Ho-Ho-How do will you get your salon and its products and services onto the holiday shopper’s radar this year? These six salon holiday marketing ideas can help you reach more holiday shoppers.
Based on projections holiday shoppers will once again set new records in total spending, with ecommerce gains continuing to outpace in-store sales as more and more consumers turn to the internet for holiday shopping ideas and convenience.
Reaching local shoppers who are bombarded with holiday marketing and advertisements isn’t going to be easy, so we came up with specific salon holiday marketing ideas that can help you reach more local shoppers and boost retail sales during the holidays and bring new clients onto the books, too.
7 Salon Holiday Marketing Ideas to Help You Reach More Holiday Shoppers
Reach Out to More Local Holiday Shoppers Online
Flyers, window displays, in-salon signs at the point of sale and at stylist stations will do nothing to reach the vast majority of local shoppers! Last year half of all holiday shopping was done online, including last minute purchases. Your salon holiday marketing ideas must go beyond the walls of your salon. Website and blog content that is optimized so that local shoppers are likely to find it when searching for holiday gifts and shopping destinations online, along with email and social media marketing will be key to reaching holiday shoppers online.
Reach Out to Gift Card Buyers
Each year more and more shoppers are purchasing gift cards in lieu of giving cash or shopping for presents. Salon gift cards are a great option for holiday shoppers, but they won’t sell themselves. Make sure that you are reaching out to not only clients but – as you have the data and contact databases and social media connections to do so – client’s friends and loved ones to remind them that you have gift cards ready, waiting, gift-wrapped and ship-pable to help them cross people off their holiday shopping lists.
Reach Out with Holiday Exclusive Inventory
You may be able to boost retail sales in your salon significantly during the holidays (and all year long) if you add exclusive, limited time opportunity retail items to your wares. These could be in the form of retail beauty products clients would expect to find in a salon (like POS cosmetics or holiday themed makeup and nail displays) but it might also mean thinking outside the box, and adding fun, kitschy, blinged-out, shabby chic, artsy or other specialty retail items that clients might like to buy for someone on their holiday shopping list – or even just for themselves.
Reach Out to Last Year’s Shoppers
Collecting email addresses and mobile phone numbers at the point of sale, on your website and even through engagement on social networks during the holiday season can help you build a contact list for the holiday seasons to follow. Reach out to clients and shoppers who took you upon holiday offers last year to let them know what you have planned for the holiday shopping season ahead.
Reach Out with a Demo Event
Holiday hair and makeup events can be an effective way for your salon to attract more clients that fit within your ideal client types. Frame your salon’s Christmas, Holiday or New Year’s demo event as a social bring-a-friend outing with entertainment, food and beverages. Think “happy hour” more so than “holiday sale.” Plan to give away a great prize in order to get people to RSVP and show up for your salon’s holiday demo event. Let guests interact with stylists and touch-smell-try products. Give away swag bags that include a small denomination gift card to get a bounce back to your salon. Do 2-3 great makeup and/or hair demos at the event and teach quick tips/tricks with attendee volunteers.
Reach Out to Beauty Product and Service Pioneers
We all have people in our social spheres who like to be in the know, the first to try something new, the first to weigh in about a new product or service, the first to start buzz among their friends, co-workers and loved ones. You can reach out to these local pioneers and engage them with trial offers on new services or products or hold an event where they get a first peek at your holiday marketing products and services.
Reach Out to Self-Gifting Shoppers
In 2014, 73% of 18-24 year olds (Millennials) said they planned to self-gift while doing their holiday shopping (National Retail Federation’s Top Trends in 2014 Holiday Shopping). Last year holiday shoppers purchased an average of $141 in non-gift items for themselves and their families. Make sure that your clients and other shoppers know which of your products or services make for the best self-gifting during the holidays, and make sure you extend a bounce back offer to turn a one-time self-gift into a repeat service.
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