Why Is This Important?

Because it allows to focus your ad spend on tactics that are working, and stop investing in advertising that is losing you money.

Each platform has its unique features and benefits. Some platforms are better suited to certain business types than others. 

And for many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), advertising is a knee-jerk reaction, not something well planned out, and much of it is wasteful and ineffective for a number of different reasons. 

But here's how to answer that question for your business. 

How Do We Define "Worth It?"

First, I define a successful ad campaign as one that generates more cash for a business than it consumes.

If you run an ad in the paper that costs $500 but only 1 new person called you, and they only spent $200 on your products or services, that's ineffective advertising that consumed more cash than it generated for your business -- that serves nobody well (other than the advertising company you paid)!

In accounting, cash is king. And it should be for your business, too.

Cash is the lifeblood of any business, and running advertising campaigns that are cash flow drains will put you in the poor house!

Some might argue that even if it wasn't successful financially, you still created brand awareness, and you can't really measure the value of that too well.

There are times when you do want to create awareness and that's the main goal, but the majority of SMBs need the phone to ring, they need cash register to ring and cash to flow now, not brand awareness. 

The goal of Advertising is to Support Sales

Advertising should contribute positively to the financial results of a business.

It's important to hold your advertising accountable and make it pay for itself. You wouldn't keep an employee around that wasn't contributing, so don't keep advertising around that isn't contributing either.

So, to answer the question, is advertising worth it, we start the accountability process by building a simple profit blueprint to help us better understand how advertising affects our business.

The goal of this post is to provide a simple Profit Strategy Blueprint which you can use to measure the financial success of any ad campaign and decide for yourself if the advertising you're doing is worth it. You can build this model using Excel or Google Sheets.

Although the majority of my work these days is in Internet marketing, the examples I present below are with a Google Ads campaign, and then two direct mail campaigns.

However, you can use this model for any advertising you do to understand whether it's positively contributing to the financial success of your business.

Whether that is Internet advertising through Google Ads, or Yelp advertising, or any advertising where your goal is to drive sales. (Read our related post on the benefits of digital marketing vs traditional marketing and SEO for Traditional Marketing Agencies)

Build a Profit Strategy Blueprint

First, to build a profit strategy and to answer the question if advertising is worth it for your business, you need to be able to track the leads and/or sales from your campaigns. You can do this in various ways: through unique call tracking numbers, Google Analytics, overall sales measured at the P&L level, coupon redeeming, and more.

Digital Marketing Example - Google Ads:

Let's look at a Google Ads campaign for Spa that sells massage therapy. The goal of this campaign is to book new prospects for a 1-hour massage. 

The actual business type is not necessarily important, what is important is the process of measuring the effectiveness and the ability of the campaign to generate cash flow for the business.

For illustrative purposes, let's say you have allocated $1,500 per month in Google Ads spend. (read our post on, how much should you spend on Google Ads?). 

Through our unique call tracking number (unique call tracking numbers on the website, plus click-to-call metrics from the Google Ads campaign), we know how many people called the business or converted directly on the website.

So, let's see how this breaks down.

We have total ad spend in Google, we know the cost-per-lead (CPL), we know how many booked their appointments, and finally we know our average order per customer. 

In the table above, we assumed 10% of leads didn't show for the intro offer for a massage. So that leaves 135 that did. Let's look at that advertising math. 

A $1,500 investment in Google Ads produced $9,449 in sales of prospects receiving a 1-hour massage. 

But that's not all of it. Let's keep going. 

We need to focus on the net cash from fulfilling the sales and take into account the labor costs to produce those sales. 

For a licensed massage therapist, we assume that 50% of sales is labor for simplicity's sake. 

And then, we need to make marketing pay for itself, so we add in the $1,500 expense from Google.

Now we get this...

We've paid our employees, paid our advertising bill to Google, and we're left with over $3,000 in cash flow from this campaign. Not bad. So in this case, yes, advertising is worth it. 

And these campaign results are realistic and spot on. We have run these types of cash-flow profitable campaigns with Google Ads for years.  

Key Takeaways:

• Google Ads and SEO campaigns in Google typically produce the lowest cost per lead out of any advertising you will ever do
• The data is very transparent in Google. Clicks, impressions, and, most importantly, we have clear data on conversions and sales. 
• Your marketing budget will go further than with anything in traditional marketing

Traditional Marketing Example - Direct Mail Postcard:

So, let's compare a postcard campaign where each postcard costs $0.35 each and a more expensive direct mail piece that costs $1 each. The goal again is to answer the question, is advertising worth it?

Here's the total campaign cost: 

So, you can see the postcards is much less expensive, but the hope is that the more expensive direct mail pieces will produce better results.

Postcards are relatively inexpensive at a per-unit cost. The question you should ask is, will either produce positive cash to the business?

And will the more expensive direct mail piece garner that much more of a response to make the extra cost worthwhile?

For example, the more expensive direct mail piece could be variable data direct marketing letters printed on more expensive paper. 

In the direct response marketing world, personal letters from variable data generally have better response rates.

Stay with me here. Let's continue the analysis.

A response rate between 1% - 3% is reasonable, but this will obviously vary depending on the components of the piece, i.e. your offer, the CTA (call to action), a sense of urgency, effective headlines, your mail list, etc.

In our example, the Expensive Direct Mail Piece has produced twice as many leads or phone calls versus the postcard.

So next, let's calculate the sales of each advertising campaign.

If our average order size is $50 then we've achieved double the sales with the more expensive direct mail piece.

The question is, is adverting worth it? 

Let's drill down further and calculate our net sales, where we make the campaign pay for itself.

So, we can see right away in this particular case the net sales of the postcard were better, $750 versus $0.

But...

• Was it still worth it to run the postcard campaign with net sales of $750? 
• How did this affect the financials of our business?

To answer that question, we need to consider what it cost to produce those sales as we did above with the Google Ads campaign.

Let's assume labor is 50% of sales.

So back to our example, the numbers look are now negative cash flow.

In the postcard example, our total revenue was $2,500 and if COGS was 50% our gross profit would be $1,250.

So, our net sales are $750 after we paid for the campaign, but then subtracting the cost of sales (in the postcard example, 50%*$2,500) we are actually negative $500 ($750 - $1,250).

It's even worse with the Expensive Direct Mail Piece, which has put us in the hole a negative $2,500!

These data are important. 

If you stopped the analysis at the fourth chart which was calculating just your net sales you would have incorrectly concluded yes, the postcard campaign is worth it?

You may have assumed, the campaign paid for itself and generated positive cash flow, but the cost of sales expense makes this not such an attractive campaign.

Build a model like this for yourself.

Play around with the numbers to understand what milestones you must hit to make an advertising campaign successful.

So, is advertising worth it? 

In our example, yes, for the Google Ads campaign, and but not for the direct mail postcard advertising. We want advertising that produces positive cash flow.

The key is to understand which advertising campaigns are positively adding to the financial success of your company and making the campaigns accountable.

Questions? Have you tried this or something similar before?

If you want professional marketing help to grow sales and profit for your business, contact us now. We'd love to hear from you! 

Next Steps:

But look to the other side, and you'll see a new beast emerging from the digital jungle: modern marketing.

This creature is agile, adaptable, and hyper-focused on its prey. It thrives in the wild lands of social media, feeds on the abundant data of Google search, and moves swiftly on the shifting sands of mobile devices.

This seismic shift from traditional to digital isn't just a trend. It's a revolution, fueled by new technologies and changing consumer behaviors.

The rise of social media has given birth to influencers and viral campaigns. The ubiquity of mobile devices has made marketing an always-on, anywhere, anytime affair. And Google search? Well, that's turned the art of persuasion into a science, with data-driven insights guiding every decision.

So, buckle up, dear reader.

We're about to embark on a journey, exploring the nooks and crannies of this new marketing landscape. We'll delve into the differences between traditional and digital, uncover the reasons behind this shift, and reveal how you can harness the power of modern marketing to propel your business into the future. Hang tight, because it's going to be one heck of a ride!

Imagine stepping into a charming local bakery, where the smell of freshly baked bread wafts through the air and the friendly owner greets you by name. This isn't some corporate chain—it's a small, family-owned business that's been serving the community for generations. It's businesses like these that still swear by the power of traditional marketing methods. But why?

Take postcards, for instance.

They're simple, mostly affordable, and can be effective (albeit at a much higher cost per lead than digital tactics). When created correctly, a well-designed postcard can capture attention, convey a message, and evoke an emotional response. The bakery we mentioned earlier might send out postcards featuring a mouth-watering photo of their signature sourdough loaf and a heartfelt message about their family recipe.

Or consider tri-fold brochures. 

These compact marketing tools are relatively easy to create, easy to distribute, and packed with information. Our friendly bakery owner could use a brochure to showcase her full range of pastries, tell the story of how her grandmother started the business, and include a map showing the bakery's location in the heart of the community.

But perhaps the most powerful aspect of traditional marketing materials is their tangibility.

Something as simple as a printed brochure or postcard can feel special in our digital world.  When a customer holds a shiny postcard or looks at a fresh brochure, they are physically interacting with the brand..

A customer once told me that they felt naked without traditional marketing, primarily because you can't hold and feel digital marketing (but I guarantee your bank account prefers digital marketing).

For this reason, many business owners are most comfortable putting most of their ad spending into old-school marketing. But as I will discuss shortly, investments in traditional marketing are sacrificing sales, and, most importantly, profit versus digital marketing.

The most beautiful of canvases require the most skilled hands to bring them to life. A graphic designer to capture your brand essence in a visual symphony, a copywriter to weave words into a captivating narrative, and a photographer to snap the perfect shot of your product. These creative maestros don't work for pennies—according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for graphic designers is $53,380 per year, while copywriters can command an average salary of $61,820.

Then comes the canvas itself. 

Whether it's a postcard, a brochure, or a print ad, each has its own price tag.

Postcards might seem inexpensive at first glance, but once you factor in design, printing, and distribution costs, the total can quickly skyrocket.

The same goes for brochures, which require not just design and copy, but also high-quality paper and printing—a single run can cost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.

And let's not forget about print ads.

A full-page ad in a national newspaper can cost upwards of $100,000, according to FitSmallBusiness. Add in the cost of hiring a top-notch designer and copywriter, and you're looking at a hefty sum.

Even the biggest brands aren't immune to these costs.

In 2019, Apple spent a staggering $1.8 billion on advertising, according to the New York Times. That's a mind-boggling amount of money, all poured into traditional marketing channels to keep the brand front and center in consumers' minds.

Today's businesses aren't just dipping their toes into this digital ocean—they're diving in headfirst.

They're using these channels - Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube - to shout their brand stories from the virtual rooftops, to make their products shine brighter than a thousand suns, and to reach out and touch their customers, no matter where they are.

But why?

Why have more and more businesses moved away from the familiar terrain of traditional marketing to chart a course through digital waters?

The answer is as simple as it is powerful: because digital marketing works.

It's more cost-efficient, reaching more people for less money. 

No more shouting into the void; this marketing speaks directly to the heart.

Where Companies Are Spending Their Ad Budgets

An eMarketer study found that US digital ad spending surpassed traditional ad spending for the first time in 2019, reaching $129.34 billion. And that gap has only widened since 2019.

And in July of 2023, a survey of CMOs uncovered that digital spending grew by 8% while traditional marketing spending decreased by 8%. 

Moreover, digital marketing allows businesses to target their audiences with laser precision. Instead of casting a wide net and hoping for the best, they can zero in on their ideal customer—right down to their age, location, interests, and buying behavior—and tailor their messages accordingly.

Let's take a closer look at this compass, shall we?

Gone are the days of wasteful traditional marketing. 

Instead, behold the raw power of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It's like a lighthouse in the foggy night, guiding lost customers straight to your shores. 

Ninety-three percent (93%) of all search traffic goes through Google. There are 8.5 billion searches per day on Google. And it's the first place many customers go for information.

But not only does Google own search, but it is also the number one maps app for navigating anywhere by car or foot. It has the number one website analytics app in Google Analytics installed on almost every website. And it has the number one browser - Chrome. What this means is that Google has the ability to send your ideal customer to you in droves through SEO or ads. 

Then, let's talk about Google Ads. 

Google Ads can easily tap into your ideal audience through search ads, YouTube ads, and display ads. And these are potential prospects that are pre-qualified leads. In the case of search ads, we know they are interested in our products or service because they typed in keywords of what they were looking for - no other channel provides a flow of customers quite like this. 

Then there's marketing automation.

With marketing automation, you can send personalized messages, nurture leads, and convert them into customers—all without lifting a finger. Invesp reports that 80% of companies using marketing automation saw an increase in leads, and 77% had an increase in conversion rate (the percentage of leads that convert to paying customers). It's like having the wind always at your back.

And let's not forget social media.

Facebook and Instagram are the 800-pound gorillas. More people use Meta's apps by a large margin over any other social platforms. Facebook's unique ad platform can send volumes of your ideal customers your way. It's ad platform is unmatched in targeting customers based on likes, behaviors, and other bottom-of-the-funnel signals. 

The digital revolution is here, transforming every industry landscape. Those who seize these new tools are catching the trade winds, while those clinging to old ways risk being marooned and sacrificing sales and profit.

Social Media Ads: Facebook & Instagram

Let's start with Facebook and Instagram Ads. These platforms are known for their extensive user base and sophisticated targeting options.

These platforms collectively host billions of users, and the cost per impression is significantly lower than traditional advertising mediums.

Google Search: SEO & Google Ads

Google Search is a powerful tool that leverages user intent.

With SEO services costing anywhere from $500-$20,000+ per month, businesses have the chance to rank high on search results organically.

On the other hand, Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, where you only pay when someone clicks on your ad, costs about 10-20% of monthly ad spend. The beauty of Google Ads lies in its ability to reach customers precisely when they're looking for what you offer.

Email Marketing:

Email marketing is another cost-efficient digital marketing strategy. While specific costs can vary based on the size of your email list and the platform used, it's known for its impressive ROI. In fact, every $1 spent on email marketing typically generates about $38 in ROI!!

Marketing Automation:

Finally, there's marketing automation—a highly efficient method of managing marketing processes and campaigns across multiple channels. While the cost of marketing automation tools can vary depending on the features, complexity, and scale of your campaigns, companies using marketing automation see significant increases in leads, sales, and profit.

Here are some statistics about its effectiveness:

1. Using marketing automation software can increase qualified leads by as much as 451% (source)
2. 80% of businesses state that marketing automation increases their lead generation (source)

Price Comparison With Traditional Marketing:

In comparison, traditional advertising methods such as TV commercials, print ads, direct mail, and billboards come with hefty price tags and offer less precise targeting and higher costs.

Moreover, measuring the effectiveness of these traditional methods can be challenging.

Overall, digital marketing proves to be more cost-effective and offers a higher return on investment, better audience targeting, and detailed analytics. Businesses can save significantly and achieve better results by choosing and combining different digital platforms based on your product type and target audience.

Below is a chart of a year-and-half of cost per lead tracking for 3 channels for a retail services company with 30 locations: 

• SEO/Organic in Google (blue line)
• Google Ads (red line)
• Direct Mail (green line)

Print is exponentially more expensive compared to digital marketing - not even close in comparison. If this doesn't make you shift your marketing focus and budget, I'm unsure what will. 

Also, in a separate study, we found that leads from SEO and Google converted at a 50% higher rate to paying customers than from traditional marketing channels. But this makes sense, right?

As I mentioned above, leads coming from Google are pre-qualified - they are actively searching for what you have. Traditional marketing is interupt marketing - interrupting people in whatever they are doing to pique their interest. And this is why the cost per lead is so much higher using traditional marketing. 

Digital marketing is a multifaceted strategy encompassing various tactics such as:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Email marketing
• Social media marketing
• Content marketing
• Pay-per-click advertising, and more. 

The goal is to engage with your audience where they spend most of their time—online.

One of the main advantages of digital marketing over traditional methods is cost efficiency. A report by Gartner’s Digital Marketing Spend Report highlighted that up to 40% of respondents claimed to get considerable savings by using digital marketing methods for their products and services.

Digital marketing also enables businesses to reach a global audience. 

For instance, an SEO-optimized website can reach anyone with internet access, regardless of their geographical location. A perfect example of this is Airbnb, which started as a small startup in San Francisco and used digital marketing to grow its presence. Today, it operates in over 220 countries.

Example of Reach Through SEO

And a more personal experience, in the early 2000s, my wife and started a furniture and home decor store in Poway, CA. It was tiny to start - 1,500 square feet.

But with the website we built and a focus on early SEO strategies, we gained national exposure in the search engines from people looking for what we had to offer. We got requests for orders from around the country. It was then, we went from being a small hyper-local store to having national distribution. 

Moreover, digital marketing offers the advantage of highly personalized communication. A compelling example of this is Warby Parker, a small to medium-sized eyewear business. They have effectively used digital marketing to tailor customer experiences. By leveraging past purchases and browsing behaviors, Warby Parker provides personalized recommendations for glasses frames that align with customers' style preferences and purchase history. 

Finally, let's talk about marketing automation—an advanced digital marketing technique that automates repetitive tasks such as emails, social media posts, SMS messages, and other website actions. It not only saves time and effort but also increases efficiency and ROI. 

Specific tools used for successful marketing automation include Keap, HubSpot, Marketo, and MailChimp. These platforms offer features such as email automation, CRM integration, and analytics. Here's a more in-depth post with examples on how marketing automation combined with lead magnets can help you scale your leads. 

Traditional marketing still has its place in the right situations. And if you're going to use traditional marketing, make sure to integrate it into digital. This harmonious mix can help you reach potential customers more effectively, engaging them at multiple offline and online touchpoints, and improving your ROI.

Let's picture this: 

You've got an attractive sign outside your local store—classic traditional marketing.

Now, imagine adding a QR code to that sign, which, when scanned, leads consumers to a customized landing page or an engaging email newsletter sign-up. 

An additional example would be a table tent placed on dining tables at a restaurant. Perhaps you have a giveaway they can enter to win a free dinner. They scan the QR code on the table tent and go to a customized landing page to enter. 

This is the magic of integrating digital marketing into your traditional marketing - you're bridging the gap and extending the life of your traditional marketing into the digital space.

By placing QR codes on your traditional marketing materials—be it flyers, posters, or billboards—you can effortlessly guide traffic to this digital platform. And after the Covid pandemic, people are much more comfortable using QR codes. 

You can also do this with a vanity URL that is redirected to a landing page as well with UTM parameters in the redirect so you can track in Google Analytics how many people used the vanity URL from your other marketing materials. 

In essence, traditional and digital marketing marriage can create a potent mix that drives customer engagement and boosts your business's outreach. 

Summary

And so, we find ourselves at the crossroads of marketing tradition and digital innovation.

At every step of your customer's journey, digital marketing provides more effective solutions when compared to traditional.

Not only does digital marketing catch your prospects where they are, but it combines it with customer intent (people that are actively searching or ready to buy now) to provide marketing that delivers a consistent flow of leads and sales at the lowest cost.

Are you ready to start your digital marketing journey? 

With 'Digital Dynamo' by your side, there's no limit to what you can achieve. Click here to learn more and begin your adventure today. Remember, the future waits for no one. Seize it now, and let's make marketing history together!

What is conversion rate optimization?
Conversion Rate Optimization is the process by which you make changes to your website to improve the rate at which people take action. That action can be calling you, booking an appointment or any other conversion goal. And in a moment, I will show how you can double your sales and profit with simple changes.

What Are The Benefits of CRO?

How Much More Sales, Profit You Can Create?

Now let’s look at a simple example that shows how much more in profit you can make with simple changes to your website.

It’s not uncommon for a non-optimized page for a med spa to convert 10% or less of its traffic into leads. That means out of 10 visitors, one calls or fills out a form. Not good.

But here’s what matters the most with this process…

These simple edits that I’m about to share will more than double your profit. And without having to invest in more traffic-generating strategies like SEO, Google Ads, or social media.

Let’s assume you are running a Google Ads campaign. And the average cost-per-click on your Search campaign is $2.50. What does that mean for your sales and profit if you double your conversion rate?

I’m making the reasonable assumption that you can double your conversion rate after making simple changes. Take a look at the profit growth in the table below. It’s huge!!! And it’s not hard to achieve these kinds of increases.

Easily Double Your Sales and Profit

When making conversion rate improvements, the goal is to reduce friction in the sales process. You want to establish trust and make it as easy as possible for site visitors to reach the goal.

In this post, you will uncover the simple secrets you need to put in place to improve your CRO and squeeze more sales and profit from your existing traffic.

And remember, any good strategy starts with the customer. And the conversion rate optimization process is no different. So that is where we begin.

Stay with me here…

To wrap this up, Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is something you should put in place now before spending more on marketing.

CRO is one of the most effective ways to increase your sales and profits from existing web traffic without paying for more advertising.

By understanding your target customers, optimizing page layouts for readability, leveraging visuals and enhancing page navigation, implementing strong calls to action (CTAs), you can make incremental changes that lead to significant improvements in the conversion rate of your website.

Additionally, incorporating trust marks and customer testimonials can help build confidence with potential customers, which will increase the likelihood of them taking action on your website. Start CRO today and watch as your conversions soar!

Interested in How We Can Help You Scale Your Med Spa?
Your Next Steps...

And you can further segment this audience to write killer copy that speaks directly to that customer segment. You likely have multiple customer segments that are interested in laser hair removal. You can segment women and then men and use imagery and copy that speaks to each segment's needs. Segmentation is essential. Avoid using general imagery and copy that tries to appeal to everyone but appeals to no one. 

Targeting Mommy Makeover Prospects 

With this audience, we’re identifying women who have spent years raising their kids and want to focus on themselves now - they want to look and feel better. You likely have a range of services you can offer. For this audience, we build it using several different demographic and behavioral signals. We found 31,000 - 37,000women we can reach with our offers. We can segment on:

Skin Procedure Audiences (blemishes, moles, tags, etc.)

Many people in their 40s and over are dealing with skin issues from being in the sun in their earlier years. You can target men or women for this. In this case, however, we segmented for women with additional targeting. We found 36,000- 43,000 women from the 35 - 65+ age range with kids. 

Demographics:

Interests:

Targeting Women That Like the Outdoors and Physical Fitness

It’s not uncommon for moms that like the outdoors and physical exercise that is outdoors that have been exposed to the sun and have skin issues. This segment of female customers could benefit from body and face services to wellness and vitality services. 

Now, in this particular targeting example, we narrowed the audience by requiring that they must also have an interest in Physical exercise, in addition to having at least one of the other targets.

This segmentation allows you to focus your ad creative (images and copy) on precisely the type of person you’re targeting. By doing this, you can create a far better response. 

Birthday Specials & Women Focused on Appearances

Finally, do you offer any birthday specials or discounts? How about targeting women that have a birthday in the coming week and have the following interests:

This segment has a focus on appearances, and there are likely many services you could offer them combined with a birthday special. This audience has 62,500 - 73,500 women in the greater Temecula area. 

Social Media Advertising Best Practices

Finally, marketing campaigns that leverage exposure in different channels and are integrated will deliver the best financial results in terms of overall marketing success. By investing in SEO but ensuring you have website retargeting campaigns enabled with Facebook and Instagram ads ensures you are showing ads to site visitors coming from search. And don't forget Google ads - still one of the most effective advertising tactics. (related post here on Google Ads for beauty salons). And one last tip - read my post on the Unstoppable Lead Generation Technique which applies to med spa will skyrocket leads non-stop.

Need help with your social media marketing?

Schedule a quick call below with me or visit our office if you're local. I'm an open book with digital marketing and happy to chat with you about your needs.

Prefer to watch a video? Click play below.

So keep reading to learn more!

If you implement just a fraction of the tactics discussed below, you are guaranteed to positively impact sales and profitability like you haven’t seen.

But before we dive into these effective lead-generation tactics, it’s important to keep the following in mind about your medical spa marketing strategies before implementing the below tactics:

Below are my top five med spa lead-generating tactics broken up into two categories – traffic generation and then conversion rate improvements.

Traffic Generating Tactics

Lead Nurturing and Conversion Tactics

Most companies invest the bulk of their marketing budgets on traffic-generating strategies as mentioned above. But to move the needle on sales, you need to equally focus on conversion and lead nurturing. Most website visitors do not convert to leads or sales on a first visit. The sales cycle for any medical spa customer varies from several hours to weeks or more. So how do you capture those longer sales cycle customers? With lead nurturing tactics.

These lead-generation tactics can substantially change your sales and profit. None are overly complicated to implement. And of course, your best results come from implementing everything I’ve mentioned here. But if that’s not possible because of marketing budgets or internal capabilities, try a few different tactics and see which ones work best for your business!

And if you want to explore working with a med spa marketing agency, please contact us now. We have over 10 years of nationwide med spa lead generation experience and can help you take your business to the next level. 

Everything is growing in search volume. 

Prefer to watch a video on the topic?

So, where do you start?

In this post, I will cover the SEO strategies and tactics you need to get started improving your organic non-paid presence in Google now. Search engine optimization is one part of an overall successful marketing strategy that leans heavily on digital tactics. Read my related post on lead generation for medical spas for additional ideas to generate leads which SEO is just one component. (Related post here on our SEO Case Studies.)

For any keyword, typically, there are often 5 or more features within a Google Search Results Page (SERP) that you have the opportunity to show your website in. Think about a Google SERP like the shelf space at a grocery store - the more spots you occupy, the more likely you will win the click and the sale. 

Here’s a list of the 8 most common places to rank your website and your content, which a comprehensive SEO strategy plus content marketing aims for. (see my related post here on all the different features you can rank with a Google SERP)

Most Common Places You Can Rank

And if you’re producing quality videos, you have yet another opportunity to show in the organic listings with an optimized video.

How To Rank in Each Area of A Google Search Results Page

Factors Important for the 3-Pack and Google Maps

Citations

Citations are other websites that mention your company name, address, phone number (i.e. NAP), and sometimes provide a link back to your website. Examples of citations are your Yelp page, Facebook page, chamber of commerce, Yellowbook, and dozens more. 

Google uses these third-party sites as verification that you are who you say you are. Citations build trust.  After all, the last thing Google wants to do is send a searcher to your business and it’s not located at that address, or the phone is wrong. 

Make sure you have an active campaign to get as many high-profile citations as you can, and correct any that list incorrect information. 

For additional ideas for citations, query for your top-ranking competitors in Google and look at what other sites list that company - those are likely good citation sources for you, too. 

Local Business Schema markup

Schema markup is a special code that tells Google exactly what your company’s NAP is (name, address, and phone number), your open hours, and more. 

Here’s an example:

Reviews

Reviews affect conversions more than anything else as Google Reviews show right in the search results. The consensus is that reviews provide a very small ranking signal. But don’t ignore them. Make sure you have a system in place - such as with marketing automation - that is automatically soliciting positive reviews. A marketing automation platform can do this seamlessly for you. 

Factors for Traditional Organic SEO

Content

The SEO strategies to rank differ from ranking in a local 3-pack. The focus here is primarily on content. If someone searches for “what is laser tattoo removal” and you don’t have content about that phrase, your site will not be shown to searchers.

So the first step in ranking here is ensuring you have pages dedicated to your primary services. I’m assuming you do not have access to expensive SEO tools, and in this case, do a Google search for your services and take a look at the top competitor pages to understand:

Use the ranking competitor pages as a rough guide for your page content. How can you make it better? How long is the content? If the top ranking pages are using 1000 words then like you should write that much to cover the topic. However, be careful writing too much content - a related post here highlighting how reducing the word count improved SEO. And if you're all in on creating content, maximize your SEO efforts by creating an SEO funnel. 

On-Page SEO and Keywords

For every page on your website, identify one primary keyword.  Your home page, and core service pages are the most important. Ensure  you have a page dedicated to each service area. 

For example, if you provide Dermal Fillers, make sure you have a page dedicated to that, if you do laser tattoo removal, create a page for that. 

Then, your ideal keyword for that service is going to be, Dermal Fillers [city/town name]. 

Take a look at your top-ranking competitors to also see what they are using by checking Google searches with that phrase. You can also use Google Trends and its Related and Top Searches for additional keyword ideas (a related post here on Google Trends.)

Once you have solidified the primary keyword per page, follow these guidelines: 

Factors Affecting "People Also Ask" & Featured Snippets

Not all Google Search Pages include these features, but when they do, you can improve the likelihood of ranking in each of them by first ensuring you have that question and answer on the page, ideally near the top. Then, you need to mark it up using FAQ schema markup. 

For additional ideas on which FAQs you should include, consider the following:

Ranking in The Image Pack, Image Tab, Video Tab, & Video Pack

Ranking images is almost as important as the traditional organic listings. Image search has a significant volume in Google. Alt tags are the most important factor for images. At least one image should have your primary keyword. 

For videos, embed at least one video that is related to the page content and use video schema markup which informs Google that there’s a video on the page and all its details. 

Without video schema, Google likely won’t index the video, which means it won’t show it in search results. Below is an example - I highlighted in yellow the information that makes it clear to Google all sorts of details that are important about the video. (here's a related post I wrote on improving SEO with YouTube video embeds)

Here’s an example of video schema markup from my own site:

Content Marketing - Content Strategy

The final area for SEO has to do with producing content regularly. There is a direct correlation between how much content is on your site and the traffic your site receives. And the topics people search for are endless. If you don’t have content for those keyword topics or answers to the hundreds of questions people ask Google, you will not capture that traffic. Instead, that traffic will go to the sites that do have that content which are likely your competitors. 

If you're using WordPress and producing content regularly, read my related blog posts on WordPress Workflow for SEO, and Using WordPress Categories for SEO.

Silos of Content/Content Hubs

For each service area, produce content that covers the service thoroughly. Below is an example showing the different topics people search related to tattoo removal. Here's a related post about silos of content and internal linking that explains the strategy more thoroughly.

And an additional benefit of producing quality content is that it naturally attracts quality backlinks to your site. A content strategy has many benefits to your company. 

Summary

There are many opportunities for you to rank your site on the first page of Google. From various feature areas in a Google Search Results Pages - Local 3-packs, Featured Snippets, Traditional Organic Listings, People Also ask, and FAQs, to the Image Tab and Video Tab - to writing user-focused content on the sub-topics and questions prospective patients have about Medical Spa services. So if you're serious about ranking in Google, embrace a holistic approach to SEO that seeks to maximize your exposure with regular content production.

If you have more questions about SEO, please contact me directly. Or, if you'd like to explore ways a med spa marketing agency like 39 Celsius can help your location improve its SEO traffic and leads, reach out to me today by scheduling a 15-minute call with me below. And if you're local to Temecula, you can learn more about our agency's local Temecula SEO services and Temecula web design. 

Google has a steady stream of qualified potential clients for your business. It has 98% of all search traffic! And the number one mobile phone operating system with Android. So when people need information, they grab their phones and start searching Google. 

Watch the below video - just hit the play button. I cover a lot of information, but you can scrub the video timeline (mouse over it) and find the sections you want if you prefer. (don't forget to give me a "like" if you found any part of the video helpful.

Just consider consumer behavior. The below data are from Google a few years back so these numbers are far larger now. 

Google Ads Reach Customers Where Their Eyes Are - On Mobile Devices

So for a salon, what are the best options to reach those future customers with Google Ads?  

The goal of this post is to help you shorten the learning curve and understand the following:

So whether you're doing ads yourself or just need to educate yourself because someone else is running the ads for you, you now have a better understanding of where to start. 

Are Google Ads Worth It for Beauty Salons or Day Spas?

The short answer is yes! 

People are actively searching Google for all kinds of beauty and day spa services. From nails to hair, lashes and lash extensions, brows, facials, massages, blowouts, Brazilian waxing services, and more.

The services people search for in Google are endless.

Google Ads are one of the most effective ways to tap into that stream of searchers. Google delivers warm, pre-qualified leads to businesses. Those potential prospects typed into Google what they were searching for, so we know they are interested. We just have to capture that traffic.

Take a look at the monthly volume of searches below for hair salons and related in Google Search. This search volume is in the geotargeted areas of Newport Beach, Irvine, and Costa Mesa, California.

Thousands of Searches per Month for Hair Salon

Or what about nail salons or nail bars in the same geographic area? Thousands of more searchers looking for these services. 

People are searching. And here's how you can access those potential prospects with Google Ads. 

The First Two Important Decisions: 
Search or Display Ads?

If you're new to Google Ads, the first thing to understand is that there are two core advertising options for you to reach your ideal customers. Those two options are Search or Display campaigns.

We first discuss search, and then down below display ads. 

Search

Search ads are when you bid for keywords that people are searching for in return for the opportunity to show your ad (screenshot below). For example, in the screenshots above, I posted samples of just some of the terms people are searching for related to hair extensions and lash extensions within the geotarget of Newport Beach, Irvine, and Costa Mesa. You can also see the cost-per-click (CPC) columns in that example. 

Definition: Cost-Per-Click (CPC) is the cost you pay as an advertiser every time someone clicks on your ad.

Here's an example of Search ads related to "lash extensions." Three different companies are showing their ads for the term "lash extensions near me."

How To Set Up A Winning Search Campaign 

I will skip the basic initial steps of setting up your Google Ads account (billing, time zone, etc) and get right into how to set up a successful campaign.

We are going to start with the Leads campaign objective.

Leads for our specific case are phone calls to book an appointment, leads coming from forms on our website, or through booking an appointment online. Once, you start a "New Campaign," you are presented with several campaign objectives. The Leads objective is the most relevant for a salon that wants to book appointments and get butts in chairs. 

After you click on Leads, you will then choose Phone Call Leads. 

In this case, we’re going to choose Search and then check Website visits and Phone Calls. The other options are not optimal for what we’re trying to achieve, which are phone calls, form submissions from the website, or booking an appointment online if your site allows for it. 

Next, set your daily budget. You can set any daily budget you want. Read our section below on how to set the right budget on your goals and what stage your company is at in its evolution. Our bidding is set to Conversions and right now we do not want to a target cost per action. Setting a target cost per action at this point can restrict campaign performance before it has any data to work from.

Once you have set your daily budget, choose Search Network (and include Google partners), and uncheck Display. We do not want to run Display with Search in the same campaign. It is always better to have a separate campaign for Search and another for Display, but not in the same campaign. 

Now we will choose our geolocation of where we want to show our Search ads. Click on Advanced Search.

in this example, I entered the zip code 92037, which is the La Jolla area of San Diego.

You have many options for targeting your ideal geographic areas. You can also drop a pin on the map and set a radius by checking the Radius radio button.

Next, choose your language - in this case, I have English chosen. Choose Next once you are done.

Now, move on to the keyword selections by clicking next.

You'll notice that we are now at the Ad Group level. Ad Groups hold keywords and ads. And here's where you have to stay organized if you have more than one salon service.

For example, perhaps you do hair and lash extensions. The critical point to remember is that you should have only one ad group for each type of service. So, for example, you would have one ad group for haircuts and another for lash extensions.

I will walk you through setting this up for nail services. I will type in "nail salon," and Google will populate with some good high-value search terms.

As you scroll down this keyword list, there are some terms that perhaps you won't want to include.

I see a couple of phrases that should have their own ad group - anything related to manicure, manicurist, and then pedicure.

While both fall under Nail Salon services, you still want to align your ads to the keywords. So you would have a separate ad group for "manicure" related terms and another ad group for "pedicure" terms.

When you organize this way with ad groups, the ads in each ad group will reflect the keywords you're adding, increasing performance and lowering the cost for you.

Here's the final initial keyword list we'll start with:

Additionally, we are using Broad Match keyword types. You have several options for keyword match types - Broad, Phrase, or Exact. 

You can learn more details about Google's match types here.

But for our initial campaign, we are using Broad match. Broad match will match to similar keywords, it will match to misspellings, and it will match to synonyms. 

Here's an example. The keyword nail salon will match to: 

• nail salon near me
• nail salon [and your zip code]
• best nail salons near me
• And more combinations

The benefit of using Broad Match is that it will capture keyword variations that perhaps we didn't think of that customers are using to find your services. 

But, the caveat for using Broad Match is that you need to tighten it up over time. In the first couple of months, you will want to run a Search Terms report weekly to see all the variations of keywords that the ad showed for using Broad match. There will be variations of our keywords we do not want. And in that case, we will add those as negative keywords. 

Now that we have our keywords in place, we are going to create our ads. 

Go ahead and type in the Final URL - hopefully, this is a page that speaks ONLY to your nail services as this will improve the performance of the campaign. Similar to how we kept keywords narrowly focused on one service along with ads that reflected that service and keywords, our landing page should take a similar approach and focus just on the primary service keywords. 

Now we're going to add multiple headline variations. Google will mix and match and automatically find the best combinations of headlines that produce the best performance.

Then add your Descriptions. Up to four variations and Google will test the best performing descriptions.

Off to the right as well, Google will give you hints and ideas for descriptions and headlines to help you along the way.

Click Next.

Sitelinks are additional links that direct people to other parts of your site and are part of the ad but show below it. Google decides when sitelinks show in your ads. Still, these are excellent ad features that help expand on the ad and increase the possibility of you getting the click and hopefully conversion.

So what do you include in your site links?

For evergreen sitelinks (i.e. they never expire), you could include a link to About Us, Contact Us. Or a link to a Gallery page that shows examples of past work.

For seasonal sitelinks, perhaps you have a page dedicated to Gift Cards or unique nail services pages.

So click on New Sitelink and fill out the information. Add at least three different sitelinks.

Date Sensitive and Special Promo Sitelinks:

Sitelinks can be hugely beneficial as well when you have a date-sensitive promotion.

For example, maybe you have a special for Valentine's Day with special pricing. You created a specific page on your site for Valentine's. Create a sitelink for this but set an expiration date to stop running on the 15th of February. So in the below example, I put a start date and end date. But think of all the holidays or specials you might run and how you can incorporate that into your sitelinks. 

Next, click Save on your site links and scroll down to Callouts. 

Callouts

Callouts are short text phrases that appear below your ad similar to sitelinks, but in this case, they are not as long and do not link to other parts of your site. Callouts are best suited for adding phrases that help you stand out even more. Add as many as you can. For ideas on more callouts, think of the questions and pain points customers have. Are there any that you could turn into callouts? 

You might include the following callouts:

• Voted Best Nail Salon
• Appointments Available
• Professional Manicurists
• Book Online Today
• Open 7 Days A Week

And callouts can have start and stop dates, so leverage these whenever you have something unique and time-sensitive to promote. Create as many callouts as you think that will help differentiate you and appeal to your future customers' needs.

Call Extensions:

Add a phone number they can call when they click on the ads. You can set dates for this if you want as well. And you can designate for mobile or not. 

We're almost there…stay with me

Image Extensions

Now consider loading an image that will appear next to your text ad. This is a great way to differentiate your text ad from the competitors. So choose a quality image that shows your services well. Or a photo of the final product. 

Now click Next. If everything is ready to launch, you will see the blue "PUBLISH CAMPAIGN" button. If not, it will highlight any issues that you need to fix. 

Once you are ready, go ahead and click the PUBLISH CAMPAIGN button and the ads will go to Google for review and once approved, go live. This typically takes 24 hours for ad approvals. 

Display Ads

In comparison to Search ads, Display ads are banner ads, videos, or text ads that show on other websites, on YouTube videos, or within Gmail and to only the people you want to target.

If you're not familiar with Display ads, here's an example of a Display Retargeting Ad showing at the top of Jim Cramer's show, Mad Money on CNBC. But Display Ads can show on hundreds of different websites. And you have many options for targeting just the right people. 

But most importantly, Display ads are inexpensive. Many Display ad campaigns cost pennies per click.

Compared to Search ads where we bid on keywords, Display ad targeting is entirely different. 

For example, you can target based on demographics, including:

• Age
• Sex: Male or female
• Education level
• Household income
• Whether they are parents, and other demographics.

This allows you to target only your ideal customer so you can keep your ad spend focused and reduce wasted ad spend.

And similar to Facebook ad targeting, with Google's Display Ads you can reach people specifically on unique behaviors. 

For example:

Affinity and In-Market Audiences - these are people that are actively searching for or are regular visitors of beauty salons, day spas, hair stylists, nail bars, and more. Because Google knows so much about what sites we visit and what stores we visit, it has built large audiences of people we want to sell our services to.

Here are some of the options for In-Market Audiences for Beauty and Personal Care:

Here's are the options for Affinity Audiences for Beauty and Wellness:

And one of the most effective ad tactics you can use with Google Display Ads is Retargeting. 

With Display ads, you have the option to show ads to people that visited your website at any time in the past year. This tactic is referred to as remarketing.

Remarketing is a very effective and low-cost tactic for increasing repeat visits with existing customers or bringing back prospects that didn't convert on a first visit.

Imagine if you wanted to push gift card sales during the holidays, Valentine's Day, or Mother's Day. You can create new Display ads with an offer and push that out to all your past site visitors. And lists of past website visitors can be substantial in size - it's not uncommon to have a list of 50,000 or 100,000 people just in your local area. Where else can you get that kind of exposure for such little money?

And consider that the people most likely to buy from you in the future are those that are already customers and have purchased from you in the past. 

Benefits of Display Ads:

• Lower cost-per-click (CPC)
• Huge exposure potential so you can create broad awareness in your local market
• Retargeting - show your ads to past customers or people who didn't convert to a lead yet
• Helps close longer sales cycle customers

When and Why Run Display Campaigns?

When you want to create broad-level brand awareness to a very targeted audience, Display ad campaigns are the best option. 

For example, maybe you want to reach women between the ages of 18 - 45 who are interested in or actively searching for beauty salon services. Or, more specifically waxing, or hairstylist services who live within 3 miles of your salon or spa. The options are endless here. 

But because these banner ads that show on other websites, what we call interrupt marketing, the prospects are not as close to converting to a lead as Search ads. 

But keep in mind that creating broad brand awareness locally for your salon or nail bar will positively impact your leads over time. 

Google Ads Budgets: 
How Much Do I Need To Spend?

There are several ways to arrive at a reasonable monthly ad budget that you should spend. 

If you're somewhat new with advertising your salon services, the first thing to understand is that the size of your ad budget directly affects results. This is because budget equates to the number of leads and brand exposure you can achieve in your local market. And larger budgets mean more leads, more brand exposure.

Current Sales or Projected Sales Method To Estimate Google Ad Spend

The first place to determine a Google ad budget is to decide what budget is reasonable for your sales goals.

Aggressive Growth Ad Budget

Established companies that are aggressive spend 5% - 10% or more of monthly sales on marketing. But the general range for an established business is to allocate 2% - 10% of monthly sales towards marketing and advertising. So if you're spending on the lower end of that scale, then growth is not the main priority. Instead, you're just maintaining sales to squeeze more cash out of your business versus setting it up for bigger successes in the future. 

Establishing A Budget For Less Established, Newer Salons or Spas

If your salon or spa is on the younger side or not as established, then using the percentage of current sales method to determine an advertising budget is not the best approach. 

Here's a more practical approach to help you reach your sales goals and arrive at a reasonable Google Ads budget. 

Estimate your ad spend or ad budget as a percentage of your monthly future projected monthly sales goals. So if you want to grow to $80,000 per month in sales, then 5% - 10% of that amount is considered aggressive. 

Of course, your budget needs to be within your comfort zone and your business' cash flow. Most importantly, however, your Google Ad budget needs to be sustainable month after month. Starting and stopping marketing campaigns is not effective. If anything, start smaller but maintain consistency in spending and grow it as your cash flow improves. 

Consistency is a crucial ingredient to successfully growing leads and your salon sales. 

Read my related post here for a more in-depth process on how to determine how much you should spend on Google Ads.

Benchmark Ad Spends From Other Salons and Spas

For reference, compared to your peers, from more than two hundred different beauty salons, nail bars, massage services and spas throughout markets in the US, the most conservative businesses and the minority of this group spend as little as $500 per month on Google Ads. Conversely, the most aggressive spenders allocate $4,500 per month on Google Ads, with additional ad spend above this going to Facebook and Instagram Ads. 

What Will I Get with My Google Ad Budget?

Any advertising you do has a cost per lead for that tactic. For example, for massage services, we found direct mail provided a cost per lead of $50 - $300 per lead, which is crazy expensive. 

For this same business, Google Ads provided leads in the range of $5 - $13. A huge difference and a difference that can mean whether you are successful or not. And whether you will be cash positive or negative after advertising.

The below chart are unique phone calls coming from Google Ads for two beauty salon locations in a metro market with monthly increases in Google Ad spend. Would you not want a steady stream of customers calling?

Google Ads and SEO generally provide retail businesses with their lowest cost per lead out of any advertising that is available with the highest returns on ad spend. And most importantly, you are generating positive cash flow - meaning after spending on Google Ads, you have more cash coming into the business than is going out of the business. 

Budget will determine if you run Search or Display, or Both

If your monthly ad spend is less than $500 per month, I generally recommend starting with only Search campaigns to generate the leads now that can help you grow. 

Suppose your ad budget is higher than $500 per month. In that case, I generally recommend a 90% to 10% split on ad spend between Search and Display, respectively. 

How Much Do Google Ads Cost For Salon and Spa Services?

You can set whatever daily budget you are comfortable with. But Google Ads cost-per-click (CPC) varies significantly between Search or Display campaigns. Specifically for Search ads, the cost-per-click (CPC) range for salon and spa services generally falls between $1 - $7 per click depending on the competitiveness and value of a keyword. 

In comparison, Display ads typically cost $0.20 to $1 per click. 

And you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. So any unused budget is not charged to you.

What Determines My Google Ads Cost?

Cost with Google Ads is determined by the following three factors:

• Relevancy
• Competition
• User Experience

But these three factors differ slightly depending on whether you're running a Search or Display campaign. 

Here's what's vital for you to know.

Search Ads

For Google Search ads, the cost varies based on several different factors. 

Competition

So keywords that have more economic value, meaning they lead to more sales and leads, are more competitive and thus more expensive (higher CPCs). But higher CPCs can be interpreted as a positive signal to you as it shows that other advertisers are finding value in it otherwise the keyword would be cheaper. 

Take for example, these two keywords:

• "lash extensions near me" is double or triple the CPC compared to the keyword phrase
• "individual lashes" from the earlier screenshot.

The intent of the latter keyword is not as clear, and searchers are likely looking for many different things. As a result, other advertisers are unwilling to bid it up as much. Some advertisers probably won't even bid on that keyword. Conversely, "lash extensions near me" is clear that the searcher is looking for lash services close to them. 

Quality Score

Another factor that affects your cost for Google Ads is what Google calls Quality Score. 

Every keyword you bid for in a Search campaign is given a Quality Score rating from 1 to 10, with 1 being a poor score and 10 being excellent. And, unlike the level of competition for a keyword, you have control over your Quality Score (unless you're a franchise). Here's how.

Search Ad Alignment to Keywords Affects Quality Score

Without going into too much detail, your quality score is a measure of your relevance to a particular keyword. Your relevance is determined by your ad copy, your expected click-through-rate (CTR), and your landing page experience. (here's a related post on how to align landing pages to your ads for more conversions)

For example, if you are bidding on the keyword "Brazilian waxing near me" but your ad doesn't mention that keyword and instead only mentions your salon services in general, this would qualify as poor quality. Your CTR for this ad would be poor because it is not aligned with the searcher's intent and what they are looking for. 

Ad copy needs to align with the keywords. So how would you improve this? 

Campaign Organization and Themes Improves Quality Scores

In this case, if you offered several different waxing and salon services, you might create ads for Brazilian waxing keywords that talk about that service, it's benefits, etc, and then another ad for lash extensions with the ad reflecting that service feature and benefits. But mixing those two services will spell disaster for your campaign performance and results. 

Landing Page Experience Affects Quality Scores

In addition to the ads aligning to the keywords, the landing page you send the traffic to from your Search ad also needs to align with your keywords and ad.

This is where franchises fail as each franchisee typically only has one location page with all the spa services listed - not a great landing page experience! Franchises are at a distinct disadvantage to independently owned businesses from this standpoint. 

So if you are advertising hairstylist services, your landing page needs to reflect those services. For example, showcasing hair options, pricing, customer testimonials, before and after photos, etc. 

Does Your Site Load Well on Mobile Devices?

An important consideration is, does your site and page load fast and render well on mobile devices?

Here's an example of a salon website that is NOT mobile responsive.

This is an awful user experience and will kill lead generation. Mobile traffic is 75% of all the salon traffic for many websites. Ironically, this was a salon in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in southern California - Newport Beach. The owners wanted to grow leads but were not interested in improving their site. 

Notice near the top there's a red button with a call-to-action, but we can't see it. And then down below it looks like there's a "Book Now" button, but we can't see that either. Plus, there's no mobile-click-to-call number anywhere. This is awful for growing leads or sales. Not only that, the competitors have a better website and they will likely pay less per click for Google Ads (since they are delivering a better landing page experience), and equally important their site will likely outrank this one for organic non-paid searches (SEO) and within Google Maps. The website below is leaving money on the table.

The majority of search traffic is from mobile devices.

If your site does not render well, you will suffer from higher cost per click (CPCs) compared to your competitors that do have mobile optimized landing pages. And most importantly, you will see far fewer conversions and leads due to poor user experience on your website.

So ads, keywords, and landing pages all need to align for good Quality Scores.  

Here's an example of Quality Score ratings per keyword. In this example, most of the keywords have a score of 5, with one keyword at a 1. That low Quality Score is one keyword that should be paused until adjustments can be made to improve the score. 

Display Ads

Display ad quality score is based on similar factors as Search but differs in important ways. There is no alignment to keywords since the targeting is based on other factors. But the landing page experience is essential - if your site is not optimized for mobile, you will score poorly. And if the page content is not what you were advertising, your score will be lower, and your per click cost higher as well. 

Google won't show you Quality Score metrics for Display, but here's what's most important. The landing page experience, as mentioned above, will not only affect your Quality Score but your conversions, too. 

Consequences of Low-Quality Scores

If your quality score is low, you will pay more per click, so costs will be higher, and Google will not show your ad as often. 

And sometimes, you will pay a lot more per click with low quality scores. Google wants quality advertisers. And it rewards quality advertisers with lower costs. But punishes low-quality advertisers with higher costs. In some cases, I have seen low quality scores more than triple or quadruple the cost per click that an advertiser pays. So suffice it to say, you need to pay attention to quality. 

Geotargeting - Only Reach Customers Near Your Location

In addition to the laser targeted Search and Display targeting options using keywords or behaviors, you have very effective geotargeting options, so you only show your ads to prospects near your salon. 

Let's say you had a salon or spa in the Del Mar area in San Diego. Below I dropped a pin on the map that goes out in a 5-mile radius. But you can expand or narrow this geotargeting as well. You can also target by typing in city names, zip codes, counties, and more. The options are many. Here's a related post that goes into more depth on hyper local targeting with Google. 

So I hope this post has helped you get a better understanding of what you stand to gain running Google Ads for your salon or spa, and what are the most effective strategies and tactics. 

If we can help with your digital marketing efforts, please contact us today!

Whether it’s women looking for a “mommy makeover" or Semaglutide for weight loss, or men who want to look more youthful and remove the “tough guy” tattoos they acquired two decades earlier, it is clear that interest continues to grow in med spa services. 

But many medical spas lack an effective marketing strategy that capitalizes on this exponential increase in online growth. Most importantly, a strategy that leans heavily towards online marketing for more leads, sales, and profit.  It's not their fault. Many practitioners and marketing people wear many hats and are too busy running their businesses to stay abreast of the constantly evolving marketing landscape. 

In this post, I cover a list of med spa marketing strategies that any location should embrace to capture this growth in awareness and searches for med spa services. The below marketing ideas should get you thinking and help put you on a more effective marketing path.

As the go-to search engine for millions of people around the globe, Google is a powerful tool for driving traffic to your med spa. But to maximize your reach, you need to go beyond simply having a website — you need to create a fully optimized Google Business Profile. By filling out your profile completely and accurately, you can ensure that potential customers will find everything they need to know about your business, from your hours of operation to your services and pricing. In addition, ensuring that your profile is up-to-date and accurate can help build trust with potential leads, making them more likely to do business with you. So, an optimized Google Business Profile is essential if you're serious about generating more leads for your med spa.

Now that you have an optimized Google profile, you need to increase the likelihood that your business shows in Google local search results and on Google Maps. Local SEO relies heavily on local citations. Citations are other websites that list your business name, address, and phone number (in the SEO industry we refer to this as a company’s NAP).

Consistency in your NAP and the volume of citations are two important determinants of ranking higher and for more searches within Google.

Examples of a local citation include your company’s Facebook page, Yelp page, a listing on the local chamber of commerce, and other sites specific to your med spa niche, and then sites specifically for your geographic area (i.e. sites that list businesses in your city or town). A related post here for medical Spa SEO strategies you can implement now

Every day people perform hundreds of different searches related to services and treatments that med spas provide, from laser tattoo removal to Botox, fillers, and more. What people search for is as varied as the treatments. As a matter of fact, fifteen percent (15%) of the searches Google sees in a day it has never seen before.

You need content to capture these searchers. For example, people have dozens of questions about tattoo removal - below is a small sample. 

However, if you don’t have content that answers these questions, you cannot capture this search traffic - Google has no reason to show your site, but it will show the websites that do have content that answers these questions. There are hundreds of med-spa-related questions that people ask daily.

A data-driven content strategy that brings forward the most searched topics is essential for content that will produce more leads and sales. After all, without a data-driven content strategy, you are flying blind with the content you're producing. (here's a related post on an SEO content marketing case study that illustrates the success, and another post on building SEO funnels of content)

Email marketing is one of the most effective and inexpensive ways to reach potential and current customers. It’s excellent at maintaining mindshare and brand awareness.

In fact, email is still the preferred method of communication for many people, which makes it an ideal way to connect with your target audience. With email marketing, you can send personalized messages to customers and prospects, which helps to build relationships and loyalty. Email marketing is also highly measurable, so you can track metrics like open rates and click-through rates to see how your campaigns are performing. And best of all, email marketing is inexpensive, making it a great option for you.

A more robust and effective cousin of email marketing is marketing automation.

Marketing automation is a revolutionary marketing tool that saves time, boosts conversion rates, and increases sales. Its biggest benefits are that it automates marketing tasks and processes, thus freeing up valuable labor resources. 

It can be used for sending and tracking emails, managing customer data in a central location, and creating campaigns based on what customers want or need - all the while increasing sales with improved conversion rates.  Additionally, marketing automation provides marketers with valuable insights into customer behavior.

Here's an example of how you can put automation to work:
For any services that you have before and after photos put these behind an opt-in where people have to give you their email and phone number. Once you have their information, you automatically send out the photos and put them into a drip sequence to encourage them to book an appointment. 

For both email marketing and marketing automation, ensure you have the following DNS records: SPF, DMARC, and DKIM. These three DNS settings ensure that your email is delivered to the inbox. Without these, it's much more likely that your email will be labeled as spam and never reach the inbox. (reach out to me directly with questions on setting up your DNS)

Paid search campaigns, also known as Google Ads, are an effective way to attract new patients to your med spa (a related post here on Google Ads for Beauty Salons goes into more depth). By targeting potential patients who are searching for medical aesthetics terms online, you can significantly increase the chances that they will visit your website and consider your services. After all, people searching online are pre-qualified “warm” leads. We know they are interested in your services because they had to type in the search terms into Google. 

Paid search campaigns can be customized to target specific cities or zip codes so you can focus your budget on only the areas you want. You can set a budget and choose how much you are willing to pay on a daily basis. In addition, you can target potential patients based on their search history, demographics, and interests. (Related post here on how to identify a budget for Google Ads).

A Pew Research Center study from 2015 found that a significant portion of adults check online reviews before purchasing. Put a system in place now that encourages your existing customers to leave positive reviews on your Google Business Profile, Yelp, and other online directories. With marketing automation this can be implemented quickly and easily. 

Positive reviews can improve your online presence and help attract new customers. Respond to negative reviews in a professional and courteous manner. And make sure to have any inappropriate reviews escalated for removal - it's common that competitors or disgruntled ex-employees can leave fake reviews.

Remember Google reviews show right in local search results and on maps. Nothing negatively affects lead generation more than poor overall review profiles. Marketing automation can be used to create campaigns that automatically ask you're happy customers for good reviews too, helping you to scale the effort and consistently build your online reputation. 

Asking for referrals from happy customers is a great way to increase new leads and sales. New customers trust personal recommendations over anything else, so referral requests are an essential part of any business' marketing strategy.

With marketing automation systems in place, you can automate the referral request process and make it even easier for your customers to refer their friends and family. By doing this, you'll be able to increase your referral rate and generate more new leads and sales. 

Here are a few tips to get you started:

By following these tips, you can create a referral system that will help you increase new leads and sales from your happy customers.

Use social media to reach a wider audience and build relationships with potential customers. Create engaging content in your ads that showcases the services offered at your med spa. Facebook and Instagram ads can reach a wide audience of potential customers .

However, without ads, you have a severely limited ability to drive any measurable results. Your Facebook page posts are nice, but they reach only 1 - 2% of your fan base so you need ads to reach them anyway. But with paid social ads, your reach and exposure are almost unlimited. Be careful about using the Boost Post option, too. Read our post on med spa social media marketing - I cover 5 killer audiences to target for more leads. (And a related post here on using Facebook Ads for beauty salons is a good read and goes into good case studies)

Any good marketing strategy starts with the customer.

Know who your target audiences are. You have multiple customer segments - men, women, old, young, empty nesters, and more. Each of these customer segments has different needs, wants, and limitations to buying.

How you speak to each segment varies greatly. Your marketing should reflect these differences. At 39 Celsius, before we do any marketing, we walk through a customer persona worksheet that clearly profiles each customer segment so that we ensure our marketing aligns closely with each.

Conclusion

By embracing marketing strategies and ideas above, and creating systems and processes with marketing automation that allow you to scale your marketing efforts, you will be on a rapid trajectory to success.

If you are ready to take your business to the next level, schedule a call with me now. I would be more than happy to help you get started on your journey. 

Need a med spa marketing agency? Schedule an introductory call below. 

Facebook ads for salons works so well that you can now create a steady flow of ongoing leads every month for many different salon retail services - lash extensions, hair, brow, nails, Brazilian blowouts, and more.

If you’re searching for beauty salon Facebook advertising ideas, the strategies outlined in this post will demonstrate to you how you can skyrocket your sales and lead generation efforts using Facebook ads (a related post here on med spa marketing is a good read on developing your overall marketing strategy).

What You Will Learn

In this post, I will show you, through demonstration and actual results, the 9 most critical factors necessary for a successful Facebook marketing campaign that will produce a steady flow of leads month after month for your salon.

Equally important, however, is that many of your salon or spa competitors are stuck in the dark ages and have not embraced Facebook ads. So you have an advantage - seize the opportunity.

Follow the below recommendations and you are on your way to rapidly growing your sales.

Who is this post for?

Any salon or spa manager, or owner that offers salon services such as hair styling, hair cuts, coloring, blow dry, nails, eyelash extensions, and other retail beauty services, such as, but not limited to the following:

The good thing about Facebook advertising is that you have almost unlimited ability to reach your ideal target customer with ads.

I will use lash extensions as a retail service to demonstrate how to target your ideal salon or spa customers to get leads that convert to sales. The Facebook advertising approach we’re demonstrating here is a similar strategy with any salon service.

At the end of this, you will know the essential elements necessary to generate a list of customer leads from Facebook ads (see below). Read our related post here on Google Ads For Beauty Salons. 

The below screenshot shows a partial list of customer leads from one such Facebook ad campaign. Imagine accessing leads like this on a daily basis - eager fans wanting your services. And these Facebook leads are you unique to you and delivered right within your Facebook page where you can easily access them. You can also integrate them into a CRM if you have one as well.

Consistent Ongoing Flow of Leads

Below is a line chart showing how many leads came in per day and the cost per lead each day. All the leads had a first name, last name, email address, and phone number so they can be contacted right away and booked for an appointment.

These Facebook campaigns can produce leads as low as $3. 

Your mileage will vary, of course, depending on many factors (product/service you’re promoting, competition, seasonality, etc). But the good thing is that we’ve successfully run these lead generation campaigns from the northeast to the southwest and everywhere in between in the US with similar results, and you can find the same success, too. 

466 Total Leads from end of September to mid-December

Stay with me here...

For this post, I will show you the essential success factors for running a Lead Generation campaign that uses Facebook Lead Ads – arguably one of the most effective Facebook ads for salons. (read my related post Unstoppable Lead Generation Technique for a more in-depth read on utilizing lead magnets and lead nurturing to skyrocket leads evern more. 

What is a Facebook Lead Ad, you ask?

Lead Ads are a special Facebook ads that allows you to capture salon customer leads right within Facebook. 

What makes Lead Ads unique?

They are super easy for you, the advertiser, to set up and use, and even easier for the potential customer to use and send you her contact info.

With Lead Ads, there is no need to set up a landing page (more on that later) or forms that a prospect must awkwardly try to fill out on a mobile device.

Lead Ads capture potential customer information right within Facebook using a form that Facebook will prefill with the customer’s information. All the customer has to do is hit the Submit button and away goes their contact info to your inbox.

The 9 Critical Success Factors To Capture Salon Leads

Each of Facebook's 11 campaign objectives aligns with a different business goal.

For example, Brand Awareness, or Reach (showing your ads to as many people as possible), or Engagement (related post here on why you should not use the Boost Post option, which is the same as an Engagement campaign objective).

You likely have many salon products and services that you offer. If you have a limited budget, how do  you decide which service or product to promote?

Your choice here is driven by several factors:

1. Which salon service or product provides the most profit?
2. Which service or product are you the best at? Which differentiates you from others?
3. Which service or product has the most demand from existing customers and least competition?

Other considerations include, do you have imagery or video content to display and demonstrate the product or service in an ad? For example, before and after pictures, or a video of the product or service.

Because Lead Generation campaigns are a direct response advertising tactic, the more specific you can be with what you are promoting, the better. 

What you want to avoid is a general ad such as, Contact Us About Our Full-Service Salon Services. Or an ad that is more branding oriented reflecting a social cause that you're aligned with. These types of ads have their place, but Lead Generation is a direct response marketing tactic so you have to appeal to the immediate need and pain points of the customer to get good conversion rates. 

What always works better is specificity, for example:
Book Your  Appointment For An Initial Set of Lash Extensions - $89.

Includes the exact product  you offer, a price, and a call-to-action.

And when you are more specific with your ad, you can tailor the ad imagery and copy to that specific service or product and the unique needs of the customer, which then affects how you choose your Facebook ad targeting as well (we'll get to more of that in a moment). For this example, we can specifically identify people that have an interest in lash extensions.

For for our purposes here, we’ll use Lash Extensions as a service.

Ad targeting is where Facebook really shines and rises above all other ad platforms – its advertising offers unmatched targeting abilities for you as an advertiser.

For this campaign, we are drilling down into the following customer features of our ideal customer persona and women we know that will highly likely be interested in our services.

Facebook offers the following general buckets for Detailed Targeting:

Here are more targets as well – people that have an interest in eyelash extensions.

Keep in mind that as you layer more targets, your audience size will change. What’s important is maximizing the size of your audience with the right balance of Interests and Behaviors.

Your targeting will change depending on the product or service you’re advertising.

If your salon was advertising its Hair Stylists and hair-cutting, coloring, and styling services, here's an example of the targeting you would use to find local customers (related post here on using Google ads to find local customers):

What if your salon is advertising its blowouts? Here's the targeting you can use to find women interested in blow dry services. 

Imagery:

Because Lead Ads are a direct response marketing tactic, hone in on the product or service features and benefits for your ads - be specific. Make sure you choose an image that reflects the service. Consider before and after images if you have.

If not, use a service like Adobe Photos to find a quality image. 

For example, for lash extensions, this image reflects the look you might have after receiving this service. Don't make it hard for people to understand what you're selling. On mobile devices people are scanning their newsfeed quickly so use images that have an impact.

Copy:

People buy the benefits of your service.

Write your copy so it reflects your product or service's most important benefits.

Here's an example of  those benefits for lash extensions:

Offer or Discount:

Direct response conversion rates are almost always better with an offer. 

For example:
Introductory offer - $50 off your first full set. Only $49.99 Now!

Do not be afraid to promote an aggressive offer. People are often hesitant to promote a service at a discount. 

But here's why you should consider discounted offers. 

Consumers react to "deals." 

But you might be thinking, but I'm going to lose profit. And while that's true, the catch here is every customer you have has a lifetime value far beyond one service, right. I know salons where the yearly value of a customer is over $1,000. 

So, with discounts, you acquire more leads and get more people booking appointments and you will make far more money on the long-term value this customer will provide to your business than what you might give up on the initial service. 

I recall a salon that was offering an initial set of lash extensions for $39.99 - he was giving the service away. But he knew, once they come in the average customer is worth more than $1,000 in the first year. So would you rather make $60 more on the first service, or $1,000 over the course of the next year?

Call To Action:

With Facebook Ads, you have several options for the call-to-action button. Since we want appointment leads choose, Book Now:

Whether you’re in an urban, suburban, or rural area will determine how you should set your geographic targeting for your ads.

Some of the smallest geo-targeting is a 1 km radius – appropriate in a densely populated area like NYC. However, if you’re in a suburban area, your customers are likely willing to drive 5 miles, perhaps 10. And if you’re in a rural area, 10+ miles is not unreasonable for a customer to drive to see you.

Facebook provides many options to target the locations that are ideal for you – you can target by state, city, county, zip code, a radius by dropping a pin on a map, and more.

As we discussed with Interest, Behavior, and Demographic targeting, you also want to maximize your audience size here, too, so go as wide as you reasonably can. Of course, you can always adjust the targeting later if you find you’re getting people too far out.

For example, here I typed in Del Mar, CA. You will notice a slider that you can drag out to include a larger target area, or you can click, “Current city only.” So choose the widest radius you can reasonably go here to maximize your audience.

You can also exclude geographic areas where you do not want your ads to show but use that sparingly again to maximize the audience size so that Facebook’s algorithm has the most data to work with.

You will notice in the screenshot above where it says Del Mar, there’s another drop-down that is set to, “People living in or recently in this location.”

The below screenshot includes all the options– select the first drop-down option.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, Facebook is pay-to-play. Larger ad spends equate to more exposure and more leads.

Start with your sales goals. 

Salon and spa lead costs vary, but a reasonable place to start is to assume $12 per lead and back into the spend (based on historical data from many campaigns we have run in the past, but the cost per lead can range from $3 - $20). 

If I want 40 new leads, I need to spend approximately $500 in ad spend per month, assuming $12 per lead.

You could stop right there for estimating an initial budget to reach your marketing goals.

But if you want a handle on managing your campaigns like a pro, build a simple ad spend model and track your results (here's a related post I wrote: how much should I spend on Google Ads).

Here’s a simple model with reasonable estimates you can use. This one was built using Excel.

You can then plug in different numbers into the Ad Spend Model to see how your sales and profits change.

Try lower or higher cost per lead; perhaps your average order is larger or smaller than $100; what is your closing percentage? Work the numbers and see where your profit is optimal (after all, the ultimate goal of any business is to maximize its profit).

Operations play a crucial role in the success of your marketing campaigns. For example, if you don’t follow up on leads quickly enough, if your staff is not trained well and does not have sales skills, then your investment in advertising is not as profitable.

Some people will interact with your ad but will not fill out the form and abandon the process for whatever reason. However, because these potential prospects did show initial interest, we want to retarget them and give them another opportunity to convert – this will further squeeze more leads and more value from your Facebook ad spend.

We want more than one bite at the apple.

Facebook allows us to target these looky-loos.

Here’s how:

All we have to do is create an Audience within the Audience Manager.

Once you click Next, you have more options:

Then all you have to do is click “Create Audience” and use it in your targeting which we discussed above when selecting Interests, Behaviors, and Demographics. However, in this case, you would want an ad set dedicated specifically to retargeting the Lead Ads campaign – do not add any other targeting.

Retargeting Lead Ad forms is one of the hugely compelling reasons why using Facebook ads can be so successful for leads and return on ad spend. What other advertising channel can you leverage retargeting like this?

Custom landing pages, in this case, are not necessary but will help squeeze even more value and more sales from your ad spend.

Because we are using Lead Ads, the prospect’s contact information is already captured within Facebook, so you already have the lead. But you can direct people to a landing page aligned to that product or service that the prospect sees only after they have submitted their information.

A landing page can help give them a warm fuzzy, build rapport and trust and increase conversion rates. In addition, some potential prospects will want to learn more or possibly act right now, so we want to give them that opportunity.

For a landing page, make sure to include an in-depth description of the service, features and benefits, customer testimonials, and, of course, a click-to-call phone number so they can call and book right away instead of waiting for you to contact them.

Not all leads will want to book an appointment right away for various reasons – perhaps they were distracted with other events or just not ready for whatever reason.

But…

If you can avoid it, don’t let those leads go.

Those leads you don’t close right away, put them into a lead nurturing campaign where you use email to drip them helpful content over time. You paid for this lead, don’t let it go until they either book an appointment or have opted out entirely.

There are many email service providers (ESPs) to chose from. Some that go from simple and inexpensive to robust, powerful marketing automation platforms. Whatever you decide, email drip campaigns are hugely effective at squeezing out even more value from your initial ad spend and not hard to set up.

So to wrap up successful Facebook ads for beauty salon products and services that produce leads:

Related Post: Common Facebook Ad Campaign Questions and Answers