June 2010’s Featured Archive Article:

Is your Spa Summer Savvy?

Prepare for the Heat by Cooling it down

By Susan McGowan

From sipping on iced lattes to lunching on light salads accompanied by a crisp glass of white wine, from dashing around in open toe sandals to leisurely strolling barefooted along the shore, summer is upon us. Escalating temperatures bring about change in our diet, wardrobe, schedules, outlook and, let’s face it, signal a severe shift in the behavior of our skin.

Soaring temperatures, heightened levels of humidity, arid airplanes and air-conditioned environments, increased exposure to UVA/UVB rays and stress stemming from juggling travel, vacation and camp calendars can swiftly accumulate to give your client’s complexion a temporary identity crisis. As skin care specialists, it is important to revamp your skin care services and marketing endeavors to firmly demonstrate how you can lend a helping hand with professional interventions and superior education.

The extremity of sweat, heat and humidity generate excess sebum produced via over-productive, summertime sebaceous glands that take their toll on the skin.

This year, you can summer proof your business by positioning seasonally infused twists that may simply involve a mild tweaking of your spa menu. By seeking cross-industry inspiration from fashion, media, food, travel and popular culture your spa specials, supporting messages
and events, can create a seamless stream of trendsetting services to fuel interest, buzz and dynamism into your facility, helping to avoid the abyss of a summer of discontent. Provide an attractive collection of summer skin care camp services that offer rapid relief to a variety of complexion concerns including pale and pasty skin, excess oil and sun damage.

Sunless express services

Snake skin and other reptilian layers may be big news this summer in accessories and footwear but not for your skin! Similarly, neon, bright fashions and safari prints seem to work better with a slightly bronzed or radiant skin palette. By taking this into consideration, kickstart your summer services by promoting buff and bronze express services to provide simple, effective, safe and instantaneous results for that jet-setting look. Glow-getting facials can be conducted in under 45 minutes by simply focusing on deep cleansing, mild exfoliation, treatment with a chilled gel mask and the application of a self-tanner. This sunless and safe service can extend beyond the face with a dry room body treatment that can be offered in preparation for skin revealing beachwear and skimpy outfits. Simply use dry brushing, specialty salts or other microfloral beads to slough off dead skin cells and unify skin tone before sweeping or spraying self-tanners over the body. To help promote this service, partner with local clothing or footwear boutiques and work on referral programs such as featuring the benefits of self-tanning in dressing rooms or front desks. This sunless glow message provides a platform to educate and emphasize the importance of UVA/UVB protection against photodamage. For the skeptics, show visual evidence of sun damaged skin to demonstrate the potential for developing sun spots and pigment irregularities.

Super vitaminized, bite-sized treatments

When temperatures and sun exposure rise, protection plays an even more important role: sun exposure is heightened and a continual stream of outdoor activities, from barbeques to pool parties, provide ample opportunity for skin-harming and scavenging free radicals to creep onto the skin and attack.
The benefits attributed to antioxidants and protection have jumped into the mainstream and it seems that an increasing catalogue of products and services claim to feature these skin shielding properties. Ingredients known for their high nutritional value and antioxidant properties include green tea, avocado, blackcurrant, mango, apricot and lemon. These themes can be incorporated into specialized services such as a skin smoothie facial with an array of fruit vitamin powder and a refreshing gel mask that nourish with a power-punch of antioxidants.
Work in conjunction with community based businesses and offer these services with a complimentary fruit refreshment from a local coffee shop or juice bar, or simply just offer one in your spa. Local farmers’ markets provide an opportunity to showcase your services and reference this skin nourishment formula: demonstration facials with bold color palettes create eye catching shows in this high traffic, community based environment.

Supporting home care products should be combined and dutifully followed to maximize results.

Shine free skin

The extremity of sweat, heat and humidity generate excess sebum produced via over-productive, summertime sebaceous glands that take their toll on the skin by disturbing its natural ecosystem, clogging pores, inviting breakouts and creating an overall suffocating effect. Facials infused with citrus fruits, astringent spices and colorful clay masks should take center stage and be highlighted on the specials board during high summer.
Look for cleansers, toners, masks and creams that incorporate the purifying properties of lemon, orange, mandarin and grapefruit, as well as condiments such as cinnamon and ginger. Clay masks are available in an array of colors such as yellow, green, white and pink, which have sublime sebum-soaking, re-mineralizing and pore perfecting properties to pull off superficial impurities while also working deeper to regulate sebum production. Textures are important for oily skin: fresh, light, gel-type and peel-off formulas are comforting and satisfying for a flawless finish.

Brightening botanicals

The sebaceous glands are not the only sign of summer hyperactivity: excessive melanin production from sun exposure and damage causes irregularities in skin color, texture and tone. By following a skin care regimen rich in antioxidants, UVA/ UVB protection and sticking to sunless tanners, the seasonal damage should be minimized. However, sun rays can still filter through. And, what if the damage has already been done? Brightening facials featuring botanical extracts of daisy, white mulberry and pure vitamin C and/or chemical peels must be showcased and positioned in a series to remove rough and tough textures while helping to balance out pigment irregularities. Supporting home care products should be combined and dutifully followed to maximize results, such as using cleansing exfoliators with alpha hydroxy acids and brightening enzymes, along with creams loaded with lightening botanicals. A unified skin tone takes years off the skin and provides the perfect canvas for fantastic fall fashions and color cosmetics.
To boost business as the season changes it is important to try new, creative ways to market your products and showcase your services. Apply the above mentioned bite-sized and dollar friendly sunless facials, value added and summer appropriate skin care. To help strengthen, support and convey these relevant messages and ideas, spas should consider introducing community wide affiliation style programs to generate further buzz and positive word-of-mouth.

Host fun events that can truly foster a sense of community while promoting, showcasing and positioning your spa by providing value-added, lifestyle services.

Travel

Cookery classes within a restaurant environment, tasting events at wine and cheese boutiques—many of your target market may be interested in classes that explore the professional self-care and advice housed within your skin care facility, and the slower summer season provides an opportune moment to road-test the possibilities of such events. If you feature European or international lines, you could invite guests to travel and discover other cultures without the jet lag, road rage or soul-destroying exchange rate.
With the euro/dollar rate escalating at a rapid rate, you can bring a little of Europe to your spa and host an event that reflects its cultures, traditions and lifestyles. Consider featuring light, Mediterranean-style tapas that are high in antioxidants, provide lifestyle hints and tips by partnering with a local nutritionist, deli or bistro, offer conversational French or Italian classes and cross reference ideas from best selling novels such as, French Woman Don’t Get Fat. On the other hand, should you be located in a town with high tourist traffic, you may consider contacting the local concierge services at hotel or condominium properties to target spa goers from out of town. Consider that your range of deluxe spa treatments may cost a pretty penny in their home countries but may be attainable luxuries while on vacation.

Celebrity centric world

We are living in a media drenched society that seems obsessed with all things attributed to celebrity lifestyles, as well as reality-TV style shows. Thematic events centered around popular shows or celebrities could attract a new crowd to your business. In fact, some spas have used such platforms to create community-wide events. For example, the Spa and Wellness Center in Brooklyn, NY introduced the “Live Life Lighter” program—a community initiative to promote weight loss. More than 15 spa goers signed up for this competition to show their best side with the winner receiving a range of goodies including a makeover from a celebrity stylist. These fun events can truly foster a sense of community while promoting, showcasing and positioning your spa as providing value-added, lifestyle services.
To maximize the potential of your seasonal specials it is important to take a holistic method of doing so by aligning all communication touchpoints with a focused, consistent message. Make sure your approach is uniform in your on- and off-line marketing, advertising, merchandising, promotions, events, press releases, menu copy, trainings, even ambiance-setting scents, sounds, colors, uniforms and message-on-hold jingle. Celebrate, invite and entice with seasonal, specialized specials beyond summer and stimulate repeat business by creating a game plan for the year. Offer thirst-quenching and moisture-boosting services, such as mild chemical peels in October, and cold weather comfort or fall festive treatments with nutrient-rich oatmeal, yam, and/or grounding services with subterranean volcanic masks in November.

Susan McGowan is currently Brand Manager at c3 Spa Distribution, the distributor of Matis Paris, Terme di Saturnia, Essensa Active Organics and MD Corrective care—a new, contemporary, capsule collection of chemical peels. Contact McGowan with any feedback or to discover how to weave some of her ideas into your menu of services at susan@c3spadistribution.com.