Comprehensive Guide to

MARKETING
For businesses of any size in the
beauty, wellness & fitness industries.
 Table of Contents

Why Should You Invest in Marketing? 2

How Long Does It Take to Implement a Marketing Strategy? 4
What Should I Do Before Creating My Marketing Plan? 5
Social Media 9
Text & Email Marketing 11
Branding 12
Website 13
SEO 14
Content Marketing 16
Reviews and Testimonials 22
Digital Apps 23
Paid Advertising 25
Utilise Your Staff 27
Establish a Referral Program 29
Host Events 31
Run Co-Marketing Campaigns 32
Focus on Your Storefront 33
Marketing Made Easy 34
Conclusion 35
Sample Marketing Plan for Small Businesses 36
When you think of the word, “marketing,” what comes to mind? Maybe you
think of the John Lewis Christmas ads or the Go Compare theme song.
While creating engaging advertisements is a part of marketing, there is so
much more that goes into the art of promoting a business.

Merriam-Webster defines marketing as “the process or technique of

promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service.” Sure, flashy,
eye-catching ads are a part of marketing. But marketing also involves less
glamorous work, like market research & data analysis. Every component of
marketing is essential to a successful strategy.

Whether you’re just starting with marketing or looking to improve your

existing plan, this guide will provide an overview of what goes into a
marketing strategy, which tools you need and how to execute your plan
once it’s in place. You’ll get a crash course from Vagaro’s marketing team to
help build your business and learn tips & tricks on what makes a marketing
plan successful.

1
Why Should You Invest in Marketing?
Marketing doesn’t come free. Although you can use free tools, you’ll have to invest time and
money into creating your strategy. If you’ve researched the average cost of running a marketing
campaign, you already know it’s hard to find a definitive answer. With so many factors at play, the
price can vary based on which tools you choose and how you manage your time. When you’re
starting, expect to spend some money.

As a small business owner, you may be concerned about spending. Every pound is precious. So,
let’s break down why investing in marketing is worth the monetary sacrifice.

The average return on investment (ROI) for marketing efforts sits at a 5:1 ratio. This means that,
for every dollar spent, you will, in theory, earn £5 in sales. Different types of marketing, like email
marketing, have different ROIs. In this case, email marketing has an average ROI of 36:1.
Good news, right?

2
Implementing a new marketing strategy can take 6–12 months to reap the rewards of your initial
investment. After that, you can expect to watch your ROI grow so long as you continually invest
time into creating high-quality marketing materials. However, you can expect to see an
improvement in your key performance indicators (KPIs) sooner, which may indicate that your
long-term ROI goals are appropriate.

KPIs measure short-term performance, whereas ROI measures long-term performance. KPIs
measure things like website traffic, total leads and social media engagement. You should expect to
see KPI improvements within six months of starting your marketing strategy. ROI measures things
like the cost per sale or the average value of a sale.

Along with the obvious financial benefits of investing in marketing, you’ll also build brand
awareness, increase business visibility and, perhaps most importantly, get more clients!

The initial cost of marketing may seem steep. But you also don’t need to invest in every single
marketing tool available at once. As your business grows, you can scale your marketing budget
and plan to keep up with your growth. If you are a sole proprietor or new to marketing, we
recommend choosing a few tools or techniques to implement, analysing performance, and
adjusting your strategy when needed.

3
How Long Does It Take to Implement a
Marketing Strategy?
Just like the average cost of implementing a marketing plan is unclear, it’s hard to definitively
answer how long it will take to create and implement a marketing strategy. Factors, like how much
free time you have to work on crafting your plan per day, can drastically affect these timelines. The
consensus is that it usually takes 4–6 weeks to complete a marketing strategy from start to
finish. Not all of this involves coming up with campaign or ad ideas; a lot of work requires
conducting competitor research and calculating budgets.

Because 4–6 weeks isn’t exactly quick, some business owners may forget to create a set
marketing strategy and just start throwing things at the wall, hoping something sticks. But,
remember how we mentioned it can take up to a year to see a strong ROI? That ROI will not go up
if you are inconsistent and disorganised.

A plan gives you structure to help you achieve your goals. This is particularly important if you are
not the only person who will be involved in your business’s marketing efforts. It's essential that
everyone involved is aligned and informed about how your efforts are performing and if any
adjustments are needed.

Most likely, you don’t have an in-house marketing team and may be the only employee. This can be
good since you only have to coordinate with yourself. However, sticking to any plan will require
discipline and, without input from others, may take longer to create.

Don’t worry—at the end of this guide, we’ve provided a sample marketing plan for small business
owners who don’t have a marketing team on staff to help get you started.

4
What Should I Do Before Creating My
Marketing Plan?
It might be tempting to jump into devising your marketing plan. But if you don’t cover your bases
beforehand, you’ll probably end up doing more work than expected or than what is necessary.

Research & Identify

First, perform competitor research. A direct competitor is any business that offers the same
services you do. An indirect competitor’s industry may be similar to yours, but they may offer
different services than you. Most of your competitors will be businesses in your industry that are in
the nearby area.

After identifying your competitors, think about who your ideal customer is and what they need. To
help with this, you should create a few buyer personas to get into a potential client’s headspace. A
buyer persona is a fictional character of your ideal customer that is informed by data &
information rather than assumptions. Creating this buyer persona will help you target the correct
audience and focus your efforts more directly.

5
Once you’ve identified your competitors & ideal customer, look at competing businesses’
marketing efforts, including all social media channels. Take note of what they’re good at, what
could use some improvement and what they’re missing. When you understand where the gaps are
in your competitors’ marketing, you'll find new opportunities to meet the unmet needs of
customers.

You’ll also want to assess local competitors’ pricing models, operating hours and the level of
convenience they offer their clientele. This will help ensure you stay competitive, especially if
you’re just breaking into your industry’s scene.

Consider Your Budget

How much can you realistically spend on marketing efforts? While you want to invest a fair amount,
you still have to consider daily operating costs and plan for any last-minute changes. Initially, you
may want to keep your marketing budget smaller with room to grow. It’s best to invest enough to
where you’ll be able to see the fruits of your labour in a few months, but not too much in case your
original strategy doesn’t go as planned. In other words, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

You may also consider hiring an outside agency, or freelancer, to help with certain parts of your
marketing efforts. This can come with a high cost but will offload some of your marketing tasks to a
professional. Again, consider your budget and whether you believe you can handle starting with
marketing alone or if you’ll need help. If you decide to enlist another person or agency’s
assistance, keep in mind that you’ll have to communicate expectations, deadlines and goals.

Set Goals & Deadlines

Once you’ve completed preliminary market research, learned about your ideal buyer and decided
on the financial investment, it’s time to decide what content you want to put out and when you'll
start publishing your marketing materials. Of course, it’s tempting to say, “Let’s put everything out
now!” in the hope of speeding up the process. But marketing is an art of iteration. You put
something out, analyse its performance, then continue improving upon it based on the
performance. Know that you will have to modify and adapt your plan to stay on track with how your
efforts perform.

You’ll also need to create a calendar for distribution. Whether you’re choosing to invest more time
in content creation, social media or different email marketing campaigns, you’ll need to establish a
clear timeline for each task.

6
Sit down and determine what steps are needed for any given task. It's best to determine the length
of time needed for each task as well. For example, creating a blog post involves outlining,
researching, drafting, editing, staging the article, sourcing images and publishing, among other
tasks. Say you want the total time spent on a single blog post to be five days. In your calendar,
schedule which tasks you’ll perform each day. If you’re working with others, you’ll need to
communicate this process to them, so everyone is aligned.

If you’re not sure how far to plan out, start with big, long-term goals that can be broken down into
smaller chunks. At Vagaro, our content team plans for 90 days of content. When it gets closer to
the end of those 90 days, the team gets together to analyse our efforts and strategically plan how
to move forward. By breaking down our long-term, yearly goals into chunks, we’re able to be more
flexible in our planning while iterating & improving on what we already have.

When deciding what sorts of goals to set, consider using the SMART goal model. A SMART goal is:

S: Specific. It’s hard to measure a vague goal. By adding specificity into the language used to write
this goal, it becomes concrete and achievable. Specific goals answer who, what, where, when,
which and why in detail.

• Who is involved in this goal?

• What are you trying to accomplish?

• Where will you need to be for this goal to become a reality?

• When do you need to complete this task?

• Which obstacles might get in my way?

• Why am I trying to achieve this goal?

M: Measurable. Consider how to measure the success of your goal. Feel free to use both
quantitative and qualitative data to inform this answer. You may decide to measure success by the
number of appointment bookings you get, or by how much revenue you generate.

7
A: Attainable. Is your goal realistic? If you’re just starting with your marketing efforts, chances are that,
“Get 100k followers on my business’s Instagram” is not an attainable goal quite yet. Instead, set goals
that are more within reach for where you are with your business.

R: Relevant. All goals set should be in line with growing your business. A goal like, “Make more money”
is not relevant. While marketing is intended to generate revenue and leads, this goal is irrelevant
because it lacks specificity and doesn't directly address a marketing goal. A more relevant goal for your
marketing strategy might be “Generate 10 new leads a month and increase ROI by 5% by next summer.”

T: Timely. If your goal doesn’t have a realistic deadline or none at all, chances are it will be hard for you
to achieve. Be honest with yourself and set deadlines that give you ample time to complete the work
needed to meet your goals. On the flipside, don’t give yourself so much time that it’s hard to stay
focused.

Now that we’ve covered what you need to do to create a successful marketing plan, we’re going to dive
into the wide array of marketing tools you can use to grow your business. Again, don’t feel like you
need to do all of these at once. Start small and be realistic. There’s always room to grow later.

8
Social Media

Almost every adult has a social media account. Why not take advantage of that? On social media,
you connect and communicate with your current clients and attract new business. People will be
able to find your business faster and get any questions answered without having to pick up the
phone. Social media is a great place to build connections. You can respond quickly to inquiries,
interact with your followers and inform them of any promotions or changes in your policies or
operating hours.

The best part about social media? It’s free! For most platforms, all you need in order to sign up is an
email address. Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok are all
great places to get started with your social media marketing.

But social media takes time to get good at. Growing your following won’t happen overnight. And,
it's hard to build connections if you have inconsistent or boring content. Give people a reason to
follow you.

What type of content appeals to your ideal customer? The more time you spend on social media
learning the habits of your clients, the better you’ll get at it. Research to see what others in your
industry are posting to stay relevant. And don’t stress about becoming a master of each social
platform. Instead, focus on getting good at one or two, then expand to other sites as you grow.

Social media is a medium that requires consistent posting. When you’re drafting your marketing
plan, schedule social media posts into your content calendar. You may consider making posts
ahead of time and auto-posting on specific dates. You can use tools like Hootsuite to manage all
your platforms.

The key to a successful social media strategy is high-quality posts. Unsure where to start with
posting on social media? Don’t worry. While each platform is best suited for different types of
content, here are some general best practices, regardless of which site you’re using:

9
Have an engaging caption. Pose a question or ask your followers to
respond to a prompt. Give them something to interact with.

Keep posts short & sweet. There’s a time and place for longer posts, but
generally, you only have 8 seconds to grab someone’s attention before they
keep scrolling.

Stay true to your brand voice, but don’t be afraid to bring your personality
into the mix. Be authentic!

Use clean, aesthetically pleasing visuals. Disorganised (or blurry) visuals can
signal that you’re unprofessional or don’t care about your business.

Focus on keeping posts pretty, even if you have to keep your pictures or
videos on the simpler side.

Jump on trends! The best way to stay in touch is to see what’s trending. You
may even want to participate in a challenge and tailor it to fit your industry.
You never know what trend could help you go viral.

10
Text & Email Marketing
Want to connect with existing clients quickly? Eager to bring back clients who seem lost? Invest
some time into email & text marketing!

Both mediums have substantial benefits. Email marketing’s average ROI sits around 36:1. Text
marketing has an average 95% open rate and a 19% click rate. When you use both, you’re bound
to see good results. But if you’ve never ran an email or text marketing campaign, you may be in
search of some ideas to get started.

Because these mediums are only usable with existing clients, utiliste them to run exclusive
promotions to keep your business top of mind. You might consider running limited-time campaigns,
like a back-to-school or holiday special. You can also target specific clients, like ones who haven't
returned to your business in a few months, to entice them with a discount aimed at bringing them
back.

While text marketing will always err on the shorter side, email marketing has more versatility and
can be used to send newsletters to update clients about business-related news, fun industry trivia,
or offer tips & tricks between appointments.

11
Branding
Recognisable brands are more likely to be frequented by clients. Set yourself up for success by
deciding on your logo, colour scheme & brand persona. Then, use these aspects of your branding
consistently to increase brand awareness.

While a logo and colour scheme are pretty straightforward, creating a brand persona may not be
something every business owner is familiar with. Essentially, a brand persona is your brand, as a
person. Take a second to imagine who your business would be. Are they fun and outgoing?
Reserved and refined? Consider how you want people to view your brand, then craft a persona to
meet this ideal.

Branding also helps to humanise your business. Instead of feeling like they’re interacting with a
nebulous entity, clients will feel like they’re interacting with a real person. This is especially
important in your social media marketing. Don’t post as a business; post as a person by channelling
your brand persona.

Avoid changing your logo unless a lot of thought has gone into it. If you change your logo, potential
clients (or even existing ones) may not recognise who you are anymore. This could negatively
impact your business as clients may believe you’ve moved or closed without notice. As your
business grows, stay consistent to help attract and build your clientele.

12
Website
Think about a website you’ve visited that caught your attention. What did you like about it? Did it
have a unique design? Was it easy to navigate? What information did the website give you? How
long did you spend on the website before finding what you were looking for?

Everyone is online, searching for anything and everything. If someone searches for your business
and comes across a disorganised or confusing website, they’ll likely hit the back button quickly.
You only have 7 seconds to catch someone’s attention before they leave your site. With clients
unafraid to judge your business by your website, your page must be orderly & effective.

Some vital information your website should have includes your location, hours & contact
information. If you want to make booking as easy as possible, make sure you have a booking
widget as a call to action (CTA) on applicable landing pages. Clients crave the ease of
convenience. Including a booking widget or clear information on how they can schedule a service
with you can make the difference between acquiring a new client and losing a potential lead.

13
SEO
Perform keyword research to help with search engine optimisation (SEO). SEO is essential because
it helps boost your digital visibility by optimising your site to rank higher in search engine results.
SEO increases organic traffic, which increases the number of appointments made as more
people start finding your business. Generally, when we think of SEO we think of ranking for
keywords. However, many technical elements go into SEO that can also affect your ranking and
visibility.

First, be sure that your website is indexed on Google. Check this by using Google Search Console.
After ensuring your site is indexed, you’ll want to submit a sitemap. Even if you’ve done this in the
past, it’s best to resubmit a sitemap to account for any major changes made to your website.

Since you’ll be targeting your local area, you want to optimise your Google Business, Bing Places
and Apple Maps profiles to ensure accuracy. Look at any niche-relevant marketplaces, for further
optimisation opportunities.

14
After tackling the technical SEO side, you’ll want to optimise your website to
make it as easy as possible for Google to read. An optimised website boosts
visibility and trustworthiness. Generally, each webpage should have an H1 tag
that tells Google (and your clients!) what they can expect to find on this page.
An H1 is also often called a title tag. A strong H1 makes it easier not only for a
user to navigate your website, but it also tells Google what to show in search
results.

Then, you’ll want to include a meta description for each page. A meta
description is a brief summary of the content on a webpage. Keep it short &
specific to focus on informing potential clients about what they can expect to
read on that page. Use headings to keep information organised and to
highlight important text.

Generally, there should only be one H1 tag. After that, you use the tags in
descending order of importance. Think about it like writing an outline. You
have a title (H1), a subsection (H2) and a more detailed subsection within that
(H3), and so on.

Make navigating your website as easy as possible. Buttons should be clearly

labelled and have a navigation bar at the top of the page so clients can
quickly jump around. Not only does this improve user experience, but it also
looks good to Google. Keep URLs informational but err on the shorter side.

15
Content Marketing

Newsletters

With email marketing’s high ROI (36:1), consider sending a newsletter to your clients. Newsletters
carry a relatively low risk but offer a high reward. It’s a great way to engage your clients as an email
goes directly to them. When compared to a social media post that can get lost in endless
scrolling, newsletters generate a strong feeling of personal connection. They also allow you to
establish a degree of credibility with your audience.

If you send an engaging & informative newsletter, positioning yourself as an authority in your field,
clients will see your expertise and trust you more. The best way to do this through a newsletter is
to offer insight into industry news, as well as tips & tricks. If you include small tutorials in your
newsletters, you’ll show clients that you care about connecting with them even when they are not
physically at your business.

A newsletter is also an excellent way to share news & updates about your business, fresh content
and key to staying top of mind with clients. Keep in mind that a newsletter must be organised,
thoroughly thought out and written well. Therefore, you shouldn’t send a newsletter every day, or
every week, for that matter. When you’re getting started, it’s best to send your newsletter once a
month. This will give you time to curate content and ideas that you think people will truly find
valuable.

Blog

Did you know that businesses with blogs generate more leads and are seen as more reliable?
Blogs help build a strong online presence. You can implement SEO best practices on your blog
pages to drive organic traffic to your website, which may result in leads or new clients. Always
include a call to action (CTA) at the end of a blog post that tells your reader what it is that you want
them to do.
Example: Book today for a free consultation!

Perhaps most importantly, a well-written and informative blog can position you as an authority in
your industry. Your blog posts should be relevant to your business, rather than a space to share
personal thoughts. If you run a lashes business, you should not be writing blog posts about a
recipe you tried. Your business blog is only for topics related to your business. Stay true to your
established brand voice while writing to help build brand consistency.

16
A blog is also an excellent way to engage with and build an online community. Even if your readers
may never become potential leads because they don’t live near your business, you’ll engage so
many different types of people. Interacting with people from around the country (or even the
world!) helps build your authority. So, be informative and fun. You can share links to new blog posts
on your social media pages to encourage visitors to visit your site.

Keep your content fresh and compelling. When writing a post, stay focused on the topic at hand. It
can be tempting to go on tangents, but this will cause your audience to lose interest. Conducting
SEO and market research will help you understand what’s trending in your industry and allow you
to create content tailored to that interest. Keep brainstorming topics to provide your readers with
news and updates.

Create an editorial calendar and plan which blogs you’ll write ahead of time so you can have
enough time to write & edit the post. Be sure to include visuals as well. Videos increase
engagement times on blogs, but if you haven’t jumped into video creation yet, make sure your
visuals are neat and relevant to the content on the page.

Videos

Video is the future (and present) of content marketing. It enhances your existing content and can
be tailored for different channels and audiences to increase engagement. Video improves SEO
because it reduces your bounce rate (the number of people who come to your website and
immediately leave) & increases the amount of time people spend on a webpage. It improves
conversion and click-through rates. If you want to thrive in content marketing, you must invest
some time in creating high-quality videos.

You don’t even need a fancy camera to get started; you can take great videos with your
smartphone. Consider getting a tripod so you can try out different kinds of videos. A tripod will also
reduce any shaking that may come with holding the camera manually.

You don’t even need a fancy camera to get started; you can take great videos with your
smartphone. Consider getting a tripod so you can try out different kinds of videos. A tripod will also
reduce any shaking that may come with holding the camera manually.

17
When you’re thinking about what type of videos to create, ask yourself why
you’re making this video. Never pick up the camera and assume the idea
will come to you. Videos require outlining and careful planning to ensure
your content is focused and relevant, covering everything you want to
address. Are you making the video to hop on a social media trend?
Showcasing a new product or service? Sharing your business’s origin story?
Highlighting a customer testimonial? Commenting on an industry trend or
giving a tutorial? Just keep in mind that how you shoot your video may
depend on what type of video you want to post.

Think about how to integrate this video into your content strategy and
where it will live on your website. Will you aim to post one new video a
month, and publish it in tandem with a relevant blog article?

When thinking about what types of videos you can have on your website,
consider the messaging and purpose of each page. Is this video going to be
on your homepage? It should represent your brand and provide an overview
of the goal of your business. Will it showcase a product or service? Then
have it live on that landing page. Keep it simple & informative. Is it a
commentary video or an interview? Embed the video into a related blog
post.

While videos can be any length, try to keep most of your videos shorter as
this will increase engagement and appeal to shorter attention spans.

18
Podcast

Sure, it seems like everyone has a podcast these days. And most of those podcasts are just people
talking about stuff that interests them. But that’s what people are looking for. They want to hear
experts talk about things in a conversational setting. So why not jump on the podcast train? A
podcast is another excellent way to carve out a niche of expertise in your industry and increase
organic traffic to your website. Each episode should have structure and stay focused on a
particular topic or theme. With a podcast, you could also have serial episodes that build upon one
another. For the most part, however, each episode will be standalone.

Podcasts are great because they can help you build a contact list. You can share podcasts on your
other content marketing mediums. Build a blog around the episode or film yourself recording it to
get extra video content. They also allow you to leverage interviews with other experts or leaders in
your industry. If you’re unsure where to start in your podcasting journey, research industry trends &
changes and share your thoughts on them.

Starting a podcast is pretty cost-efficient as well. All you need is a computer, a decent microphone
(which can start at around £50) and an account for a podcast hosting platform. Of course, if you
want to film the podcast, you’ll need a camera or a smartphone with video capabilities.

19
Visual Storytelling
By now, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “Show, don’t tell.” While this advice is usually imparted
to young writers to help them improve their writing skills, it’s also applicable to your content as a
whole. Visuals help to enhance and clearly show your audience what you mean. They help create
more dynamic content that fully informs and educates the reader. After all, not all people take in
information the same way.

For example, if you’re writing a blog post about how clients can book an appointment with you,
include screenshots in the article to show exactly how they can go about it. You can also use
different visuals around your website to make it more aesthetically pleasing and appealing.

Be sure to integrate your brand colours into any designs that you make. This helps maintain
consistency and solidifies what your brand looks like to your audience.

Not sure how to get started with creating basic graphic design elements or templates? Try a
website like Canva where you can learn the basics and get started creating cool visuals to use as
icons or pages on your site.

Visuals also play a huge role in increasing engagement on blog posts. Without visuals, a blog post
can be a long page of just text. While avid readers may not mind, most casual Internet surfers will
want some sort of visual to give them a reason to keep reading. The best way to break up blog text
is to include photos. You can use websites like Unsplash or Envato to access a large library of stock
photos. Or, you can try your hand at taking your own photos.

All you need to take great photos is a smartphone with a camera. To take great photos, make sure
you have bright lighting. This helps the subject of your photo remain clear and in focus. Take plenty
of test photos before shooting to ensure the lighting is working to your advantage. If you can, take
photos outside. The beautiful natural backdrops and lighting can enhance your photo quality.

Be mindful of contrast and colour schemes. Don’t make the background too busy, this can be
distracting for your viewer and will result in a photo that looks cluttered. And don’t be afraid to
stretch and move around while taking photos—the best angles aren’t always the most obvious
ones.

20
Interviews

Interviews are primary sources. Including interviews in your content

enhances your business's credibility and allows you to insert others’
perspectives into whatever you’re creating. If you decide to interview
another expert in your industry, you can have someone else back up what
you’re saying or offer new insight that you can discuss and debate.

Including expert voices in your content proves that you know what you’re
talking about. And your audience is more likely to trust you if you know what
you're talking about.

If you decide to interview happy or returning clients, you can easily use the
information gathered to create testimonials. Testimonials help show, and not
just tell, potential clients that you’re the best choice for them. When potential
clients can hear from actual clients, they’re more likely to trust you and,
hopefully, book a service with you.

21
Reviews and Testimonials
Leverage your best marketers: your clients. Just as negative reviews can deter clients, positive
reviews can help get new business through your doors. Without reviews and testimonials, people
will be wary of your business. They may wonder, "Has anyone ever been here and liked it?"

Think about it this way: when was the last time you went to a new restaurant without looking at the
reviews? More than likely, you at least skimmed the reviews or considered the star rating.

Potential clients are people just like you and will look at reviews when deciding whether your
business is right for them. So, leverage your current clients to write a review for you! All you have
to do is ask. You may choose to incentivise them with a small discount code or a bring-a-friend
pass. Reviews and testimonials will help build your credibility and show potential clients that you
know what you’re doing.

Reviews can be left on your Google page or featured on your website. Be sure to respond and
interact with clients who leave reviews, even the negative ones. No one likes to get a bad review,
but if you respond professionally and with grace, you’ll position yourself as understanding and
dedicated to providing the best experience possible for a client.

When considering how to format a testimonial, consider a blog post, video or both! A testimonial
differs from a review in a few ways. A review is strictly someone’s opinion about their experience at
a business. However, a testimonial tends to be more narrative-driven and is a statement that
praises the experience of the business and how that experience impacted them. The best way to
get a testimonial that you can use for content is to interview a loyal client.

22
Digital Apps
You don’t have to be a coding wizard to have a successful app for your business. And it’s a great
way to let customers access your business instantly from their home screen. Mobile apps can serve
different purposes, so before deciding to venture into it, consider what you’d like the app to do.
Generally, there are five categories for an app:

Content sharing
Example: BBC Good Food

If the goal of your app is to share the videos, blogs and tutorials you make for clients, a
content-sharing app allows clients quick access to whatever you create in one place. Instead of
going to your website or navigating different channels to access these various forms of content, a
client can pull out their phone, open your app and see everything you have to offer. If you’re
focused on growing your social media following, this is a quick and easy way to promote fresh
content. With built-in notifications, your loyal clients will be in the loop and up to date whenever
you add something new.

Entertainment
Example: Netflix

Instead of providing users information or sharing content, an entertainment app keeps the user
entertained, usually through videos, shows or movies. These apps are typically best suited for
streaming services and may not be as effective for your business. However, if you have a podcast
or a mini-series, an entertainment app may be the best place to host this content.

Customer services
Example: Salesforce

Want customers to be able to submit feedback or respond to requests as quickly as possible?

Have an app geared toward improving customer service. While these apps are great for solving
problems and may help increase the functionality of your website, this may not be the best option
for your small business if your goal is to increase customer loyalty and engagement.

23
Loyalty
Example: Caffè Nero

Need an easy place for clients to earn & track points to get rewards? Look no further than an app
focused on building customer loyalty. With this app, you can encourage clients to frequent your
business so they can acquire points to redeem for future product & services. This app makes it
easy to track their progress toward a reward and will benefit your loyal clients. It also incentivises
clients to return to your business again & again.

Task resolution
Example: Vagaro’s Branded App

A task resolution app helps clients access the services you offer remotely & quickly. For example,
these apps can allow clients to book services, buy products, adjust their customer profile and get
notifications for appointment reminders or updates. This app is a smart move for businesses
looking to increase bookings because you make it so easy for clients to access everything in one
click.

While apps can vary drastically in their initial cost, they have many benefits that justify it. Apps
improve brand recognition and promotion. If someone sees your logo on their home screen all the
time, they’re more likely to book services with you as your business stays top of mind and relevant.
Pair that with sending notifications, and your clients will know you’re always there when they need
you. They'll also help you unlock new marketing opportunities. You may consider running
promotions just for clients who use your app.

Apps also increase the level of convenience for clients. Instead of opening a browser, typing in
your URL and navigating to your website, they can tap your icon and boom—easy booking!
Convenience increases customer retention and gives you an edge over competitors.

Because clients can easily access forms through Vagaro, you can ask them to fill out customer
satisfaction surveys so you can improve the customer experience. And, if you need a client to fill
out a form ahead of time, they can do so from the app, speeding up the check-in process so you
can jump right into providing your high-quality service.

24
Paid Advertising

Paid advertising is a great way to get the word out about your business to a larger audience.
However, paid advertising campaigns must be well thought out and targeted to be successful. We
recommend starting with a smaller budget, learning which keywords are most successful, then
expanding your budget as you see what types of campaigns and keywords are best for your
business.

At first, you want to focus on a large number of lower-traffic keywords that are relevant to your
business. A common mistake is to focus on a small amount of high-traffic words. But think about it
this way: If you aren't generating a ton of organic traffic, you may get lost in the noise. And, if you
don’t truly understand which keywords are the best to advertise for, you may spend a lot of money
on paid ads that target the wrong audience.

Paid ads come in a few different forms. Paid search ads show up when you enter a search term.
They sit above organic search results and have a small box with some indicator that the result is
an ad near the page title.

Paid social media ads show up on a social media platform of your choice. You can run ads on sites
like Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. Consider your buyer persona when
deciding which social media platform to advertise on. Which demographics do they fall into?
Research which social media platforms are most popular with different demographics.

Display ads appear on websites and look like rectangular headers or footers. These are easy to
see and attention-grabbing but may be less effective than other ads depending on the goals of
your campaign. Banner ads can impede user experience and while they target specific
demographics, they're often shown to people who are not close to making a buying decision.

Not sure which keywords to start targeting? Here’s a tip: Don’t go after short keywords. These are
broad, harder to rank for and lack specificity. Remember, your goal is to target people who want to
make a buying decision. By that, we mean individuals who are more likely to book a service or
buy from you compared to someone who is casually searching.

25
So, instead of going after “hair products” as a keyword, try a specific,
relevant, long-tail keyword. In this case, it could be something like “best curly
hair maintenance products for women.” The long-tail keywords have more
information, narrowing down the number of people who will see your ads.
While this may seem counterintuitive, you don’t want to advertise to
everyone, and we’ll tell you why not.

Just because you may show up to more people does not mean the quality of
your leads is high. And if you’re running a pay-per-click campaign, you’ll still
have to pay for wasted efforts with the wrong people clicking your ad. If you
go after “hair products” as a keyword, you target anyone looking for a hair
product. And this keyword would be extremely difficult to advertise for when
there are well-known brands like Superdrug or Boots that sell hair products.
So, be specific. Even if you reach fewer people, the quality of your leads
increases.

Once you launch a paid media campaign, your job doesn't end. Instead, it
becomes an ongoing labour of optimisationt & targeting. Google Analytics is
a great way to analyse your efforts and watch your performance. Consider
running A/B tests when you change a feature on your ads to see if the
change was a good idea or if you should revert to what you had. An A/B test
involves creating & comparing two different versions of an ad and analysing
which performs better.

Finally, your paid ads should send users to a relevant landing page.
Sometimes, this is your website’s homepage. Other times, it may be a
product or appointment scheduling page. For example, if you run the “best
curly hair maintenance products for women” ads, have the ad lead a
potential client to either your online store or a page with more information
about the specific product. Additionally, each landing page needs a clear
call-to-action (CTA), such as, "Buy Now!" to tell clients what to do.

26
Utilise Your Staff
Your staff can be some of your best marketers. However, to fully utilise them, you must ensure
they’re onboard with your business’s mission & values. They need to feel like they’re included and
appreciated. It’s difficult to expect staff members who feel unappreciated or have low morale to
promote your business. So, before you ask your staff to promote your business, take a second to
assess how you treat your employees and show gratitude. If you don't already, show your team
how much you value them by recognising their accomplishments and thanking them for all they do
on a regular basis.

Make sure your company culture is positive, you’re accessible & open to feedback and staff
members are clear on expectations. You may also consider offering professional development or
growth opportunities to show your staff your investment in their career. This will reduce turnover
rates and increase company buy-in. Knowing you care about them and their growth will give
employees more reason to promote your brand. Once you have the basics established, it’s easy to
use staff members to market your business.

27
Consider running a contest or having an ongoing rewards program to
recognise staff members who bring in new clients. Once a month, you can
shout out the staff member who acquired the most amount of new clients.
Offering a reward, like an extra day off or a small bonus incentivises tstaff to
consistently promote your business.

Because social media is one of the most effective marketing tools, it’s easy
to pair with your best marketers. If your staff is active on social media,
encourage them to share content related to your brand and position
themselves as industry experts. This will increase their credibility & attract
new clients to your business. However, to ensure credibility and avoid
policing staff members' online activities, encourage them to have a
professional account separate from their personal one. This way, they can
still post whatever they want on their profile while maintaining
professionalism and properly representing your brand on their work
account.

Is there a specific way you’d like employees to post on social media? How
do you want them to talk about your business? Coach your staff on what to
do instead of expecting them to simply know what to do. This will help with
consistent messaging and present a unified front to clients.

28
Establish a Referral Program
Even in the age of Internet advertising and expensive marketing campaigns, word-of-mouth
marketing remains the most influential part of a customer’s journey and improves customer
retention.

A client acquired through a referral has double the lifetime value of one obtained through
traditional marketing methods. When a referral comes into your business, they already have a
positive view of your brand because it was recommended to them by a presumably trusted source.
Referrals also increase the amount of user-generated content you can repost to your social media
channels.

When establishing a referral program, there are two necessary pillars on which to focus. The first is
the proposition value for your existing client. The second is the customer experience. Let’s start
with the latter.

29
Customer experience differs from customer service in their lengths of time. Customer service
begins and ends when a client is in your business. You may have incredible customer service, but
the customer experience is what brings clients back again & again. It’s also why clients will tell their
friends to use you as well.

The customer experience begins before a client ever walks through your doors. It’s about how
easy your website is to navigate, how quickly they can book a service, your marketing, your social
media presence and, of course, their experience inside your business. Customer experience is
more long-term and can drastically improve client retention. If you want to increase the likelihood
of getting a referral, make sure the customer experience you offer is up to par. Once you’ve done
that, then you can implement a referral program.

On the surface, a referral program is simple. A current client tells a potential client to try out your
business. They get rewarded and (hopefully) their referral sticks with your business. However, you
want to make the reward enticing for current clients while remaining cost-effective for you. A good
way to ensure a referral sticks around is to offer a reward for trying you out.

For example, let’s say a current client makes a referral. They get £50 toward their next service. To
thank them and increase the likelihood of retention, offer a credit toward their next service as well.
This builds positive brand sentiment and gives someone a reason to come back. Now they have
credit they can use!

You can also run contests and limited-time promotions to encourage clients to make even more
referrals.

Don’t complicate the referral process. Doing so is off-putting and lessens the chance that your
clients will actually do it. Keep the customer experience top of mind when designing a referral form
& process.

30
Host Events
If you want to get more people into your business, host an event! Not only will you attract
prospective clients, but you’ll also build stronger relationships with your current clientele. An event
is a great way to network with local industry professionals or get involved with your community.
Events build brand recognition which, when done correctly, will lead to an increase in revenue.
Consider how you can generate revenue from this event. Will you charge for tickets? Are you going
to sell products? How will you promote your business at the event to entice potential clients? Will
you offer an incentive for people to return after the event ends, like a discounted service?

But hosting a business event is more complex than throwing a party at your house. First and
foremost, set goals for the event. Are you focused on generating qualified leads? How will you
measure the success of the event? Presumably, your event should get the word out about your
business and find potential clients to sign up for services or classes.

Then, decide how much you can spend on the event. You’ll need decorations, snacks and various
refreshments, among other things. Then determine the value proposition for attendees. Give
people a reason to come. If they come, will they get a discount on a service? Will they be able to
buy some products?

Next, decide what type of event you want to host. Is this happy hour? A workshop? A launch party?
Once you decide on the kind of event, you’re ready to start generating publicity. Of course, you’ll
want to use all your marketing efforts to promote it. You may also consider sending a press release
to the local media to help generate excitement around the event. Afterward, debrief your staff to
assess the event's success. What worked? What didn't? Did you hit your preset goals? If not, what
can you improve next time?

31
Run Co-Marketing Campaigns

A co-marketing campaign involves two businesses promoting an offer, whether it's an event or a
piece of content, and sharing the profits from said offer. Both businesses should have similar
audiences and goals they want to achieve from the collaboration. You may consider reaching out
to a more prominent local business to attract more people & build excitement.

So, for example, a small yoga studio may decide to team up with a popular local fitness clothing
brand. If both businesses have the same goal, like generating more qualified leads, this could be
an ideal partnership.

Research to see which local businesses could be best to team up with. Once you have a place in
mind, prepare a pitch highlighting the salient points of your idea. Show your potential partner
you’re organised & serious about the partnership. Once a business accepts your pitch, collaborate
to set clear goals. Then, create a timeline and write up a formal business agreement to decide who
takes on what. Some ideas for things you can co-market are videos, blog posts, webinars, eBooks
& events.

Let’s go back to the example of the yoga studio teaming up with a local fitness clothing brand. Both
businesses want to generate more qualified leads and are interested in collaborating to host an
industry night at the yoga studio. The yoga studio will offer a free class. Afterward, there will be a
cocktail hour to mingle, and the clothing brand will have products for purchase.

These businesses create co-branded marketing materials promoting the event. Any materials
direct interested individuals to a landing page to register for the event. When someone signs up for
the event, they provide basic contact information. For legal reasons, the co-branded landing page
discloses that contact information is shared with both businesses. The studio and clothing brand
work together and focus their marketing efforts on promoting the industry night. Any profits made
from the event are split between the hosts and, hopefully, both have achieved their goal of
generating more qualified leads.

32
Focus on Your Storefront
Your storefront is the face of your business. It's your first impression to the world. Whether you like
it or not, people are unafraid to judge a book by its cover. Therefore, your storefront must be
visually appealing and engaging enough to pique interest and potentially get curious passersby
into your business.

We all window shop, gazing at displays and, if the shop’s front is compelling enough, we may even
walk in and make a purchase. If we’re in a rush, we may store the business's name in our phone to
remember for later.

A storefront can truly make or break your business. If people haven’t heard of you, this is how
they will get to know you. If your exterior is disorganised, messy or just plain boring, you’re less
likely to generate interest from people walking by. Since you already rent or own your window
display, take advantage of this free advertising! Even if you don’t take walk-ins at your business,
you can still get people in your door, and they may schedule appointments or ask for more
information.

You don’t need an elaborate or overly complicated display to attract attention. However, you still
want it to be dynamic and visually appealing. Any text should be easy to read.

Remember when you decided on your branding? Your storefront is your brand. Here is the perfect
place to represent what your business is. This is the first place people will see your brand in action
if they haven’t seen your other marketing efforts. Don’t misrepresent your business by having a
display that does not match who you are as a brand. If your brand is edgy, don’t have a display
that feels whimsical. Are you the ideal place for relaxation? Avoid a cluttered or chaotic display.
Use visual storytelling elements to communicate who you are to people on the street.

33
Marketing Made Easy

Now that you know everything about executing an effective marketing plan, you’ll need some tools
to get started. You’ll also need to consider how to offer the best customer experience while
balancing the stresses of running a business. Not sure where to start? Vagaro’s got you covered.

Email & text marketing?

A customisable webpage builder?

The ability to respond to reviews?

A branded app?

An integrated social media booking widget?

Along with easy-to-use marketing tools to help promote your business, Vagaro is dedicated to your
growth. Starting at just £25 a month, you can add on different features and customise how Vagaro
works for you. Some add-ons include Forms and the Check-In App to improve customer
experience and make booking easier. Aside from marketing tools, Vagaro allows you to automate
your payroll and accept credit card payments from anywhere. As the premier all-in-one business
software solution, Vagaro makes marketing and management easy. Do what you love and let us do
the rest.

34
Conclusion
Marketing is essential for the growth of any business. Without it, it's hard to
find and keep new clients coming through your doors. While the initial
investment will require a fair amount of time and money, marketing will help
your business grow. Don’t expect all your marketing efforts to be
successful on the first go. Be willing and ready to shift your game plan and
adapt to the results. You could create the best marketing plan fathomable,
but if it’s not showing you the results you need within a certain timeframe,
consider how you can tweak your approach to be more successful.
Practice patience and resilience. Engage in the prework and research to
understand what potential clients are looking for and how you can solve
any problems they have. You’ve already worked hard to build your
business, now take it to the next level with your newfound marketing skills!

35
 Sample Marketing Plan for Small Businesses
Below is a sample business plan for a yoga studio. Use this as inspiration for creating your own
marketing plan.

1. Write a business summary

Business Name Yin Yang Yoga

Location London

Mission Statement To provide a well-rounded yoga experience for all individuals. By offering
both vinyasa and yin yang yoga classes, we strive to provide our students
with a balanced yoga education. With different levels, every student will find
a class that matches their needs

Primary Marketing Team Aimee Sylvan & Tommy Hart (Studio owner & a yoga teacher)

2. Identify initiatives
Campaign Description We are promoting our new live-streamed classes as well as new
late-night & early morning classes. We want to show we are the
go-to yoga studio for anyone needing more flexibility in class times.
Our goal is to get more members signed up both online and in-studio.
We will behosting an industry night and a free late-night class to
promote these changes. At the end of the year, we will assess our
current efforts and decide whether it’s an appropriate time to invest
in paid advertisements. Along with an email campaign to tell our
current contacts about these changes, we will be running a social
media campaign and revising our website. The social media platforms
that will be used are Instagram and Facebook. The design changes
on our website include new landing pages for teachers and classes,
a booking widget and new CTAs.

Campaign Goals • Bring at least 10 new members to join the studio per month
• Increase quarterly revenue by 5%
• Generate more leads
Metrics for Success Success will be measured by:
• An increase of 10% in signups from social media efforts
• An increase in monthly revenue

36
 3. Conduct market research, create buyer persona (create more than one!)

Age 27

Location London

Job Title Marketing Strategist

Personal Challenges Stress from work makes it hard for them to unwind at the
end of the day, sometimes they end up working too much.

Goals To improve yoga practice and reduce stress

with daily practice.
Pain Points Work hours sometimes limit the ability to come
into classes; would like virtual classes offered.
Has only ever gone to larger chain yoga studios
and is hesitant to join a smaller studio

4. Analyse your competition

Competitors • Breathe In & Out Yoga offers lots of yin classes
• Lotus Yoga offers online streaming
• Balance Yoga has a great in-studio shopping
selection
• Larger chain yoga studios with standardised
classes
Other Competition Most local studios also offer different kinds of
yoga, often outside of what we offer.

37
5. Identify your SWOT

Strengths Small intimate classes, close-knit community

Weaknesses Low attendance for Monday & Wednesday

classes, limited hours, unaligned marketing
goals.

Opportunities Align marketing goals, survey clients more to

improve customer experience.
Threats Competitors may start to offer live stream as
well; larger yoga chains feel safer because you
know what you’re getting with a class that
follows a specific formula. How can we convince
potential clients to come to us, despite not
following a script for classes?

6. The 7 Ps of marketing
Product Live stream classes and off-hour yoga classes

Price Live stream + £15/class; Off-hour + £30/class

Promotion Will promote live stream on social channels, supported by

blog articles. Off-hour classes will be promoted on social
and blog articles. Will have multiple CTAs for all and booking
widget on all landing pages, as well as social pages. Will also
be sending a 3- touch email campaign to current members.

Place New videos/content promoted on social channels

People Clients who may not be able to take classes during

traditional operating hours.
Process 1. Conceptualise post idea
2. Create accompanying social post and a brief blog if
needed
3. Post to social, direct to website to book
4. In social posts, focus on highlighting the accessibility
of classes now
5. In email touches, link to blog and promote social
channels to increase following

39
 Physical Evidence Clients will see social posts and will see content on the
website. They will also be directed to our Vagaro page to
learn more about how to book with us and see our class
schedule and live stream offerings.

7. Budget
Marketing Software Hootsuite to help plan posts: £49/month

Outsourcing N/A, for now. If we decide to add, we will after 2 months of

running our own social campaign. Then, we will contact
Marketing Agency 101, which starts at £150 a month.

Events to be Hosted Industry night, mid-November. Budget £2,000 to host and

promote.

Paid Advertising Will consider running paid ads in December. Will start with a
budget of £5,000.

8. Choose marketing channels

Social Media Instagram & Facebook

Business Website Pages Yinyangyoga.com, vagaro.com/yinyangyogalondon

Email Will run a 3-touch email campaign to current clients to

communicate the expanded schedule and promote the
live stream. Offer discount code for current clients.

Paid Media GoogleAds

Events Free late-night class on 18/12, industry night on 15/11.

40
Learn more at sales.vagaro.co.uk