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Offering discounts
Hey everyone,
what have people done to promote any coupons or discounts they have ran? I have tried to go through Facebook and Groupon, and Living Social, but they have big restrictions.
Have you used any of those...and have they worked?
Views: 491
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alyson C Schlobohm on
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I've done a LS special and it was the best decision I ever made. HOWEVER, you have to be really, really careful when you do it. You have to do a lot of prep work and research and you also have to factor in how large of an existing client base you have. If you're interested in pursuing it, message me and I'll give you my full "dissertation" (lol) of all the considerations I took in to factor and how I did it and still made good money (overall and per massage).
I despise Facebook for business purposes. If you're going to do anything with Facebook for your business, I would strongly suggest setting up a regular profile page, NOT one for your business. But be careful - apparently they're getting really strict about people have two profiles. Their ads are meh. The nice thing is that you can target clients by a bunch of helpful demographics, the downside is that you might get sketchy people and, in my opinion, it's kind of expensive. Probably not compared to other forms of advertising, but still seemed like a lot for me.
The thing that has, hands down, brought me the biggest return for my money is direct mail. I use www.fastcolorprinter.com and order 4x6 glossy postcards in bulk, throw in my offer and send them out when I have time. Again, if you want to know my "trick" to coming up with mailing lists, shoot me a message :) Hope this helps!
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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Kraft on
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You can also buy mailing lists pretty cheaply through VistaPrint, when you do your post cards... and they will mail them for you.
Try posting your coupon on Craigslist for your local area. Make sure you are clear that it is for "Professional" massage as many people look on CL for other kinds of massage. I've not done this personally, but have heard people have good experience attracting new clients that way.
Is there a college campus close to where you live? 1 page tear-off fliers are common on college campuses and are a good way to get clients. (Worked well for me anyway when I was getting started).
Hope that's a couple of helpful ideas.
Warmest,
Jonathan Kraft
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Permalink Reply by Solex on
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Thanks for your responses. I agree about Facebook ads, but we have gotten decent responses. Groupon Now has really proved to be the best so far. What kind of responses do you guys get with your lists?
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Yeah, I get decent responses from facebook but it still hurts seeing my account hit for that much that often.
What lists are you referring to? The mailing lists? If so, other than my Living Social run, the mailing list has been the second best form of attracting and retaining new clients. When I first did it, I used a "marketing company" who did a huge flyer with a generic picture and, from my months of running with them, I retained ONE client. When I sat down and designed a little 4x6 postcard myself (nothing fancy at all, the only picture was my logo!), clients came flocking in and I've retained more than a handful. One of the easiest and most obvious tricks is to target your zipcode. And although Jonathan is right, VistaPrint does have cheap and accessible mailing lists, they typically don't let you keep them. One of the keys to effective marketing is repetition, so I'll send to the same address multiple times over a several month span. It's worked very well for me!
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Permalink Reply by Regeania Brown on
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Hi Alyson,
I'm interested in doing the LS and Direct Mailing list as well to build my clientele
Thanks,
Regeania
Alyson Schlobohm said:I've done a LS special and it was the best decision I ever made. HOWEVER, you have to be really, really careful when you do it. You have to do a lot of prep work and research and you also have to factor in how large of an existing client base you have. If you're interested in pursuing it, message me and I'll give you my full "dissertation" (lol) of all the considerations I took in to factor and how I did it and still made good money (overall and per massage).
I despise Facebook for business purposes. If you're going to do anything with Facebook for your business, I would strongly suggest setting up a regular profile page, NOT one for your business. But be careful - apparently they're getting really strict about people have two profiles. Their ads are meh. The nice thing is that you can target clients by a bunch of helpful demographics, the downside is that you might get sketchy people and, in my opinion, it's kind of expensive. Probably not compared to other forms of advertising, but still seemed like a lot for me.
The thing that has, hands down, brought me the biggest return for my money is direct mail. I use www.fastcolorprinter.com and order 4x6 glossy postcards in bulk, throw in my offer and send them out when I have time. Again, if you want to know my "trick" to coming up with mailing lists, shoot me a message :) Hope this helps!
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Permalink Reply by Hannah Levy on
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I just want to chime in here - sometimes the best way to fill your books is by reaching out to clients who have not seen you for a while. I've heard feedback from some massage therapists who had difficulty getting regular clients from running deals. LocBox allows you to run purchase-ready deals and send these deals via email, text, and facebook to your existing client list. This service gives you full control over your availability and the pricing you offer (as in, you don't have to run a 50% discount off your service, it can be anything you want). The coolest thing is that once you enter your client information, including their birthdays, you can have a special deal automatically sent to your clients for their birthdays because who doesn't love to receive a massage on their birthday and how many of us can remember the birthday of every single one of our clients! also - ABMP members get a discount on the LocBox service.
I just wanted to present another option of promoting your discounts. Hopefully you find the best way to promote your deals and increase your clientele! Good Luck and let us know what worked best for you! : )
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Permalink Reply by Jed Heneberry on
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If you're going to do a Groupon or Living Social deal, there are some important things to consider to make sure you're prepared. This article from the March/April Massage & Bodywork might help.
"Should MTs Do a Daily Deal?"—http://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/63990/87
Tips include how to create a good package to offer, how to structure your deal, and ways to prevent a scheduling crunch.
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Thanks Hannah, I will look into the LocBox service.
Hannah Levy said:I just want to chime in here - sometimes the best way to fill your books is by reaching out to clients who have not seen you for a while. I've heard feedback from some massage therapists who had difficulty getting regular clients from running deals. LocBox allows you to run purchase-ready deals and send these deals via email, text, and facebook to your existing client list. This service gives you full control over your availability and the pricing you offer (as in, you don't have to run a 50% discount off your service, it can be anything you want). The coolest thing is that once you enter your client information, including their birthdays, you can have a special deal automatically sent to your clients for their birthdays because who doesn't love to receive a massage on their birthday and how many of us can remember the birthday of every single one of our clients! also - ABMP members get a discount on the LocBox service.
I just wanted to present another option of promoting your discounts. Hopefully you find the best way to promote your deals and increase your clientele! Good Luck and let us know what worked best for you! : )
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Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on
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I use to offer a series of four... Lets say you charge $70 a massage...Sell a series of four massages for say $250.. Have a stipulation that the four massages have to be used withing a two month period.. That way you get repeat clients, and they get a discount...I use to sell a lot of those...
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Thanks Gordon, I will keep that in mind. I really appreciate all the advice everyone has giving me.
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Permalink Reply by Cassandra Cravens on
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I print fliers and put them on local bullentin boards. I also upload "coupons" i create in Paint on my computer. I just save it as a jpeg file and upload it to my business facebook page as a new picture.
I also run specials each month for locals. September is Back to School Discount for faculty staff and students of local schools. October will be Firefighter Appreciation Month. For those sorts of things you can send your info directly to the business or location in the mail or call and speak to someone in the office who will pass it on. A face to face meeting works even better.
The college campus deal is a great idea for offering deals. You can get involved with college health fairs as well.
My experience with Craigslist has been that's it's full of creepers. The first day I put my add up I had 20 responses. Most of them were asking for sex services in the first message. And every single one of the rest got around to asking for that after the second or third message. There's no buffer on Craigslist, and no shame. If you do decide to advertise there I would suggest putting only your business phone number on the ad- no personal info at all. If you are working from your home or doing in-home massage Craigslist is a BAD idea.
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