Business Panel: How To Win At The British Hairdressing Business Awards

Every month, HJ’s British Hairdressing Business Awards winners share their expert hints, tips and advice for running a business in 2018. This month, the winners share their insights on how to succeed at the British Hairdressing Business Awards and the benefits of entering... Name: Robert Rix Salon: The Company of Master Barbers Award: Retail Salon of the Year Robert’s top tips: Name: Sophia Hilton Salon: Not Another Salon Award: Marketing and Salon Team of the Year Sophia’s top tips:

• Run a campaign
• Be imaginative with your offers
• Promote your services

“We ran a successful gender-neutral campaign on Instagram and our website. We now only charge by hair length and this was so successful that it got picked up by Vogue without us even knowing. We also did a #wedonaturaltoo campaign on social media to remind people that 50% of what we do is natural hair. Coloured hair will always be more vivid in pictures so I regularly need to chase my sta for more natural images!” Name: Claire Denyer Salon: Saks Hair & Beauty Award: Franchisee of the Year Claire’s top tips:

• Social media aids positive engagement with our clients and potential clients
• Create a referral scheme for existing clients and encourage them to write reviews
• Offer support on a local level, especially with a charity

“I build relationships and cross-promote with other local business owners. I also get involved in the local community and charities. O ering support on a local level, especially with a charity increases your local presence and reputation. It helps to position your salon as a caring contributor to the community.” Name: Jennifer Linton and Joanna Macdonald Salon: Linton & Mac Award: Independent Salon Business Newcomer Jennifer and Joanna’s top tips:

• Engage with your clients via social media
• Produce targeted mail-outs
• Embrace digital

“We share everything we do on social media and vary our posts to keep our followers interested. Email is a great way to engage with our clients and share new o ers and incentives. We send a monthly newsletter to our clients, which is a running commentary on what is happening in the salon. We’ve introduced a blog called e Low Down, which is sent to subscribers and gives us another opportunity to showcase our work. We’ve also started making short tutorials and step-by-step guides on YouTube.” Name: Lisa Welsher Salon: Sarai Hair and Beauty Award: Manager of the Year Lisa’s top tips:

• Join or create a local association with your fellow shop owners
• Get involved with school careers evenings and help with local school fundraising
• Host in-salon events and encourage clients to bring a friend

“Our salon belongs to a local shop owner association and we organise events together which helps to promote us as a friendly, welcoming and fun salon. We also help at school careers evenings and fashion shows. In-house events help to promote our new service ranges to existing clients and new ones as existing clients can bring a friend.” Name: Richard Wallace Salon: Richard Wallace Hairdressing Award: Salon of the Year 1 Richard’s top tips:

• Enter awards as we’ve got so much coverage from winning the Salon of the Year 1 award last year
• Make full use of your shopfront as it will encourages member of the public to come inside
• Use social media to share what you are doing regularly

“We advertise in local papers and lifestyle magazines. If we support them they are very good at giving us editorial space when we want to announce an award-win or our participation in a charity event.” Name: Sue Whitehead Salon: Jacks of London Award: Male Grooming Salon of the Year Sue’s top tips:

• Understand your target audience and tailor your campaign to them
• Create as many touch points as you can to reinforce your campaign
• Try to follow up and evaluate the success of your campaigns

“We run loyalty schemes targeted at our di erent local audiences. One example is the Jacks of London corporate scheme, which drives footfall and encourages word of mouth in local o ces. We use sponsored ads on social media and engage with local partnerships, events and competitions.” Name: Reed Hair Team Salon: Reed Hair Award: Front of House Team of the Year Reed’s top tips:

• Create social media competitions
• Host events
• Build a bridal business

“We’re focusing on three events to raise our pro le in our local area. We’re hosting a co ee morning for local people experiencing hair loss due to cancer treatments. is occurs every six weeks with a range of guest speakers o ering support and advice. Our January giveaway competition was aimed at growing our social media followers. is encouraged the local community to ‘like’ and ‘share’ our page. is campaign was extremely successful as it reached 6,713 people in our area. Finally, we’ve visited wedding venues within a 20-mile radius to promote Reed Hair’s Bridal Team as a professional service to offer to brides. We also o er our exclusive lounge as an alternative for the bridal party.” Name: Joe Hemmings Salon: Bloggs Salons Award: Salon of the Year 2 Joe’s top tips:

• Provide pamper sessions at school events
• Cater to your local market
• Organise regular consultation evenings at your salon

“Our Gloucester Road salon sits in an a uent area so we attract mums who are time and cash rich. We hold consultations and pamper sessions at school events and donate salon services as ra e prizes. is means we promote the salon directly to parents while supporting local schools. Our Harbourside salon caters to corporate clients as we have a number of busy o ces in the vicinity. We promote ourselves to local companies with corporate o ers and packages that have their lifestyle in mind. We also team up with other local businesses so we can access potential new clients via each other’s mailing lists with the added bonus of endorsing our brand and theirs at the same time.” Name: Steve Rowbottom Salon: Westrow Award: Business Director of the Year Steve’s top tips:

• Invite your social media team to attend industry events for exclusive content
• Introduce regular client offers like Fizz Friday and Wow Wednesday
• Invest in good public relations

“We have a strategy in place to promote each of our salons with a mixture of marketing, promotions, and social media to ensure footfall. Our social media team goes backstage at industry events to give exclusives. We’ve introduced client o ers such as Fizz Fridays with express blow- dries and a glass of bubbles, and Wow Wednesdays for 50% o a colour service if they book a cut and finish. We work with a publicity agency to ensure our message is communicated across the platforms that matter. e team works with Westrow as a brand to drive our selling points to the local press and raise our pro le in the community.”