Posts

The 4 P’s of Summertime Salon Marketing

, ,

Summertime salon marketing presents unique challenges as client schedules are disrupted with vacations, travel and school-age kids to entertain.

Increase engagement by meeting client needs with summery salon marketing promotions and perks.

The four P’s of traditional marketing are:

  • product (what you sell)
  • placement (vehicle for selling and positioning in the marketplace)
  • price (the cost of products)
  • promotions (sales and marketing, or how you attract and retain clients)

Defining these 4 P’s is marketing 101 for any business. You can take this same principle and apply it seasonally. For instance, last year we published an article on salon holiday marketing ideas that included four P’s unique to winter and holiday months. This time we’ll take a look at 4 more P’s of salon marketing, this time geared for the unique situations that clients find them in during the summer.

So what are the special circumstances that affect salon clients during summertime?

  1. Sun and surf

Clients may be spending more time outdoors during warm summer months in the sunlight with longer days as well as taking vacations to sunny destinations, swimming in pools, lakes and rivers, and more. Increased exposure to the great outdoors can impact their hair, scalp, skin, nails, etc.

  1. Schedules

Varying schedules due to vacations, family and friends who might be coming to town vacationing themselves, kids who would normally be in school being home, and other factors can impact the ability of salon clients to adhere to established appointment times and pre-booked appointments.

  1. Special occasions

Summer is often host to special occasions, including family and class reunions, weddings, anniversaries, and so on. Any one of these events can result in a client wanting to book an appointment so they will look their best.

  1. Significant changes

Summer is peak moving season, in part because many people with kids want to move during the summer to be ready for a new school year. More than 40 million Americans move annually, and more than half of those moves occur between May and September (Allied Movers). Not only does this mean that new prospective clients could be moving to your area every summer, you might also be losing clients and need to replace them to keep your book of business steady. In addition, new residents may be changing jobs and desiring a new, improved look to give them more confidence in landing a new position.

With that in mind, let’s talk about 4 P’s of summertime salon marketing that can help salon owners, salon suite lessees and booth renters attract new salon clients and build your book of business.

4 P’s of Salon Summertime Marketing for Salon Owners, Salon Suites and Booth Renters

  1. Prove it

You don’t want to lose a good client just because they need to change their appointment due to special situations that commonly occur during the summer. If your clients truly are #1 with in your book, prove it!

Send an email and SMS text marketing message to clients reassuring them that if they need to make a change in a pre-booked or standing appointment this summer, you’re ready to help them find a time that works for them. List any open time slots and invite them to reply back with an RSVP or request for appointment change.

If a client does contact you to reschedule an appointment, be accommodating. Don’t make the client feel as though they have done something wrong; instead, reassure them that they are important to you and look for a way to accommodate their scheduling needs. The client should never feel like you are the more important person in the relationship!

  1. Provide Recommendations

The environmental factors that impact client’s hair, skin, nails, scalp, etc., during summertime months mean opportunities for your salon to sell more services and salon retail. Use social media and email marketing to make recommendations to clients and personalize recommendations of add-on services and salon retail products during consultations.

  1. Promote Packages

The special occasions in your clients’ lives represent services that can help you build your book of business and make a name for yourself when it comes to party looks, wedding parties, mother of the bride and bridal looks, formal occasion looks for class reunions, and more.

Likewise, with kids going back to school in August and September, back to school haircuts and other services present a prime promotional opportunity for your salon, salon suite or for you as a professional booth renter.

New client packages, job-seeker makeovers and other special offers can also help you attract prospective clients among those who have moved during the summer and are new to your area.

  1. Perks

A lot of stylists and beauty professionals give small client thank you gifts during the holidays. Why not repeat this for your best clients during the summer, with a summer-themed client gift or free-with-purchase incentive item? In addition, and especially if summer months bring any kind of slowdown to your salon, consider extending extra perks in return for new client referrals. You can also reinforce interest in your summer-specific promotions and personalized recommendations with free or specially-priced add-ons, VIP pricing and other client perks.

Why over pay for Salon POS – salon point of sale solution or equipment? We would be happy to provide you with a free, no-obligation quote for salon credit card processing solutions including salon POS equipment and salon loyalty marketing, or financing options with a salon cash advance:

Field is required!
Field is required!
Field is required!
Field is required!
Interested in (check all that apply)
Field is required!
Field is required!
REQUEST INFO
/0 Comments/by

3 Lessons for Salons and Salon Suites from a Successful Salon Franchise

, ,

A while back the Great Clips salon franchise celebrated a decade-long winning streak – 40 straight quarters of growth. Find out how to grow like Great Clips and turn your salon or salon suite into a chain – or even a salon franchise.

Strategies for Growing a Salon or Salon Suite into a Chain or Salon Franchise

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that “Great Clips executives and franchisees on Tuesday celebrated a decade-long winning streak that they reached by the closest of shaves.” You may not be able to replicate the success of Great Clips, an organization of 3,600 salon franchise locations with a continuous string of 40 straight quarters of growth over 10 years. But if you want to see your salon or salon suite evolving into chain or franchise business opportunity over the next 10 years, these three strategies can help.

Take-Aways from Great Clips Fast-Paced Growth Clip

Growing a salon or salon suite – whether you want to make it more profitable or expand new salon locations – or even going from booth renter to salon owner, takes time, money, talent and strategy. In 7 Take-Aways From Great Clips’ 40 Quarters of Growth we find a list of several strategies that helped propel Great Clips to hit this growth milestone, including:

  • A strong core of corporate marketing, branding and advertising at the heart of the franchise
  • Focus – relentless pursuit of a clearly-defined target market
  • Locations well-suited for their business model
  • A client-centric approach based on their “ideal client types”
  • Strong buy-in from salon franchise owners and managers
  • Big picture connection, education and support for all managers and salon store owners via corporate conventions, which are held every two years; and
  • Tracking of important benchmarks, goals, analytics and results

Even if your salon’s business model is far removed from that of Great Clips’, the same principles apply when it comes to marketing, branding, finding and engaging your target markets, getting staff buy in and setting measurable goals (and actually measuring progress against them). We found three key areas, in particular, where salon owners simply cannot cut corners if they want to grow and expand their salon to new locations or develop their own salon franchise business model.

3 Keys for Growing a Salon or Salon Suite into a Chain or Salon Franchise

Don’t Skimp on Salon Branding

Developing a strong salon brand is about more than choosing a font and a logo. Your brand isn’t constrained to its visual identity!

At its core, your brand is the set of perceptions that exist in a client’s mind relative to your salon. Each time a client visits your salon, calls for an appointment, visits your salon website or interacts with you or any member of your staff, their perception about your brand is affected positively or negatively.

Some of the aspects of the client experience that impact whether your clients perceive your salon’s brand in the way you most want them to include:

  • salon web site look, feel and apps (online booking, click to call, map and directions, ability to choose the right products and order products online, photos or app for choosing a new look, etc.)
  • the way you present your salon and your services on social networks
  • on-hold, after hours and live phone greetings
  • flexibility and availability if clients need to reschedule
  • quality of services
  • type and quality of retail products
  • waiting area, service area, back bar and shampoo area, restrooms, etc.
  • location of your salon and exterior / approach areas
  • email and text updates and reminders – and more
  • payment or credit card processing – end of client visit experience
  • rewards and loyalty marketing done after the sale

When you consider that each and every client touch point has the ability to impact how they feel about the brand of your salon and how they feel about doing business with you or recommending your services to their friends, loved ones and colleagues, it becomes pretty clear that you must think through how each of these touch points can be engineered to create a positive experience.

Don’t Skimp on Strategic Planning

Many small businesses – including many salons – don’t have a strategic plan. As a result, much effort is spent experimenting with various programs, marketing ideas, events and advertisements; often, with little or nothing to show for it.

Your strategic plan should look like a road map to help you get from where you are now to where you want to be next year, in three years, five years or even ten years down the road. The picture of where your salon or salon suite is now includes the opportunities that you feel offer the best chance to grow, especially if you want to open a new salon or salon suite location, grow into a chain or turn your concept into a salon franchise.

If you don’t have a strategic plan, start small. Working with your leadership team or trusted peers, answer these five questions:

  • Where are we now? (number of locations, number of stylists, revenue, number of clients, retail sales to service ratio, new clients per month, client turnover, employee turnover)
  • Why do we exist? (mission statement, identification of typical and/or “ideal” client types and target audience to be served)
  • Where do we want to grow in 12 months – 36 months – 60 months? (vision statement + how much should the “Where are we now?” numbers grow?)
  • How will we get where we want to grow? (marketing channels to be added, salon financing needed, and/or business and marketing tactics to be used to get the desired growth outlined in the previous question)
  • How will we know when we get there? (how will progress be measured, how often will results be assessed, and who is accountable?

Don’t Skimp on People

Most business owners will tell you their employees set their organization apart – and this is true, but it’s important to remember that having the wrong people in place or having people in place that are not engaged or bought in to your salon’s plan for growth will have a negative impact. As you work toward adding new salon or salon suite locations, or developing your concept for growth as a business franchise, be just as strategic when it comes to the organization culture you want to create in the process.

***

If working capital is all that stands between you and your dream of expanding your salon to a second location or a salon chain, or turning your salon’s concept into a salon franchise business model, we can help!

We offer salon business loans, advances and equipment financing that can be used for growing a salon whether that means adding new services, financing salon equipment, building out a salon or opening a new location. While banks usually say no when it comes to salon financing if you or your business has a low credit score or credit problems, bad credit won’t automatically disqualify you from getting salon financing using a business (ACH) or merchant cash advance salon financing program.

In addition, we offer some of the lowest salon card processing rates in the US, and we can help demystify credit card processing fees for you. Even if you just want to compare your current payment processing solution to see if you could be saving money by changing merchant services providers, we would be happy to give you a free, no-obligation quote.

Get a quote for salon payment processing or salon cash advance:

Field is required!
Field is required!
Field is required!
Field is required!
Interested in (check all that apply)
Field is required!
Field is required!
REQUEST INFO
/0 Comments/by