Many beauty salon owners don’t bother creating a marketing plan, as they think it’s not worth the hassle. They’re too busy with their daily duties, challenges and struggles – spending a few hours writing down things that seem so obvious, that it sounds like a bad joke. Let’s be honest: creating a beauty salon marketing plan shouldn’t be done just for the sake of it, only because Internet marketing gurus told you to do so. It should be a document that actually helps you to keep track of your marketing activities.
A well-prepared beauty salon advertising plan can significantly boost your salon’s profitability, so it is really important to at least write down the core concept of your hair and beauty salon marketing strategy. To help you get started, we prepared a simplified guide, tailored to the actual needs of beauty salon owners. How can you create a marketing plan that will genuinely help your beauty business thrive? You just need to accomplish five steps – to identify, to set, to prepare, to deliver and to measure your plan.
You have to analyse three areas that influence your business – the state of your salon, your audience and your competition.
You have to set your goals for the upcoming year – which may seem easy, but can turn out to be a hard nut to crack. You have to think about what matters to you the most – brand awareness, raw financial profit, a rising number of new clients, an increasing number of returning clients, or maybe something else? Remember – setting a specified goal does not mean that you will ignore other aims completely, but for the time being, you will focus on this one the most.
Most beauty and hair salon marketing strategies are in fact just a thought-out description of the way you promote your business. Your aim here is to achieve a consistent marketing message in your chosen platforms, such as local advertising, mass media and various channels of social media. Salon owners are often encouraged to prepare a whole salon marketing calendar. For example, if your goal is to get more new clients, you can plan the First Day of Spring event with a free skin-type consultation. In your marketing plan, you set the date and draft details, such as where are you going to announce and promote the event. You do not even have to be extremely precise, just briefly describe your idea. This way you will be able to prepare yourself in a few weeks prior and avoid doing everything last minute. If any of the sales, events or campaigns will require special preparations, you will be ready on time. You will be also able to plan the special days evenly during the whole year, without them concentrating in one period and lacking in another. After each of these promotions, you can track what they brought you and update your strategy according to which techniques worked well, and which turned out to be a flop.
Accounts on various social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat) are great when it comes to reaching new potential clients, but are not the best for communicating with loyal ones. For customers who require a more personalised approach, it would be best to contact them via email or SMS. Consider getting yourself a hair & beauty salon software that eases the process.
Stay realistic and do not rush to accomplish your plans. You will not get results immediately – even the best beauty or hair salon marketing plan will not bring you profit right away. Also, be flexible – as the year goes by, you will probably notice that some elements of your strategy work better than others. You will have to adjust your plans accordingly. Moreover, you may encounter some obstacles or even not be able to accomplish some of your tasks at all. Do not worry about it – your marketing plan should be your helper and a guideline, not a book of rigid commandments. Measure the effects of every campaign, draw conclusions and implement them as soon as you can – do not wait for the next year and next marketing plan! Keeping numbers under control can be very difficult, so it is best to have reliable tracking tools at your disposal – and Booksy software allows you to get a full picture of the salon’s financial situation or customer satisfaction levels, so you should definitely give it a try. When creating your hair or beauty salon marketing plan, ask your beauty salon manager and trusted employees to brainstorm with you. They may notice things about your salon that go over your head and have great, fresh ideas on how to improve your marketing techniques. Do not forget to engage your most hardworking staff member as well – Booksy will help you to implement every marketing plan you prepare!
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