Brand-new and seasoned salon owners alike know that it’s crucial to constantly build clientele. Even once you’re an established part of the community, you still need to continually drum up new business to help your business sustain and, ideally, expand. Sure, your existing clients are your “bread and butter,” but their needs, circumstances and desires change often, so you always need to be looking at the bigger picture and enticing new guests.
Attracting new business can be time-consuming and costly if you don’t have some solid strategies in place. Use the following tips to help get new clients in the door and to grow your business for the long run.
- Run Regular Promotions — We know you’ve already priced your services in a way that’s competitive without compromising profit, but consider running promotions on occasion exclusively for new customers. Whether it be half the standard price or a percent off for new clients, this is a great way to get customers in the door so they book repeat services. If you’re not a big fan of cutting prices of services, offer discounted or free professional hair care products to sweeten the deal and send clients home with something tangible.
- Leverage Social Media — It’s so important to leverage the power of social media in the modern beauty landscape. The reality is that if you aren’t regularly posting photos and videos on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok, you could be missing out on a huge chunk of your potential market. Make sure you have a regular posting schedule — posting at least once a day on stories and three to four times a week on the feed — to keep your audience engaged. Here are some ways to reach more people on social media.
- Create a ‘Shareable’ Space — Create a space where people want to take photos and show off their new looks. Consider creating a photo corner with a stylish background featuring a neon sign or fun wallpaper coupled with a ring light for the perfect selfie.
- Make Sure Your Geo Location Tag Is Correct — When people post pictures of themselves at your salon, they may tag the photo with a location. Make sure the name and location of your business is correct on Instagram, Facebook, etc.
- Ask Clients to Tag Your Business — Make sure you have an active social media account that visitors can tag when they post photos. Always reshare client posts to your story or grid (with permission). You may also want to consider incentivizing visitors for sharing posts.
- Have Your Team Create Business Accounts — Your stylists and technicians have their own set of social media followers that you will want to leverage for yourself. Make sure they have a business account to share their own work and the photos of their clients.
- Create Shareable Content — In addition to photos of happy customers and their services, consider posting things that are likely to get shared among industry professionals, such as tutorials and how-to videos.
- Incentivize Referrals — Did you know that roughly 63 percent of people say they seek out recommendations from friends and family when searching for a new salon? One of the best ways to bring in new customers is to encourage your existing ones to tell their friends about you. Of course, satisfied customers tend to naturally share their favorite local businesses, but not all do. Consider offering an incentive — perhaps a free or discounted service — for every new customer your existing ones bring in.
- Stay on Top of the Latest Trends — In the world of beauty, the most successful entrepreneurs are the ones who have their finger on the pulse of what’s hip. Trends change rapidly and the tastemakers of your community will gravitate to the salons that offer the latest and greatest. Whether it be upgrading to the most cutting-edge hair salon supplies or training your staff on a new service, it’s vital that you stay on-trend. Make sure to always advertise any new products and services you will offer.
- Master Local SEO — In addition to using social media and personal referrals, people tend to turn to Google to find local businesses. In fact, 91 percent of people say they use search engines to find information and 78 percent of local mobile searches result in offline purchases. That means that you want to do everything you can to get your salon to pop up when someone searches for it or relevant terms online.
- Optimize Your Website — You want to make sure that your business comes up at the top of the search results page when somebody searches for salons in your city or “salons near me.” Make sure to include keywords on your website and follow the best practices of onsite local SEO to ensure that Google can find you.
- Create a Google Maps Listing — Make sure your listing on Google Maps is fully up-to-date, with the latest hours, location and service list. Add photos that capture attention and tell a story. Make sure you have up-to-date contact information, including phone number and email.
- Monitor Your Reviews — When someone Googles your business, they immediately see a star rating and reviews from past customers. Make sure to stay on top of your reviews and reach out to any users who have left a questionable review.
- Host Buzz-Generating Events — Sometimes, to get people in the door, you quite literally need to get people into your establishment. Hosting special events is a great way to create hype and get people familiar with your salon and everything it offers. Some great ways to generate buzz include hosting a live band, annual anniversary parties or regular girls’ night and offering a free cocktail or product with any service booked.
In order to maintain a profitable, thriving business, you must constantly be seeking ideas for how to attract new customers. By employing a few of the above techniques, you’ll be able to keep a steady flow of new clients coming through the door to help establish your salon as a pillar of your local beauty community and an authority in the space.
Sponsored Post by Salonory
