9 marketing foundations you need in place and THE checklist that will make sure your marketing will work for you!

My salon is not just a hair salon, it’s a marketing and media company too. Not how you see your salon business? Well, you should. Let me tell you why.

Standing out from the crowd is not easy, and simply having a nice salon front is not enough to bring in new clients.

To win custom now, you need to be ‘relevant’. You need to have an impactful online business presence. You need to be an influencer and influential. 

Only ever posting on your Facebook page when you have a late cancellation spot to fill is not enough. You need to be producing quality content that your followers will share amongst their friends and followers. The more shares, the more free advertising for your salon.

Set aside those thoughts of not having enough time to come up with marketing and social media campaigns, because you need to make the time.  Delegate, distribute responsibility, use your team, find the way that works for you, it’s vital if you want to future proof your salon business.

The better your online presence, the more of your target audience will stop scrolling and pay attention to you. But you’ve got to make it worth their while or the next time they see your posts flash up, they’ll just keep on scrolling.

2021 has to be about experimenting with ways of increasing your video engagement and animated images to help you stand out and get your message shared.

Try short promotional videos on your YouTube channel about your salon or team as well as video tutorials. Fun but informative videos of your services and products are a great place to start too. Need help creating videos? We are offering a new service providing and editing videos. See examples here…

Give yourself time every day to focus purely on marketing and media. Ring -fence time most days for you to work, uninterrupted on the things that will move you and your business to where you want it to be. You’ll soon see how your efforts are bringing in more new customers, keeping existing customers and even upping their frequency of visits as it becomes ‘the place to be seen at’. Focus is the key ingredient here. Click here to find out more on focus.

But how do you know if your marketing ideas will work? You don’t, there’s no hard and fast formula. Having systems in place to monitor where your clients are coming from will let you know what has worked or failed. But there are a few questions to ask about your marketing materials that could help. When I create any marketing material I go through this checklist to make sure of its performance potential:

• Purpose: What is the purpose of the piece? Is the message clear? What does it want people to do? Is it obvious?
• Perception: Is it fun and exciting? Does it look like everyone else’s marketing in your industry? Remember, you want to stand out not blend in. Is the language conversational rather than corporate (tip, you want it to be conversational)? Are the images and artwork used fresh and interesting? Avoid using the same old stock images. If in doubt, remember  the marketing term AIDA: Does it grab ATTENTION? Is it INTERESTING? Does it create DESIRE?. Will it make them take ACTION?
• Position: Does it have clear positioning (Click here to find out how to position your salon)? Is it obvious why they should choose you over your competitors? Does it contain helpful stuff that’s useful and show you are an authority and expert in your field?
• Personable: Is it friendly, personable and relatable? Does it contain photos, videos of you and your team? People buy into people. Let clients know you are not some faceless corporation.
• Presentation: Do you have awards and accreditations? Present them in your marketing, you need to flaunt these accolades to the world!
• Plug: Have you included links to independent review sites such as google to showcase the positive feedback and star rating your business has received? Have you added your own client testimonials? Plug them all!
• Proposal: Are your offers strong? Compel potential clients to take action with a strong proposal.
• Push: Does it have clear call to actions? You need to push them into doing what you want them to do; look at your website, book an appointment, watch a video, make it clear what they are to do next and make it easy for them to do so.

Checking your marketing assets against this list should help you feel more confident about their potential and eventually help you to understand what works for your salon and what doesn’t.

See how BOOSTmySALON can help your salon grow

We help hair & beauty salon businesses become more successful by implementing the right marketing and business systems that communicate effectively, to the right target audience. Our aim is to attract more customers to your salon, providing extra sales and INCREASED PROFIT to the salon owner.

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Being influential in the online world is what today’s bar is set against. The more people that follow your online story, the more gravitas it gives you in the real world. Don’t be afraid to take inspiration from industry leaders outside of the hair world, if you come across a campaign that impresses you, try and dig deeper down into it to figure out what it is you like about it using the checklist above. And, without flatly copying, use those aspects that speak to you as inspiration for your own campaigns.

But before you go delving off into that complicated campaign land, I’ve got for you my 9 marketing foundations that you firstly need to make sure you have in place for the continual acquisition of customers coming to your salon. 

1. This should be a given, but, have a website for your business. If you don’t have a website, get in contact with us today and we can help set you up online. (Click here for more information and pricing)
2. Install Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel on your website/pages to track views, plus have re-marketing campaigns running constantly to re-target your visitors.
3. Answer your phone every time it rings. Aim for zero missed calls and use a VOIP phone system, find out more about that here
4. Have a follow-up system for all leads, emails, enquiries and messages you receive into your business. The faster you can reply back the better the customer experience. Try to reply back within 10 minutes 
5. Optimise your Google My Business page. The more impactful and updated the better your online presence. Read a blog about Google my business here  
6. Respond to reviews, all of them – Not just the Bad ones, but the good ones as well. 
7. Create a marketing calendar and map out key events throughout the year to plan for so you’re not caught out.
8. Increase your knowledge hub and proof of expertise by creating more blogs and videos involving your whole team. 
9. Always review your marketing campaigns and assets with the checklist above.

By having the above marketing foundations in place, you will soon become an expert in it, both knowing what works for your salon and knowing when you need to try something new. 

Having the BOOSTmySALON marketing and sales systems can and will make the rhythmic acquisition of customers a reality for you.

The more you do it, the better the return on your investments, the quicker you’ll see your business grow and the realisation that your business is not only as a hair salon but a marketing and media company too. Let BOOSTmySALON become your very own marketing & media company.

If you need any more help or advice then get in touch, we are here to help! (Get in Touch TODAY)

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