12 Good Marketing Ideas for Hair Salons

Everyone loves to look their very best and no service helps to achieve the perfect look better than a hair salon does. The only problem that salons sometimes face is that they are considered a premium service, so the costs are eliminated from a budget if times for a customer get tight. Is there a way a hair salon can market their services to new clientele so that they can have a consistent level of income streaming through the door?

For many hair salons, the end results are what provide the best marketing tools of all. When people know they look good, then their confidence levels soar and they’re able to do great things! If you help others accomplish their goals because you’re making their hair look fantastic, then the word of mouth marketing you’ll receive is priceless.

Hair Salon Marketing Ideas

1. Partner with local professional photographers so you can capture a customer at their very best, the moment they have left your chair. These images will make them feel beautiful, boost their confidence, and make them feel like a million bucks. This partnership works double-duty for you because many photographers need help with makeup and stylist for a shoot.

2. Talk with your customers about using their images for your social media marketing efforts. You’ll want to make sure you get the appropriate documentation signed so that you get the rights to the images, but in return you’ll have people feel like models. You might get one visit per month on your website, but these images will pop up in newsfeeds regularly. Give your models a discount or some free products or services and everyone will be happy.

3. Be your own model because no one really wants to get their hair done by someone who has pretty lousy hair. Your look will often be your greatest marketing asset.

4. Make sure you have informative business cards that speak of all the different services that you offer at your hair salon. To use a guy as an example, some salons might just offer a basic haircut. Others might offer a beard trim or the full barbershop experience. By putting this information in an easy-to-read format, you’ll instantly tell people that you’re ready to take on their business.

5. Your blog provides people with an enormous resource of information about who you are as a stylist and how much you actually know about the industry. You could do product reviews, talk about different hair styles, or even discuss celebrity hair if you want and you’ll generate traffic. The best part about blogging is that a few hundred words is often enough to make for a good post and you’ll get syndication and even viral contacts when you distribute your blog through social media.

6. Throw contests to drive new customers through your doors and you can even put these contests on social media if you want. A great way to get people involved and provide you with marketing value is to ask for testimonials that you can publish publicly in return for a raffle ticket, a door prize entry, or a discount on their next visit.

7. Make sure you walk the talk when it comes to the latest trends in the industry. People want to look awesome and they’ll likely be bringing in pictures of the hair that they want. It’s your job to know how to give them that look without having to have a YouTube video up on your smartphone as a reference point. Even if you do use YouTube University, however, the final outcome is the most important part of the equation. Provide a good result and the skills will develop.

8. Go outside the salon to host a promotion or two and you’ll get a chance to show off your expertise where people might normally be able to see your talents. Consider giving free demonstrations to people about how to style their hair, maybe give away free haircuts, and revel in the extra exposure. Any commercial gathering that sells booths or tables, including farmer’s markets and art festivals, are a great way to market yourself to a new demographic.

9. Utilize SMS marketing to reach your established customer base with new and exclusive discounts every once and awhile. Even just one text message every 6 weeks to remind a client that they should follow-up with you can give you a big boost in your appointments. Make sure you have permission to send these texts, however, because data and messaging rates may apply and not everyone may want to receive them.

10. Offer a daily deal that will attract people on different days of the week. Social media is the best way to publicize this deal for free, while having a calendar or menu board with your daily deal can help people plan for when they want to visit you to look good. Make sure you cover many of your basic services and include a premium service into this sale every once and awhile so you can reach the most people possible.

11. Newsletters and marketing through email can help you achieve better results because you’re speaking directly with people who want to form relationships with you that go beyond the chair. If your emails or newsletters feature coupons, different promotions, or even just links to informative posts about the latest in hair care, you’ll find a higher level of success with just a few extra emails each month.

12. If all else fails, focus on a specific niche and then work hard to perfect it so that people see you as the niche expert in your community. Maybe it’s hair coloring or it’s trimming bangs – whatever you’re best at, market that one specific skill to people and prove that you can provide more value in the final outcome than your competitors with consistently good results. As you build up a reputation in a specific niche, you’ll find that people will come your way for a one-stop shopping experience of their hair salon needs.