Our focus in this article is to discuss some of the best marketing ideas to get your salon’s name out there, bring in your target clientele, and run a successful marketing campaign.
Running a marketing campaign is unpredictable. You have to test out your ideas, experiment to determine who your target audience is, and you have to do these things while keeping in mind that you don’t have all the time in the world. The thing about marketing is that it isn’t “one size fits all”; everyone who runs a business will know that to make your marketing campaign succeed, you have to work it around your business rather than the opposite. With that in mind, we’re going to be showing you some salon marketing ideas which will set you on the path to success.
Create Your Own Products
Salons use a lot of different products every single day. Shampoo, conditioner, nail polish remover, hair dyes, and many others, as well as the equipment which is constantly in use. Take advantage of the products that you use and rebrand them as your own, sell them to any customers who are looking to recreate a salon experience at home, and let the product take care of the rest.
When your customers take home a bottle of shampoo with your salon’s name stuck on the side of it, they can easily tell their friends and family how to they got their hair to be perfect and before you know it, you’ll have new clients every week.
Become a Part of Your Community
Most of your customers will be locals and it’s very rare that a salon will have a customer who has travelled for their services. Thus, the best way to attract new customers is to get involved with your local community and build relationships.
Get to know the people around you; your potential customers. Don’t try and push your services onto them. In fact, you should rarely mention your salon at all – instead, focus on getting to know them and letting them get to know you. This way, they can see that you’re a caring character who will undoubtedly provide a high-quality salon experience.
Offer New Customers Discounts
One of the things which prevents a new customer from trying out a different salon is that they don’t know for sure whether or not it’ll be worth it. As glamorous as your salon may be, all salons can be somewhat pricey and spending their money at somewhere that they aren’t familiar with can be seen as a risk in their eyes.
This might seem like a downside of running a salon but on the contrary, you can use it to your advantage. Since one of their main concerns is their money, offer all new customers a discount on their first trip to the salon.
By doing this, you are giving them an opportunity to experience your salon without going out of pocket, and you’ll quickly grab a few regular customers.
Start a Loyalty Program
Similar to what we discussed above about offering new customers discounts, you should also consider starting a loyalty program so that the customers who frequent your salon feel appreciated.
A loyalty program can be something as simple as “One Free Pedicure for Referring a Friend!”, to something along the lines of “For Every 5 Waxings, Get a Free Spray Tan!”. Of course, these are just some suggestions.
Seasonal Discounts
One approach that you can take is to go old school and run seasonal discounts, design some eye-catching leaflets, and give them out to people that you pass. Having a seasonal discount will quickly fill up your appointment book and you’ll more than likely get yourself some new customers.
Hire an Online Marketing Firm
Online marketing is an incredibly powerful marketing tool and if you go about it the right way, you’ll be able to reach out to your audience quite literally with the click of a button. However, not everyone has the time to focus on an online marketing campaign which is why it could be worth your time to hire an online marketing firm to take care of it for you.
Now, not every salon has the money to outsource their marketing, and that’s completely fine. That being said, it’s still worth looking into the different packages that online marketing firms have available as even spending $200 a month on social media will bring huge improvements to your salon. Let the professionals take care of online marketing and you can focus on other aspects of your business.
Discount Unwanted Appointments
There are going to be times that your salon is quiet, and you only have a few clients filtering in and out throughout the day, up until you have a rush of customers later in the day. If you’re noticing a pattern of unwanted times in your appointment book, offer discounts on those appointments so that you can fill them up.
This may seem counter-productive but by doing this, you’re filling in empty appointment spaces which would otherwise go unused, thus bringing you no profits.
Show Off Your Work!
Showing off your work is a great way to show potential customers what you’re capable of and the standard of work that you do.
There are a few ways that you can go about doing this. Ask your customers if they are comfortable having you take a picture of whatever it is that you did for them (whether it be dying and styling their hair, or a manicure), and you can do one of two things from there.
The first thing that you can do is print those pictures off and put them on a display board behind your salon’s windows that potential customers who are passing by can stop, observe, and possibly even come in to book an appointment.
Alternatively, and more popularly, you can upload the pictures to Instagram. This is a much easier way of getting your work out there as it can be easily shared by your followers and you’re able to reach a wider audience this way.
Focus on Improving Your Online Ratings
Your online ratings are often the first point of contact for your potential customers. If you don’t already have an online presence, then this is a great place to start. Set up a few different social media platforms and sign your salon up to some relevant platforms (such as Yelp) so that you can have your customers leave feedback regarding your services.
For the most part, you’ll receive positive feedback from your loyal customers who are genuinely happy with the level of service that you provide. However, it’s important that you don’t let negative feedback get to you. Instead, use any negative feedback that you get to improve your services.
To Conclude…
Now that we’ve given you some marketing ideas to work with, it’s time to put them into practice and put your salon in a place to succeed. Some of these ideas are simple and you can put them into play without too much effort, while others will take some time and patience. As long as you take into account what you’ve learned from this article, you’ll be able to create a salon marketing campaign that you can be proud of.
