5 Marketing Priorities of a Growing Salon Suite

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THOUGHT PROCESS
As a Salon Suite business owner there are many things you could do at any given moment with your time. So how do you determine how to focus your time so that what’s most important – growing your salon business – gets done?
 
“Don’t be busy; be productive.”
 
ACTION STEPS
Avoid distractions and activities that don’t produce a good return on investment. Discover which marketing strategies are best-suited to help you grow your Salon Suite and focus your time and resources there. 
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1 – Attracting New Clients
 
“Much effort, much prosperity.” – Euripides
 
It’s easy to say you need to attract more clients to grow a salon business but it’s not always as easy to do. To attract new Salon Suite clients you may need to adopt several different kinds of effective salon client acquisition tactics; such as:

• Extending new client and referral reward offers
• Developing a buzz-worthy and truly unique client experience
• Attending local networking events (such as business networking or Chamber of Commerce events)
• Publishing a website that is optimized for search (so that people searching for salons in your city will discover your Salon Suite online)
• Consistently publishing new content on your social media channels
• Spending money on hyper-local marketing tactics such as sponsoring targeted social media posts, doing a neighborhood door hanger campaign or sending postcards to neighborhoods where your ideal client types are likely to reside

 
You also need to have a marketing plan that keeps you actively engaged across several marketing channels (website, email, social media, etc.) MY SALON Suite and Salon Plaza Salon Suite owners have access to a monthly marketing guide that provides this type of salon marketing system. This makes it easier for the Suite owner to accomplish effective marketing activities efficiently and consistently. If you’re considering Salon Suite ownership, we encourage you to visit one of our locations and ask about the exclusive, member-only resources MY SALON Suite and Salon Plaza provide to help Suite owners grow and manage their salon business.  
 
2 – Increasing Average Ticket
 
“Work to become, not to acquire.”
 
As a business owner, time is your most precious commodity for one simple reason: You can only sell it once! Increasing average ticket can help your Salon Suite grow and become more profitable without requiring you to spend more time behind the chair. To increase average ticket:

• Promote and sell (more) retail products
• Expand your retail inventory for broader client appeal
• Suggest add-ons during the client consultation based on their desires and/or your observations
• Move clients to more frequent appointments or a higher level of service (such as motivating a client to go from occasional highlights to full color services)

 
Another highly effective but often overlooked way to increase average ticket is to sell more gift cards – even to existing clients. One study found that 72 percent of gift card shoppers spent more than the amount of the gift card when redeeming it. One in four purchased items they hadn’t even planned to buy!  One possible explanation for the reason gift cards can help increase average ticket is simple psychology: It doesn’t feel like you’re spending “real” money.
 
3 – Employing Pricing Tactics
 
“Change your thoughts and you change your world.” – Norman Vincent Peale
 
Did you know that “price” is one of the 4 P’s of marketing? An article published on MarketingDesks.com lists ten different pricing strategies that you might be able to use to increase sales. The way that you price products and services, and even the way you display your prices can positively impact sales based on consumer subconscious and psychological factors.
 
For instance, if two items are priced identically shoppers are less likely to buy either of them; however, if the prices are even just a little bit different, 67 percent of consumers were more likely to buy. Another commonly used pricing tactic is anchoring, wherein two very differently priced items (such as a $20 bottle of wine and a $60 bottle of wine) are placed side by side. Bargain shoppers may then be more likely to buy the lower priced item while prestige shoppers might be more motivated to purchase the higher priced bottle. Check out the article for more ideas and experiment where appropriate in your Salon Suite pricing structure.
 
4 – Expanding Brand Awareness
 
“Success is the accumulation of small advantages over time.” – Aaron Lynn
 
We often think about marketing in terms of reaching out to people who are ready to buy right now. However, increasing brand awareness enables you to start a relationship with people who might not be ready to try your salon services right now for whatever reason – but who may be looking for services like yours in the future. Expanding brand awareness can also help you with referral efforts. Those same not-ready-to-buy prospects may know people who are.
 
5 – Building Expert Authority
 
“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.” – Rumi
 
Building expert authority is another way to increase your brand reach and put your Salon business “in the right place, at the right time” when someone is ready to make a buying decision or ready to refer a friend, co-worker or loved one to a beauty professional in your city.
 
Building expert authority inside your client base can also help you reap more referrals. In addition, this could be the key to getting clients to take you up on upsell, product and service recommendations.
 
You can build expert authority using social media, email marketing, your website, client consultations, networking and other interactions to share your expertise with others. As you build authority, you build trust. As you build trust, it takes less work to persuade people to take the actions you want them to take.