Attracting Business To My Foot Spa

Publicity

I have a footspa and waxing salon name SPA 101 with a pink feet in the middle of the words spa 101. So its Spa 101 footspa and waxing salon.

Our sales is good because of the bannerpost we have all over the place but when the banners were removed the sales dipped. There is tag line in the banner that says ” Your Fab Find Spa Salon”

We are thinking to change the name to Pampered – Nail Spa and Waxing Salon and come with a better tagline. I feel the name spa 101 footspa and waxing salon needs to be changed because when we removed the banners we are getting male clients instead of ladies who are our core clients.

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Jay’s Answer: Are your male clients recommending your services and/or returning? If so, then maybe you’ve stumbled upon a new business opportunity and can sell to them.

If the banners were bringing in people and covering your expenses, then why not put them back and continue to get clients? You may need to focus not just on your banners, but also increasing your repeat business.

Female Ob/Gyn Wants To Tag Line For New Practice

Names + Taglines

After working for 7 years in an ob/gyn medical group, I am parting ways and opening my own ob/gyn practice. When looking at the other doctors (competitors) in the area where I am planning to relocate, I have the advantage that I am a woman. Also, this area has a high Spanish speaking population and I am bilingual. The name of the practice is First name+Last name, MD, PA.

I am looking for a tag line that incorporates the practice experience already acquired, my gender, and the multicultural aspect of my background. Once the tag line is selected, I will translate it to Spanish to address my Spanish speaking patients.

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Jay’s Answer: It’s not clear if ObGyn will be part of your business title. Ideally, add it to make it obvious what your specialty is.

(ObGyn) Services For Women. By A Woman.
Woman To Woman ObGyn Services.

Name My Shoe Auction Site!

Names + Taglines

I am starting an auction site for shoes only (think Ebay for shoes). Iftheshoedoesntfit.com It is an unusually long name for a website but it works for my purposes. Need a tagline that grabs attention, is snappy, and makes sense even without the website name as a stem.
I have brainstormed several – but none is quite right…

Here is what I have in the order from what I like most to least to give you a sense. The first two are the ones I like best but I am concerned that some people will see the first one as “demonic” may sound silly, but I some people may feel that way. I like the second one, but it is long, and the website name is long – I am concerned about a long website and a long tagline.

  • Sell your soles
  • Going Once, Going Twice….SOLED!
  • finding new homes for lost (unwanted) soles
  • Step Into A New Pair of Shoes

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Jay’s Answer:

  • We’re a Shoe-In For Best Selection
  • One, Two Buckle New Shoes
  • Where The Feet Have It!
  • Put Your Best Shoe Forward
  • …Find A Better Pair

Below The Line Campaign For Green Lipstick

Products, Starting Out

I am currently working on a communication plan for an organic and environmentally friendly lipstick for my integrated communication marketing course. The product has to reflect glamorous, natural and eco-friendly attributes. I am asked to come up with innovative below the line communication tools. I have found a few but I was wondering if you had any ideas on how to market the product effectively and in an innovative way. The target market is women between 18 and 30 years old living in major cities as well as suburbs that respect the environment. I already use a teaser campaign via direct marketing, sponsorship of a non for profit organisation event, participation in beauty expositions, POP advertising, and giving samples away in major shopping centers. I need to come up with some other campaigns that really stand out, highlight the points of differences and are innovative. I would really appreciate your help.

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Jay’s Answer: Focus your thinking on your target market:

  • What activities do they enjoy?
  • What organizations are they likely to be members of?
  • Where do they get their information on beauty products?

A Great Business Name For Importing?

Names + Taglines, Starting Out

Hi Jay, I am at the very beginning of putting into action one of my ‘bright ideas’ , that being importing fabrics, trims, etc to make lampshades, table runners, and the list goes on. I also create art and craft ware for the home. All of this i want to sell, but getting started means having a great business name, this is where i have been going blank!! Because i do quite a varied amount of things i don’t want a name that will limit me to one product, as eventually i would like to import furniture also among other things. Basically, i love home products and i love being at home and working from home. I know this is a big ask, hope you can help. Elena

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Jay’s Answer: Here’s the quandary you’re in: you’re looking for a name that works for the range of offerings today AND for something that’s generic enough to work in the future.

A few ideas for you to consider:

  • From Elena With Love
  • The Home Import Store
  • The Import Shop

Help Me Name My Financial Seminar

Names + Taglines

We are a financial services company that sponsors investment seminars to gain new clients. We would like to develop an attention grabbing seminar title.

Our target market are High Net Worth investors aged 55 – 70, both retired and nearing retirement.

The goal of the seminar is to teach the average investor what it is that the wealthy do differently than most others. Our investment program mimics the investment tactics of the Harvard and Yale endowment funds and is utilized by more sophisticated investors.

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Jay’s Answer: Why not, “How Wealthy People Invest Differently Than You!” or “What The Wealthy Know About Investing” or simply, “Invest Like The Wealthy Do”.

Name My Kitchen Products!

Names + Taglines

I’m a manufacturer of modular kitchen accessories, I want to name my new modular kitchen products, so suggest me a good tag line and a eye catching name for the same.

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Jay’s Answer:

A name needs to appeal to your target audience….who are they? Where are they located?
The name needs to explain what’s unique about your business…what makes it different/better?
The name needs to fit your business style…are you looking for a name that’s made up? Technical? Traditional?

The tagline needs to complement your business name. If your business name doesn’t say what you do, then the tagline needs to clarify what business you’re in and a primary benefit you offer. For example, my business name “Many Good Ideas” hints at originality, but doesn’t say who/how it helps. That’s the job for my tagline: “Architecting Business Success”. In 3 words I convey: you hire me when your goal is success (specifically business success) and want someone to planning/building your business success (“architecting”).

First focus on your marketing strategy ( for example, see my answer to someone else looking for a business name). Without this, you’ll waste your time & money trying to attract business to your ineffective business name.

Baby Boomer Blog Website Critique

eMarketing

I do marketing for a Baby Boomer support website/blog called Vaboomer (www.Vaboomer.com)
Is this site looking good? Is it clear? What are critiques? Do you get a good feeling from it?

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Jay’s Answer: My key question about the blog is:

What’s the goal of the blog? For author PR? To sell something? To build traffic/authority status?

If it’s not about the author, then remove the author’s name from the banner.

If it’s to sell something, make the featured books more prominent (and make the books have links into the Amazon associates program).

If it’s to build traffic, write less and ask questions of the readership more.

If it’s to build authority, state opinions, quote other authorities, and react to their opinions.

Marketing Courtesy

Creative Business Ideas

Decency sign
Photo by Bev Sykes

I got a cold-call message on my answering machine the other day. The person was selling me the opportunity to buy booth space at a local business show. Their phone message ended with the statement, “…please have the courtesy to call me back at (800) 555-1212…”. I didn’t call them back. Would you have?

The problem with the phone call was they knew nothing about my business, my target market, my demographic, my skills, or me. They were likely given a list of business names and phone numbers in the region and proceeded to cold-call everyone. They were banking on the message that “there will be lots of very motivated business owners attending” to hint that simply by being at the show I’ll make money (or at worst, be seen by many prospective clients). They were playing a numbers game. And like any casino, the only one who wins these games is the “house”.

Instead, if the caller first called me to find out more about me, and my business, they would’ve impressed me and then be better able to sell to me in the future. They might create a leads database that knows what opportunities I’m looking for and only pitch me when they have something close. Of course, doing this involves work and skill. You can’t simply hand someone a script and ask them to interview people over the phone to get to their core business needs.

So the next time you try to market your offering to someone, please have the courtesy to find out about them first. Otherwise, you’re simply being rude. And rude people don’t get noticed for the right reasons.

Marketing To Us (And Them)

Creative Business Ideas

Busy street scene
Photo by Dar’ya Sipyeykina

One of the easiest ways to market something is to make it easier to join the “club”. You want to be cool? Dress like we do. You want to look like us? Exercise like we do. But is there a risk to using this technique?

First, by putting the “in club” on a pedestal you’re making them a worthy goal. But what happens when “they” start doing dangerous, illegal, or stupid things?

Secondly, the “in club” knows there are lots of wannabes. They actively root them out, and know that many people are “posers”. Looking like you lead the lifestyle and living the lifestyle are two totally different things (unless you’re simply looking at the club’s veneer, and not at its soul).

Imagine you’re selling a magic pill to people who are looking for an easy way to lose weight. It’s made of natural herbs. People who take it lose weight. So you build a marketing campaign to tie the pill with happy, healthy, thin people. All’s fine until the ingredient in your pill causes some major side-effects. While your customers may have lost weight, they may not be facing serious health consequences. This creates three major problems that’s liable to send your company into a downward spiral: (1) fewer people buy what you’re selling, (2) those that bought it, now want retribution, and (3) you’ve lost people’s trust in their ability to lose weight.

(Un)fortunately, there is no magic pill to marketing success. Selling the sizzle is easy. Selling the steak is harder. Selling steaks to people who appreciate your steaks is the ultimate goal.