Leading up to Christmas you may have seen a boom in your business and it may be that January is traditionally a much slower month. But it doesn’t have to be that way!

The answer to being busy is...

PROMOTION!

And right now is the time to start pumping out your promotions to get busy for January!

You could just whack an advert up on Insta and FB … but maybe it is a little wiser to plan it out a little first, so you get a bigger bang for your buck!

 

There are a few key things to consider when running promotions in your salon:

 

What do YOU want from the Promotion?

 

It is key to really establish first what your objective is for running the promotion. This will make it easier to identify what to put into your promotion and also to monitor its success.

 

Some ideas;

• Get appointments from existing customers
• Get appointments from new customers
• Sell product
• Get customers to try other services you have
• Convert a low paying customer into a more profitable customer (up-sell)
• To just attract attention and make your brand more memorable

 

What To Offer:

It’s important to consider what you are offering in your promotion and what its appeal is to your target market and sometimes the only way to work that out is by trying different concepts and trialling a few different promotions to see which one ‘bites’ the best.

 

Traditionally a promotion would include one of the following;

• Percentage discount
• Value-added service (buy something and get something free/discounted etc)
• Seasonal offer (like January special, holiday special, Mothers Day etc)

 

Buy Now!

It is essential that you always include in your promotion something which makes the buyer act immediately (these are called in the marketing world ‘buy nows’ or a 'call to action').

These include things like;

• Limited quantities/spots available
• Limited times ('only available this week' type wording)

 

Timing:

 

The timing of your promotion is key. January is traditionally a slower period for salon owners, so running the right kind of promotion in January is a great way to get more bums on seats during this period.

Often promotions need a little time to ‘kick in’, so the sooner you start your promotions the better. Make sure you don’t leave it to the last minute and you give the promotion a little time to reach your audience.

 

Target market:

 

Your target market for your promotion can be either your existing salon base or new people. It’s a question of whether you want to make more money off your existing customers (who trust you and are likely to spend) or want to attract new business to your salon.

These two categories are different promotions and would have a different approach to the marketing/promotions. You’ll have to say different things to each audience to make an impact on them.

It’s about working out who you want to come into salon, and what you can do to appeal to them.

For new clients maybe promotions about full sets would be better and for exisiting clients it may be smarter to talk about refills and other add on services you have. For example, “book a refill this week and receive a free brow tint”.

 

Profitability:

 

There is no point in running a great promotion if you aren’t going to make any money from it – and this is an easy trap to fall into.

Do your maths, do your sums and make sure there is profitability in any promotion.

Remember you also have the tool of up-sell when your customer is in the salon. Getting them to add on services is a fantastic additional money maker, so maybe this would be taken into consideration in your profitability.

 

Terms and Conditions:

 

Oh baby don’t forget to put in your Terms and Conditions!

We have often seen situations where clients have taken advantage and want something for nothing because the T&C’s are not clearly stated.

 

Think of all the scenarios in which your customers could try to manipulate the promotion and you should be able to cover off everything you need in your T&C’s.

 

It is essential you always include;

• Start and end date of the promotion/special etc
• That it is not to be used in conjunction with any other offer, discount etc.
• Any restrictions on quantity or volume. (Restrictions could include the date by which their service must be booked or the quantity of promotional offers available for sale.) 

 

What channels to put your promotion on?

Where you communicate your promotion is key. It is about having your information in places where you think your target market is going to be. Remember your promotion will be worded towards certain people (exisiting customers or new customers) so you have to really figure out WHERE you can communicate to those people best.

 

 

Here are some channels you can place it on for existing customers;

• Bulk email
• Traditional printed mail
• Social media
• Text messages
• Posters inside your salon
• Driving customers to your website
• Reward repeat customers

 

New customers;

• Social media paid adverts
• Google adverts
• Posters on the outside of your salon
• Working with other local businesses to cross-promote
• Influencers / bloggers
• Word of mouth / referral systems
• Driving new customers to your website
• Being featured in editorials (newspapers, magazines, other website etc)
• Podcast’s (also being featured on others podcasts)

 

Promotions are a great way to increase business and profitability.

The key is simply to plan for all the areas listed above here and to be organised well in advance, to ensure you get the most out of your salon promotion!

For more marketing help, you can complete our Marketing 101 Online Course or our Photography for Socials Mini Online Course.