The life of a spa professional is a continuous cycle of daily responsibilities that help make the spa world go round. Pulse asks ISPA members to give us a sneak peek into their daily lives to help us understand the roles they play and the difference they make on a daily basis.

NANCY GRIFFIN PRINCIPAL, CONTENTO MARKETING

PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA is the real healthcare,” says Nancy Griffin, principal at Contento Marketing, a marketing agency based in Petaluma, California, that specializes in working in the spa industry.

She began her career working with Mary Tabacchi on the first classification study for spas. After attending her first ISPA Conference & Expo in 1994, she was hooked on the spa industry.“ The quality of my life has been positively impacted through my interactions with spa professionals,” Griffin says.“ To interact with people who truly care about making a difference is a gift. My clients give back to me as much as I give to them.”

Running a marketing firm in the digital age comes with its own set of challenges, but when your clients consist of fastmoving spa directors and resource partners, keeping up can sometimes prove to be overwhelming.“ Email as a

medium has become less effective as we are bombarded with messages and distracted by multiple social media platforms,” Griffin explains.“ I hear time and time again the frustration with breaking through.” She overcomes these marketing challenges through sheer persistence, by consistently providing good information, and being a solid industry resource.“ My job is to create compelling messaging and real solutions to solve the myriad of issues involved in operating and marketing a spa.”

“ The quality of my life has been positively impacted through my interactions with spa professionals.”

Those real solutions have become the most rewarding part of Griffin’ s job as a marketing professional. In 2000, she founded SpaTrade. com— the industry’ s first online community— and in 2006 she began the regional networking events SpaExec.“ My latest venture is Bespoke— a partnership with TouchAmerica designing artful retail display solutions for spas and salons,” says Griffin.“ When retail sales improve, both sides win.”

Griffin’ s most memorable marketing job is actually pretty recent.“ I was asked to help with sponsorship and press for the ISPA Media Events in Beverly Hills and New York City, and asked Carol Stratford, principal of StratComm Consulting and former vice president of marketing for Miraval, to partner with me to really take the events to the next level,” she recalls.“ Working with the amazing ISPA staff, sponsors and journalists was truly an honor. It felt like a full-circle experience to be working with ISPA again nearly a quarter century later.”

Marketing in the spa world is challenging, exciting and rewarding for Griffin. But what does her typical day look like?

★ 5:30 am Brief meditation and stretching. Feeding the dog; brewing coffees.

★ 6 am Coffee and Facebook scrolling. I can’ t write and drink coffee at the same time. As soon as coffee is cold, I dive into email and conference calls. I’ m based in California and many of my clients are back east, so I like to hit the ground running.

★ 8 am Write a blog post or press release for a client while my mind is still fresh. Skype, conference calls and email outreach from my home office— full disclosure, often my couch!

★ 10 am Walk with my dog Farley, my mom and her border collies Shep and Wren, or Pilates on Mondays and Fridays.

★ 11:30 am Homemade green juice with local veggies, apples, ginger and lemon. More emails and phone calls, media outreach, flight and hotel bookings to client meetings or conferences.

★ 1 pm A quick lunch at home or takeout if I’ m crazy busy. Then back to work!

★ 3 pm Farley and I are out the door to take my horse Cy( short for Cyclone) for a ride.

★ 5 pm Back on the computer— some work, some social. Some TV, I won’ t lie.

★ 9 pm Brief meditation and stretching, then bedtime. Early to bed, early to rise, as they say! n

September 2017 ■ PULSE 61