Mala McAlpin Marketing your small business is never easy. There are no hard and fast rules to success, and it can be difficult to even know where to begin. Should you invest in advertising? Or simply focus on the inner workings of your business, putting out stellar treatments and reaping the benefits of organic word of mouth?
Overwhelming yourself with strategies and plans can quickly send anyone into a tailspin, in addition to causing confusion amongst your team. If you’re really unsure of where to start, there are plenty of quick, no-fuss actions you can take right away, which may ease you into a more complex marketing mix in the near future. Starting small can often pay off in bigger ways than you would expect.
Here are top 25 spa and salon marketing tips for the unsure or the time-poor:
- Follow some clients on social media
- Add a section for clients’ social media handles on your consult forms and ask permission to tag them in your posts
- Run a social media giveaway for the best post-treatment client selfie (requesting they tag your business of course!)
- Follow 10-20 new people/businesses on Instagram per week
- Start using and following new Instagram hashtags more regularly
- Add a hashtag or two to your Instagram profile (new feature!)
- Run a ‘share this post and win’ social media competition
- Post a live Instagram video of a spa treatment
- Boost one of your most successful recent Facebook posts
- Ask all of your staff to follow your social media platforms
- Ask staff to request client reviews on Google, Facebook etc.
- Create ‘refer a friend’ discount cards
- Partner with a nearby business to create a referral discount program
- Do a last-minute text or email blast offer to your client database
- Invite bloggers, Influencers or media in for a complimentary treatment
- Email details of any news or upcoming events to your local news outlets, newsletters etc.
- Ask two of your most loyal clients for written testimonials next time they visit
- Set Google alerts for your top competitors to try and learn from their successes
- Update your Google My Business page content, photos etc.
- Comment on 3 competitor social media posts
- Add some new photos to your website gallery and/or homepage
- Create a client newsletter. If you already have one, run a ‘mention this newsletter’ special offer in it
- Run a ‘2 for 1’ offer, in which one client must be new
- Do a ‘we’ve missed you’ send-out to clients who haven’t been in recently
- Add a few more keywords into your website copy to improve your Google search ranking
