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Spa Marketing Made Easy | Spa Business Growth
SMME #453 Marketing Month Part 1: The Foundation Documents Every Spa CEO Needs for AI Success
00:20:25
Marketing Month Part 1: The Foundation Documents Every Spa CEO Needs for AI Success
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- [00:03]
A
Well, hello my dear, and welcome to part one of a very fun four part series that we are hosting right here on Spa Marketing Made Easy. We are calling it Marketing Month. And for the next four episodes I am going to be joined by Lucy, our absolutely incredible marketing manager here at Auto Aesthetics. Now, what we intended to do, we sat down and we wanted to really have a conversation around the changes in the landscape. Over the past year. She and I have been really knee deep in testing how we're going to use the different AI tools that are out there and available in our marketing. What works well, what doesn't work well, how we're using it, all of these things. And it ended up being really four kind of primary topics. So we decided to break that conversation up into four different sections, four different parts. And what I want to do for each part is give you some action items at the end of the episode so that you can actually listen to our conversation, kind of get the gist of what we're talking about and hearing our experience. And then we're going to do a section at the end where I'm going to give you your next steps so that you can actually implement some of the things that you are learning here on this show. Okay, so today's episode, we're starting with the Absolute Foundation. I think that we learned and feel very clear that without these two critical documents, your AI content is going to sound super generic. And it's so incredible how so much of. As you continue to grow and evolve and move to the next level in business, so so much of it comes full circle and it's really about knowing who you are and who you serve. And when we're working with any type of AI tool, whether you're using ChatGPT or Claude or Sintra or Gosh, what are all the. There's Gemini, there's so many different perplexity. There's so many different ones out there. But whatever one you're using, and I'm assuming that most of you listening are just sticking with ChatGPT. That's what I hear inside of Growth Factor Fundamentals and Growth Factor Elite. Our members are really just kind of dipping their toe in how ChatGPT works itself. And that's great, right? You want to get comfortable. I do suggest really mastering one before trying to learn all of these different ones and being able to go deep and understand what is possible for you. But whatever tool you choose, you want to make sure that you have your company bio, which is who you are, and you want to have your ICA document, which is your ideal client avatar. Okay. So your company bio is going to go over your beliefs, your philosophies, the different things. It's basically like your brand's personality, what are your brand's core values? Okay, so. So we actually, inside of Growth Factor Elite, have a an entire week dedicated to these documents where we're helping our members answer the questions and go through because it is such a critical foundational piece to be able to use AI effectively in your business. So I want you to go through, I want you to list out everything that makes your company yours. Your beliefs, your core values, all of that, your mission, your vision, all those things that seem like business 101 things. Okay? And compile those in a document. And then I want you to create a separate document that's your ica, who you're serving, who your ideal client is. And we talk about them a little bit more inside of the conversation with Lucy and myself. But you just want to have those two documents and that's going to be incredibly important when you're going through and asking Chat to create anything for you. Okay, so grab a pen, you know, or you know, you can listen to this episode again, but you may want to take some notes and I'll go ahead and play that interview now and then be sure to listen to the action items at the end. All right, Lucy, welcome to the Spa Marketing Made Easy podcast. I am so excited to have you here again. And this is going to be kind of an interesting topic. It's something, you know, we've talked about. AI, we've definitely talked about it a lot, but we wanted, when we were chatting about the idea of doing kind of a marketing month and diving into these different aspects, there's just so much that's changing so fast. And I feel like when we learn something, it's like two months later, it's already something new. Already something new.
- [05:22]
B
Well, I'm happy to be here and I am excited to talk about this because like you said, it's changing at a rapid pace. But I also think that ourselves, as we've looked internally at our own marketing, it has adapted so much within almost a 12 month span that we have so many findings that I think will be very valuable for other people that are navigating this landscape as well.
- [05:48]
A
So one of the things that we learned right off the bat. So for those of you, if you're new to our podcast, if you're new to auto aesthetics, the past year has been quite the journey for us as we were moving through and looking at how are we going to incorporate AI into our business, into the way that we are doing things, into the programs that we are teaching. We. And it's, it's such a, an unknown area. You know, I feel like people that say that they're AI experts, I'm like, how, you know, how can you be an AI expert? Because we're still learning what this is and what, what you're capable of doing with it. And it's, you know, for so many that are these like, perfectionist and type A people, and they're like, I've got to learn how to use it first before. I'm like, well, you're never going to know how to use it fully because it's constantly changing. You got to test stuff out and see what you get. And we have been knee deep in the testing process for really about a year of testing different AI tools that are coming out. How it works for us with social, how it works for us with just content creation in general, efficiencies in our business, all of those types of things. And, you know, I think one thing that we do know for sure that we can state as true as right now is that there are a couple of things that will separate this kind of generic content from content that's like, that's amazing. That sounds exactly like me and exactly like me on my best day. And that's what we're going for. And those two documents are your ICA and your company bio. So this really goes back to business 101. And we have to know who we're selling to. We have to know who we are and we have to know who we're selling to. So when you were in college, what were they teaching you about your ICA and about your, like, when you're going through your marketing classes and all of that, what kind of content are they teaching you back. Back in the day when you.
- [08:16]
B
That feels like so long ago. I am only 32, so I will say I graduated in 2014. So it's not like it's forever ago, but how much has changed in 11 years? And I feel like at that time it was very interesting because that was the rise of, okay, you need to be on social media, but like, what are you actually going to post on social media? It was basically like, you need to be active, but there was no real plan in place. And so that was like a big issue that you basically just hit on with those two documents. Is that when I was, excuse me, completing internships, it was like, you just need to get posts out there, you just need to get messaging out there. But you have to dial back and say, okay, that's important, but what are those messages that people are going to actually listen to and convert for your business? So I definitely think that was a, a hot topic at the time. Like, everyone was just trying to get active and we talk, we often talk about how like, Instagram is a virtual storefront. And that was very, very true at that time. It was like, we just need content and we need it posted and that there were classes that we were learning, like, okay, but we need to take a step back and figure out exactly what that messaging looks like. Because just posting to post isn't going to get you the return that you're looking for.
- [09:49]
A
It's not going to get you the right people.
- [09:52]
B
Exactly.
- [09:52]
A
And so let me just explain the. So the, the company bio doc that we create for our elite members, it's really breaking down all of the important information about who you are as a company. What your beliefs are, what your core values are, your philosophies around skincare, important milestones, your beliefs. It's a document that summarizes who you are as a company. Right. And that's going to be incredibly important for whatever AI tool you're using to understand the background of the voice that they're trying to emulate. And then when we look at your ica, your ideal client avatar, that's who are you targeting? Who is the person that you're speaking to? So company bio is who am I and what am I about? And ICA is who is the person that I'm trying to attract into my business. Now, you may have three different ICAs and you may actually have the same ICA that's in three different stages of her journey. I use that example a lot when I'm talking with aesthetic providers, because I may be your ICA and you may be targeting me when I'm in my 30s, pre kids, you may be targeting me when I have babies and toddlers. And then you may be targeting me when I'm in menopause. I'm the same person. I'm in a different stage or different season of life. So it's really important to understand with your ica, am I targeting the same person at different stages in their journey or am I targeting three different Personas? So I may have an acne ica, I may have someone who's just anti aging, Right? So we look at those two things and what is the language that I'm going to be speaking? To, for this person and what is the language that I'm going to be speaking to for this person. And then creating content. But these AI tools, when you have those two documents, and I'm not talking about like a 35 to 55 year old female with $100,000 of discretionary income. No. These documents are like several pages long that get into the types of questions that your ICA asks. Think about it like the step one of creating this document is think about the favorite person you have on your books and describe everything about them. Right. You want to start there to understand what is it that you like about them, why do you like them. Right. But that document, those two documents are like the foundational aspects of what you need to create incredible content, not just generic content. That's not going to move the needle.
- [13:04]
B
Yeah. And back to that point, like we've talked about before with being active, that's obviously a part of the social media plan. I'm not saying that it's not an important part. It is. You need to be active and you need to be out there. And I think if we translate that into today's landscape of social, that has a lot to do with like trends that people start to follow. So they'll use trending audio or they'll hop on a trend for a reel of some sort to show their charismatic side of their business. And that stuff is extremely important as well. But when it comes down to what's going to actually book the client, that's exactly the document you're talking about, is where you're crafting posts that are speaking to that person. Because when we talk about just being active on, on National Esthetician Day or something of that nature. And I don't think a lot of people really follow those holidays anymore. It's more about like trends of like things in the treatment room of showing your personality. Those, those are going to get people to see your human side and to understand who you are as a business and your team. And that's really important. But you also want to make sure that you're letting them know what problems you're going to solve for them.
- [14:18]
A
Yes. Speaking to their specific pain points. And to understand those pain points, you've got to have that document fleshed out. I feel like this makes us better entrepreneurs, better business owners because we're really having to do this foundational work that we could kind of get away with not having to do before you could know it. And even for us, we, we've had an idea of who our person is for sure. Like, that's. We've had that for years and we've had an idea of who we are as a company. But until AI really came in the picture, we didn't have to get so granular and so documented about all of these different aspects. And I feel like going into 2026, this is the most grounded and organized I have felt in my entire 11 years of entrepreneurship. And I don't know if that is. I can't say if that's just time, but I don't think it's time because this last year was a messy year. Right. It was a wow. Everything's changing. Everything is. You know, we're redoing programs that have worked so incredibly well for us. We're all of those types of things. But I feel like we dove in and did the work on such a deep level that the planning process around everything just feels so much more clear. And it all funnels back to those documents, really knowing who we are and who we want to serve.
- [15:57]
B
Yeah. And I think another testament to that, obviously, length of business, 11 years is a very long time, but what your business has done really well is it has stuck to its foundations. And I think that's why you came up with the word fundamentals for growth factor, because you knew what you want your core philosophies to be. The addo philosophies, the Daniela Isms. And from there, you've also included the people that you're teaching in the feedback. You've asked like, okay, we are in a changing landscape. How can we take the philosophies that we're teaching you and now transform them to actually be applicable to your business as it would stand in 2025? And I think that being open to that change is really the key there.
- [16:50]
A
All right, I hope that you enjoyed the episode and I hope you got some pearls of wisdom. Remember, these two documents are critical to using AI in your business. It is going to make a world of difference. So here's what I want you to do this week. And remember, this is not busy work. This is CEO work. This kind of short term pain, I'll say, of taking the time to sit down and do this work will give you a long term gain in terms of productivity, efficiency and really dialing in and getting clear on your messaging for who it is that you're trying to attract. So I want you to block out two to three hours this week. And you know, I know that that might sound like a lot, but I want you to really go deep with this I want you to get clear and list all of this stuff out, okay? Your core values, your philosophies, your belief about skin care, the services that you offer, all of those types of things you want to include in there, okay? And you want to write this in your authentic voice. You want the document to sound like you. And so that's a really important piece as well. Then action item number two. I want you to define your ica. Okay? So this is gonna cause you to really sit down and think, like, gosh, I have all different types of people that I'm serving. And you may. But what I want you to do is think of anywhere between one to three ICAs that you can really define. And the best way to do this is to think about somebody in your world, a client or patient of yours, that you feel so thrilled when they come in, and just write about them. Who are they? How old are they? What do they do for work? What is the energy that they bring that you find so much value in? Okay? What's the language that they use when they're describing their skin care concerns? Really want to identify all of those pieces. And then action item number three. Test it out. Okay? Now I want to be one thing I want to be really, really clear about. Please, please, please create a custom GPT prior to putting all of your company information into any type of AI tool. Okay? When you do that, if you do that, you are just putting all of your information out on. And what we want to do is make sure that we are creating a custom GPT trained on our information that's only pulling from the information that we give it and not sourcing from the entire Internet. Okay? I think that's just a. A big disaster waiting to happen. It's got privacy concerns written all over it. So just save yourself the hassle. Make sure that you are creating a custom GPT first, and then you go through and put your information in there so that you're only getting information that you are feeding it and not pulling from everywhere on the interwebs. Okay? So that's what I want you to do this week. That's going to be super, super important. And next week we'll have part two of Marketing Month. So be sure to check in next week.