If you play your cards right, Valentine’s Day can be an impressively fruitful day for your barbershop or hair and beauty business. Although people like to complain about this holiday, calling it a festival of artificial overconsumption, the statistics are indisputable - year by year, we spend more and more on Valentine’s Day and the trend shows no sign of stopping. The National Retail Federation survey found that more than half (52%) of consumers plan to celebrate Valentine's Day. The average consumer will spend $192.80, up from $175.41 based on the data from 2022, and there is no denying that health, hair & beauty services are not only one of the most popular gift ideas but also a tool many people use to get ready for this special day.
This is why if you own a beauty salon, barbershop, spa, or brows and lashes studio, you should spend some time planning your Valentine’s Day marketing campaign. Fortunately, you have us - and we have just the guide to help you develop your strategy and the best tips to encourage more bookings and boost your revenue this year!
Let’s begin with some theory before we jump into practice. What is Valentine’s Day that makes it such a profitable time for the industry? You need to understand the mechanism behind it - “cracking the code” of how people think and what drives their behavior allows you to find the best tone of voice and target the proper audience when running your marketing campaigns.
So, how does it work? Well, even people who declare they are immune to the Valentine’s Day craze start to feel the need to show appreciation to their loved ones. Sometimes it’s pure peer pressure, sometimes it’s a genuine drive to do something nice (“well, it’s still a good occasion to do so”), and sometimes even a twisted desire to do something despite it (“screw romance, I’m gonna order your big Valentine’s Day pizza for couples and eat it all myself”). Regardless of the motivation, the effect remains the same - consumption. As a service provider, all you need to do is simply push the right buttons. This smoothly leads us to…
In marketing, “targeting” is a strategy that involves dividing your intended audience into groups linked by some relevant factor, to reach each one of them with a more personalized message.
Mind that these groups will vary depending on the occasion - sometimes you may want to group your audience by their age (for example when promoting your anti-aging treatments), the other time it’s the gender that is relevant (for example when you are planning a campaign for Women’s Day). On Valentine’s Day, grouping your audience by their circumstances and intended behavior is very useful.
You can see where this is going. Although the occasion remains the same, the tone of voice, the timing, and the promoted services will vary in each of these cases!
Now that we understand all the nitty-gritty, let’s focus on each specific campaign.
It’s the campaign that strictly requires starting before Valentine’s Day approaches - at least one week, perfect would be two. Your target is people who want to prepare themselves for their dates - which gives you a wonderfully wide spectrum of services you can promote. After all, getting “date ready” may include anything from a new hairstyle to a full body wax!
Your tone of voice should be lighthearted and joyful, though be careful not to sound too pushy - you cannot suggest that your potential clients must change something in their appearance, but rather that an appointment at your salon will give them a confidence boost for their date night.
For the medium, your social media channels (mainly Instagram and Facebook) paired with SMS marketing will do the job beautifully. If you are using Booksy as an online booking software for your business, then definitely utilize the Message Blast feature (get the most out of this free feature included on your subscription click here to learn the easy steps) this way you can easily target the right audience and launch the campaign with just a few clicks!
If you want to attract some lovebirds to your business, you must first prepare some special offers for them. It does not have to be anything complicated - not every salon can afford equipment for specials such as couple massages, but you can always simply add a nice discount on treatments booked for two people at once.
Emphasize the experience - the trick is to make it sound alluring. “Share the experience of getting pampered with your loved one and set the mood for the rest of the day at our spa” is a much more enticing message than just “spa treatments for couples at a discount”!
Again, SMS marketing and your social media channels will be perfect to spread the word.
Finally, the campaign targets the group we oftentimes forget about - consumers who either do not have that special someone to celebrate Valentine’s Day with or simply prefer to indulge in some self-love instead. Again, this one allows you to advertise a wide range of treatments, however, you should focus on those that bring pleasant experiences and initial gratification - so services like a foot massage, deep hair conditioning, or lash extensions (as opposed to, for example, laser treatments or waxing).
It’s especially important to choose the right tone of voice here - make sure you are not patronizing your audience, making it sound like you pity them. It’s an immediate failure! Instead, show your existing and potential clients that you support their choice to self-indulge and communicate a willingness to spoil them as much as possible.
To promote this campaign, focus on text messages - they are the most intimate form of marketing medium and thanks to them you can address the receiver in a very appealing, friendly way.
This Valentine’s season, captivate your clientele with the perfect blend of romance and style through your social media presence. Whether you’re a hair salon, barbershop, lash and brow expert, or spa owner/esthetician, the right words can create an irresistible allure for your services. Embrace the spirit of love and beauty with these specially curated captions and quotes, designed to resonate with your audience and amplify your Valentine’s Day campaigns.
Craft your Instagram posts with these heartwarming captions and quotes. Watch as your Valentine’s Day marketing brings not just likes and shares, but also bookings and smiles!
As you can see, knowing your target audience and understanding their habits is the key to success. And there is no better tool to help you gather and utilize useful data than professional salon management software. Booksy allows you to centralize client information, keep it safe, and use it for super-effective marketing campaigns.
Try Booksy today for free, no credit card needed and see how much it changes the way you do business!
