard from other people that this rarely if ever gains you any clients, I am not sure how to bring this up tactfully.

I think I would wait for them to bring it up and then reply with something like "I've been giving that a lot of thought since we originally touched on it...." and then explain why it doesn't work AND offer up solutions YOU are comfortable doing.

The two things they want to accomplish by giving freebies is for me to "get to know" the salon and spa clientele so I can introduce myself, and of course to create a memorable experience of the place itself. Here are my new and improved ideas...

-Freebie day(s) for the salon employees, maybe limited to the first month?
-Freebie day for the mall employees? Should I request at least an hourly/daily wage for this?
-Set up a raffle for current clients with the prize being a free massage

Do you think these would sound like good alternatives to an employer?

Rather than "Freebie Days" for the staff, I would suggest Sharon's idea of working on ONE issue per employee ONE time for free. Stylists are notorious for having low back, neck, shoulder and/or arm problems + their feet are usually killing them! Do a deep stripping on one stylist's arm, release another's neck, etc. We're talking about 5-10 minutes per person MAX which should give them plenty to talk about to their clients...and REWARD them for sending their clients to you...maybe 15 minutes free for each new client which they can save up to get a free hour? Stylists (and nail techs) talk all day - give them a reason to talk about you.

Freebie days for the mall employees I'm not sure is a great idea. No offense to the hard working girls at Hot Dog on a Stick, but are they really your target market? Yes, they do work hard and I'm sure can benefit from your work (I've seen them make lemonade), but can they really afford regular work? Are the customers they'd tell about you going to care enough to seek you out once they finish their corndog?

Raffle could work if you SELL raffle tickets and YOU get to keep the proceeds - sell enough tickets and you could end up doing a full-price (or MORE!) massage.

You could also put out a "Register to win" jar where people give you their demographic info (name, address, email, phone #, birthday, etc.) and ONE person wins a free massage. Of course since all these people implied by entering that they are interested in massage, they all become leads to add to your mailing list. The first mail they get should be a letter announcing that while they didn't win the Grand Prize, they did win 2nd Place which is whatever discount you'd like to offer them to come in the first time...($10 off, $20 off, 1/2 price...whatever works for you.) Then all you need to do is get them to rebook.

 

[Donta]

Marketing myself at a salon/spa

All great ideas! Thanks!

 

[xxlisa3andrewxx]

Marketing myself at a salon/spa

Free 10 minute chair massages are a great idea. Ther is not better marketing technique than a client feeling your technique. Its a great chance to interact and get their contact information. Be sure to collect that during your intake. Start a newsletter and bring a signup sheet to your free sessions. You give 1 free massage however you get to contact them regularly after that.

 

[tuhreza]

Marketing myself at a salon/spa

Yeah, I am really worried about this free chair massage thing. It was important enough for them to ask me about it in the interview, and I didn't argue with it then because I had never really thought about it before. Now that I have heard from other people that this rarely if ever gains you any clients, I am not sure how to bring this up tactfully.

I think I would wait for them to bring it up and then reply with something like "I've been giving that a lot of thought since we originally touched on it...." and then explain why it doesn't work AND offer up solutions YOU are comfortable doing.

Phenominal wording, Pete! Sometimes I just want to bottle you!