It’s almost December, and we’re just about in full-on Holiday mode! The good news for aesthetic practices looking to run Holiday specials is that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are over. You no longer have to compete with the hundreds of big-box companies offering discount flat screens and iPads.
In this article I’ve outlined several tips for planning and promoting Holiday specials for your practice:
1) Timing is important: As I mentioned above, we’ve already passed the mad rush of Black Friday promotions, so we’re entering a good time to promote your Holiday specials. However, be wary of starting promotions too close to Christmas. Shoot for the first or second week of December, but no later.
2) Focus on the season: In this instance I don’t mean the “Holiday season,” I mean the actual season that we’re entering based on the Earth’s rotation around the Sun! While it’s still Fall, in many areas it’s starting to feel like Winter. Tailor your offers around the colder, drier weather. Facial treatments that treat dry skin are a good idea.
3) Don’t forget gift cards: If your practice offers facials or massages you definitely need to be promoting Holiday gift cards because these are things that most people enjoy (particularly massages). If your practice does not offer these services, consider emphasizing gift cards as a way for people to save for themselves when they invest in a given treatment. For example, if you purchase any package above $250 you get a $50 gift card to use yourself or give to a friend.
4) Host an event: Consider planning a Holiday event. This can be a simple, evening meet-and-greet with cocktails and appetizers, or it can be an all-day event with demonstrations, speakers, giveaways and more. The goal here is to get people comfortable with you and your office. You want them to know, like and trust you, and we all know that alcohol loosens people up! I recommend an extra special offer for all attendees.
5) Get the message out: This is self-explanatory, but I want to delve into how you should be getting the message out. Start by creating collateral that can be printed and presented as a flyer inside your office. You may also want to print and send out a postcard to your patients, particularly if you have a Holiday event that you’d like to get people RSVP’d for.
Lastly, and most importantly, you should also be able to use this collateral in your email marketing. You’ll want to get the word out to your entire list of patients via email. If you want to take it a step further, consider a software that allows patients to purchase the offer directly from the email! This is a cool functionality that your practice should look into as a means of automatically generating revenue.
6) Make your offers time-sensitive: This is one of the biggest mistakes practices make, not only with their Holiday promotions, but with their promotions in general. If there’s no incentive for me to buy now, why can’t I just wait until later? Well, later usually becomes never, so make sure you run your promotions for only one to two weeks. In fact, I would lean toward running it for one week at the most. Remember to not bend on these dates because you sacrifice your integrity by doing so.
If you have any questions about running a Holiday promotion at your practice please leave TRBO a message here. You can also reach us directly at 877-673-7096 x2.
