9 steps to the perfect salon marketing plan

Create the perfect salon marketing plan with tips from some of the hairdressing industry’s leading PR agencies. Discover what you and your salon team can do now to ensure you receive the best press coverage and generate the best engagement on your social channels throughout 2019.

AJC PR’s salon marketing plan tips:

Create a plan: The most important part of the journey is to create a plan. You should plan out what you have coming up for the year ahead, whether it be local or salon events, education days, photographic shoots or international travels. This allows you to work around the dates and ensure nothing is missed out and ample time is allocated for preparations. Working ahead of time is something extremely important to ensure you are fully prepared for what you have planned. For us especially, it’s fantastic to know what salons and hairdressers are up to so we can contact trade and local press and secure interview or media coverage depending on the type of event. Decide on your goal for 2019: Decide on your goal and vision for the year ahead. Ask yourself what you want to achieve and why and how will this help your business and where will this take it? This is crucial as it forms the basis of your campaign for the next 12 months. This will be the deciding factor in everything you do whether it be a photographic shoot, awards entry or event – think of it as the starting point. This works in partnership with the plan mentioned above. Work with a PR: Work with a PR, whether it’s external or internal as PR is crucial for salons and hairdressing to ensure their brand message is communicated correctly and to help build their profile and standing within the industry and their local area.

LWPR’s salon marketing plan social media tips:

Schedule social media content_  Use an app like Later or Planoly to schedule in posts for the weeks and months to come. Creating topical content as it happens is essential for social media, but you can use these apps to plan posts for big events and fixed holiday dates that won’t change, or to provide a regular drip feed of images from the salon that aren’t time-sensitive. Plan themed days and events:  DaysOfTheYear.com is a great site for finding themed days and months to plan events and offers around. As well as listing major celebrations, it also highlights fun events and charity awareness days – it’s a great place to look for inspiration and create topical and trending content. Create quality graphics:  Poor quality graphics just won’t cut it anymore – in fact, 94% of viewers will leave a social media profile if it isn’t visually sleek. Canva is a great free website that allows you to create polished graphics for sales, promotions and special announcements. It’s easy to use and has hundreds of free templates and on-trend graphics so that you can produce distinctive, smart images for all of your social media profiles.

RedMane Media’s salon marketing plan pro-active tips:

Know your niche:  Whether it’s bridal hair, colour, running a business or educating a team, everyone has something they are passionate about so you should shout about your expertise. Put yourself forward:  There are so many hairdressers, barbers and salons that you need to let the press know you are there. Introduce yourself, offer quotes on trends, celebrities, business issues or general tips and advice. When a journalist gives you a deadline, it is essential to always get the quote to them in time. A deadline means a deadline and if you are late, you might not be asked to contribute again as journalists want to use people they can rely on. Be ahead of the game:  There are certain times when journalists and bloggers are guaranteed to be looking for stories, from Valentine’s Day to the annual budget or must-have summer products to holiday hair health. Make a note of these dates and send quotes, top tips and get the looks, but bear in mind many monthly titles work three to four months in advance. If you spot a micro trend amongst your clients or celebrities, tell the press all about it and how you can help their readers achieve the look.