THE SPA FRANCHISE PARTNERSHIP
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presence with helping engage existing and potential guests as well as share company news about openings and events.
“ Incorporating these [ social media ] has brought new customers in the door and maintained a loyal guest base as they take advantage of new services and learn about new treatments. Our Facebook fans feel like they’ re part of the family and we encourage that through our communication efforts,” Garrett says.
The Woodhouse Day Spa also boosts its image with six major marketing campaigns produced by its corporate headquarter. The corporation provides franchisees with a planner outlining objectives, targeted products, available marketing materials and more for each campaign. The franchisee then uses this as a guide to support campaigns at the local level.
To attract clients, Massage Heights stresses the health benefits of massage in its marketing efforts, utilizing the tagline“ Live. Life. Better.” With this as a foundation, the company utilizes search engine optimization( SEO) and search engine marketing( SEM) strategies to connect with consumers looking for health solutions online. Recently, Massage Heights launched a marketing campaign focused on its members and used four of them in an“ I Am a Member” educational campaign. The company has also started to align itself with organizations that target a niche population that would benefit from massage.
“ Our sponsorship of Rock‘ n’ Roll Marathon Series races in cities across the U. S. is a perfect example of this type of partnership, which has allowed us to get in front of 500,000 consumers who would benefit from a sports massage at Massage Heights as well as our products and elevated services,” Evans says.
Keys to Strong Partnership Along with supportive programming, both Garrett and Elias credit good communication between franchisees and the franchisor as the key to a strong spa franchise partnership. To ensure this communication remains strong, The Woodhouse Day Spa recently created a Woodhouse Online Village where franchisees can log
“ We all have different levels of expertise we bring to the table and it’ s that shared pool of resources, ideas and information that benefits everyone.”
on daily to access the latest company updates and news, manuals, budgeting tools, marketing materials and more.
“ The successful flow of information between the franchisees and franchisor can only benefit all the parties involved and make each one stronger,” Elias says.“ In addition, that same level of communication must exist between the individual franchisees. We all have different levels of expertise we bring to the table and it’ s that shared pool of resources, ideas and information that benefits everyone.”
Massage Envy franchisee, Leann Sumner, says she regularly communicates with her corporate staff and local product reps about the day-today operations of the spa. The consistent communication also benefits Massage Envy as a franchisor by providing valuable insight into best practices from franchisees to share with its overall network.
“ Massage Envy franchisees have a strong sense of community and are willing to share best practices with each other,” says Sumner, who opened her Massage Envy franchise in Temecula, California in February 2008.“ If you have a particular challenge, another owner has probably already found a great solution and will [ likely ] share it with you. That makes us all better able to provide great services to every client across the country.”
Identifying Challenges While adhering to brand standards in a franchise business ensures consistency, sometimes it can also present challenges, limiting franchisees’ abilities to get creative with spa operations. However, Funk says, Massage Envy’ s national brand recognition and innovation from the corporate level help keeps franchisees on the cutting edge.
“ Our company, nationally, is tightly connected with the national scene in the massage, esthetic and spa professions which keeps us looking ahead, as opposed to where we are at or where we have come from,” Funk says.“ We are committed to an environment of perpetual learning and growing. As a national brand,
32 PULSE ■ September 2012