Most salon marketing ideas are written with the entire salon in mind. But renters face the same challenges as salon owners. To the rescue: Elizabeth Kraus. With more than 10 years marketing experience in the beauty industry, Kraus is also marketing director for small business finance company, DB Squared, and author of the “2015 Marketing Calendar for Independent Beauty Pros.” Her salon marketing blog (www.savvystylist.net) reflects the changing industry trend toward booth rental and salon suites. Here, she shares her top 6 marketing strategies just for Renters.
1. Define 3- 4 “ideal clients.”
Everyone is not your ideal client type. Knowing your own personality, interests, communication style and styling strengths, leads to defining the types of clients you’d be happiest serving. Get a clear understanding of the types of clients you want to attract, who will make your time more profitable, and who are most likely to be thrilled with the results you produce. Otherwise, your marketing efforts will be scattered, and return on your investment limited.
2. Know all the math before you set prices. Price is one of the foundational “4 Ps of Marketing.” Price sends a message about what your services are worth. Before you set your prices, make sure you know where your bottom line is for profitability and adequate cash flow, as well as what your prices communicate about your services, and what they would mean to the types of clients you identified as your ideals.
3. Know Your Local Market.
If you don’t know what other stylists and salons are offering to the same types of clients you want, how can you exceed client expectations? Do competitive research monthly or quarterly, and use what you learn to improve your own clients’ experiences.
4. Adopt someone.
Renters and solo stylists are independent by nature. One of the best resources you can have as a business owner is a mentor—someone with experience who is willing to walk you through business challenges.
5. Understand that word of mouth doesn’t happen by accident.
No matter how good you are or how much your clients love you, real word of mouth marketing and referrals don’t happen by accident! Ask for referrals, online reviews and social media tags. To get them, you might need to ask more than once.
6. Get tech savvy.
From the convenience of online booking to the importance of digitizing paper records to the ways that technology allows you to connect with clients (and their friends, loved ones and colleagues), the more that you embrace technology and make it part of your business strategy, the more you’ll be able to fill up your books and run an efficient business. The solo artist has to do it all, and the more that you learn to hone in on the types of clients you want to attract—and the tactics that will allow you to run your business efficiently—the more profitable and productive you’ll become.
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