“ The internet makes it impossible to reach everyone , but you can reach someone . So our goal is not to say this is a compromise , but in fact , this is a tactic , a stepping stone on our way to making the change we need to make for people who are like this . And we are being specific about it . We ’ re doing work that matters for people who care . We ignore the people who don ’ t care . That doesn ’ t matter .”
thinking on the part of spa leaders , many of whom may have difficulty relinquishing the responsibility of marketing to those team members with whom guests interact most frequently . The bigger shift though , as Godin argued , may be that recognizing this reality will force spas to consider how they manage those employees .“ What it probably means is you ’ re going to have to train people more , pay them more , reward them better , figure out how to give them the authority , the responsibility , the dignity [ and ] the flexibility to be your marketing department ,‘ cause that ’ s all you sell , right ?”
As with nearly all of the insights Seth Godin shared with the ISPA community , this advice encourages something of a paradigm shift in the way that spas approach — and even define — marketing . But as he pointed out , that shift has nothing to do with the length of your treatments or the products your therapists use and everything to do with how you connect those — and all the other parts of the spa experience — to a story worth telling for people who need to hear it . After 15-plus months of coping with the effects of a global pandemic , there is little doubt that spas have a story worth telling , and that there are plenty of people who need to hear it . The time has come to start telling those stories . n
Footsteps on the Moon
For all of Seth Godin ’ s brass-tacks advice about reaching new guests and building brands , he still brought plenty of high-minded inspiration to the Stronger Together Summit . Perhaps the most inspiring moment of his session was a story he told about meeting the one and only Neal Armstrong at a conference in New Mexico . As Armstrong stood outside , speaking to attendees , he turned to face the enormous full moon hanging in the sky and said , “ I ’ ve been there .”
“ So when you feel like the pandemic , like current events , like the employee shortage , like the ability or inability to get where you ’ re going is too hard , just realize that in 1969 , the sum computing power that NASA had at its disposal was less than the phone in your pocket ,” Godin said . “ And yet they pulled it off . Go outside and look up and realize that there are footprints
on the moon , that what you are seeking to do is to offer solace to some people who can afford it , and who desperately want it . And now our opportunity or challenge is to figure out how to be specific , how to be empathic , how to be consistent , how to tell a true story to people who want to hear it and help them get to where they want to go .”
JULY 2021 ■ PULSE 23