Attracting clients: How to bring in more clients to your salon or spa

Word-of-mouth marketing is helpful for every business, but it shouldn’t be the main advertising method for your salon or spa. Although one benefit is that it’s free, it’s impossible to control your brand’s messaging when it’s coming from a client. 

For example, your salon’s specialty may be hair color, while the client spreading the word about their experience at your salon only got a blow-dry. This already doesn’t highlight the accurate reputation your salon or spa has in your community. The potential client learning about your business through their friend may think you are only a blow-dry bar and continue their search elsewhere. 

There are more effective ways to attract new clients to your salon or spa. You can have more control over your brand’s message, and in turn,https://www.demandforce.com/product/appointment-reminders/ bring in the right clientele by utilizing online marketing to its fullest potential. Here are 7 ways to do so.

1. Start a bi-weekly blog to keep clients engaged with your site 

Potential clients are always looking for hairstyle ideas, from cut to color to event looks. They also use popular search terms like ’fall hair trends’ when they are simply in the research stage to finding a new look. If you and your team are consistently posting blog posts on relevant topics clients are searching for, your website will start to gain authority, and show up higher in the search results. This is also a great way to control your message.

Often the salon or spa that a client ends up choosing is the one that provides advice, as well as the one that asserted the most expertise on the topic. This builds trust with the reader, and will persuade them to continue looking to your site for skin or hair knowledge. And the more they click to your site, the more your website search ranking will improve.

2. Regularly update and maintain online business listings

There are upwards of thirty business listing websites that a potential client may stumble upon, including top players like Google My Business, Yelp and Bing, as well as Facebook and Foursquare. A simple online search of ‘facial in Woodland Hills, CA’ will result in 3 or more Google My Business listings that Google suggests at the very top of the search engine results. Then, two Yelp results follow before a specific spa’s website is even listed. 

Having your salon or spa’s phone number, address, and website URL up-to-date on these top sites will improve your mobile and voice search results, increase website traffic, boost SEO, and most importantly, bring in new clients. Managing your listings is a must in online marketing as your website isn’t the only place your information can be found. It’s a common error for a spa name to be listed under a different business address because the data was aggregated incorrectly. Imagine the revenue your’re losing for every potential client who thought they found you on Yelp, but ended up at the spa down the block.

3. Ask clients for online reviews

Gaining more online reviews isn’t just about building a positive online reputation, it’s also about utilizing the power of social proof. Social proof is a psychological occurrence where people will look to the masses when making a decision, and choose to model their behavior according to what other people are doing. Often clients will post pictures of a service they received when they are extremely happy, which is really helpful in the salon and spa industry. It often encourages a potential client who is looking to receive that service to make a decision. It’s also a more visual way for your salon or spa’s message to be spread. 

Because social proof can be so powerful, make it a habit to ask clients to leave your business a review on Yelp or Google. There’s also marketing tools that can automate your review requests so that your staff isn’t chasing clients before they leave to remind them about leaving a review. The automated requests can be sent via text or via email, whichever method works better for clients, making it easier for them to do it right away.

4. Send email offers and discounts to current clients

According to Campaign Monitor, the average expected ROI for email marketing is $44 for every $1 you spend on the channel. That’s a return you can’t afford to ignore. 

When planning your email content, many steer away from discounts because they don’t want to paint their business as one who doesn’t merit a full price service. But think of the discount amount as the price you’re paying for retention and loyalty. If one client stopped coming to your salon, that would cost your business much more than $5 off a blow dry. Loyalty should be seen as an investment – not a cost.

Send your promotional emails during your slower seasons, and add an expiration date to them for a sense of urgency. The more redemptions you receive, the more successful the campaign, so switch up your offer so you can find what resonates most with your clients. And remember, email is another online marketing tactic that puts you in charge of your messaging, keeping your salon or spa’s reputation consistent and accurate.

5. Integrate your email promotions with your social media offers 

The term ‘integrated marketing’ has taken marketing strategy by storm. Integrated marketing is an approach to creating a unified and seamless experience for clients who interact with your brand. It’s designed to ensure that all messaging and communications strategies are consistent across all channels and are centered on the client.

Integrating your email promotions with your social media can serve as a powerful reminder for clients who connect with you on both channels. It also expands your email offer to social media users who may not regularly engage with your salon or spa when you use pertinent hashtags. These days you can follow a popular hashtag on most social channels, so be sure to to do research on what hashtags you should use for specific posts.

6. Create a video series to repurpose on all online channels

You already have all of the equipment. It’s on your smartphone. If you have an iPhone, you have your video editor too. Though these types of videos rarely need a lot of editing, if any. When filming something short like a Q&A with a stylist, do some minor prep before you start filming. Plan what topic you want to discuss and the 2-3 points you want to talk about. Then, click record! If they stumble on their words for just a moment it is OK. These types of videos are meant to be natural. Viewers like to watch something that has a conversational tone.

Videos are great for brand messaging and should be posted on Facebook, Youtube and Instagram. Next, you can either feed one of those channel’s posts to your website, or pair the video with a relevant blog post and embed it within the body of the post. These days most website builders make this pretty easy.

7. Showcase your team on your website

Giving your salon or spa a face is so important in the client research stage. You can make that stage more personal with stylist and staff profiles on your website. Every team member should have a photo alongside their name, specialty, and a fun fact about them. You should also link to their Instagram and Facebook pages so potential clients can see their work.

Having team profiles on your salon or spa website will help build their relationships with new clients, and in turn bring in more business.

Online marketing has proven to be stronger than word-of-mouth advertising because your salon or spa’s message stays under your control. Your emails, videos, blogs and social posts can focus on the services that are most important to your business and your potential clients. It’s always great when a client comes in because of a referral, but the idea here is, as a business owner, you shouldn’t rely on it.

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    Orven Gonzales
    4 years ago

    I just started my own salon studio business and right now I need enough clients to gain more attention. Thank you for the article and I learned a lot from it.