Marketing your new salon business

So you’ve found the ideal salon location, signed off on the lease, maybe negotiated a rent-free period, got the building work underway or perhaps even completed it, and employed new team members. Now you need to give some thought to developing a solid marketing strategy. Here are Antony Whitaker's  top 10 tips for marketing a new salon venture are: 1.            Remember the B word. B is for budget and as a new salon owner it will affect everything you do from this day forward. To get maximum bang for your buck, a cost-effective marketing strategy is essential. 2.            Spend what you need. How much should you allocate to a marketing budget? There is no fixed amount; but make sure that whatever you spend on marketing has a measurable return that exceeds what you’ve spent. If it doesn’t, you are pouring money down the drain. On the other hand, if you spend £100 on marketing and it brings in £150 of business, then spend another £100! 3.            Focus on the business. Too many hairdressers fall into spending too much of their marketing budget on image-building rather than business-building. Of course, image is important in our industry but it doesn't pay the rent. Quite simply your marketing budget needs to put clients on seats or you really need to question why you are doing it. Remember you must always see a measurable return on investment. 4.            Understand media needs. You might be a fantastic hairdresser and have just produced a beautiful collection of photographs, but you need to understand that your local media are probably not that interested in your images. What they are looking for are human interest stories about you and your business – have your team climbed a mountain/done a bungee jump for charity? Have you just put on a fashion show with a local school? Have you just styled the hair of a local celebrity? Remember also, a great image will go a long way in getting your story published, so make sure you take plenty of photos on a decent quality camera. 5.            Keep it local. You might be a national award-winning hairdresser and have clients who travel vast distances to see you. They are the exception and not the norm. If you have a chain of salons across the country then advertising in a major magazine like Vogue might be relevant. But for the majority of single salons you need to recognise that although seeing your ad in Vogue may be good for your ego, it’s financial stupidity. The majority of your clients will come from a relatively small catchment area and they either live or work near your salon, so advertise in your local media. It may not be as sexy but it is more likely to generate a return on investment. 6.            Work the calendar. Marketing is an ongoing process so spend some time at the outset identifying opportunities throughout the year and developing appropriate promotions around them. Recurring events like Mother’s/Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Halloween, the changing seasons, media events like the Oscars, salon anniversaries and national holidays all present opportunities to develop a promotion that puts a focus on your businesses products and services. 7.            Identify your market. A common mistake salon owners make is to think that everyone in their community is their target market; they’re not! Identify your ideal client, understand their needs and expectations and focus your marketing efforts on satisfying them. 8.            Stay on message. Once you understand your target market, the next step is to develop your compelling message. What are you aiming to say and achieve? For example, do you want to promote a new service or product? Are you wanting to increase the number of colour clients? Or perhaps you want to focus on boosting clients numbers on a particular day of the week or for specific team members. 9.            Pick your platform. Once you have a clearly defined target market and have defined your message, you are ready to choose the media that will best get your message to the right people. Always remember the three Ms – Market, Message and Media. 10.          Deliver on the promise. Your marketing message is a promise. Like all promises it’s essential that you deliver on it. Though the first stage of marketing is aimed at attracting new clients to try your products or services, there is no point in getting them to come once if they never come back. Make sure everyone on your team is trained to deliver on the promise your marketing makes, so you can turn every new client into a regular client.   Antony Whitaker is an award-winning business expert and author of the best-selling GROW series of guides to developing a successful salon business. His three-day Business School boot camp on 23-25 November will give salon owners and managers the essential tools they need to drive their business forward. www.growmysalonbusiness.com.