10 Top Tips To Promote Your Salon
Hi, Monique Bradley here: the digital / social media executive for Pharo. I have many years experience in online sales, promotions, digital management and I was a presenter of a TV shopping channel, so I thought I’d share with you some of the tips and tricks I use to help create attraction for the brands I work with, to help you generate more leads and ensure you’re dominating the market in your local area.
- Focus on social media. Social media is one of the most cost effective marketing tools around. It’s what we call part of the ‘attraction marketing’ formula and instead of just sharing content out, it’s a way to draw people into your world. Post good quality, well lit pictures of your work, your staff, special offers, helpful tips or products you’re selling to your salon’s Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn or Twitter pages. Here’s a time saving tip to make your life easier: If you go to www.facebook.com/twitter on your desktop or laptop, you will be able to connect your FB page directly to your Twitter account. Then if you connect your Instagram account to your Facebook page (you do this in the settings page of your Instagram account), you’ll be able to send out 1 post a day that hits all 3 platforms! You don’t have to write a lot, but try to remember to share how people can get in touch with you or how they can buy your products. Ask questions, find out what your followers needs are and be the one who shares the answers! Engage with fans and provide exclusive deals to those who follow you on social media avenues.
- Ask for online reviews. Yes, people read reviews and when people are researching who to go to, 5 star reviews can be the defining thing that sends a new client over the edge to choose you as a practitioner! Ask your VIP clients to leave you a review online – either on Facebook or via Google Reviews. At least 70% of potential clients search for online reviews before trying out a new salon. Have you tried Google Reviews? The way to get started is with ‘Google My Business’. It’s free to use, simple to set up and includes your opening hours and locations, plus the reviews help you become more searchable!
- Google Adwords. I have a love / hate relationship with Google Adwords. If you have the budget, it can be a great form of lead generation, however competing for keywords in each category can be very expensive and I would never suggest trying to tackle it on your own. Google Adwords is best left in the hands of professionals who understand CPC (cost per click) and how to bid effectively on each keyword pertinent to your industry. The basic premise behind it is: people search for salons on Google, in your local market, and you pay for them to click on your ad. This is called a search ad. They head over to your website, and fill out a contact form or call you. That’s a lead. Display ads are another thing altogether. They’re the images that show up midway down news articles you’re reading online. They usually share a memorable, recognisable image and the strategy is that they’re trying to get you to click through to the website they are promoting. That same image may be used on billboards, in magazines, through digital channels etc. It’s just another touchpoint in the journey of a brand becoming recognisable. Again, this sort of thing is best left in the hands of experts, but can be really effective for your business.
- Facebook Ads. Similar to Adwords, you pay when people click on your ad. This method can be effective if you target very specific clientele as there’s literally billions of people of Facebook! Over the years of FB advertising, the algorithms that manipulate what people see has changed so many times, meaning posts that previously gained great organic reach no longer do. The reason this has happened is because Facebook is a business. They want you to spend money on boosting posts and Facebook advertising. Personally, my company now advocates that ‘boosting posts’ is pretty much a waste of your money. Paying $1-2 per day to promote your page and build authentic followers is a great strategy and Facebook Advertising works really well for our clients. Views on video content are great – especially for targeted remarketing campaigns – reach is important and engagement is ideal. And a mix of all of these is MAGIC. However, none of that is of any value unless you’re driving sales to your website, bookings in your venue or feet in the door! If that all sounds like gobbledy gook, again, talk to a Facebook Ad specialist. If they’re any good, they should be able to talk you through how best to assign your marketing budget spend and anticipate what sort of returns you’re likely to expect.
- Start a blog. If you don’t have one, set one up on your website. If you do, commit to writing quality monthly content for your readers – It will pay off in the long run. Content marketing is one of the best ways to convert new clients and if you’re the one sharing articles that answer your clients pain points, chances are you’ll likely have more of an advantage than your competitors. A minimum of 300 words is ok. 500 is better. Over 1000 is AMAZING. Make sure that your blog is loaded with lots of ‘keywords’. These are the words your ideal clients are using when they search in Google for your services. You can also create blogs by utilising this site: https://answerthepublic.com/ You add your service word such as ‘hair removal’ into the search bar and the site will generate the most searched for topics in Google, utilising that word. Clever huh? Use one of those topics as a blog title, answer key points around that topic, and you’re helping build your own organic website traffic!
- Run a contest. This type of promotion works best on your Facebook page. Run a contest such as: “First 100 people to like and share our page will be entered to win a free salon service package valued at $200. One lucky winner will be announced on Friday.” Many businesses have done this effectively HOWEVER, you will most probably notice after the competition you’ll lose a few of likes / followers as well. It can, sadly, only attract people only looking for free stuff, so one way to get around this is to integrate an app into your FB page to start getting names on your mailing list! People who want free stuff are less likely to enter a competition if they have to enter their contact details, so it’s a good way to pre-vet potential time wasters. Search in Google for the best competition app for Facebook and give it a try! Just be mindful of what you want as an outcome first: new likes, more engagement, web traffic (which is great if you have a Facebook Pixel installed on your website) or email / newsletter sign up. NB: Not sure what a Facebook Pixel is? A Facebook pixel is an analytics tool that measures the effectiveness of your Facebook advertising. By installing it into your website, you can truly gauge your ads’ performance because the pixel can track every visitors’ interactions on your website after they click on your ad. You can then use that data to retarget and remarket advertising too! Again, this is one left in the hands of an expert, so if you’re going to engage an advertising specialist, make sure they can explain everything to you in real people language!
- Get links to your website. One of the best ways to rise through the ranks on Google is to get other related businesses or blogs to link back to your site. These are called ‘Backlinks’ and Google loves them. Ideally, if you’re listed on a websites directory as a retailer for a particular product, ask them if they can actually add the link of your site into their listing. Similarly, if an influencer is blogging about you and your service, make sure they add a link that goes directly to your website. It will be worth it in the long run!
- Use video. Educating through video marketing is one of the best ways to get yourself out there. People are more likely to click on and engage in interesting looking video, over and above a picture they can scroll past in their timeline. Make sure you always include links to your website or details on how your ideal client can get in touch and as a TV presenter, my biggest tip to you is: Before you go on camera – PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. Your video doesn’t have to be long, it just has to be helpful, look good and educate people as to how you can help them.
- Share a monthly offer. Having a new offer every month that you promote to your mailing list as well as on social media keeps people coming back! One month they may come in for leg hair removal, the next month it’s face. Keep mixing it up every month to drive your existing database to keep coming back while activating interest in new clients. Not only will this get people in the door, it’s then an opportunity for you or your staff to upsell services and retail products!
- Sell products online. Speaking of selling retail products: Did you realise you can make your clients lives easier by allowing them to shop from the privacy of their own home, while increasing your own revenue? Selling retail doesn’t have to be limited to your salon. If you have a solid website, with an online store, new or current clients can buy ANY TIME! If you have the SEO sorted in your website, (Search Engine Optimisation – a term used to describe all the cool stuff in the back end of your website, in your headers and blog content that Google uses to index your site and help you move up the rankings) then shop links with the correct names of products listed in your site can also help you become more visible as well. Oh and make sure all your pictures in your website are named too! Google can’t see images so uses your image title to help reference you in a search. 023hle879_567.jpg is not going to help you become more searchable……The alt image tag is even more important, so make sure you add this on every image in your site. Overwhelming? Yes, it’s probably best left in the hands of a professional!
So there you go! Top tips from me, that work. I’m using these tricks every day to help my clients get more sales and as mentioned, if this is all a little daunting, it’s worth your time hiring a professional to help you out. At the very least, start small by posting regularly on social media, asking questions and inviting friends to like your page and share your posts. By starting there, your brand will be on display in front of other potential clients who don’t know you…well not yet anyway. Best of luck!
Monique Bradley
Web TV host, TV presenter, Influencer, Social Shopping expert and digital marketing executive