6 Things You Need to Rock PR on a Small Salon Marketing Budget
A small salon marketing budget can achieve big results; here’s how.
Bill Gates once said something to the effect of, “If I was down to my last dollar, I would spend it on public relations.” What is understands is that it’s the personal (and often emotional) connections human beings make with one another that lead to sales and brand advocacy. Your small salon marketing budget might preclude hiring a PR agency for marketing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have an effective public relations strategy. In fact, you probably already have what you need.
6 Things You Need to Rock PR on a Small Salon Marketing Budget
1. Your Happy Campers
“Advertising is saying you’re good. PR is getting someone else to say you’re good.” Jean-Louis Gassee
88 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as they trust recommendations from people they know.
- Put an iPad into the client’s hands while they’re in the chair and ask for a review in real time
- Email them after the appointment to ask for a review (and send them a link to the site you’d like the review on; e.g., Yelp, CitySearch, Facebook, Google My Business, etc.)
- Touch base with your client on social media in the days following their appointment to make sure they’re happy and ask for an online review or a quote to put on your website
It’s social proof! The stars and endorsements your salon earns set you apart from your competitors and tell new clients why they should choose to do business with you.
2. Your Website
“Write something worth reading or do something worth writing about.” Benjamin Franklin
If you aren’t sharing before/after photos and writing about what’s happening in your salon on your own website’s blog, you are ignoring the single most powerful piece of digital real estate that can get your salon found in online search and turn site visitors into salon clients.
3. Your Causes
“Next to doing the right thing, the most important thing is to let people know you are doing the right thing.” John D. Rockefeller
Your salon is probably donating to a lot of causes throughout the year – both in the form of products and money as well as donated services. You need to put an exclamation point on these activities by following through and writing up a few paragraphs about your activities to include on your website, in your email newsletters, on your social networks and to pitch to local and industry media.
There are people in the media and your community (Chamber of Commerce, Rotary and other civic organizations) that would be only too happy to help you tell your story and bring even more attention to the charities and causes you love to support.
4. Your Brand Reputation
“It takes a lifetime to build a reputation and only a few seconds to destroy one.” Will Rogers
Reputation monitoring is an essential part of every business’ marketing plan. You can use Google search and most social media platforms with the @, +, # symbols to check for mentions of your brand online.
Likewise, if your salon has business pages on social networks, you need to check in on these pages daily to see whether clients are trying to contact you online. If your brand appears unresponsive on social media or there are negative reviews that have gone unanswered, it can give people second thoughts about doing business with you.
5. Your Brand Ambassadors
“PR is performance recognition.” Douglas Smith
Do you reward clients for sending new clients your way? Why ever not! You should be thanking clients for each and every referral they send to you. Incentives and rewards might be the final “nudge” that influencers among your clientele need to kick your word-of-mouth referral marketing machine into high gear. Turning your happiest, most connected clients into brand ambassadors might cost no more than a free add-on service, gift card or retail product.
6. Your Ringers
“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire public relations officers.” Daniel J. Boorstin
If you think outsourcing PR means a big-budget agency, think again. You can self-publish press releases on sites like 24-7 and e-releases or you can hire people like us to help you write a polished, professional press release to help you tell your story, and help you publish and promote it on a PR release platform, social media and your own website, blog and other digital real estate, even on a small salon marketing budget.
