Greetings Massage Marketers!

February 14th is less than 2 weeks away and beyond organizing some special valetine’s surprises for your significant other, it is time now to START SELLING YOUR MASSAGE GIFT VOUCHERS (if you haven’t already)!

Valentine’s Day is the absolute best time of year to sell your massage Gift Vouchers both to your existing clients (for their partners) and also to the general public.

Why? Because a massage is the perfect gift for Valentine’s Day and studies have shown that people who will probably never book in for a massage themselves, will in fact buy a massage Gift Voucher for their partner.

So this post is a timely / friendly reminder to you all to start promoting your Valentine’s Day Gift Vouchers A.S.A.P!

Here’s a few suggestions to get you started…

You can start by making up a sign and displaying your beautiful Gift voucher and envelope in a small basket of rose petals in your massage room or waiting area, clearly where your clients can see it.

You can also let your clients know that you have them available, at the end of their treatment, before they pay you.

If you have a massage newsletter about to go out, you should definitely announce your Valentine’s Gift vouchers and specials in there.

NOTE: If you don’t yet publish your own massage newsletter, you are missing out on what is probably the most effective way to keep your clients coming back again and again.

For more information see my post at:

Massage Marketing Newsletter

If you have an email list of your clients, you should definitely write up a nice friendly email and tell / remind your clients that about your Valentine’s Day gift vouchers that way. It’s fast and it’s free!

This strategy works brilliantly if you are also set up to sell your massage Gift Vouchers automatically online.

For those of you that are a little more Internet savvy or know someone who can help you, Gift Vouchers for massage treatments (and the like) sell like hot cakes on eBay, especially just before Valentines Day!!!

For those of you who want to sell a lot of Gift Vouchers (perhaps if you have a larger massage/spa business), you could approach other local businesses to sell your Valentine’s Day Gift Vouchers on your behalf for a commission - say 10-15% of the sales price.

This kind of ‘Joint Venture’ marketing can be extremely effective and is great for building solid ’supportive’ relationships with other ‘non-competing’ local businesses.

If you are worried about this eating into your profit, then simply increase the sales price by the amount of the commission.

When you have someone out there ‘endorsing’ you (i.e. saying your massage is amazing) people will be happy to pay more to have a treatment with you.

In fact they would more or less just assume that this is your normal price.

Off the top of my head, here are some possible partners that may be interested in selling your Gift Vouchers.

Card Shops
Newsagents
The Body Shop
Hairdressers
Gift Shops
Nail Technicians
Real Estate Agents (They could buy them as gifts for their clients)
Chemists/Pharmacies
Health Stores (i.e. Mrs Flannerys)
Gyms
Cosmetic Surgeries/Plastic Surgeons
Yoga Schools
Naturopaths
Juice Bars
…and the list of possibilities goes on!

NOTE: Be aware that many businesses may already supply a massage service or represent someone who does, so be sensitive and considerate in your approach. If you don’t ask though, you won’t get, so don’t be shy!

A general caution when it comes to selling Gift Vouchers…

“Gift Vouchers bring in tomorrow’s money. So be careful how you manage this money. You haven’t earned it yet!”

The last thing you want to do is to spend this money carelessly in advance and then have 3 weeks straight of little or no cashflow because some happy little ‘Valentines’ with Gift Vouchers in hand have suddenly filled up your appointment book.

Tania and I had a couple of close calls with this when we were first starting out, so we can speak from experience. Make sure you allocate that money carefully!

Anyway, if you don’t yet have a nice, warm, professional looking Gift Voucher for your Valentine’s Day promotions, don’t worry, I’ve just created a basic (yet beautiful) one for you below.

All you need to do is edit the business name, address and phone number in the lower left hand side of the Gift Voucher.

Just open the file in Microsoft Word, click on that section (there’s a text box there) and type in your details.

Then hit save and either print them out yourself on some thick paper or card, or for best results burn the file to a disc and take it to your local print shop.

If you decide to take it to a print shop, you will need to convert the Word Document to PDF. Print shops hate Microsoft Word because the formatting of a Word Document can change very easily and they generally dislike working with that program because of the need to reformat a lot of the time.

When you convert a file to PDF, that format is ‘universal’ and what you see is what you get. If you don’t have PDF converting software, such as Adobe Acrobat, here’s a free online service you can use to convert your Gift Vouchers to PDF:

https://www.pdfonline.com/convert_pdf.asp

NOTE: If you’re not too computer savvy and you’d like me to customize the Gift Voucher for you and convert it to PDF so that it is Print Shop ready, I’d be happy to do it for you for a small fee of $20. I’ll then email you the finished PDF as an attachment and also send you a copy on disc.

If you’d like me to do this for you, just send me an email and give me your details. Otherwise, if you know your way around Microsoft Word, feel free to customize the Gift Voucher, however you like.

Anyway, here’s the download link to your free Valentine’s Day Gift Certificate:

Valentines Day Massage Gift Certificate

Please enjoy with my compliments and all the best with those Gift Voucher sales.

Remember, time is ticking so make the most of this once a year opportunity!!!

Mahalo

James Thomas
Marketing Director & Co-Founder
TOUCH OF ALOHA

P.S - If you use my Gift Voucher, be sure to let me know how many you sell. I love to hear how you guys are doing!

P.P.S - If you already have a Gift Voucher that you’re using, one way to make it more ‘Valentiny’ (if there is such a word) is to purchase some nice little heart, Cupid or rose stickers from your local newsagent or Officeworks and just stick them onto your regular Gift Voucher and or envelope.

NOTE: Always, always provide an envelope with your Gift Vouchers. You want it looking beautiful and professional when it is opened, not marked or ‘dog eared’ because it’s been floating around the car or your handbag unprotected.

Surprisingly, I have bought several Gift Vouchers over the last few years and I did not receive them in an envelope. I remember thinking to myself how ‘cheap’ and ’unprofessional’ that was.

Remember, it’s often the ‘little things’ that set apart the ‘ordinary’ from the ‘excellent’…so why not be EXCELLENT!!!

Speaking of envelopes, bright red ones for your Valentines Day Gift Vouchers would be a nice, warm touch (red is the colour of ‘passion’ afterall).

P.P.P.S - Here’s a bonus tip!

You will sell A LOT more Gift Vouchers if you put together a ’special package’ for Valentines Day.

So if you have skills in addition to your regular massage for example, Lomi Lomi, Hot Stone Massage, Spa Body Treatments or beauty therapy (nothing painful though like waxing), then put together an ‘irresistable’ package that you yourself would like to receive.

Also, if you can make the numbers work, perhaps you can include a glass of champagne with a couple of ‘chocolate-dipped’ strawberries (YUM!). Or, if you’re set up for it, perhaps you could create a special Valentine’s Day package for ‘couples’.

You could easily charge a ‘premium’ price for this and people will pay it as they buy with their ‘heart’ and not with their head, especially at this time of year!

The secret is to focus on selling the benefits that the Gift Voucher ‘buyer’ will receive (as opposed to the actual ‘recipient’) i.e. convenience (no need to go shopping which is a great incentive for a lot of men!) and how much their partner will love and appreciate them for organizing such a caring and thoughtful gift!

Anyway, I hope that wets your appetite and gets some ideas flowing. I wish you much success with your Valentines Day promotions!