Salon Owners Ask: Politics or Publicity?

As I wrap up this year’s report on the West Coast Tanning Expo in Las Vegas, sponsored by JK-North America, my thoughts are once again on the panel discussion, which featured an array of salon professionals. The beauty of this format is that you can ask eight tanning salon owners the same question – and come away with eight different answers. Although we’re all in the business of tanning, for the most part, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all umbrella for most aspects of running a salon. It’s part of what makes our industry so individualized and fun.

For example, one audience member asked the panelists which form of advertising has provided the best return on investment for them. Here’s a sampling of the responses:

Mike Blore, California Sun: Radio

Adrienne Aaron, Electrik Beach: Social media – she’s a huge fan of Facebook (pun intended). She not only buys ads on the site, she also uses it extensively to instant message and interact with customers on specific business-related matters.

Vince Lorraine, Tropi-Tan: Lorraine has really learned the unique nature of the business, as what is successful for one of his salons may not be the best option at three of his other locations. For this reason, he recommends looking to more than one advertising medium to promote your brand.

Holly Bare, Toucan Tan: Postcards work well for Bare. She mentioned you can do a postcard campaign for a relatively low cost (3 to 5 cents each for just the cards).

Josiah Garlan, Bodyheat Tanning: Salon owners can’t expect to do one mailing in December and call it a year. A marketing campaign should be built that involves mailings several months in a row – and used in combination with other avenues, such as radio, for extra name recognition. Garlan also advised salon owners to plan for a healthy marketing budget when opening a new location. He says you shouldn’t build a beautiful store and then wait to start advertising it two to three years later.

Lacey Todd, Xclusive Tan: Todd embraces the multiple-avenue approach as well, with opportunities ranging from direct mail and participation in the local chamber of commerce, to sponsoring tournaments such as golf, baseball and rodeo. Supporting ribbon-cutting ceremonies of other area businesses has also been a unique (and free) way for her to increase the salon’s visibility.

Besides marketing, the audience also had questions about customers cancelling their EFTs – a fairly common practice among consumers, particularly with the economic challenges of the last few years.

Garlan stressed the importance of making sure that employees ask the customers why they want to cancel their EFTs, so at least you have that information. Bare added that a great strategy is to train your staff to work with the customer to freeze their account instead of just cancelling it. She says it’s not unusual for a client to freeze their EFT for four or five months, but come in sooner and reactivate it.

Robbie Segler of Darque Tan goes above and beyond for customers, with an “it pays to stay” motto. His salons allow customers to pay $5/mo. to freeze an EFT – which they get back in the form of $10 credits when they return. Panel moderator Jerry Deveney from JK-North America agrees with Segler’s approach, pointing out that salon customers typically don’t just wake up one day and decide to cancel – that’s the type of decision they think about for two months. The salons that give customers a reason to stay (such as Darque Tan’s calendar of ongoing promotions), earn goodwill for continuing to deliver value, while also staying top-of-mind with the customer.

Finally, the panel discussion wrapped up with some interesting comments from salon heavyweights Rick Kueber of Suntan City and Segler. Kueber, an ITA board member, was commenting about the importance of salons supporting the industry association. From the discussion, one could surmise that Kueber chose to become more deeply involved in the ITA because he wanted to make in impact on the organization, basically affecting change from within.

Segler, however, disagrees with where the ITA has chosen to concentrate its time and talent – what he believes is in the political arena. His preference is that the association takes up the marketing banner for indoor tanning, working to create a more positive public perception of it.

Historically, the ITA has pursued many different focuses – and to some degree, continues to do so today (visit their “committees” page to see some of what they’re up to). Suffice it to say: the individuals who volunteer and become elected to represent the industry in leadership – along with the input of members – form the basis of those decisions.

A big thanks to everyone at JK-North America for all the hard work and generosity that went into putting on the Vegas gathering. With the West Coast Tanning Expo fading into the sunset, let’s turn our gaze eastward to the next great industry events to come.