10 Spa Promotion Ideas That Boost Bookings

Whether you are hoping to retain and maintain your current clientele or you need to get new business through the door quickly, it’s valuable for salon and spa owners to know which promotions are effective. The promotions you offer as a salon are an important part of your marketing strategy, and they should be used in conjunction with some of your other marketing practices like a referral system, social media, your website and email newsletters. 

In order to use promotions properly, you should have an idea of the kinds of promotions that draw in higher levels of new clientele and which ones keep your existing clientele base coming back in. 

We have assembled this guide to provide you with insight on how to create salon and spa promotions that actually work. We will go over the basics of a good promotion and how to determine which people you want to attract with promotions. At the end of this piece, we will also discuss some of our favorite promotions and techniques that convert. 

What Makes a Good Promotion?

To help you understand the general makeup of a good promotion for spas, we have noted some important components that every promotion should have. 

• A Great Deal – From a clientele standpoint, the promotion should always present a “get” or a “win” for your clients. These promotions could look like offering a discount on your services, hosting a buy one get one treatment or incentives like receiving free products. 
• Financially Responsible for the Salon – Determining the kind of discount or promotion you offer should get your client’s attention, but it also needs to make sense for your business financially. While offering a 10 percent discount may not be that appealing to guests, see if you can stretch it to a 20 percent discount to attract more people. If there are other ways to offer a discount or free services or products that make more sense for your bottom line, try those kinds of promotions to see how they work. 
• Timeliness and Consistency – Your favorite brands always have an annual or semi-annual sale with other consistent promotions that revolve around holidays. If it makes sense for your business, offering promotions regularly and around certain times of the year can help you capitalize on the buzz of other sales going on around you. An example of a consistent promotion could be a new client discount. Offering a base promotion or discount for new clients — no matter the time of year — could help you win business big time. Clients are always looking for a sale, and if they find a promotion at your salon, it will drive their decision. 
• Ties Into the Overall Brand Story – Everything that your salon or spa puts out — from promotional emails to appointment reminders — needs to be consistent with your other marketing materials and brand messaging. When it comes to spreading the word about your upcoming promotions, make marketing materials like flyers you can place on your trendy spa furniture or business cards that you can place in your salon reception area, as well as digital graphics you can share via email and social media. The imagery, colors and messaging should be cohesive with your brand. 
• Clear Client Target – A good promotion is developed with its target client in mind. Promotions are only effective if they are being offered directly to the people who stand to benefit from them. If you find that your promotions aren’t converting, try looking deeper into who you are trying to attract and target. 

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Who Is the Target Audience for Spa Promotions? 

As you begin to create a new promotion or start to think about a consistent promotion calendar, an important question to ask is which kind of client are you looking to attract? There is no right or wrong answer, but diving deeper into each of these potential client bases could help you better define your promotion strategy and goals. 

• New Clients – Offering a promotion or discount on your services is a very effective way to bring in new clients. Keep in mind that new clients have so many choices when they are looking for a new salon or spa to visit. It’s important to make sure your spa stands out through your website and social media presence, but you can also differentiate yourself from competitors by offering a new client discount. For example, offering a 20 percent off your first service promotion could really help you draw in that new business. 
• Existing Clients – Just because you have returning clients, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t offer them more incentives to keep coming back. In fact, your loyal client base should be rewarded the same way new clients are — if not more often. There are so many different promotions to offer existing clients to keep them loyal to your salon. A few promotions we love are referral incentives, free or discounted products, loyalty cards which add up to a free or discounted service and exclusive or first access to holiday or special promotions. 
• Specialty Clients – Did your spa or salon just add on new services or fill the space with new equipment like chic pedicure chairs and you want to attract people in to try these services and equipment? If so, you can use your marketing platforms like social media and email to advertise your new services and changes with a discount. For example, if you’re offering a new kind of facial that’s popular to a client base outside of your own, you can begin to share these services and a discount on social media and target your ideal customer with relevant hashtags. 
• Friends of Your Current Clients – Word of mouth is still a very effective way to boost your clientele, which is why referral systems are still such a hit. Give your clients the opportunity and incentive to get free products or discounted services when they refer friends and family to your salon. 

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What Are Your Goals for Promotions?

There are many goals — beyond attracting and retaining clients — that you can achieve when you offer promotions and discounts to new and existing clientele. Understanding your goals, along with identifying the clients you want to reach, is an important part of creating promotions that work well for your business. Here are a few goals you can build your salon or spa promotions around: 

• Increase your salon or spa’s presence and brand visibility 
• Boost product sales 
• Promote new products
• Build your clientele 
• Retain existing and loyal customers 
• Improve referrals 
• Activate dormant clients
• Differentiate your business from your competitors
• Improve customer satisfaction
• Market a new service or new equipment like state of the art massage tables

Marketing Tools to Boost Promotions 

Before we dive into the kinds of promotions that perform well for spas, let’s talk about the marketing structures and initiatives needed to help you share information about your promos and make sure prospects and clients see them. When used, these marketing platforms can help you keep in contact with clients, reach new ones and keep business coming back. Does your spa have these platforms in place? 

• User-friendly website 
• Social media profiles on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and TikTok 
• Booking software 
• Google My Business account
• Business cards
• Signage around your salon that shows clients how to reach you on social media

Spa Promotion Ideas That Boost Bookings

Now that you’re familiar with what goes into making promotions that convert and understanding how to target different clients, let’s talk about some of the best spa promotion ideas that boost bookings. 

1. Client Loyalty Promotions 

As we mentioned above, it’s important to reward your loyal clients and keep them coming back. You can do this in a variety of ways, but one way is by having a loyalty card that clients can get punched or stamped each time they visit, which will eventually reward them. The rewards for being loyal can range from a discount off products and services to free services and products. While your clients may be loyal, they can become dormant after some time. You can reinterest these loyal — but dormant — clients by offering a promotion to them. You can use your client booking system to identify the clients who haven’t been in lately and send them their discount off a service via text or email. 

2. New Service Promotions

There are so many trendy treatments that come and go today, which is why it’s important to add on new services. In order to get your clients to book these services, you can offer discounts or bundle these new services with some of your clients’ favorites. You can share these new services and the promotion on social media to create buzz and increase bookings.

3. Offer Bundle Deals 

Clients always love when they can get the most value for their money. If you offer a discount off a popular treatment by bundling it with another service, this could be a unique way to increase bookings and interest in your services. 

4. Team Up with Other Businesses 

If you are looking to attract new clientele, you can partner with other businesses and companies to host a co-promotion. This can help draw new clients into your business while your partner also gets the same in return. This promotion is a great way to boost community connections and broaden your reach. 

5. Referral System

Empower your loyal clients to help you grow your business. By setting up a referral program, it incentivizes your clients to invite friends and family to book at your spa. It’s important to make the incentive worthwhile, though. For example, you could tell your clients that if their friends use their name when they book a new service, your client will receive $50 toward their next service.

6. Social Media Giveaways

As a spa, your social media presence is just as important as the high quality massage equipment you have in your spa. You can engage your social media audience and push those prospective clients who are on the edge to come in by hosting a social media giveaway. Giveaways tend to get a lot of interaction, so try offering up a free service or product. Make your followers generate buzz by having them like the post, tag friends, comment, share the post on their story, etc. This will also generate more awareness of your spa and service offerings. The key to success with social media giveaways is to create FOMO (fear of missing out) and propose an irresistible offer. Of course, you need these two important components because you want to create buzz around the giveaway and have people enter to win. 

7. Black Friday and Seasonal Event Promotions 

Riding the wave of seasonal promotions is a strategy that spas should follow. Consumers are accustomed to seeing holiday sales, and because spa and salon treatments are usually services that clients pay a premium for, they may appreciate a promotion or discount seasonally. 

8. Host Events

Have you recently opened your salon or upgraded your equipment and want your clients and new prospects to know? Upgrading your equipment can be a great opportunity to center a promotion on and draw people in. Host a grand opening or a promotional period where clients can celebrate your spa’s opening or the new equipment while also getting a great deal on your services. 

9. Social Media Promotions 

If you are focused on getting your clients to follow your social media accounts, you can incentivize them with discounts. If you have an Instagram or photo wall in your salon that’s branded with your spa’s logo, you can have clients post a selfie after their experience or service and have them tag you and add a certain hashtag to receive a discount off their next service. This will not only drive clients to your social media account, but it will keep them engaged. You can also offer your social media following a follower discount to help turn your followers into clients. Place text in your social media bio that new clients can get 15 percent off their first service if they mention that they follow you. 

10. New Client Promotion

One way that your spa can differentiate itself among your competitors is by offering a promotion for new clients. It’s critical to make sure that this discount is communicated throughout all of your social media platforms and your website so that new clients are aware. 

Promotions can be a highly-effective way for you to keep your spa business growing while also rewarding the people who love your services the most! 

 

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