Effectively promoting your salon takes more than social media posts and give-aways. It’s fine tuning how the staff works as a team to create a one-of-a-kind experience for guests, while demonstrating the salon’s creative ideas and talented stylists.

To get a peek into tips and tricks from successful salon owners, SalonBiz talked with a few about how they switch things up, season to season, while adding unique value in each guest experience.

Elizabeth Faletic

Elizabeth Faletic from Tyler Mason Salon and Spa  is a big believer in planning promotional opportunities using a marketing calendar. “My staff and I work together to plan out 30 – 60 days of content for social media and our website, and how to feature certain departments,” says Faletic. “We also look at the sales numbers for each area of the salon, such as massage, nails, or other services, to clarify which needs a promotional boost.”

Elizabeth’s bio: https://tylermason.com/people/elizabeth-faletic/

Faletic credits SalonBiz with helping Tyler Mason track important details including sales, pre-books, products and more, to provide the raw data needed to guide promotional direction.

Other ideas Tyler Mason uses to bring in clients while providing high value:

1. Be selective with promotions. Get clear on what areas of the business can off-set the cost – products or services.
2. Plan ahead for service promotions. Know where there will be an actual demand for that service, and have space and staff to support a higher volume of guests effectively.
3. Spa appointments tend to be slower in winter. Craft a promotion to entice clients for a service, and have a supply of the paired products available to sell for at home care.
4. Examine long-term profitability of the salon by tracking stylist’s sales each month, including retail sales goals. If they hit and exceed them, each stylist gets a voucher to use on products, gaining first-hand knowledge to share with clients.
5. Create opportunities for one-on-one chats with stylists and staff to hear insights on what’s working, or not, and how it contributes to sales for products, pre-books, or fresh promotional ideas.
6. Merchandising is key; switch products around in the salon about every six weeks to keep it fresh for guests.  
7. Offer products on Amazon and set the price the same to avoid competition. Tyler Mason gets a kick back of all Amazon sales in the form of free gifts to share with staff and guests.

Tricia

Tricia from Trixie’s Salon also believes in the power of using social media to connect with clients and staff alike.

Tricia’s bio: https://trixiessalon.com/about-us/meet-the-team/

“We use all of the social media channels, including email newsletters to reach our vast, diverse audience. Sending out a regular newsletter allows us to create a little snippet of something geared towards each demographic, and offers one specific space to share useful, diverse tips,” says Tricia.

As for specific tools, Trixie’s team uses SalonBiz and Demand Force. “They offer a great combination of diverse business support to help us manage marketing outreach, while keeping track of all the important details in our sales numbers,” says Tricia.

In the spirit of sharing successful promotional tips with other salon owners, Tricia suggests:

1. Get involved with the community in ways that offer your skills as a salon while helping fill a need, including local and out of town fashion shows and style shoots.
2. Take advantage of social media planning by Qnity. It works through an 8 season calendar that changes every 6 weeks and provides a unique way to feature something special for a limited time that’s seasonally appropriate.
3. Have openings? Send out a notification to your email list to alert customers about any first come, first serve spots available with stylists or salon spa staff.
4. Share updates via email or in the newsletter about community events that may be of interest to clients. It demonstrates support for local happenings and offers a way to be of service to your clients and community.
5. Get staff involved with writing social media content. Offer training on what to say and which keywords you want to leverage for the salon. This keeps social accounts current and on point, and builds in marketing know-how to invest in staff.
6. Create a blog to feature content focused on what’s happening in the lives of the stylists, features their work, introduces new staff, or shares insights from the fashion world. Also start a YouTube channel to showcase processes or a before and after video, as well as an editorial calendar to manage it. Choose one day to publish and do it consistently.
7. Collaborate with other salon owners to learn something new or create a cross-promotion that benefits both of you.

Vanessa Minter

Vanessa Minter, Owner of Bangz Park Avenue Salon and Woman Of The Year for 2018 from Orlando Style Magazine also had great tips to build community while doing the creative work you love.

Vanessa’s bio: https://bangzparkavenue.com/about/meet-the-team/

She works with the local Children’s Hospital and the Cancer Society, and recently closed the salon for a ½ day to work with cancer society models, providing hair, make-up, plus food and drink. Minter also provides make-up and wigs to the local theatre productions.

Here are some simple promotional tips that Minter uses regularly to keep her salon buzzing:

1. Offer complimentary services for people with health issues, especially older clientele.
2. Feature before and after pictures of each client on social media, as well as the stylist’s creative handiwork. Check out SalonBiz new feature in the Stylist App before and after photo.
3. Find ways to go green and use mobile benefits of iPads and phones.
4. Offer phone order refills on products, and a simple way for guests to pick them up.
5. Leverage a merchant account through services like SalonBiz and take advantage of the additional app features to integrate the merchant account and stylist app. This makes it so easy to create a client file and track specific consultation notes for before and after photos, and list any formulas or notes for each client.
6. Hire a firm to do marketing planning and execution, but work hand in hand with them to create a monthly plan.
7. Offer ongoing education for yourself and staff, and learn alongside them.  
8. Always be thinking about how you can stand out. It’s a 24-7 idea! Think about what makes your salon unique, and find a creative way that sets you apart.
9. Feature a “Stylist of the Month” on Instagram, and leverage Instagram stories to showcase the stylist’s work and products. Have stylists talk about favorite products, why they like them, and what it does for the hair, then direct social traffic to the website. This practice also helps build up other women through a powerful social platform.
10. How you greet and say goodbye to your guests is so important! Appreciate them at every level in ways that are unique to the salon’s vibe.

Now you have a little more insight on how to bring in fresh promotional ideas and hit the ground running, it’s time for one final tip – offer a “Bring a Friend” promotion for a special event or to market a new product or service. A memorable guest experience makes it easy to create word of mouth promotion.

These powerful promotional tips are effective all year round, and help create a consistent creative marketing promotion for any salon.