How to get your spa in the media

Get your spa in the media

By Christina Daves

As a spa owner or manager, getting customers in the door is one of the most important aspects of your business. Advertising is one option, but that can get expensive. Have you ever considered pitching the media? There is no faster, more effective way to expose your business to thousands, hundreds of thousands, even millions of potential customers and the best part: it’s free.

Here’s how to get your spa in the media

People tend to be afraid of the media. They think it’s an exclusive club that only certain people are allowed to join. It is important to remember that media today is 24/7/365 so journalists need our story ideas. The key is creating good, newsworthy stories that will benefit that journalist’s specific audience. Take the time to do your homework and learn what type of story fits in the format of a particular media outlet.

Then, implement my proven Get PR Famous Formula that will help you be more successful when pitching the media because you are giving them what they want. We’ve seen many people land media appearances in under 30 days and some in less than seven days. Getting local media coverage for your spa will get potential customers to learn about your business and get people in the door. Landing national media coverage gives you tremendous credibility with potential customers and also allows people who might be traveling to your area to learn about your business. The system works for either platform.

Step 1 – be newsworthy 

Being newsworthy is thinking outside of the box when pitching the media. Don’t pitch a vanilla story that anyone else might pitch. Give them something of value they can share with their audience. You want it to be interesting, timely, and important.

Here are some tips for creating newsworthy story ideas that will get your spa in the media:

1) Take a national trend or study and pitch yourself as the expert in your space. Is there a new wrinkle reducing treatment being recommended? What do you think about that? If you have a conflicting viewpoint, that is even better. The media likes to hear the other side of the story.

2) Niche your services and pitch around your specialty. Do you have a unique new treatment or piece of equipment that provides a service no one else has yet? Invite the media to come try it out and build a segment or story around that.

3) Sign up for Help a Reporter Out/HARO, www.HelpaReporter.com. This is a free media query service where media outlets are looking for sources and quotes for national magazine articles, television shows, newspapers, and blogs. I’ve worked with many people who have been featured in national media outlets through this service.

Personally, I’ve appeared in over 1000 media outlets, many from HARO. They key to getting covered is in the response. Get my free guide for successfully responding to HARO queries at, www.FreeGiftFromChristina.com.

Step 2 – create great hooks

The hook is your subject line. It’s how you entice the journalist to read your email pitch. Some national journalists will get 500 or more emails before noon on any given day. Your subject line has to stand out. What you see on magazine covers are essentially hooks. This is what the publisher uses to get you to make an impulse purchase in the grocery store line. You are not buying a magazine for the content in the article. You are buying based on the hook on the cover.

My favorite examples of hooks are from AARP Magazine. Just Google, “AARP magazine covers” and see what’s there. Do the same for any spa, wellness or beauty related publications and see what they are using for hooks. Then, just plug and play your newsworthy story idea into a modification of an existing hook and you’re one step closer to success!

Step 3 – find the right journalist

This step is vital because you don’t want to send your spa or wellness related story to the sports editor. People are always amazed at how frequently I get on television and in magazines and newspapers. It’s all about finding the right person to pitch. We have an amazing resource to do this right at our fingertips. It’s Google. Remember that Google is a question search engine, so input: “Who writes about skincare/wellness/health for [name of publication].” Locally, you’ll usually get their name, email, and phone number all in one search. National names can sometimes take a page or two of digging but they will be there.

By putting these three steps in place when pitching the media, you will be light years ahead of your competition and you will stand out to journalists. The more you pitch well thought out, quality stories, the more will be seen as a valuable resource to the media and the more you will see you, your spa, or your services in the media.

 

Christina Daves is a do-it-yourself Publicity Strategist. She is the best-selling author of, PR for Anyone™ – 100+ Affordable Ways to Easily Create Buzz for Your Businessthat shares her journey of getting exposure for a product she invented. Last year alone, Christina, together with her clients, reached over 873 million views and generated over 8 figures in sales from free publicity.

Her latest book, The DIY Guide to Free Publicity, is available for pre-order for only $0.99 and includes bonuses of a media list and pitching template. Then there is also a drawing with over $5000 in PR prizes. Visit: www.TheDIYGuidetoPR.com. 

 

Spa Executive magazine is published by Book4Time, the world’s most innovative spa, salon, wellness, and activity management software. Learn more at Book4Time.com.