Twelve ways to get local clients into your salon

You know they’re out there – hundreds of potential new hair or beauty clients who are local to your salon but for one reason or another are choosing to go to one of your rivals.

Last year, a massive 93% of consumers turned to the internet to find a local business, with 34% searching every day. In this blog post I’ll show you how to cut through the online marketing noise and really stand out from your local salon competitors.

Make it your marketing mission to get local people into your salon – and then show them why they’ve made such a great decision.

Here’s your 12-point plan to tempt local clients away from your competitors and into your salon or clinic:

1. Engage with your local community on social media.

2. Advertise your salon locally.

3. Market locally using Google Business Profile.

4. Get more local online reviews.

5. Add location pages to your salon website.

6. Run a social giveaway to attract local clients.

7. Local recommendations from salon clients.

8. Connect your salon with local influencers.

9. Support a local charity.

10. Market with other local businesses.

11. Traditional salon marketing can still work.

12. Salon window displays to attract local passers-by.

 

#1. Engage with your local community on social media

1. Be active on local Facebook groups

Research Facebook groups in the local community that are relevant to your hairdressing or beauty business and could help you link up with potential clients.

Be a little careful though – don’t ‘spam’ local Facebook groups by bombarding them with ‘hard sell’ posts. Show a genuine interest in what’s happening in your community and only share information about your salon’s products and services if asked and when relevant.

2. Join in the local conversation

Join in the conversation, get involved, raise your salon profile.

As well as posting on your own salon social media accounts, make sure you get noticed on social media run by other local organisations, businesses and influencers (I run through working with other local businesses and local influencers later in this blog 👇🏼).

3. Local hashtags get your salon maximum exposure

Always use a location tag when posting on social media as this will put your salon business on the map, making it easier to be found locally on Facebook and Instagram.

And always include local hashtags e.g. #Brighton #Brightonbeauty #Brightonbeautysalon

Salon Social Club members can head on over to my ‘Quick Win’ to find out how to geotag and get the most from local hashtags.

 

#2. Advertise your salon locally

If you think paid-for social advertising might be too complicated and too expensive, think again. It’s straightforward to do and even as little as £3-£5 a day can give your business a boost.

Remember that your usual (unpaid) social media posts will only be seen by around 5% of your followers. But paid-for posts (advertising) allow you to target your ideal clients much more precisely and reach many more of them – so you hit your marketing goals much faster.

It’s best to use a combination: paid-for advertising to attract new salon clients plus your usual everyday social media posts to build positive relationships with existing clients.

So how do you get started? There are two options:

• Turn any post into an ad by using the ‘boost’ button on Facebook and the ‘promote’ one on Instagram.
• Create advertising campaigns for both Facebook and Instagram using Meta Ads Manager. This lets you to target and reach new local audiences.

 

#3. Market locally using Google Business Profile

If you want to get your salon noticed in Google’s local search results, it’s vital to have a Google Business Profile (formerly called Google My Business).

And if you already do, make sure your business profile is complete, always up to date and doesn’t have any broken links.

Google Business Profile is free to use and simple to set up. You can include information about your salon business, such as opening times and the services you offer, as well as practical details about your location and parking. It’s also where you can respond to Google Reviews, see Google Insights and more…

Add images and videos for maximum impact and encourage hair and beauty clients to leave reviews. The more reviews you get, the better your Google ranking will be (see more about online reviews below 👇🏼).

 

#4. Get more local online reviews

Positive reviews posted on Google and Facebook by happy clients are worth their weight in gold for attracting new local clients to your salon or spa.

But how do you get them? Here are my top tips:

1. Wow ‘em!

We have to start with the basics here – if you want to get consistently great online reviews, the service you provide will have to be consistently outstanding. Find out how to wow your salon clients and win more business (Hint: it’s not rocket science).

2. Ask for salon reviews

Ask your most loyal clients if they’d be happy to leave you an online review. Encourage your team to invite online reviews from their clients – and offer a monthly or quarterly incentive for those who get the most positive reviews.

Offer regular positive reviewers an occasional service upgrade or free product as a thank you for their support. But never offer rewards or incentives in exchange for a good review as this is against most online platforms’ guidelines.

3. Respond to reviews

• Always respond to positive reviews (including any received by email or text)
• Deal quickly and efficiently with negative comments by offering an apology and a practical solution. After your initial online response, always take the discussion offline.

 

#5. Add location pages to your salon website

This is an easy one, and once it’s done, it’s done. Not only is this helpful for potential new clients, it’ll also help you rank higher on Google for local salon searches.

Create a dedicated location and contact page on your salon website – and make sure it can be easily spotted as a link from your homepage and main menu.

Include a Google Map, directions and useful details such as parking, dropping off points and public transport details.

 

#6. Run a social giveaway to attract local clients

A salon social media contest or giveaway won’t break the bank and is a brilliant way to attract new local clients.

 

#7. Local recommendations from salon clients

Recommend a friend schemes are still one of the best ways to attract new local clients. After all, your current clients will have family, friends or work colleagues living in the area – that’s a huge local pool of potential clients for your salon.

A few golden rules to ensure your recommend a friend scheme pays dividends:

• Don’t be mean. Offer a generous incentive that will actually work and bring new clients in. This could be a money-off offer, gift cards, loyalty points or charity donations. Experiment and see what works best for you.
• Personally invite your best clients to take part in your recommend a friend scheme. Why? Because you want more high-spending, loyal clients like them. In other words, your perfect target audience.
• Create an on-brand, eye-catching recommend a friend card and/or webpage that can be used by all your team to pass on to selected clients.
• Encourage all your team members to ask selected clients to refer a friend.
• Publicise your recommend a friend scheme in-salon, on social media and your website and via email marketing.

 

#8. Connect your salon with local influencers

Research local influencers in your area and strike up a positive relationship with them.

Local influencers don’t need to have a huge social following to be useful to you. It’s more important to ensure that they are trusted by a loyal group of local followers who are the right target audience for your beauty or hairdressing business.

Once you’ve found one or two local influencers to target you can:

• Offer a free hair service or beauty treatment at your salon in return for a write-up, post or recommendation.
• Send them free samples of your retail products to try out and review – include information about how best to use them and what the benefits are.
• Work with the local influencer to educate and inform their readers about hair and beauty products and services.
• Consider offering a limited time discount code for new salon clients via the local influencer.

 

#9. Support a local charity

Supporting a local charity, sports team or good cause is an ideal way to show you are a real part of your local community. And it’ll help raise the profile of your salon business. Local press are often interested in charitable fundraising work – especially if the cause is one they too have taken a particular interest in.

Discuss ideas with your team to ensure everyone will be enthusiastic about the chosen charity and really want to support it.

Don’t overdo the publicity – but do let the local press know about special fundraising events you organise and cheque presentation events. And make sure you publicise what’s happening on your social media, email marketing and salon website.

Supporting a local charity, sports team or good cause is also a powerful feel-good salon team-builder. It’s win-win!

 

#10. Work with other local businesses

This one is more of a slow burner but with a little patience and effort it should result in good quality new clients for your salon.

First, do a little research so you can focus on other local businesses that have the same target audience as your salon. Spread your net widely: independent fashion retailers, restaurants, wedding shops, bars, pubs and cafes, and gyms and health clubs.

Next, meet up with potential partners. Why not invite them along to your salon for an indulgent treat and to experience your outstanding client care before they recommend you to their customers.

You can then do some very cost-effective marketing in tandem with other local businesses.

You could:

• Promote each other’s business on your websites and social media.
• Display each other’s leaflets and posters, including any special offers or salon discounts you are offering to new clients.
• Organise a joint presence at local business and community events to cut costs.

 

#11. Traditional salon marketing can still work

This one is a bit of a blast from the past, but traditional door-to-door flyers are inexpensive and can still work well.

And in today’s online world we get far fewer flyers through our doors than we used to, so yours will be less likely to be lost among a pile of other mailers. In fact, Royal Mail reports that 83% of door drops are opened, read or filed – so it’s definitely worth a try.

Use high-quality imagery, short, punchy text, and be clear about the types of services you offer. Consider including a time-limited special offer for new clients and don’t forget to add your contact details (easily forgotten!) 😉

 

#12. Salon window displays to attract local passers-by

Your salon window is free, highly visible advertising space.

Make sure your displays are eye-catching and regularly updated. Rows of dusty bottles and a fading price list will not attract the attention of local passers-by or create a positive impression on potential clients.

Here are a few ideas to add some wow to your salon window displays:

• Refresh them regularly to reflect the time of year and holiday seasons.
• Experiment with different heights and shapes for your display.
• Use a variety of lighting to highlight different aspects of your display.
• Choose high-impact, high-quality imagery on window graphics.
• Include a clear list price list and phone number for when you’re closed.
• Add a mirror to give the impression of more space.
• Light windows into the late evening if you’re on a busy street.

 

Wrap up

So there you have it. Twelve ways to market your salon, clinic or spa to a new local audience:

1. Create local online content.
2. Advertise on social to a new local audience.
3. Optimise your Google Business Profile.
4. Get more local reviews.
5. Add a location page to your website.
6. Run a social contest for locals.
7. Promote your recommend a friend scheme.
8. Connect with local influencers.
9. Support a local charity.
10. Partner with local businesses.
11. Create flyers – traditional marketing still works.
12. Market for free with your salon windows.