March 26 . “ We never got doom and gloomy about it ,” says Louise Lugg , the company ’ s owner .
Once the spa officially closed , Lugg admits she was a little relieved . The spa had been so busy the last few weeks because clients wanted to get a massage and their products before the shutdown . Lugg immediately started a nine-week process of renovations to the spa . And those efforts helped her find a natural way to continue marketing Goddess Health & Wellness to its client base .
While checking in on the renovations one day , Lugg decided to do a Facebook Live video . Without much of a plan , she just started talking about the benefits of oil for your skin . She didn ’ t pre-record anything ; rather , she just started going live because it allowed her to be herself . And that evolved into her featuring a “ product of the day ” each time she was in the spa for the renovations . The feedback she got — whether it was about content specifically or just about the need to feel connected during a time of isolation — let her know that she had to continue doing this . It wasn ’ t about selling products , even though she was featuring them . She was mostly just having a conversation about spa and providing an escape at another difficult time . She tried to keep her tone upbeat yet compassionate . Before long , she struck the right balance .
The Goddess Health & Wellness Day Spa includes an Egyptian-themed spa in its renovated space .
“ I wanted it to be authentic , like it was just you and me in our spa and we were having a chat ,” Lugg says .“ I wanted to have it more like a conversation . My boss was very careful to tell me ,‘ Don ’ t say or do anything that you shouldn ’ t do , because you can ’ t take it back when you ’ re live .’”
And that ’ s obviously the risk of a less structured approach . But to a spa veteran like Lugg who is used to being on camera , it was the perfect strategy because it felt real to her audience .
Lugg paid close attention to the metrics , and she says she got about 3,000-4,000 viewers on each live video . She made sure to track the comments , who was watching and where they were located . She was excited to see that her audience wasn ’ t just local , but scattered across Australia . “ It ’ s such an easy way to reach people ,” Lugg says .
Her only regret was that she didn ’ t put a little more planning into it . In hindsight , she wishes she would have made these live videos into an event with a scheduled time so more of her audience knew when to tune in .
Lugg says she sold thousands of dollars ’ worth of skin-care products as a result of the videos . Making money wasn ’ t her priority during the shutdown ( she says she was healthy financially before the pandemic ), but selling a lot of product was the result of her larger goal : connecting with people .
“ When I did my live videos , I didn ’ t do it as ,‘ I ’ m going to do this to sell a lot of product ,’” Lugg says .“ That wasn ’ t why I did it . That was a side effect of it . I did it because I wanted to reach people . Just say ‘ hi ’ and connect with me .
“ Actually , you know what ? I think I needed it . I was so isolated . I was used to seeing so many people every day at our spa that I felt the need to connect with people . And I spoke from my heart , not a script .” n
FEATURED SOURCES
LOUISE LUGG Owner GODDESS HEALTH & WELLNESS DAY SPA
JEREMY McCARTHY Group Director of Spa and Wellness MANDARIN ORIENTAL HOTEL GROUP
OCTOBER 2020 ■ PULSE 37