How do you keep in touch with customers once they’ve bought a hot tub? As a retailer, if you only see them when they come by your store to purchase chemicals, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to reconnect. An e-commerce website — along with a cohesive marketing plan — creates that opportunity for…
Photography by Steven McNeil Bill Elliot, co-owner of The Sundance Spa Store, did not expect to still be selling hot tubs. After living in California for 20 years and selling various hot tub brands, when Elliot moved back to Canada, he decided to leave the industry. That is, until around 2003, when he spoke with…
Business owners know it’s important to keep up with the latest advertising methods, but traditional routes like television commercials might also be worth pursuing. The number of television viewers in America today is more than 119 million. That’s a massive audience. It seems, however, that the return on investment for TV commercials might depend on…
Geolocation technology can help you hone in on people who are right in your area, even if they’re just there for a short time. For those who are unfamiliar with geolocation marketing, the term (as well as geomarketing and geofencing) refers to using geographic information in strategizing and aiming marketing activity. Mobile devices transmit location…
Virtual showroom tours on hot tub dealer websites are a cutting-edge way to market, with retailers showing off merchandise long before a customer steps foot into the showroom. “The hot tub industry is surprisingly competitive,” says Lucas Medina of Creative Energy, a California-based spa retailer. A big benefit of virtual tours, Medina says, is that…
There was certainly a time when radio was the king of advertising; if you needed to get your business name out there, you turned to radio. Pretty much everyone had the radio on in the car, the house, at work and even out in the backyard. These days, there are countless ways for businesses to…
More than 70 percent of leads generated for Patriot Pool & Spa of Austin, Texas, come from Yelp, company president Hal Denbar says. And Denbar emphasizes that its 80-plus Yelp reviews — one of the highest for any pool and spa professional business on the site — are all unsolicited. Genna Gold, senior manager of…
This past September, Ocean Spray Hot Tubs awarded a local USMC veteran, and current Air National Guard 106th Rescue Wing and police officer, a free hot tub. Matt Rehman won the hot tub as part of the company’s Hometown Hero contest, which was announced at an annual Salute to Heroes Concert put on by a…
In 2012 Terry Valmassoi, president of Master Spas, heard Rob Staley speak about The Crossing, a faith-based charter school he started in Indiana. Staley was looking for businesses the school could partner with to provide job training to its at-risk students. “It’s really for kids who aren’t going to make it in regular high school,”…