What Really Works

Salons in the indoor tanning industry are coming together to learn from each other to improve services and marketing strategies. Salon owners shared with LOOKING FIT® some of their most successful promotions.

“I’m in the process of opening another salon location and it’s crucial that I devise a successful marketing approach based on strategies that really work. This will be an important factor in making this a successful launch.

My marketing plan includes pre-selling EFT memberships and offering a “Free First Month For Any Bed” promotion. I’m offering 200 customers the opportunity to tan for only $28.88 a month with a 1-year commitment. The regular price is $38.88.

This marketing promotion is similar to one that was successful for me last year. At that time, I offered a “Free First Month” promotion and a monthly tanning package for $38 with a six-month contract. I sold twice as many of these packages than the previous year when I offered a monthly tanning package for $29 with no contract. My goal this year is to sell even more packages and with the longer one year contract.

I also plan to offer a Valentine’s Day special called “FREE Valentine LOVE”. It will include a free $20 gift certificate with the purchase of a $50 gift certificate. I’ve learned this increases average gift certificate sales, and I run similar promotions almost every holiday.”

—Israel Nelson, 
owner Banana Beach 
Newnan, Ga.

“We’ve had excellent success with our “Fifth Sunday Sales” promotions. We have a major sale on the last Sunday during months with five Sundays. The calendar gives us three or four of these sales opportunities every year, which makes it easy for clients to remember and anticipate. This promotion has been very successful in generating sales dollars.

The other major sale we offer is our “Owners Birthday Sale” that happens every December. I wouldn’t do this promotion if I was an April baby, but because it’s in December it comes at a slow time and creates cash flow we would otherwise not enjoy at that time.”

—Craig Joyner, 
president Electric Beach Tanning Company, Inc. 
San Francisco 

“We have had a great 2006 and envision even more growth in 2007. One of our biggest promotions is our “Buy 1 Get 1 FREE” offer. Our clients look forward to it every year. We hold this promotion every November for one day only and place fliers around our salons three to four days prior to the sale and send out an email announcing the date. Word of mouth promotion also helps.

This is by far our most successful day of the year, and we do this for two reasons: to sell last years’ lotions to make room for the new lotions, and because November is typically our slowest month and this really helps boost sales numbers.”

—Kristin Barfknecht, 
owner Body & Sol Tanning Boutique 
Williamsburg, Va.

“I like to do lots of radio advertising and this is my primary source of marketing. I’m often on the radio telling listeners to “Buy someone you love a gift certificate for sunshine”. I do these radio spots during holiday promotions such as Christmas, Valentines Day and birthdays. I always encourage people to join Golden Tan’s Club EZ Tan for only $19.95 per month for unlimited tanning.

We also offer a promotion where customers can receive free tanning dollars based on the amount of money they spend. I find people like to spend money when they receive free money credit in return.

In addition to radio advertising, a good space to list promotions is in local, weekly, free publications. These are read by our target 21+ demographic and list hot spots including what is going on when and where. We have advertised one free tan for new customers or a promotion to buy three tans for $9.99 with a coupon. We also do some print in the local newspapers, though it has not been as successful as in past years. I also do promotions through my new Web site.

Television advertising is a good choice when it’s affordable. I get on and do my own spots and tell people “I’m Rocco Viele, and I guarantee you’ll love your Golden Tan”.

—Rocco Viele, 
owner Golden Tans Tanning Salons 
Rochester, N.Y.

“We have learned over time no matter what marketing we do we must do it consistently. If we advertise via direct mail, we get better results over time and from consistent effort. The initial response to an ad run is fair and the next one is better, etc.

It seems the clients become trained to look for our promotions in whatever media we choose. This is important because many times people expect huge results early on and if they don’t see them they abandon the strategy without giving it the chance it deserves. For us, direct mail is more effective than television or radio advertising.”

—Rob Quinn, 
co-owner Tan Pro USA 
Columbus, Ohio 

“We have a dual marketing approach: we use mass media marketing including ValPak®, newspapers, and radio spots to generate new customers with a free or low-cost offer such as three free tans, a week of tanning for $5, a month of tanning for $5, etc. Once we sign up a new customer, we use targeted direct mail and e-mail campaigns to send promotional messages to them.

Also, during the year we have “Free Tan Weekends”, “Anniversary Sales”, “Customer Appreciation Sales”, etc. The important thing is to have an efficient cost-effective way to always attract new customers and to keep in contact with existing ones. Most salon owners forget or don’t realize they are really in the marketing business.

—Grant Miller, 
owner Sun Your Buns 
Erie, Penn.

“Undoubtedly, our most successful promotion was a Spring Open House where we allowed everyone to tan free. Our beds were full from open to close! Open houses always draw a crowd for us and are usually pretty successful.

Moms tan free with a child with our Mother’s Day special. This is particularly popular because we have several mother/ daughter clients.

During the month of December, we offer a $25 gift card free for every $100 worth of gift cards purchased. Clients appreciate this because they can give a gift while getting something in return for themselves. Radio and television advertising has not proved as successful for us.”

—Dottie Howell, 
president Club Paradise Tanning Salon, Sunscape, Inc.
Warrenton, Va.

“One of the promotions I did recently that worked well was a grand opening for my newest salon. I paid for radio advertisements for four days (Thursday through Sunday) promoting free tan giveaways to everyone who walked through the door. I also had a local radio personality broadcast live from my salon on the Saturday of the grand opening.

To make sure everyone noticed we were a new tanning salon in the neighborhood, I had enormous streamers in the parking lot and signs that read ‘FREE TAN’. I also offered refreshments and snacks for customers.”

—Rob LaBar 
The Tan Factory 
Delray Beach, Fla.