The ultimate playbook for salon marketing ideas to drive growth

Gone are the days when people used to broadcast ads in the newspaper or run marketing campaigns on television. Needless to say, digitalization has changed the ways of marketing a business. That is why making your business successful has become challenging these days. 

Like every other field, the salon industry has been growing wildly. So has the competition! So, are you someone striving to make your salon business successful? You are in the right place!

The significance of marketing in driving growth can not be overstated. Marketing is known to be the epitome of any business’s strategy. That is why it necessitates us to leverage the right marketing approach to drive growth!

But what is the right approach? That is why we are here! 

So, if you are looking for the best salon marketing ideas to outgrow your salon, read on. Here, we will disclose the best salon marketing strategy that can help you augment the growth of your business. So, let us get started!

10 best salon marketing ideas to drive growth

Marketing is key to turning any business from ordinary to extraordinary. If you do not advertise your business, you can not enhance it.

So, considering the competitiveness in the salon industry, we have enlisted a few ideas for marketing for salons that have the potential to take your business to the next level. So, let us take a glance:

1. Create a strong digital presence

Your audience knows you from your digital brand. That is why you must create a strong digital presence. For that reason, you need to focus on the content that you post. It must depict the real motive on which you built your brand. In addition, if you want to captivate your audience, your brand must possess an element that makes your audience feel associated. So when they land on your profile, make it worthwhile.

To build a steady online brand, the key is to know your audience. Before initiating your online brand, you must thoroughly evaluate your target audience. Therefore, it is important to understand their demographics, interests, and pain points. This will help you present your brand according to their expectations, making them feel related.

If you are worried about creating a robust digital presence, consider the following pointers:

• Understand your target audience
• Evaluate their interests and pain points
• Build an effective persona for your brand
• Know the value propositions of your brand
• Promote your brand’s values
• Stay consistent with your marketing practices

Consider the above pointers to create an effective digital presence that leaves a footprint on your audience’s mind.

2. Leverage referral programs

Word of mouth harnesses great power, and that is why the impact of referral programs can never be denied. So, introduce a referral program strategy into your salon business. Simply put, if your existing customer refers their friends or family to your salon, they get rewarded. It will not only make your customers happy but also maximize your sales, making it a win-win situation for both parties.

In addition, if you are a startup, you can implement a two-sided referral reward program to boost your sales. A two-sided referral reward program offers discounts to both your client and the person who comes from their reference. To be precise, if you get a new client because of your existing client, they both receive a reward or discount in their next services.

If you do not know how to create effective referral programs, the following tips may help you:

• Enlist your objectives for referral programs
• Determine the rewards you will offer
• Choose a method for delivering referral programs
• Craft an appealing and captivating referral card

Once you create referral programs for your salon’s marketing, it can help you enhance your customer base in no time. Using this marketing approach is not only effective but cost-efficient as well.

3. Harness the power of social media

The trend of leveraging social media has insanely increased over the past couple of years. So, social media platforms can help you engage your audience effectively. In order to engage your audience, post relevant and informative content. Additionally, figure out the peak hours and schedule your posts accordingly to get maximum reach.

In addition, make sure your content is meaningful to your audience and helps you keep them up-to-date. For that purpose, you can post captivating and high-quality images, your clients’ journeys, before and after pictures, and videos of your stylists while providing exceptional services. This will not only boost engagement on your content but build your salon’s credibility as well.

Another way to enhance audience reach on your posts is to organize giveaways and contests. To make it effective, offer tempting rewards so that more people participate. Lastly, this will help you increase your brand’s visibility, improve engagement, and boost brand awareness.

4. Increase reach with SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an incredible marketing tool for driving traffic. Whenever someone is looking for a salon in their area, they immediately go to Google as it is the richest source of information. So, if they search on Google and you do not practice SEO strongly, your salon may not appear on the search engine results page (SERP). That is why it is pivotal to practice SEO to create a strong online brand.

To practice SEO, you need to publish quality content on your website using high-search volume keywords. In addition, check out your competitors’ websites and get an idea of how to search keywords. Another factor to consider is using long-tail keywords or phrases people search for. This way, your related blog will pop up on SERP whenever someone searches for a query.

In addition, your website must have an effective content strategy. Do not keep posting irrelevant content; instead, write informative and helpful content that answers your audience’s queries. Moreover, there are many other factors to pay attention to optimize your salon’s website, including:

• Use on-page SEO practices to get better reach on your content.
• Implement off-page SEO practices like guest posts and forums.
• Make sure your website is easy to navigate and provides a seamless user experience.
• Ensure that your website has a good response time and loads fast, even on mobile phones.

Last but not least, SEO practices apply to not only your business website but also social media platforms. Do not forget to optimize and update your social media handles from time to time.

5. Collaborate with local influencers

Influencers play a significant role in shaping people’s opinions these days. In addition, they have a strong and loyal customer base who values their opinions. So, you can leverage it for your benefit by collaborating with popular influencers. When you collaborate with influencers, you instantly get access to their followers. Therefore, collaborating with influencers is just like a word-of-mouth approach but with a megaphone.

The procedure to promote your salon via collaboration with local influencers is relatively easy. Purposefully invite influencers to your salon for free services. While providing services, shoot short clips and ask them to share their experience on their social media accounts. It will help you boost your salon business’s sales, reputation, and credibility.

6. Offer birthday treats

Salon services are all about pampering your customers. Since birthdays are a special event for people, you can make them even better by offering free or discounted services. This way, you can make them feel more connected by celebrating their special day with them.

In addition, you can send them an automated email or SMS to wish them a birthday. Such little gestures will not only make them feel valued but enhance your loyal client base immensely.

7. Host Open Events

Hosting open events plays a crucial role in increasing your customer base. When you host an open event, it means you welcome the community to come and know about your business. In such events, you get to build meaningful connections and interact effectively with your audience.

Since many people are meeting you for the first time, it may be a great opportunity to get leads. This is the best chance to teach the community about your business so that they come to you next time to get salon services.

In addition, it is important to engage and captivate the audience in your event. For that purpose, you can organize a makeup class or showcase any other services that may interest your audience. So, it is an efficient way to flaunt your offerings to large audiences. 

Be certain that you do the necessary homework before the event. For example, promote your upcoming events on social media and your website so that more people attend.

8. Run promotional ads

Running promotional ads is a powerful tool to drive growth. While someone is scrolling through their social media accounts and your ads pop up, they will likely click on it and want to know more about your services. 

To run promotional ads on your social media handles, you need to follow the below-mentioned steps:

• Determine the audience that you want to target
• Choose a social media platform on which you want to enhance your reach
• Select the format of your ads that can help you reach your goal
• Craft engaging and captivating content to run in ads
• Figure out your budget and try to manage it
• Create your ads and run it
• Do not forget to optimize

Similarly, you can initiate an advertising campaign on your website. For that purpose, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising can be the best option. In PPC ads, you need to pay for each click you get on your ads. It might seem expensive, but it is totally worth it. To understand it properly, consider you pay $3 for a click, resulting in a sale worth $300.

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The procedure for running PPC ads is similar to SEO practices. To run ads, you can customize the images, videos, texts, or even sizes and shapes of your ads according to your preferences. However, search for long-tail keywords to make the procedure inexpensive.

9. Offer holiday-based discounts

People love to look great during holidays, and that is a good chance to make more sales. Offering discounted deals for special holidays urges potential leads to make a move. However, it is important to provide limited-time offers so that people make instant bookings.

Once you are done making discounted deals, it is time to promote your deals. For that purpose, post on social media platforms, promote deals via emails and SMS, and run promotional ads. It will help you get the maximum reach and sales.

10. Leverage the best salon management software

According to recent research, the global market size of the salon industry was valued at 233.8 billion USD in 2023, and it is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 7.46% and reach up to 480 billion USD by 2033. Considering the statistics, you understand the competition. That is why many salon businesses have integrated salon management software to enhance customer experience.

Using salon software not only streamlines your day-to-day operations but also drives growth. Management software allows you to automate marketing campaigns and run them efficiently. In addition, using the application, you can find potential leads to convert. You can also send emails and newsletters to keep your clients updated.

However, this is only possible if you integrate the best salon software into your business. Many management software programs claim to automate your salon’s workflows, but not every solution delivers what it promises. 

Integrating salon management software is a big step, and a wrong purchase can lead to frustrated customers and a reduced client base. You won’t want that! So, if you are looking for the best salon software, try Wellyx salon management software! With Wellyx, you can optimize workflows and automate marketing with just a few clicks. Lastly, it helps you make sales even while sleeping!

How can you make your salon unique?

If you want to make your salon unique, you need to identify your unique selling point and try to craft strategies to enhance it. In addition, determine your audience’s pain points and offer proper solutions so your customers can rely on you. Another factor to consider is to be consistent with your practices and quality services.

How can you provide the best customer experience in a salon?

If you want to provide the best customer experience in your salon, make sure that you offer a relaxing environment, experienced staff, and accommodating management. In addition, listen to your customers carefully and make sure they get the best service provider according to their requirements so that they are satisfied with their services.

What is the significance of incorporating salon management software?

Incorporating salon management software, like Wellyx, is important if you want to run your salon seamlessly. Using the salon system, you can streamline the day-to-day operation. In addition, it helps by automating operations, including scheduling, booking, inventory management, lead generation, and marketing for salons. Therefore, it plays a great role in improving productivity and profitability.

How can you promote your salons online?

For marketing your salons online, the following pointers will guide you:

• Create your business website on Google and keep it optimized
• Craft an email marketing campaign and implement it efficiently
• Optimize your social media accounts and post engaging content on schedule
• Run paid promotional ads on your website and social media accounts
• Offer discounted deals on special events
• Use personalization in your emails and SMS marketing

What are the four best ways to attract new clients?

If you are struggling to attract new customers to your salon, leverage the following salon marketing tips to maximize your reach:

• Post testimonials and reviews of your existing clients on your website and social media accounts
• Build partnerships with local businesses and influencers with a hefty number of followers in the beauty industry
• Join a networking group to build meaningful connections and promote your business
• Do not compromise on customer experience, and make sure to provide the best one and ask them for referrals

Final takeaway

We all understand how competitive the salon industry has become. However, people always look for the best salon to get their services, so building a strong brand image is vital. To do so, you need to implement the best salon marketing ideas. This will help you stand out in your salon business in the crowd. Since it can be overwhelming at times, leverage Wellyx salon marketing software to automate your marketing campaigns and drive massive growth!