- Since many people make New Year's resolutions, you can conduct workshops on how men and women can make their resolutions a reality. Losing weight is the most common resolution. Reducing stress is a close second in resolutions. Many believe stress is number one in causing a wide range of illnesses in America, including overeating. Your spa is all about reducing stress. Workshops on how to reduce stress would certainly be newsworthy especially if they were conducted by your spa as a community service.
- Work with editors on stories about de-stressing, including workouts, massages, healing treatments, and meditation. Journalists, editors, TV hosts, and producers are all subject to the same kinds of pressures everyone else deals with just magnified a hundred times. Their stress from daily deadlines is enormous. Add in the pressures of the holidays and you have some of the most stressed out people on the planet.
- Invite the media to a healthy spa cuisine holiday luncheon prior to Christmas or New Year's. Food editors, nutrition columnists and consumer reporters may be looking for recipes for healthy holiday meals. Many TV newscasts would be enhanced with a cooking segment on spa cuisine with a recipe for a holiday dish. Have spa cuisine specifically created for the holidays and make the recipes for those dishes available to editors
- Promote your holiday gift certificate program. Editors appreciate knowing about unusual holiday gifts. What better gift than to reduce stress and be pampered at your spa. Make sure you let newspaper editors, and radio and TV consumer reporters who will be doing stories about holiday gift-giving know about your spa's gift certificates. Contact the newspaper's business editor and tell him about your corporate gift certificates for company employees and their best customers.
- Hold a holiday party for the media. Yes it may cost a little money if you provide healthy refreshments, but you may wind up with a bunch of local media celebrities, including TV hosts and news anchors, newspaper columnists and editors as your customers. You could also wind up with a great deal of favorable publicity about your spa. How good would that be? Tip: Give them small gifts of sample products that your spa uses.
- Sponsor sports events like races specifically for the holidays. This can be a wonderful way to gain attention for your spa during the holidays. Invite the media to cover the event as your guest and make sure they talk to one or more of your employees who will participate in the race. If the event raises money for charity, so much the better.
- Invite a local sports team to come to your spa and have team members photographed for the newspaper or TV station. Off season, team players are likely to want to find facilities where they can get a great massage and be pampered the way they are by their trainers.
- Consider a special discount. For instance, for everyone who buys a gift certificate or a holiday present in the spa, the spa gives them a special holiday gift. Again, that gift may be a sample of some of your other products that are sold in the spa retail store.
Trent & Company, Inc.
Nancy Trent
(212) 966 — 0024
Nancy Trent is the president and founder of Trent & Company, Inc., a New York City-based public relations firm that specializes in publicity for spas, resorts and hotels.
When it comes to spas and resorts, health and beauty aids, fitness, fashion and anti-aging products and services, Trent & Company has a reputation for creativity, client service and major publicity achievements. The firm is especially noted for developing remarkable story ideas that journalists want to use, merchandising media publicity results and providing clients with new revenue streams. Their client list includes some of the country's largest trade shows and conferences, including prestigious events in the spa industry, kitchens and baths, and jewelry.