The ALS Association raised over $100 million in a month with the help of an Ice Bucket Challenge – the latest viral phenomena that resulted in more than 1.2 million video shares and more than 2.2 million tweets. Can you make your spa or salon this popular? Probably not in a month, but over a longer period - surely you can. Here’s a few things you need to learn from the success of the Ice Bucket Challenge and implement them at your spa or salon.
Think Out-Of-The-Box
Fill a bucket with ice water and dump it over your head – who would have thought that such a simple act would generate millions of dollars. But, it did and so can you. All you need to do is find an out-of-the-box service that you’re already running but is not so popular (After all, ALS existed long before the ice bucket challenge). What you need is an idea to make this service a hit. Use analytics to identify a service that’s not popular, consumes less time, has a good margin and can connect to people. For example, an Oncology Massage or a Foot Reflexology might not be your most popular services, but they’re likely to connect to specific groups of people. Oncology Massage is beneficial for customers having cancer and Foot Reflexology is attractive to customers having sore feet due to jobs that involve long hours of standing. After identifying such services, create a highly targeted marketing campaign to promote these services to the right customers. To create a specific target segment for your identified service, tag your customers based on specific characteristics like sore feet or cancer. Send them offers or packages to make that service popular among the specified group.
Personalize The Experience
The Ice Bucket Challenge cited each person taking the challenge, involving key persons of the community. Once you know your friends, family and community is taking the challenge, you’d want to take it too. This is an amazing way to grow your brand. Identify influencers among your customers – high spenders, frequent visitors, or guests trying out new services. Make their experiences memorable and encourage them to share. However, to make their experience memorable, you need to identify their needs and serve them effectively. Personalize their visit by making note of minor details like the drink they prefer before getting a treatment or the oil they use in a massage. Send personalized emails, birthday greetings or even a thank you message. Send them promotions and offers regularly to ensure they come back.
Encourage Referrals
The longevity of the Ice Bucket Challenge is guaranteed with the “Challenge a friend” phenomenon. A friend encouraging you to take the challenge is more effective than the ALS Association encouraging you directly. Plus, the ALS cause acts as an incentive. Similarly, your customers’ marketing efforts will be more effective than yours. Ask the customers who are delighted with your services to recommend your spa or salon to their friends. Since there’s no cause here, you can provide an incentive in the form of loyalty points. Ask your customers to come in groups of 4 to get 10% off, or groups of 8 to get 20% off. You’ll get more customers on your database and more revenue for the month.
Bring In A Celebrity
Use celebrity endorsements to promote your brand – the Ice Bucket Challenge popularity rose remarkably, thanks to Charles Kennedy, Cristiano Ronaldo, Tom Hanks and hundreds of celebrities who took the challenge. Ask your local celebrity to spend a day at your spa or salon and try all your services for free. Record some videos and post them on Facebook or Twitter. Share the experience with all your customers through emails and text messages. Run contests where the winner gets to meet the celebrity.
Leverage The Social Media
The virality of the Ice Bucket Challenge was possible only through social media. Without Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, it would have taken years to increase awareness for ALS. After all, who knew what ALS was until you saw thousands of people posting videos of dumping ice water over their heads. You may think your spa or salon’s regular customers come from within a 10 mile radius. But in a world that's connected so well, you never know when an outsider might like your services and make you popular around the globe. Create a website and a Facebook page, sell your services and products online, share feedback from your customers, advertise and declare your presence – join the leaders of your market. If you think you don't have enough time to manage your campaigns or send the right messages, let your software take care of it for you. Whether you want to identify your least popular services, personalize your customers’ experience, run effective marketing or take your store online – Zenoti (formerly ManageMySpa) takes care of everything. Make your spa, salon or medi spa as famous as the Ice Bucket Challenge – Request a personal demo. If you're interested in getting more traffic at your spa or salon, check out some of our ideas in this article - 6 Ways To Fill An Empty Schedule.
