Brand Consistency Successfully - A Throwback to My First Business, Covet Spa

I started my first day spa in November 2007. Even though I'd been working in corporate America in marketing (I guess I should have taken my own hints back then) I felt there was more for me than sitting behind a desk in a small cubicle for the rest of my career.

The fire began to burn and the search to buy a spa began

One weekend in the Spring, I started searching companies for sale and found two day spa's that were relatively close to my home. One was in Hockessin, Delaware and the other, Greenville, Delaware. I did my due diligence. I researched them both, completed a competitive analysis, toured the businesses, scoured the locations, and dove into their finances.

I attended a training program at the Women's Business Development Center in Philadelphia, PA called Fast Trac New Venture program. It still exists today! This program walked me through step-by-step how to write a business plan. And so, I did - over 300 pages worth! I presented it to several banks to positive feedback and a commitment from one for a small business loan.

Covet Spa, Greenville's only exclusive day spa was brought to life

I started doing esthetics shortly after high school (which is a longer story for another day) and am still licensed as an esthetician so it made sense that this would be the business type for me. After meeting both owners, and reviewing all the data I collected, I put in an offer on one of them, and it was accepted.

I purchased the day spa in Greenville, DE, and called my business, Covet Spa. Covet means to desire. I'd always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I come from a family of entrepreneurs. My father was and my two brothers are entrepreneurs. It was always expected that I would be as well. The name Covet Spa was apropos.

Creating the brand and developing consistency

While many think it's easy to develop a brand identity and then staying consistent with it, it's really not. I admit it was easier for me, since I had marketing career experience. My brand did evolve over time, but most elements remained the same. I had a logo, I selected three colors: deep purple, beige and white. My design element was a flourish. I created my tag line, and went ahead and created a library of images I could pull from to use for certain print and digital publications.

The Covet Spa brand - take a look

From business cards to postcards, website, landing pages, services booklet, print and digital ads, you'll see from the examples shown below that Covet Spa was a brand that could be recognized.

Brand strategy and brand identity

Branded website

Branded services booklet

This services booklet was the creme de la creme of my marketing and branding of Covet Spa. Provided in print to new clients and with every gift card, as well as online, this booklet would eventually be seen sitting on side tables in local coffee shops.

Take a look inside.

Covet Spa publications and interviews

Not only did my company grow 181% in the first year in business - and during some of the worst economic years for small business - but my brand was also becoming known. I was interviewed for several magazines and local TV.

Delaware Today Magazine | November 2, 2008 | A New Hue for You

Why brand consistency works

If you read my blog - Med Spa Owners: Is there really a correlation between brand consistency and business growth? - you'll learn all the ways why brand consistency is important and why it will help you grow your med spa business faster.

• Builds trust and recognition with clients.

• Reinforces your brand's identity and values across all platforms.

• Reflects a unified message with every interaction.

• Enhances brand recognition and fosters loyalty.

• Creates a cohesive and intuitive client journey.

• Differentiates your med spa from your competitors.

• Drives business growth.

What should you do today to improve your brand identity and establish brand consistency?

Go to my blog - Top 10 med spa website updates you should do today to make your website stand out from the competition - and implement those changes which will get your website right for Google's parameters so you will be found on search engine results pages.

Perform a brand audit

Identify and decide what you want your brand identity to be. Create a brand guideline document. Include:

• logos and approved logo variations

• color palette with one or two primary colors and one or two secondary colors

• fonts and typography

• tone of voice

• imagery and photography examples

• layout examples

Include acceptable and non-acceptable use information so your team will know what they can do with your brand identity. Add when each logo can and should be used, as well as your colors and fonts. Will one font only be for titles and headers and another for paragraphs? There are numerous websites that breakdown and provide examples of brand guidelines. Here's a couple:

• Manypixels: Brand Guide Examples to Get Inspired By

• Looka: 22 Brand Guidelines Examples to Inspire Your Brand Guide

To get started on creating your own brand guidelines, there are many options online. You can use Canva, or websites dedicated to this effort like Gingersauce. Gingersauce has a simple and easy to follow wizard to walk you through each section to build your guide.

Once you make your brand identity decisions, it's important to stick to them.

What should you do next with your brand?

Anchor your digital identity with a high-performing website. Your website is your main digital identity and is the first impression your potential clients will have of your med spa. Choose a high-quality web designer and developer to create your website from the onset.

Website designers are, unfortunately, a dime a dozen. Have you ever wondered why some will design a website for a few hundred dollars and other's charge a few thousand or more? It comes down to knowledge, quality, and performance.

High quality and high performing websites aren't just "pretty" or "cool". They have clean code, search engine optimized content, optimized images, web optimization, website speed, accessibility - the list goes on.

Best in class websites built to convert

We have over 20-years of experience in website design and development with additional experience in search engine optimization (SEO), conversion rate optimization (CRO), Google algorithm requirements, and Google analytics. Our program starts with the foundation of your Internet marketing strategy - your website. If you don’t have a website that is built to convert visitors to callers, then none of your digital marketing efforts will bear fruit.

Building a new website is usually a draining process, but we’ve simplified that into one ideal timeline. We leverage the Elementor page builder to create a unique site that is your own. This simple drag-and-drop widget functionality allows you to easily edit your new website as often as you need or want to. 

We offer a subscription method for our websites to save you money. 

For a low monthly fee, you receive a high-value, high-design authority website with up to five different page designs to use across up to 25 webpages. Website hosting is also included. After your new site launches, we provide complimentary edits each month to use if you need our support.

Schedule a strategy call to learn more.