How To Market Your Salon On A Small Budget
Do you ever need to not market your business?
Surely, when you are fully booked you don't need to bother
anymore? Why would you? If you are fully booked there is no room for anyone
else.
Marketing your business is a never ending task and there is never
going to be a time when you won't need to do it, I'm afraid if you think there
will be you are very much mistaken. Even
the likes of John Lewis, Coca-Cola and M & S market themselves and they are
three exceptionally well established businesses and brands, so if they still
need to, so do you.
Of course such brands have a different level of marketing budget
to us small businesses, but the backbone of this country's economy is small
business - as Napoleon once said England is a nation of shopkeepers and I think
Covid reminded everyone of that. What
you spend, however small, and where you spend it, are really important to the
image, growth and success of your
business.
By January you will have put together a calendar for the first
half of the year. That promotional calendar is the basis of what you are going
to market. A promotional calendar
doesn't have to be full of special offers and rock bottom prices, those of you
who read my articles regularly know that I am not a fan of this and the way it
devalues our skills, education and service.
Your promotional calendar will tie in with special local/national
events, new product or treatment launches, or services that you want to
highlight that are, perhaps, not as popular as some others. They don't have to
be reductions and freebies, they can just be a focus - like a product of the
month. I am all for adding value so if you are going to offer something always
upsell. For example offer an upgraded
version of a gel manicure by including a massage and exfoliation, upgrade from
one facial to the next etc. show clients what else is available and let them
see how beneficial these extras are to them.
So how can you market your business effectively without spending a
fortune?
The first thing you need to do is decide upon a marketing budget
for the year or, if that is too far in advance, you at least need to have a
monthly budget. It's no good just
deciding on a whim, or being swayed by an advertising sales person by what they
deem to be a bargain or a special rate just for you. If you have a budget and you have spent it
nothing is a bargain, unless they offer you free advertising! So stick to your
guns, exceeding any budget is not good for your bank balance!
Take a look at what marketing you did last year and ask yourself
these questions:
•
What did you spend?
•
How much extra revenue did
that generate?
•
Where did you advertise?
•
What worked?
•
What didn't work?
Once you have this information you can make an informed decision
about what you can/should spend and where.
I think it is realistic to expect advertising/marketing costs to
go up annually, our prices go up each year as our expenses become higher so why
shouldn't theirs? Your marketing budget
will need to increase year on year, but if you can't really afford it to that's
fine, you just need to be more savvy with how you spend your budget and do more
marketing that costs you your time rather than cold, hard cash.
So let's categorise our marketing options by what is free, what
has a minimal expense involved and what has a higher expense involved. The savvy thing to do is to absolutely
exhaust all free options first before moving on to marketing options that
involve an expense. Whilst the free
marketing options don't cost you money they will cost your time. So for those of you who don't sit on a Sunday
night, like I and many others do, working on marketing, now is the time to dust
off your laptop or iPad because, when you aren't working to promote your
business someone else is working to promote theirs and you are missing out.
Free marketing options:
•
Building a website and
utilising it is the first and cheapest marketing to do, as long as you build
your own website. Don't be afraid, it is
time consuming but even the least technologically minded can do it - I did so
anyone can! Clients don't look in the
local directory or yellow pages anymore, they get their phone out and google
salons or services and if you haven't got a website they won't find you.
•
Google Business Listing -
once you have a website set up a Google Business Profile. You can add all of your important information
to it, add yourself to Google maps, have reviews and add pictures. You need at
least 100 pictures on their for Google to recognise you. I know this is a lot, as I said earlier these
options will be time consuming, but they are free and invaluable. We all Google
something when we need to know something or find someone……I lose count how many
times we reply to people with the term ‘Google it' in my house daily! The
important thing to remember with your Google listing, and your website, is that
you need to add to them and update them regularly so as Google keeps
remembering you are a real business and keeps you active.
•
Facebook Page - every man
and his dog are on Facebook. It's your
most instant access to your current clients and target audience. Do a range of competitions getting clients to
share your posts with their friends, for example. Whilst this will cost you the prize it is
still a very cost effective way of advertising and marketing. No one has the time to post to Facebook daily
but you need regular, daily activity to keep peoples interest. Set your posts up a week, or a few days, in
advance so the page runs itself. Make
the posts interesting and interactive. Social media is a great shop window,
find out the social media outlets your clients are using and focus on those.
•
Instagram - like Facebook,
Instagram is very popular. It is far more visual so is really interesting to
clients and great for before and after pictures, showing clients inside the
salon, introducing the team etc. . The majority of my clients are Facebook
users so I am less active on Instagram for the salon, however, where Instagram
does work well for me is as a portfolio for my fashion and celebrity work. So
think about your audience, and potential audience, and focus on the source they
are likely to use.
•
Twitter - you can set your
Facebook to automatically update your Twitter (and your Instagram and vice
versa), Be mindful that they are quite
different audiences with very different audiences.
•
Searching the internet to
find directories where you can have a business listing for free - these
activities increase you SEO without having to paying for google ads etc. Altering your website regularly, irrelevant of
how the small change i.e. updating a monthly page of news or promotions will
also increase your SEO.
•
Posters and literature in
the salon to remind clients of all of the wonderful services you provide. There are clients out there who come to you
for one thing and go elsewhere for another, because they just forget what you
do, so remind them!
•
Introduce a refer a friend
scheme - the clients you have come to you because they love the salon, the team
and what you provide, so why wouldn't their friends? Encourage clients to bring their friends to
the salon with a referral scheme. This
way you will be guaranteed to be reaching your target audience.
•
Network with other local
businesses and market each other. Encourage clients to shop local and show the
wonderful services available in the area by working together.
Minimal Expense Options:
•
Facebook adverts - there is
, of course, a cost involved but you can set your own budget, your target area,
age group, interests etc. so you know you are reaching the exact people you want
to.
•
Leaflet drop - leaflets are
fairly cheap to produce and then it just costs your time to deliver. Whilst leaflet drops have a mixed result they
are a cost effective way of reaching out to your local area. Always put a promotion on them so as you can
ascertain how effective it is.
•
Local networking/business
groups - every area has them, some will be specifically for women, others will
be a mixture. They are a good way of
potentially gaining new clients as well as working with fellow entrepreneurs to
grow your business.
•
Advertise your business on
your car - you can either get some very reasonably priced magnets that you can
take on and off the car, or you can pay to have someone sign write your
business details over your car.
Higher Expense Options:
•
Sponsor a local team or
school - this will provide you with advertising to a large demographic. Choose who you sponsor wisely as you need to
make the money back on the initial cost as well as make a profit.
•
Magazine/newspaper
advertising - this can be really quite expensive and you have to hope that the
right people buy the magazine the particular week or month you are advertising
in it.
•
Google ads - this will
ensure you come up on the first page when people use your chosen key words in
their search, and as we know everyone uses the internet to find what they are
looking for.
•
Taxi/Bus Advertising -
costly but constantly seen driving around your area so guaranteed to be seen by
thousands of people regularly. Make the
advert eye catching and clear who you are.
•
Roundabout signs - I don't
know of any salons who have done this but I have clients with other businesses
who have with great results. Just ensure
the signs are on a roundabout that are on a busy road that is used a lot, in
order to maximise the visibility. Ensure
the advert is short, to the point and has the key information that stands out
and is easy to see who you are and what you do.
These are just some ideas to
get you started. Ask your current clients how they found you and where they
look when looking for services, utilise the free options first and build upon
it. A potential client needs to see you
advertised seven times before they are likely to book so make sure you use a
variety of outlets to market yourself, don't just keep doing the same thing
because you always have, mix it up. But
whatever you do keep doing it and never stop!