The sunless tanning industry is exploding in 2017 and I'd be doing a disservice if I didn't dedicate a blog post to exclusively helping these bronzed businesses to find more clients and make more money by winning at online marketing.

In this blog post, I interview sunless tanning professional and founder of the Association of Sunless Tanning Professionals Shonna Dexter. Shonna has grown a thriving business during her 6 years in the industry and has helped numerous other spray tan businesses to start up and grow.

She’s also acutely aware of the growing pains and marketing struggles of sunless tanning businesses. How do I differentiate myself from other spray tan studios?

How do connect with my target audience on Instagram?

I want to do ads but don't want to waste money... help?

How do I come up with fun ideas for videos for my business?

Any of these sound familiar?

We’ll be chatting about the most important lessons Shonna has learned and the top marketing issues that sunless tanning businesses have, along with how to solve them.  

From the 9 to 5 to building the first sunless-only business in her city

Shonna is founder of Recreating Rays Spray Tan Studio in Olathe, Kansas (a suburb of Kansas City). She's also the founder of the Association of Sunless Tanning Professionals, the only professional trade organization in the world for sunless professionals, and The Sunless Summit, the only sunless-only event in the world.

To say that she is knee deep in all things sunless would be an understatement.

"My life revolves around this industry that I've been a part of for just six years,” Shonna says. "My business began as a side hustle in July of 2011 and quickly turned into a passion."

Within a few years of working two jobs, she had left her full-time gig to pursue her dream of building a successful sunless business, as well as creating the ASTP. Stepping away from the security of her 9-5 was scary, but Shonna has continued to take risks and they keep paying off.

"Recreating Rays is the first storefront sunless-only business in my city. There are three of us who handle all of the tanning and I will be hiring another employee this winter to allow myself to step further away from doing the tanning, giving me more time to dedicate to building the business.”  

The unforgettable lessons Shonna has learned about the Sunless Tanning industry

As director of the ASTP, Shonna has helped hundreds of sunless tanning pros start and build their businesses and create a dream job that helps clients feel fantastic. She’s learned some crucial lessons about the industry.  

Lesson 1: Turn vulnerability into strength

"Our clients are in a very vulnerable situation: getting naked or half naked in front of a complete stranger. Hair and nail pros don't have to stand in front of a naked person and make them feel comfortable. We do.

This vulnerability allows us to really get to know people. You have to be to make total strangers feel comfortable naked all day. From my experience, a lot of the women in this industry are also highly sensitive and in-tune with others feelings and emotions."

Lesson 2: Tenacity wins. You can’t succeed if you aren’t patient.

"There are those who enter the industry thinking it will be easy to make a quick buck and have no real passion for it, but they are usually gone within a year.

It takes time to build a clientele and if you're not willing or don't have the wherewithal to keep going when things get hard or are slow building, you'll quickly sink.

"Overnight successes" are extremely rare. Most of the very successful people in this industry have been at this for five-plus years. It doesn't happen overnight.”

Lesson 3: Take every opportunity to learn more

"A lot of the really successful owners understand that they will never know everything there is to know about building and running a successful business, so they are always engaging in learning activities.

It may be reading books or taking classes or networking with other business owners, but they are always looking to extend their knowledge-base in some shape or form.”

Lesson 4: You have to know who your clients are first and foremost

"Knowing who your target market it is, what makes them buy and then KEEPS them as a client is the most important aspect of building a successful business.

For instance, I charge a higher price than most in my market and I know that a lot of people won't spend what we charge on a spray tan...but some will. We don't try to convince the people who are only motivated by price because it's a lost cause. We focus on our time, energy and marketing dollars on the people who are driven by service."

Lesson 5: Go it alone, but know when you need to bring in support

"The vast majority of pros in this industry begin alone (some are partnerships, but those would be the minority, for sure). Until you build a strong and steady clientele, solo is all good. Once you build a strong client base, though, solo can be VERY overwhelming.

Not only are you doing all of the tanning, but also trying to find time to market, order product, respond to calls and emails, form collaborative partnerships...the list is never ending!

A lot of sunless pros suffer from burnout BIG TIME during busy season. It's very difficult to do it all AND have a life when you're spending 10-12 hours each day just seeing clients.”

Sunless Tanning Professionals' most burning marketing questions, answered

Shonna knows all about the issues sunless tanning pros have with finding clients, making money, and navigating the world of social media. Here are some of your most burning questions, with practical answers.  

How do I differentiate myself from the competition and find clients?

I’ve started with this question because it’s the most general but also the most important. And the solution for these two problems is one and the same: know your audience.

You absolutely cannot sell and market to everyone, and trying to cater to everyone will only leave you scratching your head trying to find clients.

Once you know who your ideal client is, you know where to find them and how to communicate with them. You’ve also put yourself leaps and bounds ahead of competitors who are still trying to sell to everyone that bites.

Shonna, for example, defines her target audience as "female professionals and stay-at-home moms in their 30's and 40's".

Answer these questions to find your ideal client

• What are your services and prices, and who do they align with?

• Who do you identify with and relate to best?

• Who have your competitors gone after?

• Is there an underserved market opportunity in your city?

Let’s say you’ve decided to go after female professionals and stay at home moms aged 30-40 like Shonna has. It may seem like you’re limiting yourself, but it’s exactly the opposite. Now you know exactly how to reach these people and how to speak with them.

Since Shonna has identified her ideal client, she's able to do the following

• Hire social media brand ambassadors who are influencers to her ideal clients

• Do photoshoots that focus around "real life" things like coffee shops, charity events and kids soccer games instead of beachy themes or skimpy bikinis which don't resonate with her target

• Seek out a local blogger who engages with stay-at-home moms in her area

• Partner up with a local salon and a family photographer that serve the same type of client as she does

• Charge a premium fee for her services

Don't make the mistake of thinking that narrowing your target narrows your chances of success. It's exactly the opposite!  

How do I connect with my target audience on Instagram?

Hopefully you already know exactly who your target is.(If not, head back up to the last question!)

Now it’s time to implement a local Instagram marketing strategy to connect with those same people on Instagram.

1) Tag all of your pics at your location (create a location like this if you can’t find your salon)

2) Like and follow people who have checked in at your location. Also try messaging people who follow you with a personal message. It might seem like a lot of work but it shows you're a real person and that you appreciate them.

3) Follow and interact with people who have recently been at places in your target group. This might be a gym, certain restaurants, stores, parks, neighbourhoods etc.

4) Use the right hashtags to micro-target people in your ideal audience – city hashtags – hair hashtags popular in your area – hashtags that could be related to the interests of your clients

5) Get involved in local events and happenings to make your salon stand out as a city “landmark”. People love seeing local landmarks on their feed!

6) Partner up with a local business to do a local promo (cross promoting products, for example)

Download my Instagram for Salons eBook to get more ideas to market your beauty business on Instagram

How do I get found on Google when someone searches for spray tans in my city?

Getting found on Google is all about search engine optimization, which people write full-length books about. Essentially, search engine optimization is what you do with your website and social profiles that makes Google’s algorithm rank you higher when someone searches for “spray tan in your city”.

Because it’s beyond the scope of this blog post to go into too much depth about SEO for your spray tan business, I’ll summarize 3 strategies that will make a huge difference for you:  

1) Get more, positive reviews online

Google says that getting good quality reviews from your clients helps your business to appear higher up in search results. It also means that people will naturally be drawn to your business because of your good reviews on:

Yelp Facebook Google My Business

Just take a look at the importance Google puts on social reviews for salons:

So, getting social reviews are important for Google, too. How do you get more of them? Learn 10 ways of getting more excellent reviews for your salon here.

2) Have an attractive and impactful website description

If someone is searching for a hair salon in Los Angeles, which site do you think will attract their attention?

This one:

Or this one:

Butterfly Loft will always get more clicks from Google because:

• The name of the city is in the title

• The description shows the benefits, awards and unique elements of the salon

• L’elan Salon only shows a list of links (which aren’t even clickable) instead of describing the salon

So, how do you make your website title and description as magnetic as Butterfly Loft?

How to change your Wordpress website title and description

How to change your Wix website title and description

3) Make sure your website looks great from mobile

Since more than half of the traffic from Google now comes from a mobile phone or tablet, Google rewards websites that look great and work well on a mobile phone.

How do you know if your website is “mobile-friendly”?

Well, if from your phone the text is teeny tiny, if the buttons are smaller than a fingerprint (what people use to tap!) and if your before and after pics are so blurry you can’t tell which is before and which after… you probably aren’t mobile-friendly.

For more ideas to make your website look great and get more clients, check out my blog post here

How can I use Google AdWords to find more clients without wasting money?

Google Ads can be a massive money-maker for your sunless tanning business: on average, businesses make 2$ for every 1$ they spend.

In this article I interviewed a spa owner who made $3,600 in bookings spending only $175 in ads, which is huge!

But, it is easy to go wrong with Google AdWords and some mistakes can be very costly. Make sure that you do the following for best results:

1) Set up a dedicated landing page for a unique offer (for example, a special priced spray tan package for brides)

2) Choose keywords involving your city and the specific phrases your target client would search for (for example, “spray tans for weddings miami”. Add 15-20 of these keywords and phases.

3) Write a spectacular ad that includes your city name, the price of the package and the unique benefits of your business.

To learn how to create effective Google AdWords for your beauty business, check out the full article here.

I know I should be making more videos for Facebook and Instagram, but I don’t know what to film!

Good for you for recognizing that video is the most important marketing trend of 2017! But if you're running out of ideas for videos for your spray tanning business, don't worry.  

1) Add little clips of your own life and your own tan. People love hearing from the business owner and staff!

2) Make a quick product demo video with some music in the background

3) Introduce yourself and your passion

4) Demo a specific part or service of your business

5) Show a picture of your studio or setup and put some animated text on it

6) If your clients take videos at their weddings or events, ask if you can share and edit it into a 5-second clip

7) Use a video with an application and your logo as your Facebook cover photo

In conclusion

The number of sunless tanning businesses around the world is only going to continue growing, and with growth comes competition. Competition means you'll have to step up your game, both in your marketing and also your sunless tanning skills.

You'll dive into both of these things at the Sunless Summit 2018 in Las Vegas for two and a half days of education and networking that is unparalleled in the industry. I'll also be there giving you more juicy ideas and strategies to skyrocket your studio's growth through online marketing. Hope to see you there!

Check out the full speaker lineup and get your tickets to the Sunless Summit 2018 here!

Oh and last thing! I have a marketing checklist for sunless businesses that you don't want to miss. Download it for a ton of ideas and inspiration to promote your spray tan studio online!