Sean hanna's guide to effective salon marketing

Business Extra

Sean Hanna

10 Key elements of successful salon marketing

"Marketing is all about communication and if your marketing isn't effective it's pointless," that was Sean Hanna's opening message to his Salon International Business Extra crowd.

Sean, who is in the British Hairdressing Business Awards Hall of Fame for his Marketing prowess, Sean revealed his ten point plan for effective hair salon marketing.

But like any plan, what works for one salon might not work for another so Sean advises his audience to take his ten key points and adjust them to suit your salon needs. 

Sean's ten key elements of effective successful salon marketing:

1. Graded clients
   
   A - awesome
   
   B - basic
   
   C - casual
   
   D - dead loss
   
   Your awesome clients have a loyal nature and don't respond easily to price incentives from other salons. Dead loss clients are easy come, easy go and have little influence on your profit.
   
   Aim to have as many clients in the A and B bracket as possible, as these are the ones who bring in the most income.
   
   



2. Targeting your clientele
   
   Depending on the location, your clientele will have a different make-up in terms of age, gender, income group, the amount of time they have to spend in the salon and how fashionable they are.
   
   When you design your marketing strategy make it specific to your salon and the demographics of your clients.
   
   



3. Unique vs price structures
   
   Cut price drives may bring in more business but will clients be willing to pay full price next time?
   
   On the other hand, if price cuts aren't for you, you need to make your salon stand out from the crowd, but this isn't easy - a great personality, decor or haircut isn't enough.
   
   
4. In-salon marketing
   
   The aim is to maximise average client spend, by offering everything from quality drinks and magazines to superior products and treatments.
   
   You should also consider referral and rebooking options too. Loyalty cards and refer-a-friend systems can be effective ways to do this, as is offering a discount if users rebook within eight weeks.
   
   



5. Branding
   
   Brand identity gives you a core value. It promotes trust and gives clients something to buy into.
   
   Once you have created a brand you should use it across all the marketing you do.
   
   



6. Lead generation
   
   Lead generation campaigns where clients bring their advert into the salon to redeem an offer, make it easy to measure the results.
   
   You could partner with other local companies, such as shopping centres, crèches and slimming clubs then measuring the results.
   
   



7. Testing and measuring
   
   There is no point in having a campaign if you don't measure its success. 
   
   Look at the cost of the ad, the number of leads generated the cost per lead and the profit generated before deciding whether to repeat a campaign.
   
   



8. Advertising
   
   Try running ads with the same offer, but worded differently or using different colour schemes and images.
   
   Compare the results and in the future you can only use the versions that get the best response.
   
   



9. Buying media
   
   If you are buying advertising space there are simple principles to follow:
• shop around for best rate
• never take a left-hand page
• we always go for full page ads



10. Strategic marketing
    
    

    Proactive marketing enables you to work to a plan and focus on key messages.

    Dividing the year into quarters with specific aims such as launching a collection or Christmas retailing is an ideal way to structure your strategy.

Salon International Business Extra Seminars

• Jon MacLeod - increase your profit without spending a penny
• Peter Lunn - Improve the performance of you and your team

Sean Hanna on HJi

• Reaping the rewards of retail