The first thing that people look at when opting to go to a salon is how good it is. This factor isn’t just decided by the service it provides but on the basis of its marketing and public image. Since competition is increasing in different businesses, it is also seeing a hike in the salon industry.
Keeping in line with the competition, salons don’t need to sell their services alone but give clients the image that they are best when compared to others. Moreover, to attract clients strategies need to be made and used effectively.
A marketing plan is the best way to go about it. Using help from your team, you should come up with a plan to create an impact.
If you take a look at the image below, you can see how an effective marketing plan can really help your salon. If something goes wrong, you will know exactly where your plan failed.
Source: Pinterest
New salons have a hard time making an impression which is why it becomes important for them to use marketing skills appropriately. Otherwise, it could cost them their business.
Following new trends and coming up with new ideas for clients is something that can really boost sales for your salon!
There is not one perfect way of marketing for salons since different types of marketing strategies exist which can be used depending on the target audience of the salons. All that a salon needs are an effective marketing team.
Source: Matrix Bricks Infotech
The main aim of salon marketing is to increase clientele and retain old customers. Customer loyalty is an important aspect of marketing because old customers play a very important role in spreading the name of a salon by word of mouth.
Various marketing techniques are used by salons to promote themselves such as email marketing, text message marketing, social media marketing, and SEO marketing. However, it is not necessary for a salon to use all of them together.
New salons will always keep their budget in mind before opting for a marketing technique. Depending on the audience they want to target they can shift their marketing strategies and choose something new to attract customers.
How Salons Can Use Text Message Marketing
Text Message or SMS marketing is a very common way of approaching customers. Small texts can be enough to attract people towards a salon if used the right way.
Currently, 5 billion people around the globe own a cell phone and can both send and receive text messages. This makes text messaging an easy and cheap method of communicating for both salons and customers.
There is no one way of sending a text message. Rather, salons can add a personal touch to texts to make their clients happy.
Take a simple example of a text message and how it attracts your attention. Similarly, if a salon sends its clients a text message announcing a special discount, it is bound to get their attention immediately.
With an opening rate of 98%, text messages give your business a higher chance of getting your message across to the customers.
Source: TextDeliver
As the image shows, when compared to other sources of marketing, text message marketing has a higher opening rate as well as click-through rate.
All text messages sent are normally opened within the next 3 minutes of being sent. This means that you have a higher chance of
Short Codes for Text Messaging
Not every text is taken seriously by customers since there are many cases of fake business numbers going around. So to stay safe from such hassles, it is better than a salon choose a short code to represent itself.
Short codes are 5 to 6 digits long numbers that can be used by businesses to send text messages to clients and customers. The best part is that you can choose your own short code.
You can send messages through a short code but customers cannot call on these numbers.
Since these codes will represent your salon, your clients will know who is texting them. This means that your texts will not go ignored.
To get this marketing technique going you need a service provider such as ExpressText that can guide you through text message marketing.
Using SEO for Marketing
Search Engine Optimization is gaining a lot of popularity in the marketing industry these days. It is simply because people now search for the top results before opting for something.
The same goes for salons. People will search for the best salons using Google and other search engines.
Source: Nine Stats
According to the statistics shown, search engines initiate 93% of the online experiences for people. What you should not ignore is the fact that people barely go over to the second page.
Your salon needs to show up in the top results to have an impact on clients since people will always believe Google results when it shows the top 3 salons.
Local SEO marketing is another branch of search engine optimization where people searching for the best options will end up seeing those in their surroundings.
Salons can really benefit from this marketing technique by attracting customers around them with a good online rating.
What you need to stand out in SEO includes:
1. Good reviews: Make sure that your customers write reviews that leave a positive impact on those reading it. These reviews also bring a salon to the top of SEO searches on Google since people rely on good reviews and ratings.
2. Relevant keywords: SEO is all about using keywords effectively. This is why picking out strong keywords that represent a salon is important. When people search using those keywords, the salon will show up as one of the top options in results, inclining customers to choose that salon.
Social Media Marketing
Source: Oberlo
Social media might not be a new platform for people who wish to socialize but it is something innovative and new for businesses to market themselves.
There isn’t just one social media page that salons can use to promote themselves. From Facebook to Twitter to Instagram, there are numerous choices. All a salon needs to do is make its page for people to see whenever they visit the website.
Making a page is a pretty basic thing that is necessary for a salon when starting off. However, to take social media marketing a step ahead can be a real game-changer for you.
Let’s take a look at all that you can do with social media websites:
Facebook Ads
20% of Facebook users claim that they ended up buying something after the influence of Facebook advertisements.
It’s a simple technique that can target the right kind of customers to your salon. People searching for salons nearby will automatically come across ads for your salon making them easier to attract.
All you need to do is make a payment for each click on the advertisement but if you look at it in the long run, the real benefit goes to you. A few dollars to make a name for your salon don’t hurt while you can end up making hundreds or thousands after only a few clicks perhaps.
Facebook ads can be a really good investment in terms of marketing for all kinds of businesses, especially salons who need to find the perfect audience as their clients.
You can promote your salon in many ways through these ads. A salon can offer a special 10% discount to Facebook users if they get an appointment through their Facebook page.
Instagram Posts
Source: TechCrunch
With over 1 billion users active on Instagram, you can imagine the influence it has on people. It has indeed become a growing trend on social media.
Posting pictures and promoting businesses on Instagram has transformed marketing over time. Salons can create their profile and start attracting clients with interesting posts that represent their business.
The more vibrant and creative posts a salon puts upon its Instagram, the more chances it has of gaining clients in a short span of time.
Salons can put up discount offers and loyalty programs on their Instagram pages to attract customers. When scrolling down the newsfeed people see special offers, there are higher chances of them to visit the salon.
So if you want an extra edge over other salons, you need to make an Instagram page for yours and start making contact with your clients.
Promotion Through Events
Events are held frequently to promote a business or a brand. Salons can also use this technique to become the new talk of the town.
Source: Lake B2B
Building the right kind of image for a salon can be integral. Events can play an important role in making the salon as competitive as others in the market.
You don’t need to spend a lot of events but can start off from something small to leave your mark on people’s minds. An inauguration part can be the start of showing people that you are serious about your salon.
Salons should know what the new trends are since the industry requires them to stay updated with fashion and in-things. Keeping this in mind, salons can work on hosting events that attract audiences for them.
Let’s take an example of how most top-notch salons tend to host fashion shows while collaborating with various designers to show off their hairstyles and makeup. The invites are for those who are a part of the industry and are in a long term relationship with the salons.
Conclusion
Marketing for salons is not easy as it seems. You need to be creative, innovative and bold with your marketing techniques.
An empty salon barely gets any attention no matter how good the services might be. You need more and more clients to keep coming in and boost your sales.
There are plenty of marketing techniques as you just saw to promote your business but it is on you to choose one or combine some of them to get the desired results.
However, you always need to keep in mind the target audience and the new trends that will make your salon stand out from the others in the market. Online presence, reviews and promotions are the key factors in enhancing your business.
Source: Modern Salon
As seen above, there is continuous growth in the salon industry which means that it has become competitive to remain a part of it.
If you think a marketing technique alone will be enough to sustain your salon business, you are wrong. You need the perfect mix of marketing strategies to attract customers to your salon.
Moreover, a marketing technique can rely on another to be promoted. In case of events, you need to send out messages and reminders to customers about the event so they end up attending it.
The stronger salons have made their place in the industry but it is the new businesses that need to make the extra effort to attract clients. So it is up to you, choose the right techniques and go the extra mile to be every person’s first choice.