These days, you must have an online marketing strategy to have any hope of competing in the business world, a world that includes spa retail. As technology continues to advance, it’s out with the old and in with the new on a seemingly daily basis. In fact, each year less effective online marketing strategies fall by the wayside as new approaches emerge, and 2018 is no different.

This year experts recommend that businesses focus on these 7 online marketing strategies:

  1. Increasing engagement on social networks
  2. Employing browser push notifications
  3. Creating high-quality, engaging content
  4. Focusing on video content
  5. Considering live video opportunities
  6. Using email to reach your audience
  7. Addressing the entire buying process by providing helpful content

 

Let’s address each of these recommendations in more detail.

 

1. Increasing Engagement on Social Networks

It is important for you take an active role in your social media presence. That means posting content on a regular basis and taking time to respond to each comment by showing appreciation for positive comments and providing resolutions for negative comments.

You can use social networks to conduct consumer polls, offer discounts, run contests and promote giveaways. Don’t forget to incorporate images and videos to capture attention. If you don’t already have a social media presence, the H2Insider article, Social Media for Spa Retailers, can help you get up and running.

 

2. Employ Browser Push Notifications

Browser push notifications are those little messages that appear on the right side of your computer screen just under the task bar, or they slide up from the bottom of the screen. These are clickable messages you can send to a computer screen or a mobile device. Push notifications have several uses:

  • Telling customers about price reductions
  • Informing customers that an item is back in stock
  • Promoting popular or highly recommended products
  • Offering discounts and promotional codes
  • Notifying viewers of new articles or blog posts they may find interesting

 

Using push notifications can result in increased consumer engagement, increased sales and increased customer conversion rates. The best part is they are equally effective on computers and mobile devices.

 

3. Create High-Quality, Engaging Content

While high-quality engaging content used to mean well-written text, it is now much, much more. Content includes images and video, as well. Basically, any written, visual or auditory material constitutes “content.” The key is to produces effective content is to emphasize quality over quantity. Marketing and sales guru Neil Patel offers this checklist for creating engaging, fluff-free, online content:

  • Define “engaging”
  • Create with intent
  • Make it too valuable
  • Stay creative
  • Lean into your strengths and passions
  • Create action-oriented content

 

Perhaps the most important part of creating engaging content is to make sure everything serves a specific purpose. Our article Engaging Web Content Ideas for the Spa Retailer is also a good source of information on creating engaging content.

 

4. Focus on Video Content

Video is a vital marketing tool for several reasons: it is entertaining, accessible, easy for consumers to digest and shareable over multiple platforms. Well-done video content can be invaluable as indicated by these statistics:

  • Twitter: 82% of users watch video content, and 90% of these are viewed on mobile devices.
  • Snapchat: 10 million videos are viewed each day.
  • Facebook: Branded video content views increased 258% in 2017.
  • YouTube: Branded video content views increased 99% in 2017.
  • Landing Pages: Conversions increase by 80% or more for landing pages with video.

 

Furthermore, according to a HubSpot survey, 72% of consumers prefer to learn about products via videos, while 81% report that video has convinced them to purchase a product or service.

 

5. Consider Live Video

Live video is effective because it feels like a real, face-to-face interaction between brand and consumer. This feel makes it a valuable means of building brand trust and consumer confidence. With Cisco reporting that “live internet video will account for 13% of internet video traffic by 2021,” spa retailers should consider live video opportunities.

Live internet video will account for 13% of internet video traffic by 2021.

 

For example, think about live-streaming a weekly vlog that answers spa FAQs. You might also host a live video panel discussion on topics like hot tub care, brand quality and so forth where viewers can pose questions, concerns, and opinions. Whatever type of video you use, you may find this article helpful.

 

6. Use Email to Reach Your Audience

Email remains an important tool in the digital marketing tool box, and with over half the people in the world using it, that isn’t going to change any time soon. In the U.S. alone, 92 percent of adult residents use email daily. Here’s why email is still such a viable marketing option:

  • It’s cost-effective.
  • It can be personalized.
  • It’s interactive.
  • It can be automated.
  • It’s easy to measure results.

 

Another reason email is such an effective marketing tool is its wide reach. Consumers can access their accounts from virtually anywhere thanks to the advent of the mobile phone. In fact, by 2019, it is projected that mobile phone users will number over five billion. Imagine having access to even a tenth of that number!

 

7. Address the Entire Buying Process by Providing Helpful Content

All too often, companies will throw up a few images with a phone number and a physical location and expect customers to just show up. One of the biggest online marketing mistakes a business can make is just showing their customers a product and hoping they buy it. You can put all the pretty pictures in the world up on your website, and they will prove useless if you don’t directly connect them to your product.

One of the biggest online marketing mistakes a business can make is just showing their customers a product and hoping they buy it

 

Make that connection by presenting specific information that addresses all three stages of the buying process: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision. Provide the information across multiple platforms. The overall goal is to educate the prospect on what a spa is, how it works, what it can do for them and how they can easily obtain their own quality home spa.

 

Remember This

Whatever your online presence, your online marketing strategy boils down to content. Written, video or audio, your content must engage with the customer on some level. You can achieve that engagement by anticipating consumer questions, needs, and emotions.

Make sure all your content is relevant, smart, personalized and timely. Use a combination of short blocks of text, bullet points, images, icons or other elements to present your content in bite-sized bits of information that is easy to digest.

Finally, remember the value of well-designed online marketing content is two-fold: First, it is your chance to educate would-be customers about your products and services. Second, it allows you to position yourself, your brand and your business as industry experts. People buy the products they know the most about from the company that knows the most about the product. A successful online marketing strategy ensures you are that company.