Set new year's resolutions for your salon business

By now many people have already broken most of their New Year resolutions, so why not start again with some goal setting for  the year ahead, says PR expert Louise Wood. By just picking up on one or two of the following PR resolutions for 2014 your business profile will be in a better place by the end of the year. 1. Use Twitter to engage on industry level, it’s a great way to talk to your hairdressing icons and legends – you never know what opportunities might arise and who might tweet you back. 2. If you want to be in your local paper, read it regularly, message them on Twitter, Facebook or their website if you particularly enjoyed an article.  It’s not direct PR for you but it might help them remember your name for their next hair feature. 3. Enter your youngsters into industry initiatives like Clubstar.  Having up- and-coming starlets out there can do wonders for your salon reputation. 4. Keep a camera under the reception desk or in a place where the team can quickly whizz it out and take pictures of dramatic hair transformations on clients, famous people who drop by, product of the week, new offers, or just to show off how fabulous the salon looks. Mobile phones are great but nothing compares to a proper DSLR. 5.Have each of the team pick a week during the year.  During this slot they have to chart their day, the interesting things that happen and reasons why they love the salon, their job. It can be an insight into the world of hairdressing and what working at your salon is like. This could be good for recruitment as well as generating nice personal content for social media platforms. 6. Plan to enter an award -  it could be a local entrepreneurial competition, or an industry award but commit to an entry, success feeds your team, gives content for your social media and encourages your clients. 7. Book yourself, or a team member, on the Fellowship PR and Awards day in March, it will inspire thinking and give you a framework to move ahead with. 8. If budgets are tight, see if you can find a salon to do a shoot share with and get yourself a set of lovely PR shots to use on Facebook, website and for your printed PR in trade and hair consumer press. 9. If you can’t commit to a PR campaign, book a couple of briefing days with one of the industry PR specialists to help you to identify what you can handle in-house. 10. Check out whether or not your manufacturer has a PR facility that you can access a professional PR team through, this can be a great added support without cost to you. 11. Engage locally and find out about local events in the community.  Not only is it a great team building exercise it attract more clients to the salon too: fashion shows, carnivals, charity events like fun runs or supporting a great local cause.  A caring business is a successful business. 12. Get blogging! From brand exposure to generating traffic to your website, blogging plays a large part in the ever-expanding digital world and allows you to connect with consumers, other businesses and more importantly, your clients. Two or three posts a week will give a voice to your business and allow you to exchange ideas with readers. Whether it’s salon news, favourite products, events, awards or simply a new celebrity style it’s a quick, easy and interactive form of communication.