We all know that running a salon business is lucrative, but getting and expanding your customer base can be tasking if you fail to implement the best marketing strategies.
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If you wish to retain old customers and get new ones, this article contains actionable salon marketing ideas owners of salons can implement to grow their customer base.
Therefore, you must always position yourself properly if you want to flourish in the saturated market, and marketing is indispensable.
According to statistics, on average, salons spend between 2% and 5% of their revenue on marketing alone, according to LocalFame.
This is higher in some quarters depending on what the business is aiming at achieving. The most important thing here however is that marketing is crucial to a business.
Below are effective implementable marketing ideas you should include in the business plan for your salon business to thrive:
Optimize Your Company’s Website for Online Bookings
The good thing is that many of your competitors are not doing this yet, and it can be an advantage for you. This is important due to the growth in online shopping and sales, and it is glaring that a serious business should give great attention to enhanced digital marketing strategies.
Some marketing research has shown how customers are checking out businesses online before visiting their respective physical stores.
Therefore, don’t only have an attractive hair salon, but also put in place a great user-friendly website, and make sure it is optimized for online bookings.
Amazingly, things are easier today than they used to be. You can simply integrate online booking software with your website with ease, and your customers will be able to engage your products and services with comfort. They can book appointments conveniently, and also buy beauty products.
But even if you are not going to get any salon software right now, you should strive as much as possible to make your website as simple as possible, where people can easily contact you. They should be able to easily see your contact information while exploring your website.
In addition to all of these, an optimized website is beneficial for getting free but effective visits from search engines.
When you give priority to search engine optimization (SEO), your website can get a favorable ranking when users use keywords relevant to your business.
Use Beauty Influencers
Influencers are what they are – influencers who can influence the decisions of others. A lot of people today take recommendations from influencers very seriously.
Many find themselves searching for what their favorite influencers are saying about a particular product or service before making a decision too.
Therefore, if you can get an influencer to promote what you do, you will likely see growth, particularly if they are so influential in the beauty industry.
One of the nice things about influencer marketing is that you can engage it according to your budget. You can even get started by looking for those that can promote your salon in exchange for free services where everyone is a beneficiary.
It is also advisable to start by working with micro-influencers which have only a small community. Aside from the fact that many influencers in this category simply have niche audiences (which is good for the advertiser), they also charge moderately for promotions.
Utilize A Customer Loyalty Program
Customers are key to the growth of any business, and they have a lot of options today. So, when you get a customer who patronized your business, you should try as much as possible to bring them back again and again. This requires being strategic, hence, they will be snatched by another smart competitor.
One of the things we can recommend is that you engage in loyalty programs where your business offers clients incentives if they can keep coming again.
Amazingly, you can use certain software today to easily send customized offers to clients at any time.
If you are effective with your approach, you can get more clients via word-of-mouth marketing (which is usually very effective though very cheap).
Your salon can offer a small reward to anyone who can bring a paying client to your salon (like a discount or bonus points).
Don’t forget to constantly remind your customers of these loyalty programs. You can keep promoting them via SMS, email marketing, and so on.
It is also very helpful to advise you not to get your clients uncomfortable with too much messages that can easily be regarded as spam.
You should always remember that different people see things differently, and not everyone loves it when they are always disturbed by a commercial company.
Use the Power of Facebook
According to statistics, many people today will search for the social media handles of a salon before they book an appointment.
And it was made known that Facebook is usually the go-to place for many consumers. These are definitely for obvious reasons.
Facebook remains a prominent social media platform with billions of users from all around the world, and its potentials are very huge too.
It was revealed that the platform boasts a monthly active user revolving around 2.934 billion from different parts of the world. This means, there are over 2 billion people on Facebook each month. Indeed, it is amazingly huge.
Thus, on your part, you will do well if you give great attention to using Facebook to promote your business.
Invest in ensuring you have an enticing presence on Facebook that will blow away your target audience whenever they are around your Facebook space.
If you are doing this yourself or hiring someone else, ensure your posts are always intentional, carrying a distinct brand voice.
Don’t forget to always use relevant and niche hashtags, as well as plan content that places emphasis on your niche.
You should also remember that many times, one of the reasons consumers are lurking around your space is to be sure that your salon is near perfect.
Don’t forget that no one wants to waste time and money on an unpleasant service, and they need as much convincing as they can get.
It is therefore advisable that you use your Facebook space to showcase your business owners as well as team members.
Talk about the things that made them unique and experts in what they do. If you are strategic about these things, they can be very helpful, and the people will have great confidence in your business and brand.
Google Ads
Google Ads is one of the most innovative advertising options in the world of digital marketing today. You can opt for this with just a budget and get your services only in front of your target audience. You are only charged when someone clicks on your advert. This definitely should be given great priority.
In Conclusion
You must be very strategic and know the significance of marketing to your business growth. You must be intentional when it comes to excelling in today’s busy salon industry. You should always remember that there are many competitors out there.
Therefore, give great priority to these marketing tactics and give your salon business a good edge over others.
