24 March 2021
As the last year has shown, what clients are looking for and how to deliver what they want is constantly in flux. Marketing your beauty salon effectively is a great way to entice new clients to book into your salon and keep existing clients coming back for more. Creating a marketing plan for your salon is a good first step to gaining new customers.
Of course, all great marketing starts with a great product. Having excellent service and offering good quality beauty services will help your business grow and will win you more clients. If you do a great job, you will find that clients can do most of your marketing for you! – your job is to make this easy for them.
But how do you make sure potential customers find you? We have listed here a number of tools you can use to market your business effectively.
For centuries successful businesses have won new customers by recommendation. If your clients have a great experience they will want to share it with their friends! – if someone looks and feels great after visiting your salon, they are a walking advertisement to attract new customers, so think about how you can encourage them to invite new clients to test your service:
A free beauty consultation or manicure for any loyal customer who brings family or friends to your salon is a tried and tested way of enticing new customers through the door.
Offering rewards to customers who send in referrals is a common business tool, it’s a great way to get new customers while at the same time giving a freebee to an existing client, building your relationship and helping to make sure they book again.
As the beauty industry is such a visual market, ensuring your storefront looks beautiful is a must. Making sure your salon is noticeable brings in passing customers from the highstreets and a seasonal change in the shop’s display keeps thing fresh for prospective customers.
Having little brochures with your products and pricing to give away to interested passers-by – perhaps with an offer for first time visitors – is a great way to generate more bookings quickly.
Social media platforms have exploded, with most of the UK’s population regularly checking at least one social media account daily if not hourly! So social media platforms can be a great tool to keep in touch with regular clients and attract the attention of new ones.
Having a couple of social media accounts which are updated regularly keeps you current in customer’s consciousness. It is a great way to communicate with your clients about any new offers that you might launch.
Asking clients to tag your salon when they post a photo on social media with their new look, or even add a hyperlink in their post, is another great way to drive traffic to your website. Friends and family who are interested in booking similar treatments will be able to quickly and easily find your website. In effect, social media pumps up the volume of “word of mouth” so that hundreds or even thousands of connections can hear the conversation.
Having a good salon website, that is highly ranked on google and easy to use is a great way to attract customers. A professional website and a quick and easy online booking process give your customers a great first impression of your salon.
Adding a menu of the services you offer and the price of each one (as well as any offers you may have on the website) is a great way of encouraging interest and letting your clients know what it is that you do.
Having a friendly online contest with a prize (such as a free treatment) for the winner is a great way to drive interest in your salon. Particularly in the build-up to holidays like Valentine’s Day or Halloween.
Creating competitions on social media platforms like Instagram, like best Halloween costume make up, can drive a call to action and generate a response in your clients. It’s an exciting and fun way to market your salon as customers post pictures and tag your salon.
As well as offering booking through phone calls, having an online booking option on your website can help you generate more business for your salon. In this case, convenience is key. The easier you make it to book an appointment quickly, the more business you are likely to generate.
Online booking allows customers book an appointment from their mobile phones with just a few clicks which is very convenient for busy clients.
Signing up your business on Feefo, Trust Pilot or a similar review services can help build trust with customers. Many consumers check online reviews of a beauty salon and look at their rating before they book an appointment. Having verified customer statements about your business available to potential customers can reassure them that you have a good practice.
Giving a little thank you note to anyone leaving a positive review helps shop your customers you care. Responding to any negative reviews in a calm and collected manner to smooth over any ruffled feathers will also help maintain your credibility.
Conducting market research with your clients is a central part of marketing. This could be as simple as talking to your clients while they enjoy their treatment, or more formal research such as sending out a quick survey email to your regular customers. Research can give you a lot of useful information to help you fine tune your services and grow your business. Knowing what your target customer base is expecting from your business can help you refine you marketing strategy.
Marketing doesn’t have to be high tech; another option would be to have a paper survey and comment box. Offering a prize for the winner can act as a tempting incentive.
How would you like to receive reminders about your salon booking? How did you hear about our salon? What is your favourite treatment? What do we do well and how could we improve?
A few responses can help you decide on your best selling points and capitalise on them.
Marketing for a beauty salon can seem like a difficult task, but it can be broken down into simple steps.
We hope you have found a lot of actionable ideas in this guide to marketing for a beauty salon. We have a lot of professional experience in marketing so if you need any help or have any questions don’t hesitate to contact us.
Call a member of our team today on 01892 280 123
