Salons are a common part of any UK town, so if you’re planning on breaking into the hairdressing business, it’s important you know how to make yourself stand out from the crowd and attract new clients who will become regulars.

The good news is that there are plenty of ways to get your salon’s name out there. So, to help you out, here’s our ultimate list of the top 13 marketing ideas for your hairdressing business.

1. Allow online bookings

These days, we’re all used to convenience. We’re used to being able to book anything from a table reservation to a cinema trip online, and your salon should be no different.

Not only will this rid your potential clients of phone-anxiety, but it’ll also make your life a lot easier too! Managing calls and emails from clients wanting to book appointments can take up a lot of time. Online bookings mean your clients can book 24/7 and it removes the risk of scheduling conflicts.

Read more: 11 Steps To Setting Up A Successful Salon 

2. Build a user-friendly website

If you don’t have a website, you’re putting yourself at a massive disadvantage from the get-go. If a potential customer is searching for a salon in your town or city and you don’t have a website, it’s likely a rival salon with a website will see that customer walk through their door.

Your website should be easy to navigate, attractive and include helpful information such as your opening hours, locations, phone number, price list and your online booking system!

Read more: The Best Website Builders of 2018

3. List your business on web directories

Once you’ve set up your website, you should be listing your hairdressing business on Google My Business, Yelp, Yahoo, Yellow Pages, and more. When you do this, you can link back to your website, and more people will be able to view your website and see how great your business is!

Plus, linking back to your website on sites such as these gives your Google ranking a boost, so you’ll appear higher up when people search for salons in your area.

 

4. Promote your salon on social media

Social media is one of your best friends in the marketing world. Many of your potential clients are on platforms like Instagram and Facebook every day, so what better way to reach them? You can use Facebook’s Business Manager to target your target audience by age, demographic, gender and location to increase the chances of getting your salon in front of the right people.

There are plenty of things you can do on your social media pages organically too. You can post pictures of happy clients with their new haircut, a photo of your services and price list, or post exciting business updates. If you’re using Instagram to promote your services, remember to use relevant hashtags and tag your salon’s location to make your page more discoverable.

5. Have “refer a friend” benefits

You can put a lot of money into elaborate marketing techniques, but word-of-mouth still seems to be the most trusted. After all, you’d listen to your friend’s opinion over an advert virtually every time. So, if a regular client always seems happy with your service, encourage them to spread the word with a few incentives.

If they’re kind enough to do some free advertising, why not reward them with a discount on their next visit? Or a free beauty treatment? You’ll be surprised how many referred friends walk through your door!

Read more: How To Start A Successful Salon Referral Program

6. Sponsor a local fashion show

Getting involved with the local community and sponsoring a local fashion show is both great PR and the perfect way to showcase your skills. If you offer to do the runway models’ hair in exchange for your salon to be in the show’s brochure, everyone in the audience will be admiring your hairdressing skills as well as the outfits!

What’s more, sponsoring fashion shows regularly means you’ll be getting your hair-dos in front of a lot of local people, will build up an impressive photo collection for your portfolio, and you may even find some regular clients in the models!

7. Pop up a selfie station

You’ve just had your hair done, and you love it – what’s the first thing you do? Take a selfie of course!

Set up a selfie station in your salon, complete with your salon logo and your own hashtag, and it’s great free advertising if a happy client uploads one of their selfies to Instagram!

8. Collect email addresses

Email marketing is a very powerful tool. Getting an email address can prove invaluable to getting new and existing clients through your door. You can use them for appointment confirmations and reminders, newsletter updates, and exclusive offers.

Building up an email database can be a challenge, especially if you’re starting from scratch, but competitions are a great way to do this. You could offer a hair care bundle or free haircuts for a year for the prize, and to enter you need to fill out your name and email address. With any luck, you’ll be closing the competition with a lot more email addresses than you started with.

However, it’s essential you adhere to data protection laws. When entrants are filling out the form you need to make sure you give them the option to tick a box which states they’re happy for you to email them with marketing activity. If they don’t tick it, you can’t contact them.

Read more: Checklist: GDPR For Small Businesses

9. Offer birthday discounts

A lot of people do something special for their birthday, so they’ll want their hair looking extra nice! Now you’ve got a database of emails (that have opted-in for marketing activity), you can send out a birthday promotion where they can get a discounted birthday cut. 

10. Reward your customers for loyalty 

It’s always nice to reward loyal clients to show you appreciate them. The best thing about loyalty programs is that there are so many options to choose from for how you reward your treasured regulars. You could go for the classic approach, where once they reach five visits, for example, they get the 6th haircut free.

Or, instead, you can add value instead of discounting. If your salon also does beauty treatments, you could add in a free manicure while they wait for their hair to colour or offer them a free deep conditioning treatment. The hope being that they’ll like the free treatment so much that they’ll pay to have it again next time. If all else fails, a complimentary glass of fizz while they get their hair cut certainly won’t go amiss!

11. Make use of reviews

85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as recommendations from their family or friends, so it’s vital that you capitalise on this. Make sure the reviews option is switched on your Facebook page and encourage happy customers to leave you a review.

12. Have a hairdressing blog on your website 

Promoting your salon with a blog will help your marketing efforts for several reasons. It not only shows you know your stuff about the industry, but it can also improve your website’s search engine ranking.

By posting fun and relevant articles like hair and beauty tips or industry news regularly, you’re more likely to appear higher up in search results and so more people will visit your website. You can also share your content on your social networks to encourage engagement and page likes.

Read more: How To Write A Brilliant Salon Blog

13. Be a walking billboard

Be your own greatest advertisement – you want your hair doing by someone who has fantastic hair themselves after all! Have you ever been complimented on your hair while you’re out and about? Apart from being flattered and saying thank you, next time tell them you did it yourself and hand them a business card.

We hope you found this list of ideas helpful! Don’t forget, if you’re just getting your hairdressing business started, be sure to check out our hairdresser insurance.

Please note the information provided on this page should not be taken as advice and has been written as a matter of opinion. For more on insurance cover and policy wording, see our homepage.