This article was updated on July 26, 2023.
7 marketing techniques to grow your medical spa business
As the world of wellness continues to evolve, medical spas are on the cutting edge of combining tech and hospitality to help their clients look and feel better than ever.
The medical spa sector is projected to yield a $27.6 billion value by 2025—but how can local med spas build on this popularity to establish themselves on the local level?
If you are learning how to start a medical spa, you’ll need to include a set of marketing tactics in your spa business plan to foster a client base with the most potential for loyalty: the people who live in your own backyard. Below, we’ve outlined seven med spa marketing ideas to build your local reputation and keep both old and new clients coming back for more.
7 tips for marketing your medical spa
As a medical spa, you’re in the business of helping clients put their best face forward—so it’s essential that you lead by example.
Here are the seven best practices for marketing your med spa business to foster an online experience that’s as luxurious as the real thing.
#1 Optimize your medical spa website
Curating an informative, well-organized, and visually appealing website is critical to establishing your credibility as a medical spa. Ideally, your website should include the following components:
- A mission or “About us” page. This should briefly touch on the procedures you offer, your medical spa’s history, and what sets you apart from competitors.
- A directory of staff. This should detail the professional backgrounds and credentials of your technicians and managing staff.
- A directory of services. These may be listed comprehensively or categorized according to a client’s complaint or condition (e.g., “hyperpigmentation”).
- Client testimonials. Your testimonials should spotlight the most favorable feedback you’ve received about your services. If you’re just launching your medical spa, consider reaching out to your clients to collect testimonials for specific staff members.
- An appointment portal. These should be incorporated throughout your website (most prominently on the home page) so that visitors can schedule consultations or appointments seamlessly. Be sure to include a telephone number and/or email address where your front desk can be reached.
Every page on your website should provide at least one visual illustration to accompany the information you provide. In its final form, your website should display:
- Interiors and exteriors of your facility
- Photos of core staff members
- Images of any tools or machinery used in treatments
- “Before and After” images of consenting clients
Lastly, remember that around half of global web traffic comes from mobile devices. The more mobile-friendly your website, the more welcoming your medical spa will appear to customers.
If you’re just learning to design a website, take advantage of apps like Nextdoor to build an online presence that’s mobile-friendly from the start.
#2 Offer a virtual spa tour
Wellness tourism is a giant industry on the world stage, projected to be valued at $1.1 trillion by 2025. In 2020, the Global Wellness Institute reported over 600 million spa visits by international and domestic travelers.
To drive appeal for customers who can’t visit your spa ahead of time, take a cue from Evolutions Medical & Day Spa in Santa Barbara, CA. Their website offers a virtual tour of their facilities as well as a video gallery to introduce clients near and far to the procedures they offer.
#3 List your business
Carving strategic pathways to your medical spa is just as important as crafting a website your clients can take pleasure in.
Yes, every business should register with Google to appear in general online searches. That said, bear in mind that Google relies heavily on “Prominence” rankings to filter search results, which can drastically limit the number of users small businesses are able to reach. This means Google will filter results based on how far the user's device is from the business location.
To drive up your spa’s online presence, make sure your website content and listings are positioned for local connectivity:
- “Localize” your website – In 2019, around 86% of consumers relied on digital search engines to find businesses in their area. To be seen online, be sure to incorporate local SEO by using keywords that reflect your geographic region—whether naming your city, town, or the neighborhood in which you operate.
- List your business with Nextdoor – Almost 1 in 3 households rely on Nextdoor to discover local gems that Google’s mega-algorithms simply can’t do justice to. 46% of Nextdoor users are interested in beauty treatments, while 57% are health and fitness enthusiasts, which means you’ll be reaching customers who are already interested in finding you.
- Encourage reviews – Don’t be shy about encouraging clients to leave reviews or Nextdoor recommendations to provide firsthand feedback for newcomers to peruse. The more reviews you aggregate, the more visible your medical spa will appear online—so don’t worry too much if a few sub-par reviews make their way into the fold.
Building a successful medical spa starts with establishing your core clientele: the customers closest to you whose trust will form the foundation of your business. The more you can gear your spa towards local patrons, the more authority you’ll retain as you broaden your marketing efforts.
#4 Build local partnerships
As a medical spa, focus on networking with businesses whose customers are likely crossover with your potential clients. Not only will fostering partnerships assist with word-of-mouth referrals, but you can also drive traffic to your website with backlinks provided by business peers.
To determine who your spa should be connecting with, consider:
- The price points of the treatments you offer
- The age or demographics of clients you hope to reach
- Companion industries like salons, fitness centers, and hospitals
Cross promotions, in-person events, or charity fundraisers are all excellent ways to connect with fellow businesses and meet new potential customers.
If your medical spa resells products from big-name brands, consider tagging them in your social media posts to join their network. NJ Health Hub in Cedar Grove, NJ, uses this tactic to connect with OSEA followers and educate their clients on the skincare brands they carry in-house.
#5 Master email marketing
According to Statista, email is the number one way consumers want their business news delivered. Nearly 5 out of 10 survey respondents cited email as their favored channel, outpacing both SMS or WhatsApp (25%) and Facebook Messenger (12%).
As a medical spa, your digital marketing strategy should lead with customer care. You can use email marketing to:
- Help your clients stay on track with pre and post-procedure care.
- Remind your clients when it’s time to book their next appointment.
- Cross-promote complimentary services.
- Incentivize sales through referral programs, loyalty programs, or specials.
- Provide newsletters to apprise clients of local partnerships or developments at your facility.
When in doubt, make emails as personal as you can. If you’re a massage parlor that offers couples massages, why not send out an anniversary reminder a few weeks before a client’s big day? Or, use your email software to flag client birthdays and offer them special discounts during their special month.
#6 Stay on top of industry trends
It’s an exciting time in the world of beauty and personal care, and innovative techniques to keep us looking and feeling our best are constantly evolving.
Content marketing—the use of video, text, or image content to catch your target audience’s attention—is a digital marketing technique that is one of the best ways to make an explicit connection between your facility and the hottest procedures available today.
Creating a blog to live on your website will help you:
- Demonstrate your knowledge of the most current developments in the medical spa industry
- Introduce potential customers to the medical spa services you offer
- Help each potential client decide which procedures are right for them
- Add value to your clients’ wellness experience
- Drive traffic to your website by incorporating trending keywords
Solea Beauty Lounge in Miami, FL, does an exemplary job of mastering content marketing. Their blog provides content that’s both seasonal and tied to their permanent list of medical services. Their blog also addresses FAQs before a customer even has to ask.
#7 Reward your clients
You’re in the business of providing personal care, so take the lead by showing customers their loyalty is more than worthwhile.
There are countless ways to get creative about incentivizing more sales among your clients. Here are some popular ideas for growing your client list and increasing customer retention:
- Start a referral or loyalty points program
- Offer discounts for group appointments
- Create special-occasion discounts for weddings or birthdays
- Incorporate med spa package deals
- Host contests or giveaways for email subscribers
Finally, encourage word-of-mouth referrals by recruiting clients to help spotlight your firm online. Try offering a free product sample for joining your email list, or offering a small discount on a routine service for sharing the name of your med spa business. If it’s in your budget, you may also consider affiliate marketing as a way of tapping into new markets through a social media platform.
Remember, fostering success as a medical spa isn’t just about booking appointments and increasing brand awareness. Building your reputation as a self-care provider is equally essential for creating a culture of trust between your brand, your specialists, and your clients.
Promote your medical spa with Nextdoor
Whether you dream of being your area’s go-to medical spa or dream of leading a destination medical spa brand, all successful businesses need a solid foundation on the local level.
Fortify your medical spa’s reputation and advance your marketing initiatives with Nextdoor. By creating a free Business Page, you’ll tap into new local markets, network with local peer businesses, and make direct connections with a fresh audience of prospective clients. Run promotions and paid advertising campaigns to promote your services, and start fortifying your glowing list of recommendations when you create your Nextdoor Business page today.
All kinds of businesses use Nextdoor to grow and reach their neighbors
Skin By Lexie is one of those businesses. When she started out in 2020 she had 50 clients - now she has 900.
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Sources:
EHL Insights. Medical Spa Trends 2022. https://hospitalityinsights.ehl.edu/medical-spa-trends
Global Wellness Institute. Wellness Industry Statistics & Facts. https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/press-room/statistics-and-facts/
Evolutions Medical & Day Spa. Spa Tour. https://www.evolutionsmedicalspa.com/about-us/spa-tour
Evolutions Medical & Day Spa. Video Gallery. https://www.evolutionsmedicalspa.com/services/video-gallery
Social Media Today. 12 Local SEO Stats Every Business Owner and Marketer Should Know in 2019 [Infographic]. https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/12-local-seo-stats-every-business-owner-and-marketer-should-know-in-2019-i/549079/
Nextdoor. Personal Care Marketing & Advertising on Nextdoor. https://business.nextdoor.com/local/personal-care
NJ Health Hub. Post. Instagram, November 17 2021. https://www.instagram.com/p/CWY1eb1PpUb/
Statista. Preferred messaging channels to receive business communications according to smartphone users worldwide from December 2020 to January 2021. https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.statista.com/statistics/1263298/business-messaging-channels-preferred-by-smartphone-users-worldwide/&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1646759343876248&usg=AOvVaw2ZPVTmNmB18t0nWVGKOc9z
Solea Beauty Lounge. Beauty Blog. https://soleabeautylounge.com/beauty-blog/
