As an esthetician, you wear many hats. Each day, as you treat your clients and build your practice, you act as a chemist, a teacher, an advisor, a spokesperson, and even as an accountant and business manager. It goes without saying that your days are full, and squeezing in any time for other activities can be a bit of a balancing act. So why are you trying to wear another hat and do your marketing on your own?
In truth, managing your online marketing campaigns is a full-time job in itself. Many determined, independent business owners dive headfirst into the world of social media and websites, thinking they can just post a few photos here, a few videos there, and quickly go viral. While that may have been the case about ten years ago, marketing has shifted to a full-funnel effort, meaning businesses need to be in more places more often. Before you know it, you’re signing up for an email marketing platform, running free trials on 7 different kinds of marketing management software, and getting stressed beyond belief because of how much time you spend boosting your spa each day.
Promoting your business on social media and elsewhere across the internet is more time-consuming than it appears to be. Before you dive in headfirst, it’s a good idea to figure out what exactly you’re getting into. The following is an example of a well-structured digital marketing campaign:
It starts with content. Whether that comes in the form of before and after photos, blogs, training videos, or something else, content is the cornerstone of your marketing campaign. It’s what allows you to speak to your followers, reach new circles, and display your differentiators. You should be building up your content cache from day one. Any article topic, image, or video you can capture is bound to boost your image and spread the word somehow.
Then, it’s time to distribute the content. Content can’t work its magic if nobody can see it. As we mentioned earlier, some of the most successful digital marketing campaigns use full-funnel models, designed to capture audience members at every point of the decision and purchasing process. The possibilities are almost endless:
Traditional methods: mailers, print ads, cards, etc. The traditional methods are still in practice, and still fairly effective, depending on what you’re advertising. We recommend using your traditional marketing methods to distribute vouchers for special offers.
Email. You may be surprised to hear that email marketing is among the top-ranked tools for small businesses. Email allows you to stay in contact with your current clients and build up a list of potentials so you can deliver special offers and company news right to their inboxes. A newsletter is a great way to keep your audience up to date.
Social media. This is the one that takes the most time; many beginners try to spread themselves across too many platforms and wind up overwhelmed by the task. Each platform has a unique audience with unique browsing habits. Use niche markets to your advantage.
On-site blog. Your website is a great hub for your content. As an added bonus, posting regularly to your blog has a twofold purpose: it provides readers with something of value, and it helps improve your rankings in Google search. We recommend posting a blog at least twice a month to keep your site fresh.
Finally, it’s time to measure results. Dan Zarrella once said, “Marketing without data is like driving with your eyes closed.” If you don’t monitor your progress to determine what’s working and what’s not, you can’t make informed decisions on where to push your marketing forward. Keep in mind that it’s important to set goals for your social media marketing so you know what to measure; if you want to improve your sales, you’ll monitor different metrics than you would if you wanted to increase your mailing list.
Even with the help of automation and planning tools, setting up, launching, and monitoring a marketing campaign takes a lot of time - time that could be better spent in the treatment room. If you’d rather spend your day microneedling than sitting in front of a computer, HSS can help! Contact us about our custom marketing packages today.
