Additionally, the likelihood of your target audience using the Internet and responding to your marketing efforts should also be considered into the equation. This article will outline the potential for success in an Internet marketing campaign. Read more ...

NEW YORK, July 9/PRNewswire/ — The Spa & Resort/Medical Aesthetics Expo (www.spaandresortexpo.com) has been redesigned this year to give attendees an enhanced experience that focuses on new resources, tools, treatments and professional education that will help their business grow and succeed. This empowering event will be held September 28-29, 2010, in conjunction with the HBA Global Event annual Beauty Week™, at New York Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

New show floor features include the Industry Education Theater, which will platform leading manufacturers demonstrations on new products and advance treatments. During both days of the event, attendees will be able to participate in interactive “how to’s” and learn about the latest skincare or body care products that they can offer their customers and businesses. Read more…

It is a fact of human nature that which we receive for free is valued less than things we have a vested interest in. If you have ever been to a Convention or a trade show you know what I am talking about. You walk around picking up items that you may or may not need or want. You bring a bag full of “stuff” home and you may or may not ever use any of those things. But if you purchased an item at the show you would keep track of it and use it as soon as possible.

Have you ever been out doing massage at an event and have someone ask you if the massage was Free? Why do you think they do that? Massage Therapy is growing by leaps and bounds. We have employed several approaches over the years to nurture this growth pattern. In the mid 1980’s our tool was Sports Massage. We took massage,via Sports Massage events, into a very public forum with a high level of success. Doing this permitted people to view massage happening in a favorable light…the light of day. Read more …

The design of a medical spa should be viewed as an important aspect of the market position and brand message of the business.

The starting point to a great medical spa design is to have a clear understanding of your mission, concept and program. This should then dictate all of the design elements within the spa. Remember that the interior design communicates your brand message on a very personal level, a level where clients are intimately interacting with your brand using their five senses.

In addition, the moment you attach the word spa to medical, as in “medspa” or “medical spa,” you build client expectations that need to be met through many facets of the brand, especially the design. Communicating a brand is about taking the intangible and presenting it in a tangible form that can be perceived easily by your clients. And what better form than the interior design elements of color, texture and shapes? Read more …

The beauty salon is a strong business to be in these days. Not only are ladies interested in maintaining their looks and making themselves look more attractive, but in many regions men are inclined to spend a good amount on facial and hair care also. It isn’t a business sector geared just towards women any longer. Broadening the customer base provides the ability for more people to successfully start their own beauty salon because there are a broad variety of people utilizing these services on a regular basis.

Starting Up your own beauty salon can be as easy as setting up to see clients in your basement. Read more …

When you provide the ‘Wow’ factor to your clients, they are a lot more likely to recommend your business to their friends, colleagues and family. Always your aim is to turn your clients into your ‘Raving Fans’. To build long term client loyalty you need to offer a quality of service that far exceeds their expectations. With a little planning this doesn’t have to be difficult. The secret is the little touches you provide.

Idea 1: Send your clients a birthday card with an enclosed gift coming up to their birthday. The gift can be money off their next service with you, or it could be a little add-on service the next time they are in having their regular service.

Chances are, with everyone emailing and texting these days, your birthday card with gift can be the only one they receive in the post. This special touch won’t cost you very much, but this is exactly the sort of unexpected special touch your client will love you for. After all, who else offers this kind of personal attention?

Idea 2: When you are using good salon software it’s very easy to add a note to a client’s file detailing not only what service they had, but what way they like their coffee and even what they discussed with you.

Imagine a client returning after a six weeks absence being greeted by you with their favourite beverage and magazine, to be asked how the holiday to Spain went / how the wedding plans were progressing—or whatever the follow-up was to their last conversation. Yes, this will take you 2 or 3 minutes to put these details into the computer, but it’s well worth it as this is the real meaning of “personal service”.

And because none of your competition is doing these little touches is EXACTLY the reason you need to do them.

Idea 3: It’s always a good idea to keep a digital camera in your salon, you never know when it can come in useful. If a client has opted to change her look, take before and after shots. You can keep a set for your client’s file as well as print out a set to give to your client: she’ll really appreciate the gesture.

If it’s a particularly flattering photo, your client will show it off to all of her friends, and that means free PR for you. It is also an extra touch that is unexpected and not offered elsewhere! You can go the extra step and put a stamp or sticker with your logo on the corner of the instant photo for branding.

Take shots from different angles to keep in your files so that you can pull up a client’s ‘history’. Ask if you can use these images in your own portfolio collection – it’s always best to get this permission in writing.

Clients really appreciate seeing before and after pictures of real people rather than trying to picture how they would look with a ‘do’ from a glossy magazine. Check with your client if you have permission to use the photos for marketing purposes and build up your collection of picture testimonials.

You can scrapbook these photos in an album to display in your reception area. This is very low cost PR and is a very powerful endorsement for your services. It is also something interesting for your clients to flip through while waiting for their appointment. This will also promote to those who are (not yet) clients but waiting in the reception area.

Once you’ve got your camera, your costs are quite low considering the value both you and your clients will get from the pictures you take.

Reprinted from WorkOnInternet.com.

A comprehensive medical spa practice business plan is the vital first step in building a successful business in the medical spa industry. Without a business plan, spa owners could not apply for loans or government grants. A business plan for a medical spa practice is an operational and financial map of how the spa practice will be operated. It will detail the licensing required and give an account of the costs involved. For additional guidance on researching and creating a business plan, visit the free on-line business plan programs offered through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Read more …

To set yourself apart from your competition it’s always a good idea to offer a treatment that is exclusive to your salon or spa. When you are working out what your signature treatment should be, consider this question:

What is currently the most popular treatment in your business?Once you’ve worked out the answer to this one, see if you can do a variation of this treatment with your own unique twist, so this can become YOUR signature treatment. The temptation can often be to create a signature treatment that is based on treatments that aren’t very popular in an effort to boost sales of these.

To me, that doesn’t really make much sense. You need to aim to have your signature treatment as one of your most requested treatments. If it is only available through your salon or spa and it is popular with your clients, they will talk about it to their friends. This sort of PR is invaluable, and is one of the benefits of an exclusive signature treatment.

Once you create a unique signature service, this becomes synonymous with your salon’s name. It may be a special aromatherapy head massage you include with every shampoo or a complimentary hand massage while the hair color is processing.

For salons and spas offering massage services, you can develop your own signature massage. Most massage therapists have learnt more than one massage style, why not take the best elements from each style and come up with your own signature massage?

Generally speaking, most spas come up their own spa packages. Make sure your most popular package is known as your signature package and has your business’s name incorporated into it. For example a Spa called ‘Pure Bliss’ could have a signature spa package called ‘The Pure Bliss Experience’.

Become known for your signature treatment by making it part of your branding, advertising and promotions. Feature your signature treatment in all of your marketing. Owning a signature treatment gives you the advantage over your competitors as this will be unique to YOUR business.

Make sure you get some testimonials from your clients about your signature treatment and include this in your promotions. Ask yourself is there a possibility to create a special retail item to compliment this service? Every little thing that you can do to set yourself apart from your competition will give you the edge.

Make your Signature Treatment part of this edge.

Catherine Trebble is dedicated to teaching salon, spa, holistic, medispa and other related service providers how to inexpensively fill their appointment books to capacity with all the clients they need. Download your free ‘7 Step Guide to a Full Appointment Book’ at http://FullAppointmentBook.com

By Amy Dodds, Beauty Launchpad

LP recently sat down to chat with Nick Cutter, president of the National Shear Sharpening Guild (NSSG) and owner of Edgemaster USA, a professional hair scissor sales and sharpening firm based in Southern California.

A second-generation sharpener, Cutter is a certified judge and authorized hands-on trainer for the NSSG and is one of four professionals in the country to hold the title of Grand Master Sharpener.

Read More …