It’s not only salon and spa owners who can benefit from blogging as part of their overall content marketing or inbound marketing plan.  Booth renters and individual stylists, estheticians, nail technicians, massage therapists, skin and make up professionals with the professional beauty industry – any salon or spa industry professional whose success depends on their ability to attract new clients, build client loyalty and use word of mouth marketing to get referrals can also benefit from a blogging strategy.

Most industry professionals want to attract new clients and retain the clients they have, right?  While the results sound great, the fact is, most salons and spas aren’t taking advantage of blogging in order to build business, and even fewer booth renters or stylists are blogging in order to attract new clients to build clientele and client loyalty.

So if it works, then why aren’t more salons and spas using blogs to build business?

Simply because many people doubt their ability to write articles at all, let alone to write 2-3 per week or even as many as 20x each month.  It sounds like a lot of work, on top of the work that you are already doing, doesn’t it?   And if you are intimidated by the idea of writing, it might seem impossible for you.

If you want to get the benefits of blogging by way of increased website traffic, client engagement, attracting new clients and client loyalty, you can to do one of two things:

1. Hire a copywriter to blog on your behalf. 

It’s ironic that what’s “old is new again” in marketing, namely, copy writing.  Copy writing has always been at the heart of advertising and marketing.  Why?  Because no matter the era, the ability to identify and speak to customer needs and wants and translate product and service benefits into “client speak” has been the bridge between the product maker or service provider and the customer or client.  And copy writing is still at the heart of marketing; now, more so than ever.  Inbound marketing and content marketing success occurs when web sites speak to customer needs (and customers find them), and through blogging, email marketing, social media, case studies and white papers, etc.

There’s nothing wrong with hiring a copy writer to blog on your behalf, and you may be able to work in trade for services if you find someone in your own clientele who loves to write and understands how to blog (the platforms and SEO) and will also agree to help manage your posts by promoting them on your social media platforms.  One of the ways you can determine whether this is the right way for you to go is to determine where your time is most productive and most profitable.  If your time is more valuable behind the chair, and affords you the means to hire a copy writer, then by all means, hire a copywriter!  The bigger your salon or spa gets or the more clients you have, the less time you can afford to dabble in areas that are not your forte and which “cost” time, rather than produce revenues.

If you hire a copy writer to blog on your behalf, make sure to stay involved; remember, this is still “your” work and represents the brand of you as a stylist, esthetician or booth renter, as well as your salon or spa by extension.  Work with your copy writer to create an editorial publishing calendar and process. Set topics ahead of time so that your copy writer can work ahead, schedule posts and give you enough time to review them for any changes that need to be made.

2. Manage your blog yourself. 

Managing a blog on your own can seem daunting, even if you will be sharing blog post writing responsibilities with other people in your salon or spa.  For instance,  where will you come up with all the content?  That’s where our title, “Hair Today, News Tomorrow” comes in.

First and foremost, decide how often you will realistically be able to blog.  Put it on the calendar as an appointment – and keep the appointment!  But appointments for writing are just part of the editorial publishing calendar.  As you create your editorial calendar for blogging, it will help you if you create a chart or use these questions to help plan your posts:

Many editorial calendars have more details than these and you can expand your spreadsheet if you want; for instance, you might want to add columns to “check off” both once you have posted the article and when you share on various social media platforms.  This type of tracking can help you hold yourself (or your team, if you are sharing blogging responsibilities with others) accountable and keep projects from slipping through the cracks.

Posting 20 times or more each month might seem like a lot of writing and in a way, it will be.  But writing comes fast when the topic and focus is there.  So here are 20 topics featuring latest and greatest marketing (that’s where the title “Hair Today, News Tomorrow” comes from!) For each, as a guideline, plan to write 300-500 words for each article, using your keywords about once for every 100 words.

20 Ways to Grow Salon Business with a Blog

Blog topics for the salon and spa (or booth renters) featuring the latest and greatest:

• Single product you added in your salon or spa
• Manufacturer product line you brought into the salon or spa
• At home care tip for hair, scalp, skin or nails
• Celebrity look you can re-create
• Styling product of the month
• Make up color palette
• Seasonal hair color or make up colors
• Runway trends translated to every day practical wear
• Renovation or improvement to your facility
• Improvement to your appointment booking process
• New employee in your salon or spa
• Customer suggestion you acted on
• Customer review or rave
• Service you added to your menu or service of the month
• Before and after client photo story
• Frequently asked question (ask and answer)
• Charitable contribution or event you participated in
• Neighborhood happening,  networking or civic organization meeting (Chamber of Commerce, etc.)
• Version of your mission and vision statement
• List of customer promises or customer service or product guarantees

And as a final plug, check out 365 Days of Marketing (Amazon.com or amazon.com for Kindle).

365 Days of Marketing has content marketing content that you can use to help populate your blog and social media in order to engage clients literally for every day of the year (and then some).  It’s a small investment that you will use for years to come.

Once you start thinking along these lines, the writing will flow.  So what are you waiting for?  It’s time to start investing in your own success, using all of the proven means that are – literally – at your fingertips!

(*20x or more, monthly, according to HubSpot.com).

Related articles

• Whose Job is the Marketing? (thesavvystylist.wordpress.com)
• 10 Ways You Should Be Using Your Blog to Build Business (but probably aren’t) 365 days of marketing