Using Digital Display Advertising to Get More Spa Clients
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Using Digital Display Advertising to Get More Spa Clients

Spas

Using Digital Display Advertising to Get More Spa Clients

One of the questions spa owners have been asking me lately is “What are digital display ads and how can I use them to get more clients for my spa?” You may not understand the ads or even like them, but digital display advertising, sometimes known as banner advertising, has become a dominant force in the online marketing space. Many of your competitors are probably using digital display advertising, which is why this is something you will also want to consider for your business.

Every person who has ever been online has been exposed to digital ads. However, most spa owners that I consult with do not fully understand or appreciate their value. It is my intention to provide some valuable insights to those individuals who would like to gain a better understanding of the topic, especially those considering it as part of their spa’s marketing strategy.

What Are Digital Display Ads?

Simply put, digital display ads are those small image ads you frequently see displayed in the header area, sidebar, within the body text, and even the footer areas of virtually every website you visit. In some cases, the website owner will place their own promotional ads in those areas, but for the most part, especially for larger brands, that space will be made available for other companies to advertise in exchange for a portion of the revenues. The same scenario also exists for many mobile app developers, especially those that do not charge for the apps, but rather subsidize their operating expenses through ad revenues.

Retargeting Versus Cold Traffic

Digital display advertising falls into 2 categories; the first being cold traffic and the 2nd being retargeting, or remarketing as it is sometimes called. Our primary focus for this article will be on the latter.

Retargeting works as follows.

Someone visit your website to get more information about a product or service you offer.
A browser pixel or cookie is placed in the visitor’s browser.
Whenever they visit another website such as ESPN.com, CNN.com, Weather.com, or millions of other similar sites that offer advertising, one of your ads will be displayed to create top of mind awareness for your brand and gently remind them of your offering.

Cold traffic works in a similar fashion, however as the name suggests, an ad would be placed on another website to introduce your brand to those individuals who had previously visited your website.

Creating Top of Mind Awareness

Top of mind awareness, also known as “TOMA” in the advertising world, is vitally important for this reason- the majority of people who visit your website are not ready to make a purchase at that moment. This is why it is critical that your company is the one they think of when it IS the time to buy. In fact, Kissmetrics stated in their blog that “Approximately 96% of visitors that come to your website are not ready to buy.” That is obviously a huge percentage that certainly warrants putting a strategy together to automatically follow up with those potential clients. There are several strategies available to accomplish that such as creating an opt-in form or using push notifications, but we favor retargeting.

What Are Your Website Visitors Really Looking For?

Generally speaking, your website visitors fall into 4 categories.

There are those that are looking for the most authoritative spa to do business with so they want to see that you have a great reputation. They are looking for your reviews, videos, or other social proof, especially on your homepage, that will convince them that you are an authority with regards to the product or service they are looking for.
Other visitors may be looking for a very specific spa product or service. This might be the latest procedure or trend they heard about in the news or from a friend or colleague.
The third type of person is looking for really great offer. They want to feel confident they are receiving the best deal on the product or service they desire.
The fourth category is a person who may be a combination of 2 or more of the above categories.

Since you don’t know what each viewer is looking for when they first visit your website, it is imperative that you have a strategy in place to automatically and consistently follow up with them when they are ready to move forward and make their purchase. This applies to new clients as well as existing clients who are looking to experience more of your great services.

Digital Display Advertising Trends

To illustrate just how massive the digital display advertising world is, The Wall Street Journal projected that digital ad spending in the US will surpass television spending in 2016. That projection held true.

eMarketer accurately predicted that digital display ad spending will surpass search ad spending (PPC, also known as pay per click) in 2016. That should give you an idea just how large this platform has become and how important it is to consider adding this to your marketing arsenal.

Digital Display Advertising or Pay Per Click?

Many spa owners may already utilize search advertising/pay per click such as Google AdWords. With pay per click (PPC) marketing, relevant ads are displayed at the top of the search results page and sometimes in the footer area, based on the search term used by the visitor. This can prove to be an effective strategy when the campaigns are properly designed and managed, however there are some inherent downsides, especially when compared to digital display ads.

PPC can often be quite expensive, sometimes costing $10-$20 per click and often much more depending on the market. There is also no branding or the ability to follow up with the people who click on your ad, unless they engage in some type of lead capture mechanism you have on your website. But even that could be very small percentage out of those who click the ad.

With digital display ad marketing, you have the ability to place ads on an unlimited amount of websites based on the content your target market is interested in, as well as the engagement they have had with the various pages on your site. Rather than paying per click, pricing is usually based on the cost of impressions, meaning the number of times that ad was displayed, and usually cost per 1000 impressions (CPM). You benefit from the ability to automatically follow up with your visitors and promote long-term branding for your company.

Ready to Get Started?

Our agency has just launched a new digital ad design department and we are looking for feedback, reviews, and case studies so we can tweak and test our platform before rolling it out nationwide.

During this beta testing phase, we are offering a free digital ad for a very limited time to those med spas or day spas who would be willing to provide us feedback on their experience. This ad can be used anywhere online such as your website or social media platforms. To take advantage of this limited time offer, please visit SpaBannerAds.info.

Focus on Reputation Marketing, Not Reputation Management to Succeed Online
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Focus on Reputation Marketing, Not Reputation Management to Succeed Online

Reputation Marketing

Focus on Reputation Marketing, Not Reputation Management to Succeed Online

A colleague of mine recently brought this Forbes article to my attention. I found it amusing yet very reassuring to find out that such a well-respected authority such as Forbes is now making the same recommendations that we have been preaching to our clients for over 3 years.

Reputation Management Versus Reputation Marketing

From the numerous consultations I have had with prospects and clients, most have the viewpoint that “reputation management” is more like crisis management or damage control, and therefore a very defensive posture. That mindset has persisted for many years and is still a common belief. Reputation marketing on the other hand is a very proactive and offensive posture and clearly has many advantages which I will illustrate.

Why Wait? Get your FREE in-depth Local Analysis an find out how your reputation is scoring online! Get it Here.

The Foundation of Reputation Marketing

The Forbes article enumerates 3 essential concepts for reputation marketing; those being monitoring, acquisition, and amplification. This idea mirrors the 3 cornerstones of our reputation marketing strategies which are manage, build, and market. Any one of these three can certainly improve a company’s reputation, however, when strategically combined as we have done for years, there is a synergistic effect that positively amplifies the results.

I think it is important for business owners to realize that reviews are opportunities rather than problems, and embrace the chance to respond to these reviews regardless of whether it is a five-star recommendation or something less favorable. If someone has posted an unfavorable review, the person is usually looking for some type of validation or acknowledgment of their concern. They want to be heard. By promptly addressing their concerns publicly, there’s a good chance this situation can be turned around into something very positive. There is also the additional benefit that is derived from other prospects witnessing how a company values their customers and attempt to resolve misunderstandings.

It is equally important to promptly respond to positive reviews, which is something many companies are not aware of or fail to do on a regular basis. That customer has taken the time to leave the glowing review; they should be thanked publicly. It is also a great time to ask for referrals or have your sales department contact them to offer additional products and services.

Phase One – Managing Your Reputation

For a company to properly manage their reputation, they must first actively monitor their brand so they can be aware of what customers are saying about them. Even for a small company with a minimal marketing budget, this is by far the single most important component of an overall marketing strategy and one that requires prompt and consistent attention.

According to the 2015 Local Consumer Review Survey published by BrightLocal, “92% of consumers now read online reviews for local businesses.” The report also stated that “97% of consumers aged 18 to 34 read online reviews to judge a local business.” With 9 out of every 10 prospects making their ultimate decision to do business with your company based on the reviews they find or don’t find, you can see how critical it is to know exactly what customers are saying about their experience with you so you can reply in a prompt and appropriate manner.

Phase Two – Building Your 5-Star Reputation

In order to build a five-star reputation, one must first develop a reputation marketing culture within the organization. Is vitally important that all staff members understand how to consistently deliver high-quality service and how the company’s reputation affects their longevity and success in the local marketplace. We utilize a custom-designed online training center that allows each staff member to become trained and tested so they fully understand the importance of reputation marketing.

There are numerous tools and services available to help small business owners get more reviews and thereby build their reputation. Some of them work very well, but others that I have analyzed have some drawbacks, such as the reviews they generate are not indexed by Google or the platforms require too much training or oversight.

When considering a platform to automate the review acquisition process, a business owner should consider features such as the degree of automation, how and where these reviews will be posted, and will those reviews remain even if the service is discontinued. Our company has several proven strategies that can be used alone or concurrently to increase the effectiveness of getting more reviews.

Phase Three – Marketing Your 5-Star Reputation

This is the area where I feel many other providers fall short. A company’s positive reviews can be an incredible marketing asset, provided they are utilized across numerous platforms. Some of the proven strategies we provide for our clients include transforming a written testimonial or review into a professionally produced video to gain exposure on video sites like YouTube.

Images attract a great deal of attention on Facebook, and image sharing sites like Pinterest and Instagram. Therefore, a small business owner could get significantly more exposure for their reviews by creating professionally designed images and posting them to those types of sites. We have found this to be a very effective strategy for our clients.

In Summary…

A company’s reviews and reputation are naked to the entire online world. It is no longer effective to only hear a company say how good they are. It is vitally important to be aware what the Internet is saying about that brand. Reputation is a new online currency and the company’s reviews, ratings, and recommendations are either attracting new business for themselves or sending those prospects to their competitors.

Think you have a great reputation online? Click here to get your FREE in-depth local analysis and see for sure. The results may surprise you.

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Infographic: 9 Tips for Serious Brand Optimization for Businesses
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Infographic: 9 Tips for Serious Brand Optimization for Businesses

Tampa Marketing Services

Infographic: 9 Tips for Serious Brand Optimization for Businesses

Take Your Brand Seriously: Why You Need to Optimize Your Brand
[Infographic]

Having a brand is beyond having a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of these to identify products and services and to differentiate them from others. Having a brand means having a set of values or associations that your target customers make with your company, products and services.

First question: What set of values does your target customers associate with your brand?
Second question: Do they even know your brand exists?

You need to pay attention to this, and you need to start today. Because if you’re not taking your brand seriously, how do you expect potential customers to take your business seriously? In today’s competitive market, you just can’t let that happen, can you? That’s why we put together an infographic and listed eight tips you can start using today to build your brand.

So… are you building your brand every day? What benefits do you stand to get? What challenges will you face? Discover the answer to all these questions and more below.

See Our Infographic:

Know Your Target Customers and Build Your Brand’s Personality Around Them

Like humans, brands also possess or project a certain type or a mix of personalities. In “Dimensions of Brand Personality,” a study published by the Journal of Marketing Research, Jennifer Aaker, now a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, summarized brand personality into five dimensions: sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness. In the infographic, you’ll see defining characteristics for each dimension. For instance, a brand that imbues “sincerity” is perceived to be honest, domestic, genuine, and cheerful. Therefore people who value these characteristics tend to prefer brands with this personality.

The idea here is to identify the personas of your target customers, and identify your brand as well, using a mix of these dimensions. Then, build and shape your brand around this mix of dimensions. This way, you’ll be able to align your brand persona with your target customers or identify what customers to target based on your brand personality. These dimensions are helpful, especially for small businesses that are just beginning with the creation and strengthening of their brand.

Build Your Brand Slowly but Surely or Fast and Strong. Either way, You Have to Build It

According to Millard Brown’s Brand Dynamics Pyramid, the value of a business is directly proportional with the value of the brand. If you want to grow your business, you need to build your brand. Analyzing five years of stock market data, the company found that strong brands are more likely to increase their share price than companies with weak brands. “Strong brands are more likely to grow,” the report stressed.

What’s more interesting here is Millard Brown’s pyramid relates how brand strength affects consumers’ expenditure for that brand. This time, brand is inversely proportional with “share of wallet,” or share of category expenditure. For instance, brands at the bottom of the pyramid or those with “presence,” eat up only 12% of spending for that category. On the other hand, those at the peak of the pyramid, or brands with bonding with consumers, account for 40% of wallet share.

You need to move your brand from merely having presence in the market to be performing and eventually having a bond, which is the peak of the pyramid. By moving it up the pyramid, you are also raising the value of your business.

Connect Your Brand to Your Customers

Your brand needs to be able to reach out to your customers and connect with them. Only then will you be able to benefit from it. The biggest benefit perhaps is customer loyalty. According to Nielsen, 62% of your potential customers prefer to buy new products from familiar brands rather than switch to a new one. Be a familiar brand and your customers will stick with you.

Having a connection means being aligned with your customers’ beliefs and earning their trust. According to Edelman research, 92% of global online consumers want to do business with brands that share their beliefs. Customers also want transparency on how products are made and sourced. Will they trust what you say? Put your brand on the line, and they will. Some 69% of global consumers trusted product information on branded websites in 2013, up from 60% in 2007, according to Nielsen.

You Need to Market Your Brand Too

While focusing on other aspects of online marketing (search engine optimization or SEO, paid advertising, etc.), is necessary to market your products or services, you cannot take branding for granted. You also need to put focus on marketing your brand as well. Businesses seem to be getting this right as “brand awareness” is the No. 1 goal of today’s content marketing initiatives. Some 79% of respondents agree, according to a survey by the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs.

It’s not surprising that business owners are spending more to build their brand. A survey by the CMO Council and Vizu, a Nielsen company, found that indeed 63% of marketers planned an increase in their online brand advertising budgets. Some 20% said they will raise their brand spending by at least 20%. Despite this budget trend and brand marketing benefits, many owners still struggle in adapting.

Brand-building Challenges Businesses Face

As mentioned earlier, the primary purpose of content marketing for majority of businesses is to build brand awareness. Business owners understand that for them to build their brand, they need to reach out to their target market with engaging branded content. But why are they struggling implementing this?

According to a research by MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute, there are a number of challenges that marketers face in effectively using content for marketing. The biggest setback is lack of budget, with 52% of marketers citing this reason. Producing enough content (51%) and producing the kind of content that engages (49%) complete the top three challenges.

Twenty percent of businesses are responding accordingly by raising their budgets. They are realizing the necessity of branding. As for the other two challenges, they are outsourcing. Writing (64%) and design (54%) are the top services outsourced.

9 Tips How to Seriously Build Your Brand

If you are serious in building your brand – and with all honesty, you should be – you need to start today. Don’t know where to begin? Here are a few tips to help you get started.

Go for a Professional Website Design for Credibility – Studies published by Stanford University found that 75% of Internet users judge the credibility of an organization based on the design of its website. A separate study on websites, meanwhile, found that 94% of all the factors mentioned for rejecting or mistrusting a website were design-related. Needless to say, professional web design plays a crucial role in establishing your business as a trusted brand.

Get Exposure via PPC Remarketing – Pay per Click Remarketing displays your ads to people who have left your website and visited another site within the Google Display Network. The network includes Gmail and YouTube, and two million other sites. Plus, studies show that even if your ads are only seen and not clicked (called “impressions” in PPC), they can still have an effect on viewers.

Use Social Media to Influence Followers – People like to follow brands on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. Make sure your accounts are properly branded—with your logo and tagline. Upload a primary photo, a striking banner and a nice background image, and post delightful, persuasive content regularly.

Generate Buzz around your Brand in your Locality and Niche – Optimize your local listings and publish engaging content that turn visitors into customers and loyal customers. This will make your brand more visible on local listings searches. Put out promos to delight your customers with your brand and increase purchase and loyalty. These promos will generate buzz through your blog, social media accounts and will spread across the social media space. Local searches end in a purchase. Seventy-eight percent happen with buyers using mobile phones, 77% with tablets and 59% with PCs and laptops.

Manage Your Online Reputation – Online Reputation Management or ORM aims to keep your brand trustworthy. Pay particular attention to responding to negative comments and encouraging happy customers to give testimonials. Seventy percent of global consumers trust online consumer reviews. Make sure that you have lots of 5-star ratings and that these are visible all over the web.

Use Video & Article Content – According to CopyPress, featured articles (62%) and video (51.9%) generate the most attractive return on investment for marketers. Respondents surveyed by CMI and MarketingProfs agree. The top five formats used by content marketers (social media, onsite articles, e-newsletters, videos, and blogs) use articles or video.

Write & Share Articles to Introduce and Build Your Brand – Whether appealing to business decision-makers or customers, producing articles is the best choice, according to studies. Articles are preferred over advertisements. No wonder, as Forrester points out, 79% of surveyed marketers reported that their organizations are shifting to branded content.

Reach Out to Your Target Market with Videos – Videos have such a wide reach. Accenture found that 90% of consumers watch online video. Its reach is still growing. According to Cisco, Internet video traffic will account for 69% of all global consumer Internet traffic in 2017. Want your brand to reach your audience? Go video.

Influence Purchase Decisions with Videos – Not only will your brand be able to reach customers through videos, you can also influence purchase decisions. Some 96% of consumers surveyed found videos helpful for making online purchase decisions. Even executives (59%) prefer watching product videos than reading text, said Forbes. What better way to sell your brand than through video?

Take Your Branding Seriously… Today!

If you have been neglecting your branding because of budget constraints, lack of guidance or as a matter of choice because you don’t think it’s necessary, then you need to rethink this. Branding allows you to connect with your target market, convert potential customers into actual buyers, and earn their trust and loyalty. You need to take branding seriously. You need to start today.

We will give you free consultation on our brand optimization services so you’ll know how you can seriously build your brand and benefit from it. Call us now or send us a message so we can schedule your free consultation.

Branding for Local Businesses

Strong brands have more power to retain customers and acquire new ones, and have more amplification power—leading to the brand bandwagon effect.

Build Your Brand

“Build it and they will come.”

This could be your branding mantra. Customers are looking for brands they can identify with. Customers stick with brands that share their beliefs and aspirations.

Give your brand a personality.

Make sure that it has the right mixture of characteristics that appeal to your target customers. Jennifer Aaker, professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, summarized brand personality into five dimensions: sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness. This is known as the “Dimensions of Brand Personality”.

The value of a business is directly proportional to the value of the brand. If you want to grow your business, you need to build your brand. Building a brand is not just about having a nice catchy name, or using a clever sign, symbol or design to identify your products or services and to differentiate them from others. Building a brand means having a set of positive values or associations that resonate with your target customers. It is also about communicating these attributes to them.

Build your brand’s presence, relevance, performance, and advantage, until you have built a bond with your customers.

Why build your brand? Because research shows that 60% of your potential customers prefer to buy new products from familiar brands rather than switch to a new one.

Millard Brown’s brand pyramid shows how brand strength affects customers’ expenditure for that brand. The brand’s strength is inversely proportional to the “share of wallet,” or share of category expenditure. Brands at the initial phase of development (also known as “presence,”) eat up only 12% of spending for that category. On the other hand, those at the peak of the pyramid, or brands that have bonded with consumers, account for 40% of wallet share.

Optimize Your Brand

Why should you optimize your brand? Because strong brands become more valuable over time, a study of 6 years of stock market data has discovered. Strong brands have more power to retain customers and acquire new ones, and have more amplification power—leading to the brand bandwagon effect.

So…

“Build your brand and customers will come. OPTIMIZE it and MORE will come!”

Invest in Your Brand Today

No wonder marketers (yes, including your toughest competitors) are now focusing AND spending on brand building and optimization. Research shows that 63% of marketers plan to increase brand advertising budgets. One in 5 of these businesses plans an increase of at least 20%!

Here’s what that means: your leading competitors are spending a great deal on their branding while you’re ignoring it! Don’t do this to your business!

Build and Optimize Your Brand Today. We Can Help You. How?

Web Design

We will build your website and design or redesign your logo if needed. Our mobile-friendly, responsive web design service will ensure that your growing number of mobile customers can reach you.

67% of consumers are more likely to buy if the site is mobile friendly
62% of companies reported an increase in sales after designing a site for mobile users

Social Media Optimization

We will perform social media optimization to give your brand increased reach and engagement with prospects and customers. The more engaged your friends, fans, followers, and connections are, the higher the amplification factor to extend your reach and engagement further.

46% of online users count on social media when making a purchase decision

Create a buzz around your brand in your locality and niche with our local marketing services, which include publishing your promos. Promos get you the attention from leads and loyalty from existing customers!

78% of local searches using mobile devices ended in a purchase
59% for PC and laptop searches using PCs and laptops ended in a purchase
77% for tablet searchers using tablets ended in a purchase

Pay per Click Advertising and Remarketing

Target customers searching for products and services you offer on the major search engines, and drive them to your website instantly with our pay per click advertising service. Your brand’s visibility will increase while you only pay for clicks.

Online advertising, with record-breaking revenues of $42.8 billion in 2013, is now bigger than broadcast TV advertising, with $40.1 billion revenues. More people are searching online nowadays.

Bring it up a notch with PPC Remarketing. Ads will be displayed across the Google network of websites to your visitors who have not yet converted but have visited your website. Your banner ads will be all over the web, constantly reminding your visitors about your brand; enforcing brand awareness, recognition and recall, and again, while you only pay for clicks.

Google’s Display Network reaches 90% of global Internet users

Online Reputation Management and Marketing

We will manage your Online Reputation, address negative reviews, and make positive ones work for you. We will publish your positive reviews at the right places and bring down negative reviews on search results.

79% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations

Brand Booster

We combine the power of video and written content in our Brand Booster service. This is great for promoting and strengthening your brand online.

90% of global online consumers want brands to share content online
96% of consumers surveyed found videos helpful for making online purchase decisions
80% of business decision makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles
78% of consumers believe that companies that provide content are interested in building good
relationships

These are just some of the services that build and optimize your brand. You can learn more about the rest of our services by contacting us for free consultation.

Take Action Now!

So… are loyal and paying customers coming your way?

Build your brand and customers will come. Optimize it and more will come. Contact us now to see how we can help build and optimize your brand today.

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