Blog

Father’s Day salon marketing tips & ideas

June can be a patchy month in salon with the summer holiday season in full swing.

Step forward Father’s Day (Sunday 18th June 2023).

 

Father’s Day salon promotions

As we move towards a more gender neutral future men are increasingly interested in personal care and their appearance.  Recent research by Ebay revealed that 1 in 6 of us will choose grooming presents for our dads for Father’s Day with hair and grooming gift sets, razors, beard oil, aftershave and skincare products coming second only to alcohol.

Father’s Day is not a match for Mother’s Day commercially, yet it’s still a handy hook to hang some profitable salon marketing on, with UK consumers spending over £951 million in 2021 and the US a mighty $20 billion on the celebration.

In this blog I look at the Father’s Day promotional ideas and tips I use with our hair salon and beauty spa clients. Marketing food for thought I hope.

Salon Social Club members: Head to your Club Content Planners for Father’s Day done-for-you captions, ready-to-go graphics and Club Canva templates.

 

#1. Mum’s the word for Father’s Day

Let’s start with the salon marketing basics: Your target audience.

It’s Father’s Day so presumably it’s guys you need to target with your spa or salon marketing.

No. Women are the main buyers of Father’s Day gifts. They are your target promotional audience. You’ll get a far better take-up and higher revenue if you focus your salon marketing activities towards them and their needs.

Decide on the promotional messages and look that will appeal to this target female audience. How do you want to portray your brand for Father’s Day? Now carry this theme consistently across all your online and offline salon marketing channels.

Father’s Day for barbers and male-only grooming specialists

Targeting women can be tricky for barbers and male only grooming specialists as fewer women will be following you online or coming into your salon or barbershop. So use social media advertising to reach this audience as you can target your advertisement by gender, age and geographical area.

 

#2. Salon social media marketing ideas for Father’s Day

Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok and Pinterest are significantly more popular with women than men. These social platforms are the perfect place to promote your salon Father’s Day gifts and offers to a targeted local female audience.

Why not run a Father’s Day social giveaway from now until the end of June, with a dad-friendly prize?

Constant ‘sell, sell, sell’ messages on social are off-putting and often counter-productive. Instead, give your salon social media ‘Dad-Appeal’ with:

  • Men’s wellbeing tips for the summer hols.
  • ‘How to’ grooming guides for guys.
  • Take photos/videos to create your own step-by-step guides.
  • Anti-ageing tips for dads.
  • Dispel some male grooming myths.
  • Tips on manscaping, facial scrubs or pedicures.

 

#3.  Partnership salon marketing for Father’s Day

Share the hard work marketing on social and boost your brand awareness by partnering with a local business partner.

It doesn’t just have to be your salon, clinic or spa giving the advice and tips. Let’s say you’ve partnered with a local personal trainer. This is a brilliant business opportunity for some cross-promotion:

1. Joint giveaway on social media

Each put up a prize. I like gift cards as the winner has to visit your salon to use it which is an opportunity to convert them into a client.

2. Offer tips to your followers

They provide tips on getting that holiday 6-pack, nutritional advice or step-by-step exercise guides for your salon social media and website.

3. Be a trusted expert

You return the compliment with holiday hair care advice, shaving tips or ‘how to’ grooming guides on their social media. You’re positioning your salon or spa as a trusted expert to a brand new local audience.

4. Buddy up with offers

Don’t just stop there. Buddy up for some dad-friendly offers and campaigns and stand out from the local crowd.

Salon Marketing Tip:

To harness the full power of online marketing, post these ideas, tips and offers across all your online marketing channels: your salon website, salon social media and email marketing. Post and use this material everywhere consistently.

 

#4. Make it easy to buy Father’s Day gifts from your salon

Dads are notoriously tricky to buy presents for. Another pair of socks anyone?

While mums are notoriously time-pressed, convenience-focused shoppers. So make it easy for mums to buy from your salon or spa.

Here’s how:

1. Inspire them

Solve busy mums’ problems by clearly labelling products/services as great Father’s Day gifts. Use your imagination (so they don’t have to use theirs) to put gift combos together:

  • Package retail products into a male grooming travel kit.
  • A ‘get Dad beach-ready package’ with pedicure, waxing and manicure.
  • A stress-busting massage teamed with a retail product.

2. Appeal to children

For pocket-money-sized budgets pop a basket of inexpensive retail gifts for dads on your salon reception desk.

3. Salon gift wrapping service

Make it even easier to buy from you by offering a complimentary gift wrapping service to save on-the-go mums precious time and hassle. Keep Father’s Day gift tags in salon for ultimate ease and added customer service.

4. Add value

As I mentioned in my Mother’s Day marketing blog, gift cards and hair or beauty packages can seem a boring present for your special daddy if you’re only six years old. Make them more appealing to little ones by including a small tangible gift that can be wrapped and given with the gift card.

Target the high spenders

Google reports ‘Shopper age is another factor in the spending stakes. Fathers with ‘kids’ aged 25-34 will have the most spent on them, while the 18-24 year olds are the next highest-spending group.’

This age group spend their life on social and are likely to be tempted by ‘giving an experience.’ Capture their imagination with dad-themed pamper packages, spa days and gift cards.

 

#5. Add some salon marketing bounce to your Father’s Day promotions

If you’re a regular reader of my salon marketing blog you’ll know what I’m talking about. And I love these offers.

‘Bounce back’ marketing promotions do what they say on the tin. They encourage repeat business and loyalty by offering an incentive to encourage the client to return to your hair or beauty business.

After all, you don’t want to see dad just the once. Your marketing aim is to turn him into a loyal salon or spa client.

Try my easy-to-use instant online salon calculator to work out how much your salon or spa is losing when first visit clients don’t return.

Add a bounce-back offer to your Father’s Day gift packages or cards to tempt people back in July/August. Target your quiet days of the week, with selected stylists or beauty therapists so you don’t give your profit away.

Here are my favourite  ‘bounce back’ marketing ideas for Father’s Day:

They all bolt-on to the original gift package or gift voucher:

  • x% off your next pedicure/manicure service in July.
  • 50% extra free: Book a 60 minute massage and get 30 minutes extra free. Restrict to July.
  • Complimentary hot towel, cut-throat shave when you book a haircut and finish in July.

Wondering whether to offer salon or spa discounts and deals for Father’s Day? Try this blog for some detailed practical ideas.

 

#6. More salon social media marketing tips for Father’s Day

1. Engage on social media

Keep it light-hearted. Engage your target audience by posing questions and using retro and/or humorous imagery (and in case you were wondering, pictures of funny cats don’t count 😀).

Some salon social media ideas:

  • Create a #hashtag for classic movie and TV dads.
  • Share photos of guys’ retro hair and fashion imagery you love.
  • Ask followers for their first memories of dad or why he inspires them. Men have an emotional and tender side which is often overlooked when marketing. Play to it.

2. Drive traffic to your salon website

Drive traffic to your salon website pages with email marketing and social media posts. Remember your target audience is searching for inspiring and different Father’s Day gifts.

 

#7. In-salon hair and beauty marketing ideas for Father’s Day

1. Free salon advertising

Your hair or beauty salon is free advertising space. Don’t waste it. Have eye-catching graphics in the windows and on the walls plus strut-cards around the salon. And don’t forget to pop promotional graphics in your washrooms.

2. Focus on hair & beauty retail

Create prominent Father’s Day retail displays – find useful salon retailing ideas here.

3. Educate your team

Educate your team about your offers and gifts to encourage them to start conversations with clients around Father’s Day.

4. Salon gift cards for Father’s Day

Promote your hair or beauty salon Gift Cards. Perfect for the woman who wants to (discreetly) sharpen up her man’s looks.

Want to sell more salon gift cards? This blog is brimming with hands-on ideas you can use for Father’s Day.

 

#8. Tips for advertising your salon on social for Father’s Day

If you’re running a salon social media competition with a local partner and offering some juicy prizes, then some advertising is worth investing in.

Before you do so, supply your local partner with posts/videos on hair and beauty tips and gifts to put out on their social. It’s likely that only a small percentage of followers overlap so you have a fresh local audience to market to. And organic posts are free.

If you decide to invest in Facebook advertising then select your target audience:

  • Include all your Likes (only 5-10% of your Likes will get the post organically in their feed).
  • Then set a daily or campaign budget. You can always increase it later so be cautious to start with.
  • Next choose your location and radius. If you’re in a small town then a 5-7 km radius is probably fine, but in a large city you need to be much tighter.
  • Think about age and gender – remember your key audience is wives and partners for Father’s Day.

And finally measure the results carefully to see whether you’re getting the right results and a good Return On Investment (ROI).

 

Salon marketing to men doesn’t stop at Father’s Day

Survey after survey shows the male grooming market is expanding. There is a huge, and increasing, demand from men asking for hair and beauty treatments. It’s not just women buying treats for men for Father’s Day.

Grab your slice of this highly profitable hair & beauty cake…

And once a client, men tend to be more loyal than women. Capitalise on this by ensuring your salon is giving the right marketing signals to men.

Particularly with beauty services, men are often shy to call and ask whether a salon offers male grooming services. Make it easy for them with a clear guys’ section on your salon website and an obvious price guide for men. Find more ideas and advice on taking your salon gender neutral here.

 

Want more clients, rebookings & sales?

Join 24,000 subscribers. Get our regular FREE salon marketing newsletter packed with all the tools and knowledge you need to market your  salon…

By completing this form you consent to receiving emails from Lockhart Meyer Salon Marketing with exclusive advice blogs, guides, products, surveys and downloadable resources. Don’t worry, we always treat your data with respect, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and never share your personal information with 3rd parties. You can, of course, opt out at any time using the link on any of our emails.