Do you miss organising events at your salon? Your clients probably miss attending them just as much. As the current situation is effectively keeping you from hosting many guests at your premises at once (or, even worse, you are under a mandatory lockdown), you may think that inviting your customers to spend some quality time with you is impossible. Or is it? Let’s take a look at hair salon events that can be hosted even during the pandemic, investigate the benefits of doing so and list some creative ideas you can test for yourself!
Why should you host events in the first place? Well, event marketing is a very effective business strategy that boosts brand awareness, supports sales, and helps to establish strong relationships with clients. Depending on the event you decide to host, you can also reach out to an entirely new target market, earn new clients and strengthen your position as an expert. Thanks to events, you can thank your loyal patrons for their continuous support, make your business look more appealing and attract new customers who would otherwise never hear about your salon.
In normal (for the lack of a better word) circumstances, you would have a wide variety of hair salon event ideas to choose from. Almost every holiday is a great excuse to organise a party - let it be the first day of spring, the Midsummer night, Halloween or the winter holidays. You can celebrate the anniversary of starting your business, gaining a certain number of customers, introducing a new line of retail products or a new treatment. Or simply host a party for no other reason than just wanting to have a good time with your customers.
Currently, organising a salon event in the traditional form is impossible. Even if you are not under a lockdown, you have to limit the number of guests, encourage social distancing and have one stylist working with one client at a time. Customers are supposed to get the treatment done and go on their merry way. It’s not the time for cupcakes and slowly sipping pink champagne. But being unable to host a conventional party doesn’t mean you cannot organise a hair salon event at all!
A lot of events that would normally be taking place “in real life” had to be relocated to the realm of the Internet. Nowadays, we have theatre premieres, museum exhibitions, workshops, even birthday celebrations taking place online. The participants can safely join the event from the warmth of their own home and have a grand time regardless of the circumstances. The only necessary criterion is having a digital device that connects to the Internet (such as a smartphone or a PC), a microphone and a camera (which allows for interaction with the organiser and other guests).
As a hair salon owner, you can organise such a digital event yourself. Furthermore, it may be now more important than ever. Why?
Hosting such an event is similar to organising virtual hair consultations - you need a trustworthy video-communication service that offers flawless security, stable connection, solid noise cancellation and good resolution (Google Meet is a good option). If you're a Booksy user, you can employ its online services and host your event via Zoom. Your clients will be able to book a spot via the Booksy app and then you will both receive a dedicated link to the event.
You also need to prepare the setting - find a place in your salon you can comfortably arrange into your filming spot and run a few tests. Is the frame good looking? Are you lit properly? Is your voice well audible? Don’t be shy to help yourself with some ring lights and play with your setting for a while. Remember that fine feathers make fine birds and your clients will draw conclusions about the condition of your salon based on what they’ll see during the broadcast, as they may not be able to see it in person. Make sure they like what they see!
Of course, your social media fan pages are an important medium, but they won’t be enough. Besides publishing at least a few posts, informing your followers about the incoming event, you need to take a much more direct approach. You need to keep in mind that the information flow is different now - normally, you would talk about your event with countless clients on a daily basis, with the entire salon shaking from anticipation. However, since now most of us are quite sheltered, you have to be smart about reaching out to your clients. The most effective way will be to use SMS marketing - text messages always reach the right audience, immediately catch attention and have a fantastic opening rate (around 99%!). Thanks to Booksy, you can easily automate the process by sending bulk SMS messages that may target all or specific groups of clients. With this feature, inviting even your entire customer base will take just a few minutes!
Tip: Not familiar with Booksy yet? You can test-drive the best program for hairdressers on the market for 14 days absolutely free! Start your trial now.
Finally, let’s list the possible themes for your online event. Depending on your personal interests and preferences, you can turn the event into a workshop, or a more laid-back meeting with clients, during which you will mostly engage in storytelling. Remember to prepare a script for the event and have a backup idea if something goes south - you will be less stressed knowing that you have planned things through. For the workshop-like event, you can organise:
For the meeting-like events, you can organise:
Tip: Remember that describing real-life stories is a delicate subject and you need to approach it with a big dose of sensitivity. Make sure the characters in your stories are unrecognisable (change some details if necessary) and do not talk about things that would put your clients in a bad light.
An online hair salon event is a great opportunity not only for your business, but also for you as a person and a salon owner. If you are dealing with negative thoughts and doubts regarding your business, to the point of even considering giving up on your job whatsoever, such a meeting may remind you of all the good things related to working in the hair and beauty industry. You miss your clients and they miss you too, but thanks to the development of technology, you can safely connect with them and have a grand time, improving their loyalty and even encouraging sales at the same time. Give hosting an online event a chance - and don’t forget to use our software to get the word out!
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