The salon and spa market is competitive, so it’s essential that you use the right advertising to help your beauty business stand out.
Traditionally, salons and spas depend on word-of-mouth referrals, which usually have good results. Happy customers will consistently recommend your salon to others. However, social media helps you amplify the message and reach far more potential customers than your existing clients’ friends. Here are 12 salon marketing ideas and best practices you can use to retain your current clientele and bring in a steady stream of new business.
1. Know Your Audience
Your clientele comes to you for a reason, and location often significantly influences your vibe. Suppose your salon and spa is in the business sector and caters to young professionals. In that case, your salon advertising should feature what your clients are looking for – “dress to impress” hair stylist headshots. Catering to your customer base may include packages designed to fit a busy day, such as simultaneous hair trim, facial, and nails, or a 30-minute lunch hour massage for stress relief.
However, this atmosphere and branding would not work in a suburban setting where your clients are soccer moms always trucking around kids. In that case, consider offering family packages, child-friendly chairs, or activities to keep kids busy while mom gets pampered.
Wherever your spa or salon is located, you need to understand your clientele’s preferred atmosphere, who they are, and what will appeal to them. Proper branding is critical to your success.
2. Granular Targeting
Now that you know your target audience, you can start gathering salon marketing ideas for specific social media platforms. For marketing your salon and spa online, paid social media advertising is intelligent and effective, but only if done well. Unlike a national brand, you’re looking for a local audience. You can choose a specific customer on social media who will see your ads. For example, you can market to people in an age range who live in your county or zip code or work within walking distance of your shop.
For instance, an ideal granular targeted day spa marketing campaign would show a model the same age and gender as the target customer enjoying a luxurious spa package or admiring a stylish new hairdo. These ads can be run on a Facebook page or purchased through Google Ads.
Let’s say Tuesday morning is your slowest time during the week and you want to get more business in the door. An ad for a discount aimed at retirees featuring a chic, vibrant woman with shiny gray hair might keep your salon humming on what used to be the worst day. While retirees may not be your typical customers, many benefit from socialization and have a lot of free time.
Or you could break out the race car chairs, offer toddler cuts in the morning, and target toddler moms with ads featuring adorable tykes.
3. Retargeting
To add extra oomph to your ads, try retargeting. Random people see traditional ads, but those seeing retargeted ads have previously visited your site. Marketing your salon with retargeted ads keeps your brand in front of people who are already interested and reminds them that they need a new style or a relaxing facial.
You can even customize retargeting ads based on the pages they visited on your salon website and offer an enticing short-term discount for the service they checked out.
4. Content That Drives Customer Engagement
Social media is the perfect vehicle for creative beauty salon promotion ideas and customer engagement. For example, ask customers to pose for before and after shots of new hairstyles and colors or interview them about a new facial product or massage. Even a 10-second video asking, “How do you feel?” featuring an enthusiastic answer is a powerful endorsement. Don’t forget word-of-mouth is a great salon marketing idea that takes these positive opinions to a wider audience. Don’t underestimate the power of an online presence.
Other ideas for fresh and exciting content to share include:
- Inviting customers to get to know you with a walk-through of the salon.
- Videos made by the staff.
- Overviews of the products you carry and the salon services you offer.
- Inviting customers to like and share your online content, and do an occasional giveaway to encourage participation.
On your website, offer helpful content that answers what you hear most from your customers. Chances are that your customers want answers to questions like:
- Do you offer waxing services?
- What’s the best way to retain my color?
- What is a keratin treatment?
- Is Rogaine safe?
- How do I keep blonde hair bright?
- How can I add a special-occasion style to a bob?
And, of course, you want to show off your services. Create pages that feature hair stylist headshots, showcasing the type of hair they work on, type of cuts they specialize in, and inspiration images for customers to browse.
5. Build a Niche Business
Depending on location, you might want to build a reputation based not on clientele but on local events. For example, you might specialize in bridal party pampering with spa treatments, hair, and makeup for weddings. This works exceptionally well if you’re located near a popular wedding venue. Your salon marketing ideas should highlight your specialty.
Some ideas for salon specialties include:
- Holistic wellness
- Makeup and makeovers
- Child and family services
- Inclusive services like gender identity haircuts
- Funky colors and hair art
- Older adult care
- Barbershop and men’s services
6. Offer A Membership
Memberships are excellent for retaining customers, and some salons go above and beyond in member services and comfort. Scissors & Scotch is a specialty salon that offers a whole experience. The men’s salon franchise features luxurious leather seating, a complimentary cocktail or coffee, a full-service bar, haircuts, scalp massages, facials, hot towels, and special events. Members get discounts, preferential treatment, and free touchups. The atmosphere is reminiscent of an old-fashioned men’s club, only with onscreen football and spa services.
Neroli Salon & Spa locations in and around Milwaukee take a different approach with a Loyalty Rewards program. It costs nothing to join, and preferred guests earn points that can be used for VIP services.
7. Own Your Google My Business Listing
Google search is often the first stop for consumers to find local businesses and an absolute must when marketing your salon. Of course, your company is most likely already listed, but you can boost your presence in several ways:
- Update Your Listing: Ensure your contact info, hours, and other information (including special promotions) are correct. If you’re a franchise, fill out your local information on the Google Knowledge Panel.
- Add Photos: Get professional photos taken of your shop, staff, and happy customers. Make sure customers are able to add photos to their reviews, showcasing finished haircuts and styles.
- Get Customer Reviews: The best way to get glowing reviews is to ask! Follow a visit with a thank you email or text message and include a link to leave a review on your listing.
- Respond to Reviews: If you get a negative review, respond by apologizing for a bad experience and invite the reviewer to contact you to make it right. A Bright Local survey found that “89% of consumers said that the reviews of local branches would impact their decision to use the store in some way, and 91% of consumers feel that local reviews of chains and franchises impact their overall perception of the brand in some way.”
- Respond Quickly: Review Trackers found that “53% of customers expect businesses to respond to negative reviews within a week. 1 in 3 have a shorter time frame of 3 days or less.”
8. Pick Your Social Media
For most salons and spas, social media channels are a no-brainer. They offer unprecedented direct access to potential customers. Hair salons communicate best on visual media, where you can post many photos, like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Not every salon needs to be active on every social media channel. An active Facebook page is a great idea for a salon with a strong local community—you can join and post in community groups, share news and updates, and keep your community updated on your business.
9. Video Marketing
Sites like TikTok are trendier and appeal to younger audiences. Salons and spas with younger clientele might keep up a TikTok page, posting fun before and after videos, hair consultation clips, and product reviews done by stylists. It may be challenging to make a lot of videos, but there are all kinds of exciting opportunities:
- Wedding hairstyles
- Balayage techniques
- Shine from products
- Bouncy curls
- Intricate braiding
- Hair repair tips
- Creative nail treatments
- Gorgeous before and after eyelashes
- Skin improving routines
- Blow-drying and straightening techniques
10. Advertise Yourself as a Hairstylist
Remember that you and your stylists are the stars. Encourage your staff to start a professional page and showcase their skills. Stylists with an online following will boost your salon business. As a small business owner, your online presence is crucial. Nice Hair, a local salon in Milwaukee, dedicates its main page to the hairdressers who work there, providing pictures and a brief description of their focus areas. The salon also created a niche for itself in the beauty industry by becoming an eco-conscious, all-inclusive salon.
Encourage your stylists to develop salon marketing ideas that show off their skills, like friendly color competitions or Instagram accounts filled with their hair portfolio and happy customers.
11. Set Up a Selfie Station
There’s nothing that shows off your stylists’ talent more than photos of their work! Encourage stylists to take photos of their clients’ before and after hair, nails, or skin treatments (of course, make sure you get client permission to post!). Better yet, give them a nicely staged area with good lighting, flattering mirrors, and prominent salon branding to snap and post their own photos! Clients sharing selfies from your salon provides free word-of-mouth advertising and inherent endorsements—the better they look, the better you look. Add an incentive by offering a discount on a product or service if they tag you on social media. The best salon marketing ideas include ample digital marketing.
12. Upselling
When your customers are in-house, it’s the perfect time to upsell a deep restorative treatment, suggest a mani-pedi, or chat about your product for their hair. If they seem reluctant, offer a preferred customer discount for an add-on service on their next visit.
Marketing your salon can be challenging, but local service businesses have a lot of free social media and listing opportunities. The key to success is to be friendly and responsive. And, of course, to generate happy customers to spread the word. Those little extra touches to make them feel special (like a scalp massage) will pay off in significant ways.
