A successful medical spa is determined by the client experience. Your providers, treatments, education of products, and overall services are expected to be outstanding. What wins over clients is the experience – make yours amazing. The key is to get new potential clients to give your spa a try. Get creative and try different monthly ideas – anything that will entice new clients to experience what your spa has to offer. Who’s your target audience? Millennials, men, an ethnic subgroup? Get them through the door to an educational event and give them educational information and an added value gift card and they will be back to experience a complimentary, miniature treatment. Here are some ideas for getting them through the door.

With the passing of April showers come May flowers and, with them, the promise of warmer weather. Warmer weather means clients begin removing bulky clothing and exposing more skin. For the owner of a medical spa practice, this means more opportunity to promote skin care products and treatments. Help clients look their best as they emerge from the dreary winter months.

Celebrate the month of May with monthly themed events which make for great marketing. Pick a May celebration and use that theme for your event of the month. Carry the theme throughout your social media, blogs, website, displays, and so on. Here are some ideas for May celebrations.

MOTHER’S DAY

The month of May is synonymous with Mother’s Day. Take advantage of this by promoting Mother’s Day specials. Plan a mom’s pampering event for the Saturday before Mother’s Day. Give added-value services to mothers. Serve complimentary champagne. Make it extra special by wrapping up a few candy kisses in a fancy bag with a pretty ribbon and give one to each mother or give each mother a rose to take home. Make it memorable by making them feel special.

Host a mother and daughter event and offer specials on services for the mother. Treat mothers to a facial, a massage, or any other services you wish to promote. Advertise antiaging treatments with a “Like Mother, Like Daughter” campaign and give a discount on an antiaging treatment for mother when her daughter also books at the same time. Don’t forget to have Mother’s Day themed gift baskets and gift cards ready for last-minute shoppers.

To help get new clients through the door, plan a Mother’s Day tea or wine and cheese event and give a short presentation on one or two key services (think pampering) to those attending. Offer discounts on services booked during the event and give away samples. Hold a drawing for a gift certificate. Collaborate with another local retailer and cross promote products and services. Being part of the local community puts you in the perfect position to network with other business owners. You can exchange promotional materials with hair and nail salons that are looking to cross – market. Just make sure these are establishments your ideal clients would consider a place to visit.

For example, partner with a salon or art gallery. The idea is to create interest to draw in new potential clients by coming up with creative ways to promote your medical spa practice. One way to do so is to plan a promotion around a national holiday such as Mother’s Day, Boss’ Day, National Truffle Day, or some other lesser-known national day. You can find a list of national days online.

OTHER MAY HOLIDAYS

The first Saturday in May is National Fitness Day. Think of doing a joint promotion with a local fitness center. Promote body sculpting and fat reduction treatments. In celebration of National Nurse’s Day, recognize these hard working professionals with discounted services. Be sure to offer these specials all month long to allow nurses to take advantage of them.

Tell the community what sets your medical spa practice apart from all the others. Do you specialize in offering ethnic skin care treatments? If so, take advantage of Cinco de Mayo. This provides an excellent opportunity to reach out to Latino clients. Hold educational seminars on skin care specific to darker skin tones. For young, Latina, teenage girls, hold a seminar on acne treatments in preparation for their Quinceanera.

Make your medical spa stand out by doing something extraordinary. Offer a signature treatment that’s over-the-top, such as a 24-karat gold facial or a day of pampering complete with limo service to and from home with complimentary champagne. Send press releases and grow your media list. Get a local media outlet to feature it and watch the reservations come in.

Offer a line of private label products – they help build your brand and keep clients coming back for more. Each time a client enters your practice it is an opportunity to grow your bottom line. Speaking of the bottom line, private label products also provide a healthy profit margin.

Have fun and be creative. Keep your staff engaged and having fun with these promotional events. Customer service is critical to a successful medical spa practice. If your staff isn’t happy and they aren’t engaged, your clients will know it. Be sure to include staff in event and promotional planning. They have great ideas.

“Spa Season” would love hearing about your successes, as well as answering any questions you might have. Please feel free to contact us. Next month, we’ll bring you some ideas for kicking off summer on a profitable note.

Internationally recognized aesthetic business development expert Cheryl Whitman is the founder and CEO of Beautiful Forever Consulting. She is a sought-after speaker and industry marketing specialist. With her seasoned team of professionals at Beautiful Forever, Whitman assists physicians and medical spas in creating new profit centers, developing profitable private label product lines, ghost writing articles and eBooks, and identifying and executing new business strategies aimed at improving their bottom line. A celebrated author, Whitman’s “Aesthetic Medical Success System,” a turnkey educational system, has assisted clients in opening or jumpstarting their current businesses. Her second book, “Beautifully Profitable, Forever Profitable,” provides solid, practical information on how to create, launch, and grow successful aesthetic medical practices and related businesses.