Hold My Mail……and Cell, and Blackberry - I’m on Vacation   By Liz Galloway

Unfortunately my vacation existed more in my mind’s eye than a real escape. My last vacation unsuccessfully combined my work with a family getaway. The reality of it was, I spent my time with clients and students, while my family had a vacation, minus one. Me.

If you’ve ever felt you need a vacation after your scheduled vacation, schlep around a cell phone and laptop on the beach, or think its a good idea to combine work with bonding moments, it may be time to rethink your vacation goals. Though you may carry the red badge of courage for overtime and dedication at work, are you able to apply those same attributes to being the ultimate traveller? Forego vacation deprivation and getaway guilt and find out what kind of traveller you are. It can tell you a lot about yourself. How you handle critical thinking, project management, adaptation and flexibility to change, oversight of many different personalities, and stress relief. Use a vacation as a learning experience and bring a fresh perspective to your work. That time away can be extremely valuable.

As a provider of educational workshops and getaways for both spa and wellness professionals and savvy consumers, its apparent that people have a yearning to combine enlightenment with stress relief. Which is exactly why we create specially tailored getaways that provide opportunity for purpose, education and a well deserved vacation. Vacation goals may be different for everybody, but its time to get back to the passion that inspires us when we let ourselves just be, rather than continually doing. Take that into consideration when planning your next edu – vacation.

There are many variations on vacation themes. Don’t know how to choose? If your looking for a good example of an excuse to take your vacation time, join our 2008 Cruise for P.I.I.N.K., a charity wellness retreat in support of breast cancer awareness. October 13-18. I know, I know. Your ambitious, and take it upon yourself to get things done at work. Have mounds of responsibilities that you could never ask a colleague to take on. The reality is, you can and should.

A healthy work environment and a healthy individual requires a balance. That balance is time for yourself. People typically go on vacation for several reasons, and according to tourism and resource boards here are some of the top;

People want to build and strengthen relationships. Vacation time is also family time. Especially with a typically family schedule that leaves little for quality time together. A vacation is a perfect time to get a fresh view of family away from home stresses and workstresses. Along with family bonding, this is an ideal time for children and adults to socialize and make new friends.

A need to improve health and wellbeing. Physical and mental well being is vital to everyday successes and a balanced work/family life. Health and well being getaways can include physical outdoor activities, and other ‘themed’ vacations that include nutrition, spa, relaxation, stress relief, education, sports etc. These are lifestyle focused.

Desire to rest and relax. Third on the list is reason to escape from work, schedules, worry, and everyday demands and just relax. Many cruiseships for exmple play up this goal by providing easy access to many relaxation methods in one spot. If you can find a cruise style that offers an itinerary that fits with your purpose its even better. Get a fresh view.

Enjoy new adventures. Many travelers find popular destinations with adventure getways. Eco adventures, Extreme Sporting adventures, Detox/Boot Camp adventures, Wine Socials, and even Naked cruising top the list. Adventures are to evoke new emotions, and experiences, what ever your goal may be. Romance, heightened sensation, visual stimulation, danger, its all at a travellers fingertips with the right planning.

Just to escape. This can mean many things, and is usually when people are looking for

something that is deficient in their daily lives. Something different. Different climate, quieter surroundings, better scenery, a slower pace of life, culture, learning, or anything else that may create a passion in peoples lives.

Knowledge building and learning. People are savvy, and have demands placed on them daily that require a high level of knowledge, pulling them in many directions. That knowledge also motivates today’s travellers. Better educated, and motivated for additional learning and stimuli, people travel to explore language, cultures, spirituality, mind-body connections, health, gourmet foods, and many other pursuits dedicated to knowledge and personal development. They want to see, touch, or feel something unfamiliar, yet apply their knowledge to a cause.

Celebrate special occasions. Some travelers take vacations to celebrate milestones in their lives: new relationships, marriages, birthdays, or professional achievements. Vacations that mark special occasions are usually taken with loved ones and provide memories that last a lifetime.

To save money or time. Although going on vacation almost always costs money and

time, where one goes on vacation can influence costs. You can still vacation and save money with mini vacations close to home, or on a scaled down version of another vacation. Virtually every budget can find a vacation that fits.

To reminisce. Many people travel to relive fond memories. Some will revist old places, or people to rekindle memories from a previous vacation, childhood or other memory. All of this focus on travel, food, and souvenirs, is really about buying an experience, and a sentimental journey.

There are nine perfect reasons to start planning your next vacation. Our upcoming cruise is a tenth reason. Many of us can be reluctant to understand the importance of time away from routines and stress factors. This is mostly a self induced state. Let’s make it a new generation of downsizing working vacations, and start understanding that it is not only our work that defines us, but our true calling and passion. Though we may feel we have a lot to lose at work. All of us have a lot more to lose if we can’t grasp the importance of enjoying the here and now.

Liz Galloway © 2008

Liz is the guest blogger for this article and the owner of The Lotus Effects.  Check out her website at

http://www.thelotuseffects.com/ and joins us for the cruise on October 13th-18th.

Branding a spa may start with the niche, the name, the services, but that’s not the whole enchilada.  Branding includes the interior design, the feel, the smells, the furniture, putting it more succinctly branding includes all six senses…no kidding, not just sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell…it also includes that sense that no one talks about…the sixth sense….I like to call it the sense of good energy or bad energy.

True branding starts at the planning of the spa, at the design, the layout, the interior design, the concept details from start to finish.  You can feel the effects of true branding when you walk into a spa and it just all pulls together.  Some spas can have the best architect, designers, and spa consultants, but when the management and marketing begin their work, it just doesn’t pull together.  But the same can happen in reverse.  True branding carries the process from pre-planning and conceptual through marketing, advertising, and promotion.

By branding it easier to show examples of where branding falls short:  (these are real-life examples)

1. A eastern oriental themed spa serves coffee in mugs (maybe it should be green or black tea in tea cups)
2. A southern, plantation style spa has bamboo leaf table covers (maybe they should have been gardenias or magnolia leaves)
3. The menu of a southwestern style spa offers Napa Valley wine body treatments (maybe by indigenous it should have been an ancient Indian red clay mud treatment)
4. Walking into a very upscale and prestigious spa in a major metro city, the paintings on the walls are fabric covered frames of horses running and the Kleenex in the locker rooms are fabric sewn cozys)
5. An organic, green spa served (much as we love them) Mrs. Field’s cookies on their guest amenity table.

Yes, there are thousands of examples, but take a walk through your spa.  What is the niche of your spa?  Does every detail down to the shampoo and conditioner tie into your brand and theme?  Do your product lines match your brand?   If you had to call your brand a name, let’s say “Luci”, would Luci use that shampoo?  Would Luci have that painting on the wall?  Do the floors and décor match Luci?  If all the details do not tie into the brand, then you may be confusing your clients with your brand uncertainty.

Besides being great for the hair, the marketing and branding for Moroccan Oil is spectacular.  They take the turquoise and orange and it is literally spread everywhere.  As you walked the booths, you kept seeing the turquoise bags everywhere.  Yes, other vendors have handed out bags, yes other vendors have used color, but no one made such a bold visual statement.  By the time you left Premiere, if you did not know who Moroccan Oil was or if you did not have samples, you must not have been at Premiere.

Color is part of your brand, just like your name, and any visuals that you may use.  Your logo, while it must look great in black and white, must convey a color statement.  What are your colors?  Do they say what you are selling?  Is it easy for the consumer to understand your color story?  What are you saying with your choice of colors?  What does black or red say?  What does turquoise say?

Sometimes spas leave their logos and branding as a last thought. Well what color should our logo be?   First on the list is the name and once you have a name you’re done.  Right?  Wrong.  There is so much more to creating a brand. 

1. Does the brand say who you are?
2. Are you sure you are conveying the right message?  (Are you an organic spa with a name that says beauty?—your consumer will be confused)
3. Does your spa brand have a niche?  Who are you?  What makes you special?
4. Does your brand speak to color?  If your brand is a southwestern theme, you may opt for turquoise and browns, while a fictitious spa called American Spa must of course be red, white, and blue.
5. Your brand and its colors must carry throughout the spa and in every detail. Bags, gift cards, towels, robes, interior design—top to bottom.

If you are having trouble with your brand, give my friends at Palm Beach Media a call, they are experts at creating spa brands and weaving a story through the advertising clutter.  Your brand says it all and it cannot just be a name pulled out of a hat.

BEST in SHOW goes to New York Streets Hair Culture Collection.

Booth, after booth, after booth, after booth…same table, or an attempt at being exciting…there are some companies that excel at trade show booth marketing.  New to Premiere Orlando and to the industry was New York Streets, a small hair care line that went out of their way to have a spectacular booth.  From their little street vendor cart to the brownstone buildings, the booth sold me on New York.

Okay, you are in the beauty business.  That is great, but at some point you must realize that to reach your prospective guests you are going to need to use the Internet.  Unless your target market is over 75, you will need a web site—and yes, you need to e-mail your clients with monthly information.

Staying in touch with your clients is the most important part of your business, because if you do not stay in touch, they will forget you.  Yes, you will be dropped like a hot potato, and they will rush down the street to see the next best spa in town.  Why?? people talk, people listen, people chatter….they just do it in a different way today.  They e-mail, they twitter, they facebook and they link–it is the way we are choosing to stay in touch.

You don’t have to be ultra sophisticated, but you have to stay in touch.  Does your spa software allow you to e-mail?  If so, please set up a template and use it monthly.

If you need assistance with spa software, check out Millenium Software from the greatest group of computer geeks in the world.  You can e-mail clients one at a time, or for confirmations or you can send out an e-mail just to maybe “new facial clients that came in within the last month–the possibilities are endless.  Stay in touch- an e-mail will do.

Recently I was flipping through a major spa magazine and came across the Burger/Stone Massage theme from a hotel that was advertising their restaurant and spa. 

Okay, what was the advertising agency really thinking? And, what was the client thinking?  Was anyone thinking?  Let’s see, first I’ll have the stone massage and then the hamburger.   Or, I’ll have the stone massage and then the juicy burger.  Let’s see, does the hotel have the drive-in experience for the spa?  I’ll have cheeseburger with extra mustard, hold the pickle, and yes, a deep aromatherapy massage with the burger. 

Please, no burgers in spa paradise.  And get rid of the stones on the back.

Who’s your brand?  What does she or he look like?  What do they wear?  How do they dress?  This was my dilemma when I spent a night pouring through the shelves with Rita at Barnes & Noble.  It was Rita’s idea to head to B & N to research the new brand.  When you create a spa, you have to have a visual was Rita’s advice.

Book after book, what was I looking for?  To me, the brand was smiles, happy, black and white pictures, glamour, dancing, long eye lashes, big lipstick, elegant, whimsical, fun, and larger than life.  The new spa experience would be elegant, yet whimsical.  So I poured through books and took many photos.  Below, this was the brand from the books at Barnes and Noble.

The visuals above provided a road-map for our photo shoot for the spa brand.  The pictures gave us words, feelings, and guidance.  I guess that is why they say a picture is worth a 1,000 words.

Just like the rump of the cow gets branded…so does your spa.  When a farmer brands their cows, it is their way of telling the other farmers…hey you this is my cow.  When a client or guest walks through your door, what does your brand say?  Is it stamped where it should be?  Bags, brochures, signage, uniforms,…the list goes on all need to have YOUR brand, YOUR professional logo.

Plus, what does your brand infer about the spa experience…is it beachy, casual, snooty, elegant, whimsical, fun, serious, therapeutic, nautical, chakra, mountains, lakes, chocolate–the list could go on for your spa exerience.  You see, making your spa experience special is your way of branding your cow.  What you say or even don’t say about your story is repeated to others as their spa experience at your spa.  So, use all your senses to come up with your brand, your logo, and your spa experience.

Sear your spa experience on numerous rumps–it’s the spa way.

When you are planning your spa, you have to segment the market and choose your niche.  What is a niche?  Wikipedia describes a niche as Niche Market-a focused, targeted portion (subset) of a market sector.  Okay, do I really need one?

Yes, you need to know your spa target market–who will come to the spa, and your niche in the market.  For example, Who are you?

• men only
• teens
• young adults
• senior citizens
• club spa
• destination
• Ayurveda
• resort spa
• wellness spa
• yoga spa
• day spa
• skin spa

The list is endless, because the market segmentation is endless.  The key is to make sure that you have enough clients in your niche to keep your spa busy and profitable.  A teen spa in a predominantly senior citizen Florida city may not fare well, even though you have read how popular they are.  The example teen spa would not have enough clients to keep the spa profitable.

On the other side of choosing your niche, remember, you cannot be all things to all people.   As the spa industry continues to grow and morph, we will start to see niche markets that will become market trends. 

Once you find a niche in the market, make it yours and don’t deviate or waffle–your clients will become confused.  One spa in the area started out with a definite hip, Miami feel, attracting clients from 3 counties.  It was an auspicious start, but the clients it attracted could not afford to go to the spa.  So they changed the marketing and changed the marketing and changed the marketing.  Now, I’m not sure who they really are?

When you don’t know you are, how do you think your clients will know who you are?  Find your niche, and stick to it….they say like white on rice.

When you go to create a spa brand, where do you start?  With the bricks and mortar or the initial concept?  What will your chicken do or say? Where will the egg be laid?  Will the egg be gold or silver? Will the chicken be organic or green?  When you start to brand a spa, you must start at the very beginning…don’t lay a brick, don’t pay the architect.  What is your brand, how does it feel?  Does it smell?  Does it touch my senses?  What will I feel as a guest in your spa?  If you are having trouble with the chicken or the egg—get assistance!  The branding of your spa is one of the most important aspects of the business.  It is your intrinsic way of saying who you are, what you stand for and how you do business. 

Will your guests be swept away on a magic carpet, or do you have an oriental flare?  Play 20 questions and your brand will start to hatch, little by little, with guest feedback and an instinct of what your guests want in a spa.