Table of contents
- Key Takeaways
- Try these Salon Advertising Ideas to Boost your Business
- How does it work?
- Final Word
Great marketing is critical to the success of your salon business. You may have the best team of stylists and nail technicians, an inviting ambiance and top-notch equipment but everything will go in vain if you’re unable to attract the right clientele.
If you’re on the lookout for salon ad ideas, you’ve landed in the right place.
To attract new clients, retain existing ones and keep your schedule full, you don’t always require a big marketing budget.
Even with a shoestring budget, you can launch effective promotional strategies. The salon marketing ideas we’re going to be discussing in this blog are simple, creative and inexpensive.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a growing salon, funded or bootstrapped one, or a multi-salon chain.
These budget-friendly salon promotions can make all the difference and give your salon an edge over your competitors.
Key takeaways
- Running a salon promotion doesn’t require a big budget. With these simple, low-cost strategies listed below, you can significantly boost the visibility of your salon business.
- Leverage loyalty and referral programs to nurture client relationships. When you reward your existing clientele, new clients will come in and this further leads to word-of-mouth marketing.
- Even a small discount goes a long way in the salon business. Give your regular clients a 5-10% off each time they visit.
- Social media is your biggest weapon. Make the most of it and watch how you can attract clients organically.
Try these Salon Advertising Ideas to Boost your Business
1. Utilize Social Media for Organic Reach
As mentioned earlier, one of the most cost-effective salon ad ideas is social media marketing. Everybody is on it and has access to it. It’s free and extremely powerful. If you’re not making use of it, you’re probably missing out.
As a salon, you should be focusing on Instagram and Facebook engagement. These are two of the most popular social media platforms. However, it’s important to post consistently. To attract clients organically, you can do “before-and-after” photos, client tags, testimonials and other user-generated content.
Your hair and beauty salon can benefit from client pictures. Everybody loves taking selfies. Within your salon, it’s a good idea to set up a mini photo area. This encourages clients to post their pictures on social media. Ensure the photo op zone has great lighting. You can also create a backdrop with your salon logo.
When clients tag you in their pictures, reshare them on your social media handle. You can also create engaging video content, salon BTS, and more. Since Instagram Reels are popular these days, you can create short 30 second videos.
In case you’re launching a new product, you can even do an explainer video.
The whole point over here is to create engaging social media content. By consistently sharing interactive content, you can build relationships with your existing clientele and convert walk-ins into retainers.
Also, make sure you’re continuously interacting with your social media followers through comments, messages and by responding to their testimonials. Your clients are literally the unpaid advocates of your brand.
2. Launch Affordable Package Offers
Packages help you anticipate a client’s needs. Did you know? Packaging can be a game-changer for your beauty business. With beauty parlour package offers, you can attract a large number of clients to your salon.
Packages focus on bundling high-value services. Besides seasonal packages, you can even create full-service packages for weddings, parties, and other occasions. Packages are a win-win for both your business as well as the client.
Packages help you plan ahead, increase the average ticket size especially with group bookings, and help you build trust.
The salon packages you create are completely up to you. However, as a thumb rule, it’s best to launch affordable packages. This will help you attract new customers who are otherwise hesitant to visit your salon.
It’s also a good idea to give your package a creative name. A few packages your salon must launch are as follows:
- Blowout + Hair Styling + Gel Nails
- Haircut + Scalp Detox + Hair Colour Refresh
- Hydra Facial + Waxing + Gel Nails + Complimentary Foot Massage
While pre-set packages help you attract new clients, you can even come up with an option to customise a package. Let your clients know that you offer something like this. This is particularly helpful for brides-to-be as they get to choose the services they want. In case, they want services for their wedding guests too, you can chalk out a package accordingly.
Besides occasion-based packages, your salon needs to continuously focus on spring, summer, autumn and winter packages.
3. Implement Referral Programs
A referral program is a classic hair salon marketing idea that always works. The best part? It’s low-cost and won’t hurt your overall bottom line.
In this day and age, people trust recommendations and word-of-mouth marketing has literally become the order of the day.
How does it work?
Well, it’s pretty simple. Give your existing clients a discount each time they make a referral. Offer the new client a welcome discount too.
Unlike a loyalty program where only the sole client benefits, in a referral program, both the client as well as their referral benefit with a discount.
Even salons with a shoestring budget can run a referral program. It’s a high-converting strategy. Also, the discount you offer doesn’t have to be big. 5-10% can also make your existing client happy.
When you’re building a referral program, it’s important to identify your target market first. The incentives you choose are completely up to you. It can be a discount or a complimentary service (the lowest priced service on your menu).
Make the rules of the referral program clear to your clients beforehand so that there are no disputes later. Instead of creating a referral card, it’s best to stick to referral codes. This makes it easy for the clients to share with their friends and family.
Referral programs are thus the most cost-effective approach towards customer acquisition.
4. Collaborate with Local Businesses
Partnering with local businesses is such an underrated but effective salon promotion idea to try. Collaborations are all about creating joint promotions.
In close proximity to your salon, find local shops, gyms, cafes or boutiques with whom you can collaborate. The idea over here is simple – you promote them, they promote you and both of you spend nothing. It’s like a barter system.
For instance, if your clients spend a certain amount at a local boutique near them, offer them a discount on a salon service. These are cross-promotional deals.
On occasions like Valentine’s Day, you can even collaborate with a local florist. These are the days when women love pampering themselves. The florist can offer complimentary vouchers while you can handover a rose or a small bouquet to every client that visits you on that particular day.
While such salon ad ideas may not bring in much revenue, it builds client trust and loyalty. Clients tend to appreciate you for this small gesture. Cross-promotional deals can also take the form of giveaways.
As a salon owner, in case you want to go an extra mile, you can even become a sponsor at a local event. See if small businesses in your area are hosting events. Explore how you can become a sponsor and how it will benefit you.
5. Host Community Events
Every salon owner wants to build a relationship with their clients. A tried-and-tested beauty parlour marketing idea is hosting community events. It’s powerful and budget-friendly.
As a beauty business owner, if you’re looking to make genuine connections, events work wonders. Whether it’s a client appreciation event or a charity event, you can garner attention towards your brand.
To host an event, you don’t need a large budget. A few popular ideas include workshops, free demos, styling workshops, wellness talks and mini classes. All this can make a big impact.
You can even host a charity fundraiser towards a particular cause. Doing so, significantly encourages people to walk through your door.
When people interact with your brand and experience your services firsthand, it builds trust. It also aids with brand awareness.
When you host a charity event, clients will go an extra mile to support you. Everybody loves businesses that focus on giving back. It also paves the way for media coverage thereby making your salon a socially responsible business.
Final Word
No matter what kind of beauty business you run, salon marketing is of paramount importance. Whether you have a big budget or a small one, the salon ad ideas listed in this blog are tried and tested. Moreover, they work and are budget-friendly.
To put these powerful marketing ideas to work, invest in Salon360App, salon marketing software. It helps you create, run and track different marketing campaigns.
From social media engagement to referral programs and collaboration with local businesses, these are a few budget-friendly ideas you can try without spending too much.
Also, salon software helps with client segmentation which further ensures you send out the right promotional message to the right client.
Are you ready to increase revenue and witness growth like never before? Request a free demo.
