"Slay My Salon": Use these marketing tactics, sales techniques and growth strategies to gr

Image credit vibe magazine

Alright now! Let’s boost our retail sales in 2017! Here’s a few tips on how your salon can boost retail sales:

Make it pretty

This may require a little bit of an investment and some “elbow grease” but get creative and package your retail products. Use wicker baskets, colored boxes, or containers to package the products. Bundle them together in a beautiful package and put them on display at the front of your salon. Customers will see them when they first walk in and may be more incline to purchase them due to the beautiful packaging (wink). A great way to get rid of old inventory is to package your items and place a beautiful sign that says “discounted products”.

Sell by the bundle

Here’s a quicker way to sell more items. Bundle them together and sale them to your clients. Don’t forget to advertise them on your website. Throw in free gift wrapping for those who are purchasing the items as a gift.

Contest

Have a contest in your salon for your staff where whoever sales the most retail products win cash or a certain percent off of their booth rent. Or just take them out to a nice restaurant! Make it fun! Get your followers involved. Post the contest and the progress including the final results. Use Snap Chat and Instagram to record the contest. Keep your audience in the loop of the winner!

Promotional and marketing ideas for your salon

Did you know that “90% of an audience consisting of the average American consumer reported currently owning or possessing a promotional product that they received in the last 24 months”? -PPAI (Promotional Products Association International)

“62% of customers have done business with the advertiser on a promotional product after receiving the item”.”? -PPAI (Promotional Products Association International)

Offer a “blowout special” themed “Blowout before you step out”.

“Serve Face”

Do have a makeup artist on staff? If so, get your customers in your salon with a slogan like “serve face on your date with the hubby”. Post your makeup artist’s finished products on the salons website, blog or social media accounts.

Gift Cards

Offering gift cards are great for a couple of reasons, 1. It increases your revenue. How? Well, technically, the service is paid upfront and if you sell enough, you can make a decent profit. 2. Increase traffic flow. With birthdays, holidays and upcoming events selling the gift cards will be the perfect gift idea. Psssst…market the gift cards to those who are attending weddings or bridesmaids as a gift to the bride.

Nail Techs

Remember the “you name it challenge” we had a few months ago for Thanksgiving? Why not create your own challenge as a way to drive traffic into your salon or at least raise brand awareness? Create a nail challenge theme like “you nailed it”. Encourage customers to repost pictures of their nails with a hashtag you created. When people repost and “like” the pictures it helps to promote your salon. You ready for the challenge?

Content

There are so many holidays and events coming up that you can use as an opportunity to market your salon. From Martin Luther King weekend, Super bowl weekend, March Madness, All Star weekend, wedding season, engagement season, Valentine’s Day, Easter and more! Get creative with your content! You can create marketing campaigns around the holidays by incorporating “holiday looks”, DIY tips for hair and makeup, how to care for hair as the weather changes, and healthy hair care tips.

Host a meet and greet

Even if you’ve been in business for years you can host a “meet and greet” at your salon. Invite local businesses, your city’s chamber of commerce, local associations, realtors and more. Get to know your community and promote your business while doing so! To prepare for a huge turn-out, give yourself about 2 to 3 months to prepare for the event. Provide snacks, drinks, and a play list filled with age appropriate music (no trap music blaring from the speakers please).

Charity

It’s always a good feeling to give back to those in need. If you’ve had a wonderful 2016 or even if you didn’t, giving back this year is a great way to start the new year off right. Partner with a local charity and collect food, clothes, school supplies for a local school, an after-school program or funds for an inner city athletic program.

Collaborate

Success is rarely achieved alone these days. Sometimes its beneficial for brands to collaborate with one another. By doing so, you’re able to reach a larger audience, raise brand awareness and increase your chances of partnering again with the same brand in the near future. Collaborate with beauty experts, makeup artists, boutiques, clothing designers, motivational speakers and bloggers. There are various ways you can collaborate with other brands, for example, by guest blogging, podcasts, webinars, and speaking engagements. Think about the various ways you want to expand your brand this year.

Think Engagement, strategy and growth as your business plan for 2017!

Work with me, Shavaughn Baker to help grow your salon business in 2017.