Great First Impressions

Day Spa Marketing: You’ve Got One Chance to Make a Great First Impression

In life you only have one chance to make a great first impression. The same holds true for marketing where your first impression sets the stage for you taking a prospect and turning them into a client.

You know if the first impression your marketing makes on your “tarket” (target market) isn’t a “good one” it’s very likely they won’t be enticed to become a client.

Why? Because if your marketing message, which is the thing that actually communicates the true value of what you/your day spa offers, doesn’t resonate with or spark the interest of your “tarket” they’ll move on – convinced that you don’t know or understand them.

A previous blog called “are you talking so people listen” detailed the importance of using the language of marketing – a language Marketing Syntax. Why is it important to use? Because you want to make sure, your “tarket” gets your message.

Marketing Syntax is the building block that enables you to create marketing messages that actually communicate the true value you offer.

Unfortunately, when most day spa owners create their marketing messages they don’t use Marketing Syntax. What happens is they typically run into problems that include the following:

1. Their message isn’t directed to a target market.

2. Their message fails to hit a nerve.

3. Their message talks about services, not solutions.

4. Their message tries to say too much and gets unwieldy.

5. Their message doesn’t say enough and becomes cryptic.

But here’s some good news – once you have the tool of Marketing Syntax in your tool kit, all of these problems are relatively easy to solve.

You’ll want to read on for the answer to how you specifically solve each of these problems.

1. Not directed to a target market:

Every marketing message should start with something like: “We work with this kind of client…” or “We help this kind of client… (Insert the appropriate demographics or psychographics).”

2. Fails to hit a nerve

Talk about a problem, challenge, issue, pain, or predicament that is symptomatic and clearly observable. Say: “We work with professional women who have developed prematurely wrinkled skin” This they can understand, and it hits a nerve. Don’t say, “We work with women who want a great facial and top level service.” Huh? Don’t laugh, I’ve heard worse.

3. Talks about services, not solutions

When you talk about services, the “tarket” needs to translate what it means to her. If you get right into solutions, results and outcomes, she sees the immediate benefit. “We offer a retention maximization program,” isn’t as good as, “We have a service that will increase retention of your best employees.” Now that has value.

4. Says too much

To get someone’s attention, you need to communicate in meaningful sound bites. Run-on sentences or worse, messages with multiple targets, problems, and solutions, will only confuse people: “We work with large and small day spas in the broadband and professional beauty industry that have management, marketing and financial issues and want to build their business at the lowest possible wage level while retaining high-performing and self-generating managers/leaders.” Expect confused looks.

5. Says too little

You might understand the message you’ve come up with, but your audience many need some translation. “What do you do?” “I’m a day spa owner.” Wait, what’s wrong with that? Nothing except that it’s meaningless except to other day spa owners and professional product manufacturers. There’s no target, problem or solution. And so the “twenty questions” game begins – and that’s a game you don’t want to play.

So make sure your marketing message makes a good first impression. When it does your prospect will take your invitation to learn more about your services and products – and that’s where you’ll want to expand your marketing message into written marketing materials that communicate about your services in more depth.

Andrew Finkelstein

The Beauty Resource