As Medical Spas move from a trend to a staple in the industry, many doctors would like to create their own unique, profitable business. Taking the correct and necessary steps during the development stage is essential to a Medical Spa’s success. During the development of a Spa project, your money and time need to be managed efficiently.

Celebs like Madonna, Cindy Crawford, Rihanna and Simon Cowell have all become devotees of one of the hottest new health and beauty trends around…Rihanna even tweeted a shot of herself getting the treatment! You might ask, Since when did an IV drip become a health and beauty tool? I know I did. Actually, the concept isn’t new: It was created by a medical doctor and has long been offered by holistic practitioners.

Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Garner, Idina Mendel, legendary beauties like Sophia Loren and Audrey Hepburn…what wouldn’t we give to have the kind of chiseled cheekbones that give their faces such shape and symmetry?

When I first heard about Micro-needling, I thought, “Stick 1000 needles into my face? No way!”  But then, my inner beauty junkie—and my curiosity—got the better of me.  If you tell me I’m going to look younger…I’ve GOT to know more!

You probably invested a great deal of time, effort and smarts in making your spa a wonderful destination. Yet your single greatest marketing asset is not your brick-and-mortar features, but the relationship you have with clients. In today’s complex world, forging a personal bond is more vital than ever. Look at the power of social media. Sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have introduced a new kind of all-access intimacy, a sense that any individual can “make a connection”

If you’re a small business owner, it’s likely you wear a lot of hats: overseeing staff, managing budgets, strategizing social media campaigns. But in addition to all these duties, do you find you’re also the only one recommending services, rebooking clients and selling products? Do sales drop when you aren't present?

Any dream spa is likely to start as precisely that: a dream, a vision, the idea of a beautiful environment for clients to enjoy luxury pampering and state-of-the-art treatments. When formulating this dream, you likely have a vivid picture of the lush interiors you’ll create and the menu of services you’ll offer. Well, it’s great to keep dreaming--as long as you combine that dreamy outlook with some rock-solid financial planning!

Who has ever heard the term SEO (Search Engine Optimization) when referring to a website? Did you know that SEO is really the ability to create a map for search engines robots to read and understand who you are and what you do? We all want our website to rank in the 1st organic spot on Google but how it gets there is just as important as being there.

A brand is the words, images, thoughts and feelings that come to mind when someone thinks about you, or interacts with you and your business in some way. It’s the real estate about you in someone else’s heart and mind. Most spa owners are very clear about their brand when they first open, but over time, as businesses evolve (i.e. services, products and staff change), the brand’s original concept can dilute and the message you want to deliver is not always the message your clients are getting. It’s at this point when your brand may just need a reboot. 

Until recently, Western Medicine has failed to recognize the healing benefits of the Spa and Fitness Industry. With the arrival of the latest trend, the Medical Spa, the two fields have converged and caused a veritable explosion, making this new trend the wave of the future. As defined by the International SPA Association, a Medical Spa is an…

If you’re already familiar with the rudiments of spa management, you know the right location, business plan, branding and space are vital to success. Yet if you’re venturing into the arena of a medical spa, that success depends on additional factors--including a thorough understanding of what your clientele expects, what your facility will entail, and what’s needed to present an enhanced menu of professional services credibly and effectively.

Maintaining beauty and youthfulness is a daily preoccupation for many women and men. Environmental exposure, lifestyle choices, normal chronology and many other factors all take their toll on the aging process of our skin—and most appearance-conscious people are eager for ways to effectively turn back the clock.  So it’s no surprise that millions of dollars in research and testing have helped to create mass market, anti–aging skin care products. 

Everywhere you look you see products labeled as green, eco-friendly, sustainable, non-toxic, organic and natural. Spas are easily following this trend because guests want holistic treatments and natural products. So how do spas make small eco-friendly changes? It’s not as hard as you think and you don’t have to pay a fortune to do it. If you’re spa is up and running here are some ideas to help you make those baby steps that will bring you huge benefits in the future. 

There’s a well-known motivational expression: “If you are persistent, you will get it. If you are consistent, you will keep it.” When it comes to your brand, consistency not only enhances your credibility but also helps ensure your image is crystal-clear to clients/patients. Conversely, if your approach is haphazard and inconsistent, clientele won’t know quite what to make of your brand.

In any professional endeavor, the bottom line has to be a top priority. After all, a business can’t stay afloat for long without a healthy profit margin. Yet it’s also important to address the non-profit side of things, to project a genuine demeanor of concern for clients, your staff, and the larger community. Caring is the sixth key to establishing a brand that is both powerful and well thought of in the minds of your clientele. 

“At the end of the day people won’t remember what you said or did, they’ll remember how you made them feel.”  No less a philosopher than Maya Angelou made that wise observation about one of life’s truisms. And nowhere is that wisdom more true than in a profession dedicated to giving people a boost in appearance, confidence and self-esteem.

When it comes to marketing your brand, conversation is more than just an art: Knowing how to engage clients/patients with the right dialogue is often the tipping point between spot-on communication or muddled messaging for your business.

It’s been said that information is power, and the more you tell, you more you sell. Content is another key brand touch point for your business: Every news bite, commentary, photo or bit of factual material you send out should carry your unique branding signature. 

DryBar, SoulCycle, Skin Laundry…What do these three diverse brands all have in common? A very recognizable culture. They created their own systems and introduced a very specific methodology. Clients not only quickly adapted, but embraced the brand. Now their operations are identifiable as uniquely their own. Simply mention the name—DryBar, SoulCycle, Skin Laundry—and consumers know instantly what to expect from their signature culture. 

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, defines a brand as “…what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.” The words, images, thoughts or feelings someone has when they think of you and your business--that, in a nutshell, is your brand.