The best methods for getting more clients for hair stylists

You’ve seen a few hair and beauty businesses throughout your career with a peculiar message, either presented on a poster or on a social media fan page, which reads: “We are no longer accepting new clients”. This not only piques your interest, but also causes your concern. You might ask yourself: “just how are they managing to attract so many clients, while I’m struggling to reel in at least one per week”? There are a number of factors that may be at play, but one thing is certain - you can also reach this point. However, sitting back and waiting for clients to rush to your business isn’t going to cut it.

Who are your clients?

What is your potential customer age demographic in your area? You might be a Michelangelo or Claude Monet of content marketing, but if your campaigns aren’t suited for the local demographic, well, you’re not going to get very far. If the majority of the local population is in the 65+ age range, then chances are they won’t see your content on social media, as they’re less likely to be active users of pages such as Facebook or Instagram.

Additionally, you should ask yourself: “are my treatments suited for the local demographic? Is my business’s theme appropriate?” Your pastel unicorn balayage is truly a work of art, but it might not exactly be all the rage among more elderly customers. And what about your theme? Surely bright neon lights, a dark interior and electronic music playing in the background are attention-grabbing, right? Of course - that is, if there’s a young client demographic in your area. Just because there are no neo-punk themed hair businesses in your town or city, doesn’t mean it needs them. Only once you know who your potential clients are and what they’re looking for when it comes to a hair business will you gain their interest!

Working with loyal customers

Besides you, your loyal customers are also highly-enthusiastic about promoting your hair business - so why not work with them? You can ask these clients to go out and spread the good word about your hair treatments, marvellous customer service and beautiful business interior, and you’re done. However, there’s more to it than that. Obviously, these clients want their favourite salon to prosper, but without an incentive, they’re not going to actively promote your business for long. In this situation, your best option is to encourage them with a gift. However, there are a few things you need to bear in mind:

Making time - you need to make time in order for this campaign to work. Which gifts would be the right incentives to encourage clients to promote your business? This requires a good amount of research. Your customers won’t promote your salon if the incentive you offer is an unpopular product or treatment.
Getting the word out - how do you suppose your clients find out about your desire to work with them? Posting this information on your social media pages is one way, but it is for the most part ineffective when it comes to reaching the majority of your audience. Your best option would be to utilise bulk SMS, push and email messaging.
Tracking client performance - how do you plan on tracking your clients’ effectiveness when it comes to referring their friends and family to your salon? Unless you give them a reward every time they arrive with the person they’ve referred to your salon, you’re going to have difficulty tracking everyone involved.

Getting your current loyal customers to work as your brand promoters is most definitely possible if you have the right tools. Using Booksy salon system you can easily tag each new client to keep track of all referrals and assign your rewards (e.g. free gift cards). Now, how do you inform your existing clients of the referral system? That's simple - by utilising the best hair salon communications option - SMS messaging, which is also available in Booksy. Text messages have an open rate of over 98%, which means that getting your closest clients involved is going to be a walk in the park.

Explore new marketing media

Your latest hair-related meme on Facebook generated a few likes and a handful of comments, and that picture of your most recent updo on Instagram definitely made some waves among your hairstylist counterparts. But so what? These virtual pats on the back aren’t bringing you clients - that is, unless you share this content via a variety of new marketing media. Your best options are ads on Facebook, Instagram and Google. Why? Well, for starters, they are widely used and their ads can be pinpointed to your exact target audience. Here are some hair salon marketing tips when doing so:

Go with a variety of content - don’t just stick to a picture of your business when creating ads. Instead, share a series of photos, which show a before and after session and your certifications, or a short video, describing your salon, services, and your business’s point of difference.
Don’t shy away from offers - have you discounted a treatment or product? Why not include this information in your latest ad? But avoid sounding too desperate - find out more from our article on discounts for hair salons.
Promote your special offers - encourage potential clients to visit your salon and become your beloved regulars! Mention some of the benefits of doing so, but make sure to keep it nice and simple.

And if ads aren’t your thing, you still have a number of options to try. Consider working with local influencers - offer them a free or discounted treatment for promoting your business on their social media pages. If that doesn’t work, reach out to brand marketing agencies, which do all of the hard work for you. Such agencies might require you to create content in the form of photos and videos, however, the rest is in their hands. They utilise this content in ads, promotional materials and create some of their own, in order to help you gain new clients and take the load off of your shoulders.

How to gain clients as a hairstylist? It’s simple - be genuine. Create content that is your own and promote it through the right channels. And with the help of reliable solutions like Booksy, everything you need is in one place. Maintain customer loyalty, track your salon’s numbers and attract new customers - these benefits await you in your Booksy account. Sign up for your free 14-day trial account today!