For just about any business, branding strategy is a very important component. In Malaysia, the flourishing beauty spa industry is fast gaining traction among the locals.
As such, competition is growing tighter, and it is all the more important for business owners to understand the desired brand image of target customers.
Beauty spa business owners, you will have to place your focus on your intangibles such as reputation, client care and relationship with clients in order to build your brand.
According to the Global Wellness Institute (GWI), which released the 2016 Global Wellness Economy Monitor last year, the worldwide wellness industry grew 10.6 percent to US$3.72 trillion (RM15.2 trillion) from 2013-2015, making it one of the world’s fastest-growing and most resilient markets.
For the beauty industry, Forbes estimates put it at US$445 billion currently.
Between 2016 and 2021, the Asia Pacific mass beauty market alone was projected to grow by US$14.9 billion in sales. Wellness and beauty (including cosmetics) in Malaysia are already billion-ringgit industries.
(Click here for 7 Questions You Need To Ask Yourself Before Opening A Massage Parlour)
So, what ways can you employ to solidify your business’s branding?
Here are 4 branding ideas for beauty spa business owners in Malaysia!
1. Understand Your Clients’ Needs [restrict]
Surprise, surprise! The branding of your business is actually defined by your customers, based on their interactions and experiences.
Designing your logo and signage alone will not be enough to cement your brand’s image into your customer’s minds. Customers will only recognise your brand if they are able to make associations and relate to your brand.
Customers relate to your brand from the experiences offered by your services. So, how can you shape their experiences?
It all lies in the details that come along with your services, such as the store’s design, personnel dressing, and every other part of the entire customer experience.
For instance, if you are building the branding image of a luxurious spa, make sure to incorporate the desired experience of your upper-middle class market. The ambiance, treatment products, attire and mannerism of your staff should all sum up to give them a truly lavish experience to remember by.
Moreover, it is necessary for you to remember that customers are coming to your spa, with a pre-existing goal and will want your services to match their expectations.
For example, they may be looking for a particular type of massage treatment given their personal circumstances. An athlete will want a deep tissue massage, while an elderly person might be looking for geriatric massage therapies.
Click here to read more about some of the best spas in Kuala Lumpur, and get to know about what is currently appealing to the masses in the country.
In order to deliver the right experiences desired by your clients, you must first understand the needs of your clients. You could do this by directly interacting with your clients, via observation or through formal surveys.
2. Work on Your Brand Positioning
As the owner of a spa business, it is important for you to position your business relative to other competitions present in the market.
It is highly necessary for you to understand what the customers of your competitors like about them. In doing so, you will be able to identify better ways to appeal to your clients.
Consider catering unique spa services to fulfill needs outside of the mainstream. It could either be a need yet to be met in the local spa industry itself or a need not yet fulfilled in a particular area.
To get some inspiration, check out Smart Travel Asia’s detailed guide on Malaysia’s top spas.
For instance, you’ve decided to open your spa in a neighbourhood where there already are other spas. However, they all only cater to the majority, and you’ve discovered that there is a need for prenatal and postnatal massages among pregnant women.
Definitely, worth a shot to meet the needs of a niche market!
Moreover, this approach hastens the branding process of your spa business. Catering to very specific needs of a specialised market highlights the unique factor of your business. Hence, establishing your business’s branding.
3. Practice Consistency Across Your Marketing Channels
Ever heard of the phrase consistency is key? Well, the same goes for branding strategies.
Have a consistent set of colours to enable clients to identify with your brand. Also ensure that there is consistency in what you present on your website, advertisements and the spa experience.
You have to make sure that the promises you make on your marketing channels are designed to meet your clients’ expectations.
For instance, you’ve created a very promising offer that your massage services are of the finest quality, across your marketing channels. Then you will have to make sure that you provide your clients with the exact experience.
In the long run, it is this consistency between your marketing promises and your service experiences that help shape your business’s branding process.
When clients experiences tally with the image you have created, it leaves an imprint on their minds. Therefore establishing your brand’s image.
4. Engage Your Clients to Reinforce Your Brand
Another effective branding strategy would be to engage your clients in reinforcing your brand.
You could do so by turning your salon patrons into brand ambassadors. You may consider utilising social media to get your customers to share their positive experience with others.
Encourage this via client referral programs that offer incentives to clients who recommend new customers.
You may even consider featuring your clients on your social media platforms or give them “shout outs” for reviewing your services and spreading about your services online.
Brand management is an ongoing process that starts and ends with the customer.
The more you can do to cement their support of your brand, the better the odds that they will share positive experiences that can help to reinforce your brand identity.
5. Evolve With Time
As you may already be aware, the spa industry is highly susceptible to frequent changes. Since this is an industry concerning beauty, it is always subject to the customer’s changing preferences.
Hence, it is extremely important to keep up with trends and branch off into new directions when necessary.
Millennials are forming a huge portion of most markets. Be sure to incorporate the latest tools and modern massage treatments, and embrace digitisation.
In Malaysia, SOTHY’S new “Vanilla-Passion Fruit Mineral Oxygenating Treatment” is all the rage now!
According to Pamper.my, Malaysia’s No.1 Beauty and Lifestyle website, the treatment gives the skin a dose of multifunction anti-toxin complex and minerals to boost your skin’s defense system with delicious notes of vanilla and passion fruits, for energized and toned skin!
Check out Malaysia Tatler’s article on 10 Wellness Trends That Will Be All The Rage In 2018 for more information on what’s currently trending in the country!
Actionable Takeaway:
A brand exists only in the mind of your customers. They refer to the impressions obtained from your clients’ interaction with you,your products, services.
Every interaction sends a message, so make sure they point to the right direction to support your branding strategy.
Proper branding elevates your product to be more than just a sum of its parts. People make purchasing decisions based on more than just product features.
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