By Heather Gallegos Marketing doesnt work. How often have you considered this to be true? If so, you are not alone in thinking that spending money on print ads just doesnt work bring you the clients you were expecting. And simply placing advertisements here and there will never bring you the clients you seek because the act of placing an ad isnt marketing. Placing an ad is just one of many activities that is often misunderstood as doing marketing. When you spend your marketing dollars because you think you should, or because an advertising sales rep calls, you are doing slot machine marketing as you are gambling on the poor odds of a good outcome. And changing slot machines to advertise another newspaper or send a new direct mail postcard doesnt work either. However, by answering seven simple questions (that Ill get to in the next pages) youll know whether that money is spent on marketing that will work. But before we get into that, lets make sure we are all familiar with What makes good marketing good? You probably do your marketing to attract new clients. And that is true to a certain extent, but to be good marketing needs to be built into every aspect of your business. You may have heard about brand marketing and branding as yet something else you as a small business owner should be doing. Simply put, brand marketing is about reserving a spot in your clients mind just for your business. And this spot is a very special spot as it carries emotions, feelings, memories, comments from friends and images of your ads, emails, or storefront facade. Some of these things you have control over, and some you do not. Earning that little tiny spot is hard. Especially in the age of information overload where we receive millions of marketing offers a day from marketing activities like: TV, the web, internet search engines, the radio, billboards, newspapers, magazines and so on. And hopefully, when you do earn that spot in you clients memory, it is full of positive associations with your business where they rave about you and come back again and again instead of spreading bad reviews. Although it is hard to do, it is done over and over again by small and large businesses that know the key to good marketing. Consistency is the key. Just like good skincare, marketing requires consistency. Changing cleansers or products every time your client does skincare has the same disastrous results as changing your words, images or colors every time you do marketing. You want your clients to recognize your marketing in a split second and remember all those wonderful feelings, aromas or results of being in your spa or salon chair. Being consistent with words (also called messages), images (such as your logo), and colors (your decor, menu, website, advertisements) is the only way you have a hope of reserving that spot in your clients mind. While repetition may be boring in an industry that thrives on creativity, it is absolutely required in marketing your business. Consistency in your marketing, the delivery of your services, how you answer the phone, your hours of operationthey all need to be repeated in the same manner to build on that spot you want to own in your clients mind. Never fear, all hope for fun and creativity is not lost. You can be creative and consistent at the same time. There are many businesses have creative and consistent marketing activities. You are probably familiar with a few of them as it is required to create a well-known brand. Disney does it well everyone knows where to find the happiest place on earth. Everything Disney does is according to a strict marketing strategy that has consistent images (Mickey Mouse ears, Cinderellas castle), values (family, fun) and words (Disney). From Disneyland to Disney Online to Radio Disney to the Disney Channelevery singe channel of communicating with their customer has the consistent appearance, words and emotions. Yet, Disneys marketing is very creative and you can tell they have fun with it. BMW, McDonalds, Apple and Microsoft are other examples where the marketing executives behind these brands are very much in control of their marketing messages. Some corporations even have brand police that approve every brochure, webpage and advertisement to make sure it is consistent with the marketing plan. I use these corporate brand examples because most everyone has heard of them, but you dont have to be a large corporation or even part of a franchise to have marketing that works to attract and retain clients. In fact, consistent marketing is much easier when there are only one or two people making the decisions. Marketing that works requires up-front work. Admit it. Creating a marketing plan is usually not on the top of the list when starting up or revving up your business. Construction, employee hiring, equipment and product selectionthey usually take a large portion of your attention during start-up. And the day-to-day details of running a business keep you from working on that ideal marketing plan now. While many businesses manage this way, the path to profitability and being 100% booked is made much easier by being able to answer these 7 questions before you spend any money on marketing activities. 1. Is this activity a part of my brand and marketing plan? I know this is a tough question to start with since this question assumes you have one already. If you dont, it is never too late to create a brand and marketing plan. It isnt a complicated thing, but it does take some thought. A long-term marketing plan or strategy typically includes defining the words, images, emotions, and colors that make-up your brand. It also includes a plan of marketing activities that are regularly, and consistently, spread out through the year that communicates with current and target clients in the yellow pages, your e-mails, your website, web search engines, community web searches (e.g., CitySearch, Yelp), spa search engines (e.g., SpaFinder), holiday/theme packages, community newspapers, your answer machine message, your in-spa or in-salon marketing (menu of services, signs, brochures, client protocols), the way you or your staff answers the phone, direct mail post cards, radio ads, community events, educational classes, etc. Beginning with the end in mind is not easy. But youll achieve peace of mind by having a plan or road map or even a simple calendar of events planned out for a twelve-month period. You will be able to be less reactive and avoid those last minute print runs or rushed holiday package planning. Instead, your marketing activities can be put on autopilot and become a part of your normal operations even delegated to someone on your staff. 2. Can I measure the results of this marketing? It is sometimes a challenge, or even impossible, to truly track how much business you are generating with a marketing activity. Knowing how many people visit your website is a good example of how you can measure the impact of a marketing activity that directs people to your website. You may be aware of it, but there are companies that can set up a temporary website address (URL) or even a special toll-free number for you to use just once in your marketing activity (such as in a magazine ad or direct mail postcard). Clients who use them will land on your normal website or having their phone called answered at your front-desk without knowing the difference. However, youll be able to track how many people actually called from that one marketing activity. This is a much better way to know that the $800 you spent on an ad actually motivated people to action. Experimenting with different words, promotional offers, colors or images can now be done AND measured to truly know which works best to attract interest and generate business. You can measure which local newspaper or magazine is best in which to continue advertising. Once you are able to measure how big the response is, your future decisions will be much easier to make about ongoing marketing spending. 3. Can I afford it? Now, Im not talking about the actual cost of production or mailing costs. Those costs are important (and Ill get to that in a minute), but I want you to calculate the cost of any promotional discount. How much profit do you make on your 20% off coupon? In many day spas, there may not be enough profit margin to cover a 20% discount. When that is the case, they are essentially paying clients to visit their business with these types of promotions. I can hear you asking but dont I have to motivate people to make an appointment? And of course the answer is yes! But you can do this while making sure the service you perform is profitable. For example, offer a free upgrade or add-on to a common service: Free skin or hair consultation with first service Free deep conditioning with hair coloring Free lip or eye treatment with facial Free brow wax with your high-end facial Free shoulder massage with mani/pedi Free foot reflexology with 60 minute massage Have fun with trying to define add-ons to your services that adds minimal or no cost and doesnt increase the time on the service. You could even include these add-ons on your menu with a price so anyone can add them to a service, as these are great profit boosters. For medical spas, this question may be easier to answer due to higher service margins. Instead of buy-four-get-one-free packages, consider promotions that do not greatly impact your profit margins. Consider offering a free skincare kit with the purchase of a 5 session Botox package. Or a free makeup application with the purchase of a 3-session Restylane package. Neither have a major (if any) impact on your bottom line, but provide added perks to your clients. 4. Is this the best way to spend my marketing budget? This is the more common can I afford it question. As with all investments in your business, you should consider the return on that marketing investment prior to spending it. To do that, youll need to calculate how many appointments you need to schedule in order to payback or breakeven on your marketing spending. To many, this seems like an easy calculation but it can be tricky. The first step is to take a closer look at all the costs. Lets take a look at a hypothetical half-page local magazine/newspaper advertisement. Assume the magazine has 8,000 readers that are within 15 miles of your business. Costs: $250 Graphic artist (recommended for a high quality perception of your business) $1250 Magazine Ad $1500 Total Cost So how many of the 8,000 readers need to book (and pay for) a service in order for you to earn back that $1500? This is the second step is to estimate the average price for all your services. To be conservative well guess an entrylevel service at $65 is the average price for services booked when clients saw that ad. The third step is to calculate you profit on that average priced service. It is easy to skip this step, but the breakeven number of services is not 23 ($1500 divided by $65). You would be forgetting to account for you your overhead and labor costs. Remember it is the profit in your business that pays back your investments. So with that in mind, lets assume a simple to calculate 10% profit margin or $6.50 ($65 x .10) per service. Marketing Payback Calculation: Total costs divided by average service profit $1500 $6.50 = 230 services So, it will take 230 $65 services to pay for that magazine ad. That would be booking one of your employees solid for about six weeks. How many ads do you know that will book you solid for six weeks? That has to be pretty good ad! You may be thinking now that with this calculation, youll never pay for advertising again! While there are exceptions (such as start-up or a really big event), I generally do not recommend print advertising for this reason. It is usually impossible to generate enough business from that marketing activity to pay for the cost. You may still be able to get your business listed or highlighted in that magazine or newspaper without placing an ad by issuing a press release or posting on community calendars. (And there are plenty of other ways to increase awareness without advertising in a newspaper.) Although this example was about an advertisement, all marketing activities should be measured with this calculation. Try it out with your most recent marketing activity. You may find that lower cost marketing activities such as printed and Internet directory listings, e-mails and direct mail postcards usually make more financial sense for service businesses like yours. 5. Am I attracting my ideal client? Do promotions and discounts attract your ideal client? If your ideal client sees their health and appearance as a high priority and has the means and willingness to pay for high-quality results, then your 20% off coupons and buy one get one free promotions are not attracting them. However, maybe you are interested in the value-based client that wants to do it all on a budget. Either way (you do need to choose one) you can attract them without constantly giving them a portion of your profits when they walk in the door. You can do this with a focused effort to plan a marketing campaign that is both interesting, buzz worth and motivating to take action. If you are placing an advertisement in a printed magazine or newspaper, be sure to ask for readership demographics. Youll want to look for a high number of subscribers/readers that are 1) located in your local neighborhood (10 15 miles) and 2) fit your ideal client profile. I dont recommend advertising in larger circulation newspapers that dont have targeted subscribers, as your ad will be expensive and easily overlooked. Local TV advertising might work if aired during a local community show or a health/fitness show. But be careful with trading the large exposure off with targeting your ideal clientespecially if the cost for that one TV advertisement drains your entire marketing budget. Internet marketing and SEO (search engine optimization) are perfect for targeted marketing to your ideal client because your website or ad is only displayed when someone shows interest in what you offer. Google AdWords offers flexible options and great metrics for pay-for-click advertising. Working with web marketing specialists to insert keywords and several other techniques to your website, you can increase the placement of your website in search engine listings without having to pay-per-click. 6. Do the graphics and/or words speak well of my business and motivate action? Whether you do them yourself or use a graphic artist, the words and visual appeal of your marketing activities have to leave a positive and emotional impression of your business. This means that you need to double and triple check spelling and grammar, all graphics need to be of the correct resolution so they print properly, and it should be easy on the eye and not be cluttered with too many images or words. Printing a business card ad (a pretty graphic or picture with your business name/address/phone number) or a list of every single service you perform do not work to leave an emotional impression. Additionally, they do not motivate someone to do take an action that results in increasing your revenue. When creating your marketing activity, focus on what you want someone to do after they read or listened or watched it. Do you want them to visit your website? Call for an appointment? Attend a class? Tell a friend? Schedule a free hair or skin analysis? Whatever it is, make sure that your request and the benefit they will receive are clearly communicated. A good day spa example is Book your facial and free personal skin analysis. Or for a salon Refer a friend and receive a free hydration treatment at your next visit. Or for a medical spa Attend our upcoming anti-aging class Is it medical fact or marketing fiction? 7. Is this the best way to achieve my marketing goal? If you find yourself still very tempted to spend your money on an activity that doesnt look like you can afford it, or doesnt exactly fit your plan, isnt measurable or target your ideal client. ask yourself if this is this truly the best way to achieve your marketing goal? Hopefully you have defined your marketing goal, but perhaps not (you certainly arent alone if this is the case). The most common marketing goals are to attract new customers or to simply be busier. While these are valid goals, you may want to consider this truth.. it takes dollars to earn new customers and pennies to keep them. Perhaps focusing your marketing efforts might be better spent on your existing clients through professional newsletters, client appreciation events (which can double as buzz generators for new customers) or staff training on building client relationships? Other marketing goals might be to simply increase awareness for your business (most common for new businesses) or to attract a new type of client for a recently added service. Regardless of the marketing goal itself, it needs 1) some sort to number to measure it with (number of clients, increased sales, percentage of capacity, etc.); and 2) to be a realistic number that can be reached using your planned marketing activities. If not, consider lowering the goal or adjusting your marketing plan. Im sure you figured out that the correct answer to all these questions is yes. If for whatever reason you arent able to answer yes to all of them, proceed with caution. Be very very clear with yourself about what you expect in return for spending that money. Are you looking for the nice, but non-measurable awareness? Are you bending to the pressure of guilt for not doing anything for a while? Are you just not sure of where or how to start marketing? When in doubt, dont allow a sales person to talk you into where and when you should market your business. Finally, no-cost marketing activities should always be considered in your marketing plan. Simple touches like a check-in call to your client two days after a service to answer client questions will go a long way to increase customer loyalty and return visits. Role playing with your staff about new customer service techniques and product knowledge encourages free marketing of your existing products and services to clients you have already frequenting your business. Having a solid marketing plan and being consistent are the foundations for good marketing. Combined with these seven key questions to answer before you spend money on a marketing activity, you can stop doing marketing that doesnt work and start having your marketing work for you! Heather Gallegos spent 12 years in marketing, communications and operation roles in the high-tech industry before becoming a consultant to the wellness industry. President of Spa Clientle Solutions (http://www.spaclientele.com), her unique perspective as a salon and day spa client, strong marketing and business background, and affiliation with Preston Spa Business Solutions (http://www.prestoninc.net) complement one another to provide a powerhouse of practical and straightforward solutions. She has helped day spas, medical spas and salons create their brand and marketing plans, monthly e-newsletters, private label skincare lines, customer appreciation events and local PR buzz. Published in Dermascope magazine, Heather is also an active blogger about practical and helpful marketing ideas for salons, day spas and medical spas at http://blog.spaclientele.com Heather will be speaking live at the upcoming EPIC show in Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Heather_Gallegos http://EzineArticles.com/?Seven-Questions-to-Answer-Before-you-Spend-Money-on-Marketing&id=524684
propecia online retin a australia 6 cheap propecia online buy canada in propecia 6lowest price propecia