One of my Salon Social Club members recently asked me for my top marketing habits to grow her beauty salon. I thought it was an intriguing question so here they are.
These five habits are all easy and quick to do – which in my book makes them more likely to get done.
“Success is the product of daily habits – not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.”
– Bestseller Atomic Habits by James Clear
And, like a diet, if you fall off the marketing habit wagon one day, just climb back on the next. One day isn’t going to spoil your earlier work.
Habit One: Make time to work on your salon business
Set the alarm 20 minutes earlier every day so you immediately have the extra time you need for your new marketing habits.
Not an early bird? Stay for 20 minutes at the end of the day.
You need to make time to work on your business, not just in.
Habit Two: Better salon social media
Salon Social Club members will recognise this habit as I’m always talking about it. It’s often overlooked yet can be effective.
Quite simply:
To grow your hair or beauty business try spending your 20 minutes one day of the week networking on social. Follow and comment on local businesses with similar target audiences to you (that last bit is key).
Avoid posting sales type comments about your latest salon offer or new beauty service. Instead talk about the local biz. Post a compliment about something they have done or share a post about a new product they have launched – get to know them and build new local relationships. And next week, go back and do the same again. And again.
Making new business contacts is key to spreading the word about your hair or beauty salon. These new local contacts will be invaluable when you want to do a joint Valentine promotion or are looking for a partner for a social media contest.
Club members can head to my Workshop on local partnership marketing here (you need to be logged in).
Habit Three: Ask for hair & beauty testimonials
Approach one client a week for a testimonial or review. Just think how it’ll add up over the coming year.
Now use it on your salon social media, salon website, email marketing, social advertising and in-salon promotional materials.
Just remember to get your client’s consent to do so, and ideally include their name.
Habit Four: Wow salon clients
Delight a client for the cost of a stamp. ‘What! Use snail mail?’ I hear you ask.
Yep. With texts, emails and messaging the standard way of communicating these days, a thoughtful personal card goes a very long way to wowing a client.
Wondering what to write? Congratulations, happy birthday, good luck, new home, commiserations or just thank you. It only needs a couple of lines.
Do this habit once a week and you’ve wowed 50 salon clients by the end of the year. And it’s so simple.
Habit Five: Track your salon success
This is so important for keeping you motivated to keep up your shiny new habits and on track.
I get it that some hair and beauty owners find measuring and monitoring their marketing activity a tad tedious at times. But it is vital if you’re serious about running a successful, profitable salon business.
Why? Because if you track things you see:
- What marketing works and what doesn’t
- And the very process of tracking makes you focus on marketing and your business so your sales grow.
Too often we convince ourselves that big success means big action. Yet the difference a tiny, repeated action can make over time to your success can be amazing.