All About Events

These tips, tricks and strategies can help your charitable event become a successful business-builder for your spa.

Event planning and implementation

• Find local listing opportunities online, in newspapers, on community calendars and on www.craigslist.com.
• Invite local press contacts as your guests. Develop these relationships early and often, and always have a press release ready to distribute.
• Ask for donations from attendees.
• Work with the charity to bring in supporting members as sponsors.
• Find vendors to donate food, drinks and goody bag items by looking at your client list and asking friends.
• Create an invitation giving all vendors and sponsors exposure.
• Limit attendees to a number that you can comfortably manage.
• Create signage and place invitations at churches, libraries and coffee shops.
• Provide online preregisteration opportunities, advertising an increased fee if registering at door.
• Provide mini spa services to showcase your business.
• Invite the charity to present a brief mission statement to staff before the event takes place.
• Provide gift cards for future services, as well as raffle signups at registration in order to obtain contact information.
• Offer a special service price for booking at the event.
• Promote on-the-spot product sales at event.
• Set booking goals as 20–25% of event attendees.

Event follow-up

• Gather e-mail addresses and contact information.
• Send post-event e-mail blasts to attendees, copying sponsors and thanking them for support.
• Video archive the event on your blog and make sure lots of photos are available on your spa’s Web site.
• Submit photos to local press because people love to see themselves.
• Use Facebook and Twitter to link event photos and video on social media.