Are you eager to start advertising and promoting your salon online but you are not sure how to go about it? You have no idea where to start, what the cost would look like, or how to make sure your salon advertisement yield fruits? Don’t worry! In this article, we’ll guide you on how to create and develop a working marketing strategy for your salon business. With our helpful tips, you can attract a large audience and eventually grow your salon business.
If you are a small business just starting out, chances are you have little or no experience in digital marketing. Don’t feel shy; we all started small and we understand. Moreover, there are a lot of business owners out there in your shoes. The good news is there are free resources [like this] that you can apply to effectively market your salon business online and get the desired result. Without no further ado, check out these eight simple steps on how to set salon advertisement to burnish your profit margin.
1. Set strategies
The first thing you want to do is set your marketing strategies. Your marketing strategy should be well planned and developed since it can impact your business operation. Setting up an effective strategy for your salon business requires you to set goals and objectives, know your target market, what you want to achieve, their expectations and frustrations. These data will give you valuable insight on how to reach them; whether via Facebook, Google, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, or so. Having a good marketing strategy helps you define a precise, realistic, and measurable marketing objective for your business. A well-informed marketing strategy help my business grow and it was very effective.
Here are a few questions to ask when creating a salon marketing strategy for your salon business:
- What is my goal for digital advertising?
- Who is my target audience?
- What will my offer be?
- What can be my budget?
- Should I do this myself or do I need to hire a professional?
- What would success look like?
Savvy business owners invest in creating a business strategy for their salon business. You cannot be disadvantaged doing this. It isn’t a waste of time and money; it is actually a life-saving practice for successful business people.
2. Make budget and plans
In addition to creating a winning salon marketing strategy, making budgets and plans is crucial. This helps you test and figure out what is working, where to invest to get a greater result, and how to spend. You can also measure and track your results. That is the beauty of digital marketing! Various considerations when it comes to setting budgets and plans may include:
Ad spend + production costs + the fee for the digital marketer + and any third party costs (such as subscriptions to marketing software).
If you are just getting started with digital advertising, I will recommend you pay at spare at least $1000 + GST per month for a minimum of three months. During these three months, you will be testing and building a winning strategy that will work for your business. Depending on the result generated, your marketing goals can be streamlined to suit your budget or otherwise. Great results within these months will serve as a motivation to your team. Meanwhile, analysis can help you track the success of your ad campaign. Setting long-term goals will help you achieve success, only it may take a few years. So, you want to ensure to set clear, measurable, and trackable budget and plans with the time frame for achievement. Examples of marketing goals include:
- increased market penetration (i.e. selling the existing products to existing customers)
- market development (i.e. selling existing products to new target markets)
A good marketing strategy doesn’t have to be modified every year, but it still needs to be thoroughly revised when you achieve your marketing goal and set strategies. Sometimes, you may be required to amend your strategy if the external market changes due to technological advancement or a new competitor or if your product experiences substantial change. It is of utmost importance that salon, spa, and clinic owners consider digital marketing as an investment and not a cost. This way, you can easily measure the returns on digital marketing/advertisement.
3. Choose the ads channels (key point, introduce the salon-friendly ads channels)
After defining your goals, budgets, and target audience, it is now time to decide of which advertising channels is best for your business. Over the years, I’ve met many talented hairdressers, barbers, and pedicurists who still struggle to build up the right clientele and make their salon profitable. The irony of this experience is they are the best in their field. Quite shocking! You can be the best stylist in the world but not the richest. Therefore, knowing where to advertise your salon business cannot be overemphasized.
After diligent research and practice, we’ve discovered the best digital advertising platforms for the hair and beauty industry. They include:
- Facebook and Instagram ads (both can be accessed via Meta business and ads managers)
- Google ads. It is only wise to leverage the most popular search engine in the world to get your salon visible on Google. It is as easy as setting up your Google Business Profile here. This procedure is completely free!
- Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising through Google Ads. Have a budget? Then, boost your salon reach by advertising via Google.
Many salon, spa, and clinic owners prefer Facebook and Instagram because they are the most affordable ads to run. However, both methods of advertising have their pros and cons. While Facebook and Instagram advertisement offers brand awareness and exposure, Google Ads promises more traffic and improved sales.
Speaking from years of experience and with complicating results, I would recommend you start with one platform and master it before venturing into another. Using both Facebook and Google Advertisement isn’t bad at all, especially if you have a budget.
Check out other interesting hair salon advertising examples:
- Leverage email marketing.
- Run ads on TV and radio programs
- Partner with other businesses
- Influencer marketing
- Sponsor events to increase awareness
4. Compile the ads copy and creative
After you must have created your strategy and have chosen a platform for your salon advertisement, the next step is to create and compile your ad creative including artwork and copy. Choosing the right ad for your hair salon advertisement is very important and goes a long way in building your brand image. It also attracts customers and builds your brand loyalty which can, in turn, lead to a distinguished reputation from competitors. In order for you to build an attractive and appealing ad, there are certain factors you should consider. They include:
The socio-economic background of potential customers
- Age
- Location
- Gender, etc.
Once you are done with this, the next step would be to know where to place your advertising salon services. We’ve already listed the various ads channels to place your salon advertisement in the previous step. Although we listed TV and radio adverts somewhere up, we deduced that the most suitable way to place your hair salon advertisement in digitally i.e. over the Internet. With the internet and social media, hair salon advertising is made easy and more efficient. What’s more, it lowers your overall marketing cost.
Note that most platforms have different requirements for your adverts. The ad creative will depend on the platform you selected, which means if you choose Facebook and Instagram ads, you must write ad copy and create images or videos that are required by Facebook or Instagram. Likewise, if you select Google AdWords, you must also meet the corresponding requirements.
In general, you must ensure your ad copy is creative, very attractive, and eye-catching. Consider including a strong CTA [Call to Action] that will prompt viewers to make a decision and take the desired action. You can make use of the app to create stunning graphics for your hair salon advertising or hire a graphic designer.
5. Create the ads campaign
Once you have your ad copy ready, you can now proceed to create your ad campaign. For your business to remain relevant in this time, social media and digital marketing must be an integral part of your business. Everything is now visible on the internet, which means your salon needs online too. If you are wondering how to advertise a hair salon, then you should leverage social media for your hair salon advertisement. The steps needed to set up a campaign varies and depend on which ad platform you subscribe to, whether Facebook or Google. However, you will always enter your daily budget, target audience, and creative ad copy.
The ad platform will put you through the set-up process but if you’re encountering any challenges, you can visit the help center. Running a Facebook for Instagram paid ads can be difficult especially when your campaigns aren’t set up in the right way. However, you can hire the service of a digital marketing expert to develop strategies to achieve your goals. If you don’t want to hire a digital marketing expert, you still have the option to run paid ads. Only make sure you optimize them correctly to get the desired result.
6. Set up the conversion tracking
Tracking plays a crucial role in digital advertisement. Conversion tracking is used to measure the success or failure of your ads. Facebook pixel is a popular tracking tool. You can add a Facebook pixel to your website so it becomes easy for Facebook to track conversions for Facebook and Instagram ads. Subsequently, you can add a tracking tag if you are using Google Ads.
A pixel is a tool that creates a code for your beauty salon to track the activity on your “landing” and “thank you” pages. This helps your ads become:
- more effective
- allows you to create audiences based on the data
- measures conversions
- comprehensively optimizes the run of your ads
To set this up, you must go on Facebook or Meta Business Manager and click the hamburger icon (≡), and then click business settings.
- There is new menu on the left-hand side with drop-down options.
- You should click data sources, then Pixels.
- Now your screen should display the option to add a Pixel. In this panel, input your business name and website URL to generate the code.
- The next step will be to insert this code into your website. You can do this manually or email it to a web developer to have it done for you. Whatever eCommerce solution you use, integrating Pixel shouldn’t be a big deal.
- If you choose to DIY, you must input it into the header of your webpage.
Once your ad campaign is ready and has conversion tracking in place, it is time to go live!
7. Analyze and review your ads
Before going live, it is important that as spa, clinic, or salon owner to take time to analyze and review your ads. Running a simple ad or a seven-day, $5 ad will have less effect and will not likely generate the desired result. That is why you have to take time to learn and adjust your ads until you get the desired results. Most Facebook and Instagram ads are reviewed within 24 hours while it may take a longer time in some cases before they are approved.
If you think your ad might not be approved on time by either Facebook or Instagram, you can use the select and end date in your budget and schedule section of your ad creation to scheduling your post ahead of the original date. Remember to exercise patience with digital advertising and also take time to optimize your campaigns and see explosive results afterwards.
Wrapping up
Now that you know how to get started with hair salon advertising for spa, salon, or clinic, it is time to create your strategy and start advertising online! Remember to write down your goals, create good marketing strategies, plan your budget, and go over the steps above with time and begin to see great results.
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