Collaboration and Community Involvement to Build Your Business
This is The Spa Business Building Podcast, and I'm Tiffany, your host. I'm a licensed esthetician and massage therapist with nearly 20 years of experience.
And I've had a day's spa of my own, solo business owner for nine years. And I am here to help you attract more clients and build a thriving business. Today, I wanna share tips and strategies on attracting more clients because that's what I do.
So we're gonna talk about networking, collaboration, and community involvement because I think and know from experience that these are three really great ways to get in front of more eyes. Now, I was trying to pull up some statistics on the impact of getting involved in your community and collaborating with local businesses versus like social media. And I wasn't able to really find any sound information, but I know that this is true because I've had the experience myself and other business owners that I know have had the same success.
Now, we live in a day and age where social media is kind of where it's at. At least that's what we think as small business owners. But in my opinion, if you are a local business and you are trying to attract local clients, you need to be reaching out locally.
And how do you do that? By collaborating, networking with other local business owners. So you can connect with other businesses who are similar to your business or who have the same target audience.
So maybe you're a massage therapist, you can work with estheticians, nail techs, yoga, studios, anything similar, even boutiques where your target audience is going to be so that you can get in front of that similar audience. Now, what are some ways that you can do that? Networking with businesses.
So reaching out to them, go and introduce yourself, bring some information that talks about what you do. Ask them if they would be interested in collaborating. Now, I have an experience where I wasn't super new, but I had kind of moved to a new location, and I had gone to my downtown area and just introduced myself to other businesses, the boutiques, salons, and I had gone into this one particular business.
I'm not going to say names or even say what it is, because if you were from my area, you would absolutely know what I'm talking about, and I'm not going to out them. They actually have a new owner, so it doesn't even matter. But they were very rude to me when I went in and just said, hey, I'm a massage therapist, and I know that my clients could really benefit from what you have, and would you like to collaborate in some sort of way?
I think there was a holiday coming up. And they were just like, no, I don't need your help. And I was like, oh, okay, thanks, bye.
So that could absolutely happen to you. And some people aren't about collaborating in community with other businesses. And that's fine.
That's their prerogative. So just move on. But I feel that other small businesses are really receptive because nobody supports small businesses like other small businesses.
So it might be intimidating to go and introduce yourself. And if you aren't comfortable going door to door and, you know, dropping in, and sometimes people don't really like that, then send an email or connect through social media and introduce yourself. Let them know what you're about, how you would like to collaborate, ask them if you if they would be interested in maybe creating a promotion.
I was just speaking with someone on one of my coffee chat calls, and I had given her, you know, some advice saying, you know, reach out to this other business and ask if you could do a promotion, maybe a small incentive, a discount, an upgrade, whatever that may be, that you would be offering that business's clients as a first time introductory rate for them to come visit you. And then when their client comes to see you, then they get the referral discount, whatever that is or the incentive, and ask them if they would reciprocate. So when, you know, they would give you a discount when you get a service from them for referring clients.
So other people who are in the same situation may really be receptive to that. And then when you're collaborating, then you're sending emails so that their audience gets in front of your followers and your, you know, vice versa. You can do that on social media.
Maybe go live. Do a live together where if you're a massage therapist and you are collaborating with a yoga studio, maybe you guys could go live and talk about, you know, muscles and stretches and home activities and things like that, where both of your audiences could find value in that. So do a live together.
So those are just a few ideas. One way to find businesses to collaborate with is to join some networking groups. So, you know, look into your small business administration.
So there's the SBA. They provide information and resources and support for small businesses. Look into your local chamber of commerce.
A lot of times they offer networking opportunities and insights into local business trends. My local chamber of commerce is amazing. They do weekly networking events.
It's like a copy chat where a different business hosts and all the members can come and they can bring a guest. You know, one non-member can join one time. If you bring one person, they can come for free without being a member.
But that's just a way to get other businesses to sign up. But it's a really great way to just meet the other local businesses and network with them. And it really works because, let me tell you, I rent suites.
I own a business that rents suites to other beauty and wellness individuals. And I have mainly massage therapists in my building. And last year, around the holidays, we did an open house event.
And one of the massage therapists, shout out to Ash at Vibrant Live Massage, she had several people who came because she was going to the weekly networking event. She told them about it. They came and visited.
They were all super nice. But they are wanting to support other small businesses. And like I said, nobody supports small businesses like other small businesses.
So get out there and network with those small businesses. See if you can have some collaboration events or something with them. Maybe do a pop-up.
You could do chair massage or something at their event or some sort of skincare training or something. I'm sure that you can brainstorm. If you want to talk more about coming up with ideas, I am absolutely happy to chat with you.
You can jump on my free 30-minute discovery call. We can chat about it or just message me over on Instagram. I'm solo.spa.bosses and I would love to help brainstorm some ideas with you.
My next tip for attracting more clients in your community is community involvement. So my local chamber of commerce, the city puts on a sweet corn festival and there are always volunteer opportunities. Or you can be a partner and you're basically partnering with that event and you're getting out there with your logo.
And when you volunteer, you are talking with the actual community. While you're volunteering, it's a really great opportunity to get in front of eyes. But when you are showing up in your community and maybe you're donating baskets to local fundraisers or events or things like that, then you are getting in front of more people.
Now, I highly suggest to not just do every single event. You really want to get in front of the eyes of where your target market, your ideal client is going to show up. So if you are looking for mom groups, do you like pregnancy massage, those mom groups, and maybe showing up at those events where you know that that target audience is going to be.
So we have a children's museum and I donated to that, to an event that they had and they put my logo up there. A few years ago, I did a, and it was so much fun to do this. Me and my employee, we went to a trick or treat event, and we dressed up as Hocus Pocus, because we are focusing on skincare.
So it was a Hocus Pocus skincare theme. We handed out candy, we handed out flyers, just community involvement, just getting out there. I have also done some ads in some of the businesses, where I know that my ideal client hangs out.
So that is all about community involvement. Making sure that you're showing up where your ideal client is going to be. So these are just a few tips and strategies.
I hope that you find this helpful. And if you do, please leave me a comment. Tell me what you liked.
Tell me what you didn't like. And if you have some ideas for other topics for me to discuss, if you would like to be on the podcast, have a question for me. Maybe you have an inspiring story of how you started your business or grew your business.
I know that people would want to hear it. So I would love to have you on The Spa Business Building Podcast. So let's connect.
Like I said before, you can find me on Instagram at solo.spa.bosses. I'm also on Facebook, spabusinessbuilding.com. Check out my website, Spa Business Building.
I'm sorry, I said Facebook, spabusinessbuilding.com, but I'm on Facebook at Spa Business Building. My website is spabusinessbuilding.com. You can also find me on Pinterest if you would like some additional resources at Spa Business Building.
I'm in all the places. I'm even on TikTok, kind of, sort of, but you can find me there. I would also like to add that I do a bi-weekly Coffee Chats.
It's actually like the first and third Wednesday of every week where we get together as professionals in the industry, and we share our wins. We challenge each other to promote our businesses. And I will also do, like, a live training.
And it's just a really awesome place to find support and hang out with some cool business owners in the industry. So I invite you to join that. I will share the link in the show notes for you to join us when we have those.
I usually will post those times on social media. Also, I have a free Facebook community. So join that as well.
It's kind of the same people. It's just advice. I'm here to share advice with you, my friend.
So that is it for it for now. Until next time, stay fabulous, stay inspired, and happy business building.
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