Cyber Savvy
Boost your business with Web tools
By Rody Moore
Originally published in Skin Deep, March/April 2009. Copyright 2009. Associated Skin Care Professionals. All right reserved.
Love it or hate it, our world is going digital. Everywhere you look, there seems to be somebody giving spa owners and skin care professionals another reason to step up their technology know-how and get busy promoting their businesses on the Internet. But with confusing terms, intimidating pricing, and seemingly endless information to wade through, many beauty and skin care professionals skip the hassle and hope word of mouth will bring in new clients. But these days, it pays to diversify referral sources and the Internet is an obvious, but often untapped, way to do that.
"Nowadays, spas can't do business without being online," says Skip Williams, author and vice president of Resources & Development, a spa business development consultancy. "The services spas provide are direct and personal, so the way that spas market to their clients needs to be direct and personal also. And there's no better way to get in touch with your clients than through the Web."
In an industry that has always relied on word of mouth, the Internet has dramatically changed the referral process. Your clients are sharing information through the net, and entering into their virtual conversation doesn't need to be difficult. In fact, there are more tools and tips available to small businesses than ever before.
"It's not a matter of spending a lot of money on marketing," Williams says. "It's about spending a little bit of time." In today's economy, when budgets are tight and appointment books are less than full, there is no better opportunity to boost the online presence of your business. Your clients are waiting for you online. Meet them there.
Start With the Basics
There are Internet must-haves for every skin care studio and spa. If your practice is already up and running on the Web, there are ways to take your online presence to the next level. Dedicate a little time to building your business online and you'll strengthen the customer ties you already have, as well as attract new clients to your practice.
Your Place on the Web. A website is the place where your clients and potential clients can get a glimpse of who you are and what your practice is all about. Even if the spa you work for has its own site, you can use the Associated Skin Care Professionals (ASCP) free website builder to create an additional site featuring you. Log in to the Members section at www.ascpskincare.com using your member ID and last name, and click on Create/Edit Your Website. You can then let potential clients know to make an appointment with you at the spa if you don't have a private practice. Your own website also strengthens your presence on the ASCP online referral tool.
"A website, first and foremost, is a must," says Gayle Kesten, chief blogging officer for www.smallbizresource.com, a technology blog for small businesses. "It doesn't have to be fancy, but you need to at least put yourself on the map with something clean and well-written."
When customers are on your site, you have their complete attention. Use your site to tell them about staff, products you believe in, your services, your philosophy on skin care, and how they can contact you. If you want to add a little extra, engage your website's viewers with information and articles that will interest them, think "Five tips to get your skin glowing," or "Great summertime treatments for your skin." You can also post ASCP client brochures as PDFs on your site.
Now that Web searches have replaced the Yellow Pages as the means by which customers find a new business, your website is the most important marketing asset. All other marketing should drive customers to your website. There are many website-building engines that can help you get a site up and running quickly and inexpensively--www.merchantcircle.com and www.synthasite.com are just two examples.
Close the Deal. When your clients and potential clients are on your website, they're thinking about your services, how lovely your spa looks, and how much they'd like to treat themselves to your services. It is imperative that you make it easy for them to book an appointment with you right then and there. Asking clients to call you to book an appointment gives them pause. What if they are at work or it's too late to call? The Internet never closes and neither should your appointment book. Make sure your clients can book with you through your website.
"I was wasting so much time returning phone calls," says Heather Moore, owner of Heavenly Touch Skin Care in Glendale, Arizona. "Many times when I reached the person who called to book an appointment, she had already booked with someone else. Moore was frustrated with the inefficiencies of scheduling by phone when she found Genbook, the booking and scheduling tool that allows small businesses to take appointments online. She placed Genbook's BookNow! button on her website and watched her client base grow from 80 to 150 clients in a year.
"It's made such an impact on my revenue that I know that there's no way I will ever have a site that doesn't have Genbook's Booknow! button," Moore says. She uses Genbook Free, a benefit free to members of Associated Skin Care Professionals (ASCP), which includes e-mail appointment reminders, service menus, and a BookNow! Button. Genbook also offers a $19.95-a-month product with many features some businesses consider must-haves, like the ability to get text messages on your phone when you are away from your computer.
When you choose an online appointment scheduler, make sure it is really easy for your clients to use and does not require them to sign up or log in before they can book with you. Any obstacle between your client and your appointment book can potentially keep her out of your practice, so keep it simple.
Keep in Touch. Mailers and flyers are the old spa industry standard. Some spas are now skipping the expense of printing and postage and opting for personal messages and specials routed directly to their clients' e-mail addresses.
When Moore created a Monthly Special e-mail for clients who wanted to be updated with information about her skin care services, she discovered most of her new clients had learned about Heavenly Touch through friends who had forwarded the e-mail.
"The Internet helps small businesses maximize marketing productivity and efficiency, because it provides more bang for the buck," Kesten says. "Why spend money on producing color brochures when the return on investment is so much higher per e-mail sent?"
E-mails are an opportunity to remind your clients of the great services you offer and that you are available to help with their skin care needs. That reminder, along with special pricing for a service, can be enough to get her to click the link to your website and book an appointment. Your e-mail might also remind her of a friend who has been looking for an opportunity to treat herself, earning you a referral in seconds. ASCP offers a free client newsletter generator that can be personalized by members and sent as a color PDF to clients.
As a matter of courtesy and online security, allow your clients to opt-in to receiving your e-mails, remove them from the list when they ask, and be sure that e-mail addresses are not visible to others.
More Advanced Tools
If you already have a website, take appointments online, and issue e-mail newsletters and specials, you've mastered the basics. Are you ready to take your practice to the next level of techno-marketing? Then settle in for some serious Web surfing and check out these tools and tactics to attract new clients and keep your current clients smiling every time they think of you.
Get Local. Google AdWords walks you through a process of creating an advertisement and selecting appropriate keywords, so that when people in your geographic area search Google using one of your keywords, such as "waxing," your ad may appear next to the search results as a sponsored link. This allows you to reach a targeted audience who can then click your ad link, open your website, and learn more about you and your services.
Check Your Listing. Have you ever wanted to get an opinion on a store, doctors' office, or salon before you went there for the first time? Of course you have, and so have your clients. Online review websites like Yelp!, Yahoo! Local, and Cityseach allow consumers to rate and write reviews on businesses they've been to. You may have been listed on these sites and been reviewed there without even knowing it.
Tech-savvy first-time clients check online reviews before they book an appointment, so here are some ideas to make sure your online reviews are as glowing as the complexions of your clients.
Enlist Loyal Fans. If you have a friendly relationship with some of your clients, ask them to post a review of their experience with you.
Get Up to Date. Yelp! and Yahoo! Local allow businesses to edit basic information about their listings, so it's up to you to make sure details about your listing are correct. Yelp! allows you to upload photos of your workplace, so post your prettiest.
Let Clients Brag. Citysearch offers user-generated reviews like Yelp! does, but businesses must be paying members in order to edit information. The cost of membership depends on your city and whether you'd like to add advertising elements into your posting. Since you can influence your practice's ranking by earning positive reviews, you might decide to skip the cost of monthly membership if you'd like to spend marketing dollars elsewhere.
Deliver Excellence. Online review websites enable everyone to be a critic. You never know who will post a review after her appointment, so it's important that you and your staff are always pleasant to work with and your environment is in tip-top shape.
Go Social in Cyberspace. Aside from sending e-mails to your clients, you can keep in touch with them online through social networks like Facebook.com, Meetup.com, and Myspace.com.
At Meetup.com people with similar interests find each other and plan get-togethers around their common interests. Search its groups in your city for those who might be interested in skin care and get in touch with them. For example, if your spa is in San Francisco, you might contact the organizer of The San Francisco Yoga Meet-up Group to offer that she plan a relaxing meet-up at your spa. You'll earn the attention of a wellness-minded group of potential clients and the reputation of being a tranquil and accommodating place for spa services.
Aglow Skin Care of Detroit shares a network on Myspace.com with clients. Owner Colleen Wellington uses the free Web page to post the spa's calendar of upcoming events and general information about her spa, including a link to its website.
"Even if you never receive a single new client through a MySpace page, you will earn a higher ranking in Google searches because of it," Williams says.
New Opportunities. Technology allows you to spread your message far and wide, but just as in the real world, good news travels fast and bad news travels even faster in cyberspace. While modern spas and wise estheticians can and should be up to date with an Internet strategy, no marketing plan--online or otherwise--can replace top-notch services with qualified and caring professionals.
Rody Moore is founder and chief executive officer of Genbook. Before leading Genbook, has was an investor in and director of an Australian telecommunications startup. He can be reached at 415-227-9903.
Love it or hate it, our world is going digital. Everywhere you look, there seems to be somebody giving spa owners and skin care professionals another reason to step up their technology know-how and get busy promoting their businesses on the Internet. But with confusing terms, intimidating pricing, and seemingly endless information to wade through, many beauty and skin care professionals skip the hassle and hope word of mouth will bring in new clients. But these days, it pays to diversify referral sources and the Internet is an obvious, but often untapped, way to do that.
"Nowadays, spas can't do business without being online," says Skip Williams, author and vice president of Resources & Development, a spa business development consultancy. "The services spas provide are direct and personal, so the way that spas market to their clients needs to be direct and personal also. And there's no better way to get in touch with your clients than through the Web."
In an industry that has always relied on word of mouth, the Internet has dramatically changed the referral process. Your clients are sharing information through the net, and entering into their virtual conversation doesn't need to be difficult. In fact, there are more tools and tips available to small businesses than ever before.
"It's not a matter of spending a lot of money on marketing," Williams says. "It's about spending a little bit of time." In today's economy, when budgets are tight and appointment books are less than full, there is no better opportunity to boost the online presence of your business. Your clients are waiting for you online. Meet them there.
Start With the Basics
There are Internet must-haves for every skin care studio and spa. If your practice is already up and running on the Web, there are ways to take your online presence to the next level. Dedicate a little time to building your business online and you'll strengthen the customer ties you already have, as well as attract new clients to your practice.
Your Place on the Web. A website is the place where your clients and potential clients can get a glimpse of who you are and what your practice is all about. Even if the spa you work for has its own site, you can use the Associated Skin Care Professionals (ASCP) free website builder to create an additional site featuring you. Log in to the Members section at www.ascpskincare.com using your member ID and last name, and click on Create/Edit Your Website. You can then let potential clients know to make an appointment with you at the spa if you don't have a private practice. Your own website also strengthens your presence on the ASCP online referral tool.
"A website, first and foremost, is a must," says Gayle Kesten, chief blogging officer for www.smallbizresource.com, a technology blog for small businesses. "It doesn't have to be fancy, but you need to at least put yourself on the map with something clean and well-written."
When customers are on your site, you have their complete attention. Use your site to tell them about staff, products you believe in, your services, your philosophy on skin care, and how they can contact you. If you want to add a little extra, engage your website's viewers with information and articles that will interest them, think "Five tips to get your skin glowing," or "Great summertime treatments for your skin." You can also post ASCP client brochures as PDFs on your site.
Now that Web searches have replaced the Yellow Pages as the means by which customers find a new business, your website is the most important marketing asset. All other marketing should drive customers to your website. There are many website-building engines that can help you get a site up and running quickly and inexpensively--www.merchantcircle.com and www.synthasite.com are just two examples.
Close the Deal. When your clients and potential clients are on your website, they're thinking about your services, how lovely your spa looks, and how much they'd like to treat themselves to your services. It is imperative that you make it easy for them to book an appointment with you right then and there. Asking clients to call you to book an appointment gives them pause. What if they are at work or it's too late to call? The Internet never closes and neither should your appointment book. Make sure your clients can book with you through your website.
"I was wasting so much time returning phone calls," says Heather Moore, owner of Heavenly Touch Skin Care in Glendale, Arizona. "Many times when I reached the person who called to book an appointment, she had already booked with someone else. Moore was frustrated with the inefficiencies of scheduling by phone when she found Genbook, the booking and scheduling tool that allows small businesses to take appointments online. She placed Genbook's BookNow! button on her website and watched her client base grow from 80 to 150 clients in a year.
"It's made such an impact on my revenue that I know that there's no way I will ever have a site that doesn't have Genbook's Booknow! button," Moore says. She uses Genbook Free, a benefit free to members of Associated Skin Care Professionals (ASCP), which includes e-mail appointment reminders, service menus, and a BookNow! Button. Genbook also offers a $19.95-a-month product with many features some businesses consider must-haves, like the ability to get text messages on your phone when you are away from your computer.
When you choose an online appointment scheduler, make sure it is really easy for your clients to use and does not require them to sign up or log in before they can book with you. Any obstacle between your client and your appointment book can potentially keep her out of your practice, so keep it simple.
Keep in Touch. Mailers and flyers are the old spa industry standard. Some spas are now skipping the expense of printing and postage and opting for personal messages and specials routed directly to their clients' e-mail addresses.
When Moore created a Monthly Special e-mail for clients who wanted to be updated with information about her skin care services, she discovered most of her new clients had learned about Heavenly Touch through friends who had forwarded the e-mail.
"The Internet helps small businesses maximize marketing productivity and efficiency, because it provides more bang for the buck," Kesten says. "Why spend money on producing color brochures when the return on investment is so much higher per e-mail sent?"
E-mails are an opportunity to remind your clients of the great services you offer and that you are available to help with their skin care needs. That reminder, along with special pricing for a service, can be enough to get her to click the link to your website and book an appointment. Your e-mail might also remind her of a friend who has been looking for an opportunity to treat herself, earning you a referral in seconds. ASCP offers a free client newsletter generator that can be personalized by members and sent as a color PDF to clients.
As a matter of courtesy and online security, allow your clients to opt-in to receiving your e-mails, remove them from the list when they ask, and be sure that e-mail addresses are not visible to others.
More Advanced Tools
If you already have a website, take appointments online, and issue e-mail newsletters and specials, you've mastered the basics. Are you ready to take your practice to the next level of techno-marketing? Then settle in for some serious Web surfing and check out these tools and tactics to attract new clients and keep your current clients smiling every time they think of you.
Get Local. Google AdWords walks you through a process of creating an advertisement and selecting appropriate keywords, so that when people in your geographic area search Google using one of your keywords, such as "waxing," your ad may appear next to the search results as a sponsored link. This allows you to reach a targeted audience who can then click your ad link, open your website, and learn more about you and your services.
Check Your Listing. Have you ever wanted to get an opinion on a store, doctors' office, or salon before you went there for the first time? Of course you have, and so have your clients. Online review websites like Yelp!, Yahoo! Local, and Cityseach allow consumers to rate and write reviews on businesses they've been to. You may have been listed on these sites and been reviewed there without even knowing it.
Tech-savvy first-time clients check online reviews before they book an appointment, so here are some ideas to make sure your online reviews are as glowing as the complexions of your clients.
Enlist Loyal Fans. If you have a friendly relationship with some of your clients, ask them to post a review of their experience with you.
Get Up to Date. Yelp! and Yahoo! Local allow businesses to edit basic information about their listings, so it's up to you to make sure details about your listing are correct. Yelp! allows you to upload photos of your workplace, so post your prettiest.
Let Clients Brag. Citysearch offers user-generated reviews like Yelp! does, but businesses must be paying members in order to edit information. The cost of membership depends on your city and whether you'd like to add advertising elements into your posting. Since you can influence your practice's ranking by earning positive reviews, you might decide to skip the cost of monthly membership if you'd like to spend marketing dollars elsewhere.
Deliver Excellence. Online review websites enable everyone to be a critic. You never know who will post a review after her appointment, so it's important that you and your staff are always pleasant to work with and your environment is in tip-top shape.
Go Social in Cyberspace. Aside from sending e-mails to your clients, you can keep in touch with them online through social networks like Facebook.com, Meetup.com, and Myspace.com.
At Meetup.com people with similar interests find each other and plan get-togethers around their common interests. Search its groups in your city for those who might be interested in skin care and get in touch with them. For example, if your spa is in San Francisco, you might contact the organizer of The San Francisco Yoga Meet-up Group to offer that she plan a relaxing meet-up at your spa. You'll earn the attention of a wellness-minded group of potential clients and the reputation of being a tranquil and accommodating place for spa services.
Aglow Skin Care of Detroit shares a network on Myspace.com with clients. Owner Colleen Wellington uses the free Web page to post the spa's calendar of upcoming events and general information about her spa, including a link to its website.
"Even if you never receive a single new client through a MySpace page, you will earn a higher ranking in Google searches because of it," Williams says.
New Opportunities. Technology allows you to spread your message far and wide, but just as in the real world, good news travels fast and bad news travels even faster in cyberspace. While modern spas and wise estheticians can and should be up to date with an Internet strategy, no marketing plan--online or otherwise--can replace top-notch services with qualified and caring professionals.
Rody Moore is founder and chief executive officer of Genbook. Before leading Genbook, has was an investor in and director of an Australian telecommunications startup. He can be reached at 415-227-9903.
