Referrals and Word of Mouth is the Best Form of Advertising for your Spa or Aesthetics Business

Referrals and word of mouth are the best form of advertising for your spa or aesthetics business. This is a well known fact, though it is semantically a little misleading. You could say they are the best form of marketing communications, but they actually fall under the category of public relations and not advertising since advertising by its nature is publicity you have paid for. The old saying in the marketing world is “advertising is what you pay for, public relations is what you pray for.” That being the case, look at good word of mouth as the answer to your prayers because those clients who come to you due to a referral from a satisfied client are undoubtedly going to be easier to please than someone who walks in cold off of the street.

When you receive a referral they have already been primed to expect outstanding service and you need to be ready to give it to them, paying attention to their needs and treating them in essence like royalty. However, you are probably doing this for all of your clients now, which is why you are receiving referrals in the first place.

Remember that this new client can be a source of referrals herself, since she probably is in the same social circle as the person who referred her to you. That means that when groups of friends in this circle meet there will be two advocates for your service speaking up and making your spa or aesthetics business a source of conversation. You could very quickly become the “in” place to be for this group of friends. This does however have a down side. A bad experience had by one member of a group can then have an adverse effect on the entire group, so pay attention to their needs and make sure that you provide quality service.

Many marketing professionals believe that the sole purpose of paid advertising campaigns is to “prime the pump” to bring you your first batch of clients who will spread word of mouth. Of course this does not mean that you can stop advertising when you start to get good word of mouth. Many businesses have felt that way in the past and had negative results. Remember that Coca Cola and McDonalds are household names and yet they spend billions of dollars each year in new paid advertising.  Many years ago the cleaning products world was dominated by Bon Ami. They had so much word of mouth they ceased their advertising. It didn’t take long for Ajax and Comet cleansers to take the number one and number two spot. Perhaps Coca Cola and Pepsi spend so much because they remember that Moxi Cola was once number one, many years ago and did the same thing.

Still, word of mouth creates strong clients and stronger cash flow. Cultivate these referrals, make them know that they are appreciated and your business will flourish.