If you are a salon and spa owner, or you want to venture into this business, you need a good marketing plan and strategy to make sure that your salon will thrive and be able to outdo your competitors.
Salon and spas have a particular demographic that they are mainly catering to. With salons and spas, it takes a personal approach to build brand following and loyalty.
Let us look at 7 marketing strategies you can employ to make sure your customers stay loyal to your business.
Brand Consistency is the Key
According to Oberlo, having consistent branding across all channels increases revenue by 33%. It also makes a brand 3.5x more visible compared to those without uniform branding.
With that being said, it is important that you create your own branding kit and stay true to it as you expand your business. A branding kit includes your brand logos, colors, fonts, as well as the values your business adheres to. This makes sure that everything about how you present your business is consistent. Brand consistency is a great factor in how customers perceive your business and it has to do with the professional appeal.
Being consistent in your branding will make your customers take your business seriously and enable them to trust the service you provide. Appearance is the first thing that a customer remembers and takes into consideration when availing of a service. People look for quality and consistency in all aspects.
Second, uniformity ensures that your customers can distinguish your brand apart from other brands. Customers are more likely to remember your business when associated with certain colors or look.
Being able to be recalled means that your audience is warm enough to make the next move which is to avail of your services. In other words, your customers will instantly think of you whenever they think of salons and spas.
Launch Your Own Spa Website
Nowadays, no business should be without a website. Online presence is a very important aspect of a thriving business, considering that more than 70% of small businesses these days already own a website. Having one makes your business up to date and relevant. Having a website makes anything look legit and trustworthy, which is very important to a salon and spa business.
Customers are now more likely inclined to search for a business establishment online before they make any purchase or avail of any service. Having a website creates a reliable address or platform where your potential customers can view your services, prices range, and other crucial information that can help them get into a purchasing decision.
Invest in Social Media Marketing
As we have said earlier, a business cannot do without an online presence in the form of a website, and most especially, social media. Over 53% of the world’s population is now on social media, so it would be a huge mistake for any brand to not have a social media presence.
Social media is one of the best marketing tools that can really make a difference for your business. Not only does it provide an avenue to store your business information online, but it also enables your customers to stay updated and engaged with what is happening to your salon and spa.
There are so many things you can do with a social media account: You can create promos and events to drive sales, you can reach more people through ads and word of mouth, and you can showcase your most notable services, customer feedback, and awards if any.
As a business owner, you must keep in mind that customers nowadays check and research online for brands and services before they visit a store or purchase a service or product. If your salon and spa do not have a social media account, potential customers might be wary of trying out your service thinking your salon does not exist anymore, or just do not trust that you will give good service.
Leverage Customer Marketing
Marketing may feel like having to chase new customers every single time, but customer marketing is another essential part of a good marketing strategy. In a service industry, existing customers are gold – that is why we aim for loyalty and repeat customers.
It is not every day that you get a new client, rather there are customers that regularly go back to your salon and spa at least every month because of the nature of the service they get. It is either a haircut, hair waxing, manicure, and pedicure, or any other personal care service that makes it natural for customers to keep availing of this service. The important thing is to make your mark on your customers and keep reminding them how good their experience was with your salon.
This is where customer marketing enters. Customer marketing focuses on engaging existing customers to make another purchase or come back for your service. Old customers are already a warm audience, meaning they are already familiar with your business, they have previous experience, thus making them warm enough to purchase once again. To engage existing customers, you must keep a record of all your existing customers so that you would be able to track their history of visits, preferred stylists, and more.
Focusing some of your efforts on regaining their interest, therefore creating loyalty means you are investing in them so that they will continue to patronize your salon and spa. Here are some ways you can up your customer marketing:
Combine Email and SMS Marketing
Emails and phone numbers – you have all of these data sitting in your storage. Make the most out of this information by creating an email and SMS campaign in order to reach your past customers and entice them to come back.
Reaching out is one of the most neglected areas of customer marketing, but sometimes you only need to remind your customers that your business is still here and they are welcome to come back.
Run Promotions
As customers, people want to feel valued and given importance. One way you can communicate how valuable your loyal customers are is through exclusive promotions. Give them exclusive codes or vouchers for discounts that they can use when they come for a second time.
You can even incentivize your customers with loyalty awards to encourage them to return. One example is loyalty cards where your customers can get rewards for visiting a certain number of times, or for availing themselves of a certain amount of services.
Save Time with Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Word of mouth is an important part of marketing, as it is an organic way for people to hear about your services. This strategy capitalizes on customer’s trust and it influences 59-91% of all purchases.
One of the ways you can make sure that there is a talk about your services is, of course — good service. If you create such a good experience with your customers, then you are sure that they will talk about the services they availed to their friends and family.
To add to that, you can ask them personally for referrals and even reviews on your website or social media pages. It is very important for other people to see that there are real people availing of your services and that they have good experience with your business.