THOUGHT PROCESS
Of all the holidays celebrated in the U.S., Halloween offers beauty professionals with monster makeup and hair skills the best chance to boost directly-related service and product sales.
ACTION STEPS
Take advantage of the consumer’s love of all things Halloween and use October promotions to increase bookings, grow brand awareness and engage clients and prospects in your area.
According to National Retail Federation (NRF) estimates, Halloween sales in the U.S. are projected to reach a new record high of $86.13 per household, for a total of $9.1 billion (including $3.4 billion on costumes), up substantially from $8.4 billion in 2016:
Of all the holidays celebrated in the U.S., Halloween offers beauty professionals with monster makeup and hair skills the best chance to boost directly-related service and product sales.
ACTION STEPS
Take advantage of the consumer’s love of all things Halloween and use October promotions to increase bookings, grow brand awareness and engage clients and prospects in your area.
According to National Retail Federation (NRF) estimates, Halloween sales in the U.S. are projected to reach a new record high of $86.13 per household, for a total of $9.1 billion (including $3.4 billion on costumes), up substantially from $8.4 billion in 2016:
Suite Success Secret #78: 7 Ways Salon Suite Owners Can Cash In on Halloween Sales
1 – Demonstrate Halloween Costume Hair and Makeup How To’s for costumes from princess to pirate to politician, monster, hero and more.
As beauty professionals, your video and photo step-by-steps shared on YouTube, Instagram and other social platforms, and embedded on your website will “wow!” viewers not only in the weeks leading up to Halloween, but long after. Your Salon Suite’s Halloween hair and makeup demos could come in many forms:
As beauty professionals, your video and photo step-by-steps shared on YouTube, Instagram and other social platforms, and embedded on your website will “wow!” viewers not only in the weeks leading up to Halloween, but long after. Your Salon Suite’s Halloween hair and makeup demos could come in many forms:
- Classes
- Mini sessions
- Day of appointments
- Videos and step by steps
2 – Extend Social Media Reach with Halloween Hashtags
Hashtags are a digital filing system. When you add relevant hashtags to your social media posts, when someone searches for all the posts with that hashtag, your posts are included in that grouping. If there’s a specific Halloween hashtag trending in your city, you should also include that in your Salon Suite Halloween social media updates, along with some of these:
#Halloween
#Trickortreat
#HappyHalloween
#HappyHalloween
#Halloweenparty
#Halloweenmakeup
#HalloweenCostume
#Candy
#Scary
#Hauntedhouse
#Holidays
#Celebrate
#Skeleton
#Jackolantern
#Bonfire
#Cold
#October
#Devil
#Skull
#Pumpkin
#Zombie
#Fancydress
#Creepy
#FrankensteinFriday
#HalloweenHair
If your Halloween hairstyle and makeup how to’s have specific costume themes, you can also turn these into Halloween hashtags; i.e., #FrankensteinMakeup or #BrideofFrankensteinHair
3 – Safe Trick or Treating with Neighboring Businesses
Many parents opt for business destinations instead of neighborhood trick-or-treating routes, especially if they live in sparsely populated neighborhoods, neighborhoods that aren’t walking-friendly or in the case of inclement weather. Designating your Salon Suite’s location as a trick-or-treating destination in coordination with other Suite Members and/or other neighboring business owners can bring both trick-or-treaters and their parents to your business. Make sure that you hand out copies of a special offer to parents along with the treats you distribute to trick-or-treaters.
4 – Kiosk or Pop-Up Store
If you’ve ever thought about getting your Salon Suite’s brand out of the building and into public spaces where you can reach new clients, October could be a great month to try a kiosk or pop-up store, or to participate in community bazaars, school fairs and similar events. A temporary shop could be a great place to demo Halloween hair and makeup looks and sell the retail products needed to achieve them as well as get clients to book regular appointments as new customers of your Salon Suite.
5 – Dress Up in Costume
Who says kids have to have all the fun? You can show off your Halloween hair and makeup skills first hand by dressing up in costume on one or more days in October. In addition to how it would differentiate the client experience, it also gives you a chance to take some great selfies for social media.
6 – Contests
Contests can be an effective way to increase brand awareness, grow social and email follower lists and attract new clients, especially when prizes include a Salon Suite gift card. For Halloween marketing, you can hold contest on social media where followers send you their best Halloween hair and makeup photos, photos are put into a collection and the winner becomes the person whose photo gets the most likes (as “votes”). Likes and shares are the lifeblood of a brand’s social media reach – any time you can gain momentum for social updates with likes and shares and comments you propel your update’s reach into the social marketing stratosphere!
7 – Gift Card Candy Buy Backs
Let’s face it, there is such a thing as too much candy. Some trick-or-treaters collect too much, some people buy too much and have a lot left over, and some people trick-or-treat for the fun and not the sweet treats. A candy buy-back program gives you an opportunity to connect with people in your area after Halloween. Offer Salon Suite gift cards for people who bring a set amount of candy to your Salon Suite for redemption or let redeemers accumulate points that can be redeemed toward retail purchases or future service appointments. As with trick-or-treaters, anyone who isn’t already a client should receive a special offer for their first appointment with you!
