Marketing and Advertising a Salon

This could apply to any town but I'll use my local town as a marker. You plan to open your hairdressing salon in Maidenhead. You should have started your advertising long before you plan to open (so I'm  assuming that's where you're at right now.

.......What will you do?.....where did you advertise?

The usual?......OK....Maybe some of it's acceptable but think of it for a minute. You're in the same boat as your competition and if a client tries to step into the boat, there'll be a bit of a scrap.

Yellow pages, local Maidenhead directory and a couple of the business journals like the Maidenhead Chamber of Commerce. You might think of those breakfast meetings they have but you're not likely to be the only salon owner there. Still, you need to put yourself about a bit.

Hopefully you brought enough business with you from wherever you worked before so that should pay some bills but if you followed the budget principle I wrote about you should have something set aside for marketing and advertising on a fairly big scale, especially in the first year.

Many people don't believe in advertising yet they sleep in an advertised bed, eat advertised food, watch advertised movies, wear advertised clothing and on and on it goes. Believe me, a good campaign will take you far but you mustn't be afraid to spend.

You need a website...a website with enough pages to sell ALL your services. You need images of hairstyles. You can buy them or do them...better do them and have them photographed professionally. There are some good websites up for some of the other hairdressers in Maidenhead so do take note.

Write each page as if you're telling a story, talk of the products you will use and for what type of hair. Give over the benefits of why a client will be happier with a visit to your salon  than any other in the locality. Check out the competition websites and see what grabs your attention. Are you a well known local? (as a hairdresser not as a frequent pub visitor)

One of the most important aspects of your website is probably something you know little about. It's called 'search engine optimisation' or SEO. Sure, your site can be viewed by people who know of it's existence because you gave the website address but what about online searches? How can you get your site to be seen rather than one from the competition. Seek professional advice.

Why is so and so up the road in position one in an online search and why can't your site be found? There are ways to get to the top of the searches and I'll write about that another time.

What's your unique selling point? (USP) Did you train at a well know salon or with a famous hairdresser? Do you have anything different to offer? Are your shampoo basins made of gold or you employ a super duper stylist?

If you an get a professional write up about your plans and give it to the local paper so they can do a feature on your grand opening  (they rarely write their own features)....and do have a grand opening with champagne and all the bits. The paper will look kindly on a feature page especially if you commit to a large ad or two in the weeks before the opening.

Show off your salon and all the different services that you offer (don't forget to invite a reporter from the local rag to your opening party) 

A great marketing feature that's beginning to grab attention is a specialist service that has a website on page one of the search engines for a local search and they'll rent the front page to you for a fee.

The fee could be monthly or annually. You add your log, website details and contact information on that page (You'll be the only salon in town to have it) so that your name comes up in a local search instead of having to share with all the others on one of those local trade sites.

That page acts as a gateway direct to your website where you have all the whistles and bangs to attract the clients.