Salon Marketing Ideas - 7 Tips to Try NOW
If you own a spa or salon you know how difficult it is sometimes to attract clients to your business and get them to return. Many customers are sporadic, often attracted by an offer or promotion that gets them in the door. They come once to treat themselves and they do not return or they come in randomly later on — making it that much harder for you to build a consistent roster of ongoing clients. Since the success of a spa or salon depends on bringing customers in and keeping them you’ll need to flex your marketing muscles and think of ways to reach + interest your target market.
The key to a successful business is to achieve a faithful and well-tended customer base which thinks of you as their first choice for relaxing and treating themselves. It can be hard so to help you achieve this here are seven marketing ideas to try out in your spa or salon!
FOCUS ON YOUR WEBSITE.
Is it easy to navigate your website? Do you know if users find what they are looking for? Lots of spas and salons have outdated or difficult to navigate websites! Most of the time guests want to look up prices, see available booking hours and other services you might offer. Help users find the content they’re looking for without having to go through a slow, difficult to understand website!
In my personal experience if I hop onto a website and it’s out-of-date or looks like it was designed in the 90s, it’s likely that I’m going to hop off and keep searching for a different spa or salon.
Another way to build an audience is to have ongoing, relevant content uploaded to your blog or website. This offers many benefits, including:
It gives search engines a reason to bump your website closer to the top of the results page!
You provide a way in which to engage with your loyal + new customers.
Blogs help educate and interest your target market on topics that matter to them — educational posts, benefits, how-to guides…these are all ways to provide even more value to your audience.
LIVE STREAM AND POST VIDEOS OF YOUR SPA IN ACTION.
Videos are an excellent and alternative way to reach and interact with your audience building a community around your brand. Well implemented live streaming and videos hook clients even more and gives you a new way to share content and connect with your audience.
On Instagram, your fans will love to see a behind-the-scenes look at your spa or salon. Use live streams to answer questions, engage with your community or show off new things in your retail section or service menu!
PUBLISH YOUR PROMOTIONS THROUGH SOCIAL NETWORKS
Social networks, specifically Facebook and Instagram, are a great way to showcase your services and products, pique the interest of those browsing around, share testimonials or reviews from loyal customers and create the vibe you want to highlight for your space.
When using social media, you have plenty of tools at your fingertips. Add location tags or hashtags on posts and stories to reach your local community!
HAVE A SYSTEM FOR NO-SHOW CLIENTS.
You’ve successfully booked your entire week to the point you have to turn down clients or book them at a later date — business is good! Then comes the dreaded no-show client who doesn’t bother to show up but also doesn't cancel their appointment. Now you’ve lost revenue from the booked client and no immediate way to fill the void. Make sure you have a system to reach out and remind clients of their appointments.
Better yet, leave your spa or salon booking policies in your highlights on Instagram and refer to them often — this should include the cancellation policy and booking procedures.
GIVE DISCOUNTS TO CLIENTS WHO POST ABOUT THEIR VISIT.
Confidence is key when booking a relaxing treat for yourself and customers are much more likely to trust a place recommended by their friend than randomly coming in based on your own ads. Encourage clients to post about their visit and build the buzz around your brand.
When clients post content on their own page, sharing it gives you even more content to share on your own while simultaneously promoting your spa or salon — talk about a win-win situation!
LAUNCH FLASH PROMOTIONS FOR FRIDAY AND THE WEEKEND.
Apart from the standard promotions you launch to attract customers, also launch last minute flash offers with an incredible discount, which helps you get more appointments to fill your agenda during the key days, which are Friday and Saturday. Have space between two bookings? Using a flash sale to fill that available time means another customer in the door.
If you have gaps in your schedule, this type of promotion valid for a specific day or time will help you monetize every minute of your day even if it is offered at a discounted rate. Use this tip also for slow days! Is it harder to book appointments on Mondays or are Wednesday evenings historically empty? Flash sales or special events at this time will entice customers to book at the times you want to fill.
DESIGN GIFT CARDS.
Lately, gifting partners, employees, workers, family and friends a relaxing experience rather that a product has been a pretty popular idea, especially with spa gift cards being very desirable. Encourage customers to buy gift cards for their loved ones — another way to build your clientele.
One way to get customers more willing to buy gift cards is offer an incentive to them. For example, offer them $$ off when they purchase a gift card or throw in a service when they spend a certain amount on products or gift cards at the end of their appointment.
Need more help in creating a strategy for your spa or salon? Reach out and let’s chat!