There are nearly a million hair salons in the United States and competition is fierce. When you first start out, it may seem like getting word out about your parlor is an insurmountable task. Doing so on a tight budget makes it even tricker.
Fortunately, all it takes is a solid marketing strategy and some clever use of online tools to make the difference. In this article, we’ll outline five budget-friendly solutions to help your establishment stand out from the rest.
Building a User-friendly Website
A successful website is one that makes a good impression — and does so quick.
One study found that it takes as little as 0.05 seconds for a visitor to form an opinion on a page. To keep them engaged, ensure that your website is easy to navigate, eye-catching, and shares costs, contact details, and other essential information.
Page responsiveness and load times are crucial factors that don’t just affect user-friendliness, but also your website’s search engine ranking. So ensure that your website is accessible and intuitive to use.
One mistake many small business owners make is not having a clear call to action. Without being urged to “book an appointment” or “contact the team” your website’s visitors won’t know what to do — and will likely end up clicking off.
When combined with an online booking solution, detailed descriptions of services, and a comprehensive price list, a CTA can have a huge impact on bookings. Moreover, all these tactics are also cost-effective to implement. So win-win, really.
Creating a Google Business Listing
According to Google’s 2019 consumer insights, the number of “near me searches” is growing by 250% every year. This means more people are looking for “grocery stores open near me,” or “beauty salon near me” than ever before.
How do you ensure that your business is what they find? A Google Business listing.
This profile is completely free to create, takes very little time to set up, and helps you reach out to a massive audience of potential clients.
To get to the top of Google’s algorithm make sure:
- All information listed is accurate, consistent, and up to date
- To include relevant keywords — including “near me” searches and other phrases used by your target audience.
- You offer detailed descriptions of services
- To integrate your business profile with Google Maps
A detailed guide to setting up an account can be found on Google’s support page.
Running Ads on Social Media
For a salon running on a small budget, many traditional advertising tactics may be out of reach. But social media ads are perfect for a number of reasons.
For one, it costs very little to promote a post to a huge audience of social media users.
Then, these ads give you a lot of useful information about who is seeing and engaging your posts, allowing you to improve future campaigns.
But most crucially, social media ads are highly effective targeting tools — as you can choose who sees the ad based on location, interests, and various demographics.
If a majority of your customers, for instance, are working women in New York, you can promote ads to only users who fall in those categories — resulting in higher conversions. In the long run, the pros far outweigh the costs.
Almost any kind of post can be promoted on platforms like Instagram and Facebook. You could choose to highlight a particular service, feature an end-of-the-year discount, or showcase a positive client testimonial.
If you’re looking for some inspiration, PosterMyWall has a huge library of hair stylist poster templates that you can customize according to your needs.
Sharing Your Expertise
Social media users love keeping up with the latest trends in beauty, fashion, and lifestyle. And there’s nothing stopping you from being their source of information.
Some of the most prominent hair stylists write blogs, in which they offer tips to deal with damaged hair, share the latest trends in hair styling, or showcase before-and-after pictures of their work. Many also run successful social media profiles — leveraging Instagram Reels and TikTok videos to boost engagement and visibility of their salon.
Establishing yourself as an expert will offer you all the same benefits, but will require:
- A strict posting schedule
- Consistent high-quality valuable content
- A solid understanding of the latest trends
- Insight into your customers’ needs and wants
Highlighting Testimonials
At the end of the day, the biggest endorsement of your services will come from your clients themselves. No one recommends a bad salon to their friends — so chances are that when your clients leave a positive review, they mean it.
When you share testimonials on your website, Google listing, social media profile, etc, you’re showing potential clients that you’ve been vetted by a person they should trust. The credibility boost you get as a result is invaluable.
To earn more reviews, encourage clients to share their feedback.
Many salons send out automated SMSes or emails immediately once the appointment is done, so the experience is still fresh in the customer’s mind. Others prefer requesting feedback in person, or asking clients to share their experience on social media.
On your part, you could create striking posters to showcase the best reviews. For all your design needs, check out PosterMyWall. This useful tool lets you customize and create unique posters and flyers for social media. It requires no prior design knowledge and comes especially in handy when working on a budge.
