What is a good New Year's Promo or Mktg. idea

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Carrie Bottesi on January 6, 2010 at 4:27pm

There are several ways you can approch this; one is by sending a newsletter letting them know what you've been up to in the past year any new classes or techniques you've learned and why it would be important for them to get in and use them. Could include a $5.00 off card for the new year (make sure you put an expiration date on them). Or you could promote a referral program and send that information out as the whats new and exciting for this coming year. Lots of ideas and more...I hope this has helped a little.

Permalink Reply by Donna C. Agrinsonis, LMT on January 6, 2010 at 6:21pm

Do up a coupon for ___% off their next massage and include a couple more for them to pass on to friends, family, co-workers, etc. You could end up getting them back along with some extras.

Permalink Reply by Nicola Hogan on January 6, 2010 at 6:43pm

I think your wording is really important. I just recently sent out a flyer to my existing clients and gave some to potential clients. The wording went along the lines of this:

"2010, a New Year, a Fresh Start. Get you health back on track with a commitment to regular massage"
I then proceeded to include a friend referral incentive and booking incentive; book 2 massages and receive an extra half hour free on your third visit.

In my town, which at the moment is largely populated by tourists, the locals are really big on loyalty cards and discounts for being a local. I think it is really important to acknowledge the people in my town who make up the community and work hard to make Margaret River a world class tourism destination, so I have devised a loyalty card, where they receive a stamp for every massage they receive and for every 7 massages they have, their 8th is complimentary.

Good luck with your clients, and dont forget its all about mindset too, what you put out is what you will get out.

Nicola

Permalink Reply by Debra Rilea on January 7, 2010 at 12:40am

Hi Kris,
I am planning my January thank you for a great 2009 mailing right now. Although "great" might not be the word to describe 2009, my focus is on thanking clients for getting massage and send enough encouragement to have them reschedule. If the client has been a regular (6 or more visits in the year), I offer them a free add-on service such as a free half hour or a Chinese Facial Massage to their next massage. For clients who have been in less than 6 visists I offer them 1/2 off their next visit. My experience is that regulars will upgrade and less frequent users really like the discount instead. Very infrequent users, get a $15 off your next visit coupon. For my clients who come in once a week, I offer them a free massage on their next visit or a gift certificate for a friend. It's about 50/50 on that offer, half take the free massage and half give it as a gift to a friend, helping me cultivate a new client.
Best wishes for your new year!
Debra

Permalink Reply by Kris Berthelsen on January 8, 2010 at 11:54am

Thanks guys for all your suggestions. I think what I am going to do is send a card to existing clients for $15 off. For Jan.
For Feb. I am going to give free 30 minute massage Valentines that they can give to friends and family. I might even give a $5 off referral incentive for anyone who uses the cards. The goal for Jan. and Feb. is to get the regulars back and to get more clients.

Permalink Reply by Rachel Sheard, LMT, NCTMB, CIPI on January 8, 2010 at 2:41pm

I love your ideas!

Debra Rilea said:

Hi Kris,
I am planning my January thank you for a great 2009 mailing right now. Although "great" might not be the word to describe 2009, my focus is on thanking clients for getting massage and send enough encouragement to have them reschedule. If the client has been a regular (6 or more visits in the year), I offer them a free add-on service such as a free half hour or a Chinese Facial Massage to their next massage. For clients who have been in less than 6 visists I offer them 1/2 off their next visit. My experience is that regulars will upgrade and less frequent users really like the discount instead. Very infrequent users, get a $15 off your next visit coupon. For my clients who come in once a week, I offer them a free massage on their next visit or a gift certificate for a friend. It's about 50/50 on that offer, half take the free massage and half give it as a gift to a friend, helping me cultivate a new client.
Best wishes for your new year!
Debra

Permalink Reply by Eileen Ryan on January 26, 2010 at 4:54pm

Debra — I love that you have your clients grouped into frequent, infrequent and very infrequent.

So now I'm curious what kind of results you're finding. Or have found. And how you decided to separate them out that way.

If you get a chance and have the inclination could you tell me more?

Eileen

Debra Rilea said:

Hi Kris,
I am planning my January thank you for a great 2009 mailing right now. Although "great" might not be the word to describe 2009, my focus is on thanking clients for getting massage and send enough encouragement to have them reschedule. If the client has been a regular (6 or more visits in the year), I offer them a free add-on service such as a free half hour or a Chinese Facial Massage to their next massage. For clients who have been in less than 6 visists I offer them 1/2 off their next visit. My experience is that regulars will upgrade and less frequent users really like the discount instead. Very infrequent users, get a $15 off your next visit coupon. For my clients who come in once a week, I offer them a free massage on their next visit or a gift certificate for a friend. It's about 50/50 on that offer, half take the free massage and half give it as a gift to a friend, helping me cultivate a new client.
Best wishes for your new year!
Debra

Permalink Reply by Debra Rilea on January 31, 2010 at 1:37pm

Hi Eileen,

Always happy to share. I decided to divide my clients by frequency of use from my own experience as a consumer. So often I find the places that I support with my purchases (money) only offer discounts to new customers or frequent users, virtually ignoring the long time loyal ones like me. For example: even if I am not a high dollar account or frequent user of other services, an acknowledgement for banking in the same location since 1987 would go along way towards my customer satisfaction. Satisfied customers (clients) are less likely to stop using your services even when there is a error or problem.

This reflection came back to my own business where I realized that I, too, was offering a cookie cutter approach to annual customer thank you/rewards. So I printed up a report with all clients and numbers of visits and designed a reward system based on their use. This way I did not ignore the infrequent user but did not give them the same reward/incentive as the client who came in 45 times in one year. On a business level it was good business and followed the concepts of the 80/20 rule. 20% of my clientele generates 80% of my income and efforts must be made to make them satisfied customers. Traditional marketers go so far as to say ignore the 80% that only generates 20% of your income but that is exactly what I am experiencing as a consumer! One of the reason I do massage is because every person deserves massage whether that is once a year or once a week therefore they will get an annual thank you gift from me. And on a personal level it "feels" fair.

On a side note, it helps greatly that I have been doing this a very long time, I am in my 20th year as a therapist and that I teach Business and Marketing for both my school since the 90s and taught for David Palmer for over a decade. But if I didn't pay attention to my responses as a consumer and apply that learning to my own massage practice, all the teaching in the world would be meaningless.

The response from my clients has been the same as previous years. Regulars like the upgrade because they would be getting the massage anyway. Infrequent users (who are infrequent because they can't afford to come in more) love the discount. And my weekly clients love the free massage or gift certificate. Something for everyone that is meaningful and what they want.

Happy marketing!

Eileen Ryan said:

Debra — I love that you have your clients grouped into frequent, infrequent and very infrequent.

So now I'm curious what kind of results you're finding. Or have found. And how you decided to separate them out that way.

If you get a chance and have the inclination could you tell me more?

Eileen

Debra Rilea said:

Hi Kris,
I am planning my January thank you for a great 2009 mailing right now. Although "great" might not be the word to describe 2009, my focus is on thanking clients for getting massage and send enough encouragement to have them reschedule. If the client has been a regular (6 or more visits in the year), I offer them a free add-on service such as a free half hour or a Chinese Facial Massage to their next massage. For clients who have been in less than 6 visists I offer them 1/2 off their next visit. My experience is that regulars will upgrade and less frequent users really like the discount instead. Very infrequent users, get a $15 off your next visit coupon. For my clients who come in once a week, I offer them a free massage on their next visit or a gift certificate for a friend. It's about 50/50 on that offer, half take the free massage and half give it as a gift to a friend, helping me cultivate a new client.
Best wishes for your new year!
Debra