Top 5 salon marketing mistakes

Developing effective promotional strategies and running successful marketing campaigns can be challenging even for experienced managers of hair and beauty salons. After all, not everyone is a marketing guru, and most salons and spas can’t afford a full-time marketing specialist.

Booksy has been supporting beauty businesses for years in many fields, including marketing and promotion. Based on our extensive, hands-on experience, we have created a list of the most common hair and beauty salon marketing mistakes. Check if your salon commits any of those marketing sins, and if so - learn how to eliminate it and take your marketing to the next level.

1. Not knowing the clients and their needs

Tracking appointment history or looking up any other customer data - personal details, stats or individual preferences - is not an easy task, even when your salon has a relatively small customer base. Obviously, it doesn’t get any easier at a larger scale. The bigger your business, the harder it gets. At the same time, knowing your clients and their needs are vital in delivering high-quality services, which is the key to running a successful hair and beauty salon.

The ability to retrieve detailed customer data is also essential when making important business decisions. Failing to know your customers through and through can easily lead to many salon marketing mistakes, such as ineffective promotion strategy, inadequate price levels or service range, and more.

Therefore, investing some time to analyse who your customers really are is probably the best investment you can make. The appointment history (preferably, in an easy to use, convenient electronic version) should not only tell you how much your customers spend, how often they return and what services they use (that too, of course!). It should also include the client’s individual preferences or needs. This information will allow you to perfectly target marketing campaigns and set your business decisions onto the right track.

2. Failing to analyse the situation and devise a long-term

marketing strategy

Very often, marketing efforts are undertaken only every now and then, mainly when a manager notices that the number of scheduled bookings is falling, which is rather too late to launch any marketing campaigns and expect quick results. Salon marketing strategies should be well thought-out, planned in advance and based on actual statistical data gathered by the salon.

Before running any marketing campaign aimed at new clients, check the rebooking rate. Building and maintaining the loyalty of current clients is much easier and more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. Having analysed financial reports and average customer spending, you will be able to forecast future income and decide what marketing actions are necessary.

By knowing the margin on each service and product, it’s easy to create a customer loyalty program, as well as other types of promotions which will boost appointments and revenue without costing you a lot.

3. Low-quality website or no website at all

Hair & beauty salon owners very often think that local businesses don't really need a website. Meanwhile, more than 70% of consumers say that information they find on the web makes them visit a particular place! A well-designed website is also useful for regular customers who look for information about new services or special offers, as well as use it as a way to refer the salon to their friends.

Lack of a website is not the only problem. Even if there is one, it may be poorly designed, outdated and unattractive (which is ironic, considering the industry). Visual aspect aside, salon websites often fall short in the usability department, with basic information, such as contact details or the price list, being hard to find.

Another issue is the lack of an integrated online booking system - a feature customers take for granted these days. It is a powerful tool that is a considerable time saver for the staff and a great convenience for the salon clientele.

4. Lack of regular communication with clients

Intense competition on the market makes running a successful hair or beauty salon extremely challenging. Having great services is not enough these days. It is crucial to know how to promote them and convince prospective customers to choose them.

Having highly qualified staff might also not be enough to keep clients. They have a wide range of salons and services to choose from, which is why they need to be taken care of and effectively encouraged to keep coming back. Just waiting for customers will not do the trick and may not be enough to win their loyalty.

This is why your salon needs to be equipped with an adequate system for hair salon with in-built salon marketing tools for improving communication with clients. Start with automatic SMS and email reminders, special offers management, social media integration, or even more advanced features such as automated marketing campaigns.

5. Overlooking the importance of recommendations

The clients of hair and beauty salons very often base their choices on online reviews or recommendations from their friends. Unfortunately, not many salons encourage their clients to write such reviews, losing an opportunity to promote their services and get more customers.

This is surprising, considering how many ways there are to make it easy to encourage clients to share their opinions and good experience. One way would be to launch a referral system that rewards customers for recommending the salon to their friends or just for writing reviews. Another would be employing an online booking system that sends customers automatic review requests.

Such reviews can be subsequently published on social media sites. Why not spread the word and share what your satisfied clients have to say about your salon? Isn’t that what the most successful businesses do?

Want to take advantage of powerful salon marketing automation tools and other exciting features that will help you grow your business? Try Booksy - salon software trusted by hair & beauty professionals all over the world.