5 New Salon Marketing Ideas for Stylist, Salon Business Success Right Now

The Next Generation of Salon Clients Demands 5 New Salon Marketing Ideas

1. Stylist Success Requires a Business-Owner Mindset

Salon suite franchises emerged during the past 5 years, reinforcing the necessity for every salon pro to know how to run their own business, independently, including financial management and marketing, whether they work in a multi-chair salon, rent a station or run their own franchise. It’s a tall order; stylists need to know as much about profit margins, net income and marketing tactics as they do about hair cutting and coloring.

2. Every Beauty Pro Needs Their Own Marketing Plan

Even stylists working in a multi-chair salon might find that the salon owner doesn’t see client acquisition and retention as their responsibility; stylists who want to build a strong book of business will have to take responsibility for their own client acquisition, loyalty and referral marketing as well as the work they do behind the chair.

3. Salon Word of Mouth for a Digital Generation

Salon owners like to say word of mouth is their best marketing, but it’s rarely been a formal strategy. The emerging and next generation of salon clients are digital natives. They use their smartphones for social media, shopping and making reservations online, texting, snapchatting and – oh yes – occasionally talking on the phone. Nine out of ten consumers (of all ages) read reviews before deciding where to buy or book.

Salon pros need a strategy with proactive tactics to get social check ins, reviews and online word of mouth; they can’t just sit back and hope it happens. They’re going to have to put an iPad in the client’s hand after spinning them around in the chair or at the point of sale and ask to leave a review in real time. They’re going to have to interact with their clients on social media. They’re going to have to take before and after photos and post them on Instagram. And they’re going to have to have websites where customers can book, get styling tips, leave reviews and where they will get found by new clients.

4. Online is the New Salon Client First Impression

First impressions for new clients happen online. 75 percent of users decide whether a business is credible based on its website design and 94 percent of first impressions are design-related (Stanford Web Credibility Research).

Salons are in the business of beauty and style but many salon websites (if they exist at all) have outdated, janky designs, lack sophistication, don’t allow for online booking and aren’t optimized for online search. Stylists are fashion forward but many of the websites are quite the opposite. 38 percent of consumers will leave a website if it’s unattractive (Adobe).

From the multi-chair to the booth renter or salon suite franchise owner, having a professional-quality website optimized for search that also meets the consumer’s demand for visual engagement (photos and videos) is a must. They also have to learn how to optimize their social pages and posts for local search. If they can’t do it themselves (or don’t want to) then they need to find someone and outsource this work.

5. Client Loyalty Doesn’t Last

The days when a woman might go to the same salon every two months for 20 or 40 years, or even a lifetime, are over. Loyalty is hard to win and easy to lose; in fact, 96 percent of dissatisfied customers will leave and never even tell you why. Today’s consumers embrace change, have more ideas about their personal style than ever before and understand that buying power entitles them to customer satisfaction every time they buy.

“Good enough” is not good enough, the salon experience has to be better.  Something more than satisfaction has to be the end goal. If the client can’t make a real distinction between the experience they get in one salon from the experience they could get in any salon, the services are commodities.

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Stylists and salon owners understand that the only constant is change. A new generation of salon clients means that new salon marketing ideas are needed to keep your business relevant and growing. If you need a playbook, check out Clients Rule: 2016 Marketing Calendar for Salons and Beauty Pros for a full years’ worth of marketing ideas that will work right now.