The Ultimate Guide to Salon and Spa Marketing

Are you searching for creative ways to advertise your spa or salon? You’re in luck! We’ve crafted this comprehensive guide to salon and spa marketing. We cover everything from website and social media to email and text marketing. Read on for plenty of tips, tricks, and best practices.

Branding

Your brand is the foundation of your business, making it a vital driving force in your marketing strategy. A well-designed brand has a cohesive concept, communicates a clear vision and story, and builds familiarity with your audience. Below, we explore tips for growing your salon branding and spa branding.

1. Consider the Visual Details

What message do you want your salon or spa to convey? Perhaps feelings of relaxation or tranquility? Think about how you can communicate those feelings across all mediums you use. For instance, soft pastels and delicate script fonts might evoke the calm, serene undertones you desire.

2. Prioritize Your Brand Voice

Remember that branding runs deeper than a visual concept. It’s also about how you talk to your audience. What is your desired brand voice? Conversational? Supportive? Sincere? Every piece of written content, whether a blog post on your website, a social media post, or a physical brochure outlining your services, should maintain that style and tone.

3. Keep It Consistent

Whatever concept you decide, keep all elements — including colors, typography, logo, graphics, and voice — consistent. When these elements are cohesive across your website, social media, email marketing, storefront, and product packaging, your brand can start to stick with your target audience.

4. Leverage Technology

When building recognition and awareness around your brand, establishing an online presence is crucial — especially in today’s digitally driven day and age.

Nowadays, many customers prefer to book their appointments online since it’s faster and more convenient, so online marketing can be a lucrative tool for your salon or spa.

By taking advantage of the different digital platforms, you have a better chance of connecting with your target audience and cultivating loyal customers. Fortunately, we’ve included tips for optimizing your website, social media, and email and text marketing in the next few sections!

Website

These days, it’s impossible for most businesses to operate without a functioning website. Your website is pivotal in fostering brand awareness, establishing your image and voice, and helping clients find the information they want. Check out some pointers for managing your salon website.

1. Make Your Website User- and Mobile-Friendly

Over half of all web traffic comes from mobile devices, so mobile-optimizing your site is more important than ever. A slow, hard-to-navigate website with jumbled photos and text can instantly turn a prospective client away. Tasks such as looking up business hours, sending a message, and booking an appointment should be quick and easy for your customers.

Your website will be your first impression for many clients. You might offer the best manicures in town, but if users are stuck on a loading screen for five minutes or can’t figure out where to schedule an appointment, they may not ever make it through your door. If you haven’t optimized your website, this step can make a significant difference in your marketing efforts.

2. Prioritize Consistent, Up-to-Date Information

Valuable, up-to-date website information is essential to attract potential clientele and boost discoverability. Browse some tips to ensure prospective guests are getting the most relevant information possible:

• Update Google business information: Make sure your business’s address, hours, URL, and contact information are accurate and up-to-date on Google. Any discrepancies in this information can cause you to lose potential clients. Additionally, Google may penalize your website’s search result rankings if it detects inconsistencies.
• SEO-optimize your website: Designing your website with SEO optimization in mind can improve your search engine rankings. It boosts web traffic and visibility for your brand, increasing the chance of converting prospects to customers. Research valuable keywords applicable to your business to incorporate into your web content, and ensure your site isn’t riddled with distracting advertisements. Publish content that is keyword-rich, relevant, clear, and useful.
• Publish expert content: Creating informative content — such as blog posts, articles, FAQ pages, and online guides — can spotlight your industry expertise and build trust among prospective guests.

3. Highlight Testimonials

Eighty-eight percent of customers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. To increase credibility with potential clients, collect reviews from Facebook, Google, and Yelp. Use these reviews to build out a testimonial page on your website.

Hearing about others’ positive experiences can help people feel more comfortable patronizing your spa or salon. Additionally, ensure you’re monitoring and engaging with online review platforms so you can find out what people are saying.

Social Media

Social media can be a powerful tool for your salon or spa. It’s a tremendous opportunity to promote your content by sharing photos and videos of your work. Some popular platforms to take advantage of are:

• Facebook: Facebook has millions of active users, making it an asset for online marketing. The Meta Business Suite offers a free, easy platform to manage posts and stories and view your business’s activity, insights, and inbox.
• Instagram: Instagram for salons can be a profitable tool when used to the fullest. Grow your Instagram follower base organically by posting reels; implementing hashtags, mentions, and locations; and engaging with your followers regularly. Like Facebook, Instagram is another medium for potential clients to find information about your business and even reach out about scheduling an appointment.
• LinkedIn: Building a LinkedIn network is an excellent tactic to highlight your industry expertise, connect with fellow professionals in the field, and grow your industry knowledge further. Your LinkedIn profile is the first thing many prospective clientele will look at, especially if you’re just getting started in the beauty industry. Your business’s LinkedIn page should include details like your website URL, logo, organization name, and industry. A comprehensive, error-free LinkedIn profile can show clients you’re worth doing business with.

Keeping up with salon and spa social media trends can help you reach more prospective clients and showcase your services. Consider trying out these trends.

1. Live Video Content

Platforms like Facebook and Instagram have live video features, enabling you to interact with your audience in real time. You might use the live video feature to:

• Give your viewers a tour of the salon or spa.
• Share a hair-coloring process.
• Provide haircare or skincare advice.
• Answer questions about a new product or service.
• Host a general beauty question-and-answer session.

2. Giveaways

It’s not hard to see why giveaways have such a high conversion rate. After all, who doesn’t love getting free stuff? Consider hosting a giveaway if you’re looking for tactics to engage social media users. This strategy can boost exposure and attract new clientele.

Have people enter the contest by liking, commenting on, tagging people in, and sharing your post. You can also have them use one of your business’s hashtags on their account. Select a winner to receive a prize, such as a complimentary product, service, or gift card.

3. Paid Ads

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising can also help you leverage social media to increase revenue. When running paid ads, you can target your audience based on factors like location, gender, age, interests, buying behaviors, and recent purchases. You can use various paid advertising platforms to promote your services and products, including:

• Google Ads
• Facebook Ads
• Instagram Ads
• Twitter Ads
• LinkedIn Ads
• Amazon Ads

Email and Text Marketing

Email- and text-based advertising can be highly effective strategies for your salon or spa, boosting engagement and conversion rates. Both forms of marketing are opt-in, meaning customers sign up for them.

Since they choose to receive these promos, you can ensure your messages reach people who are genuinely interested in your offerings. Below, we look at tips and best practices for both mediums.

1. Email Marketing

Email marketing is an excellent tactic to reach a large audience and inform them about promotions, special offers, and events. You can monitor key performance indicator (KPI) metrics to measure the success of your email marketing campaign. Whether you’re using email marketing for salons or spas, some important metrics to consider are:

• Open rate: This is the percentage of recipients who open an email.
• Click-through rate: This is the percentage of recipients who click on a link in the email.
• Bounce rate: This is the percentage of recipients who did not receive the message in their inbox.
• Conversion rate: This is the percentage of recipients who took action in response to an email, like booking an appointment or purchasing a product.

Ways to leverage email marketing for your spa or salon include:

• Monthly newsletters: You can use these to share news about your business, such as staffing updates and new product or service offerings.
• Special occasions: To provide a more personalized experience, consider sending emails to your subscribers on special occasions, like birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays.
• Loyalty and reward programs: You can use email marketing to highlight a loyalty program, where customers can earn points and exchange them for products and services.
• Promos and offers: Email marketing is ideal for sharing limited-time product or service deals. Include a link to book an appointment or purchase the discounted product.

2. Text Marketing

With short message service (SMS) marketing, customers subscribe to receive promotional text messages. You can deliver messages directly to your customers’ mobile devices. SMS is terrific for:

• Short promos.
• Reminders for appointments or coupons expiring soon.
• Routine inquiry responses.
• Changes to your business, such as hours, location, or offerings.
• Time-sensitive alerts.
• Appointment booking confirmations.
• Thank-you messages.

Multimedia messaging service (MMS) marketing is a more enhanced version of SMS marketing. In addition to plain text, you can attach photos, videos, GIFs, and audio files to your messages. Unlike standard SMS messages that limit texts to 160 characters, MMS messages typically enable over 1,000.

Adding visuals can make your promos pop and catch prospective clients’ attention. MMS is ideal for:

• Mobile coupons and discounts.
• Sales promotions.
• Event invitations.
• Vouchers.
• Birthday cards.
• New service and product announcements.

You can also encourage clients to sign up for your email or text services by providing an incentive, such as receiving 10% off their next product or service.

Reputation Management

Maintaining a positive public image is critical for attracting new clients to spas. The more you can connect and engage with your community, the more likely they are to put in a good word for your business. See tips for reputation management for salons below.

1. Consider Brand Ambassadors

A brand ambassador is someone a company hires to represent its brand in a positive light. They help drive awareness, social sales, and trust among followers and customers.

They can also help humanize your brand through personalized interactions with customers, refer clients, boost your social reach, and add more credibility to your business. An ambassador can be compensated financially or through complimentary products.

If you don’t currently use this strategy, hiring brand ambassadors for your salon can market your business via social media and word of mouth.

2. Work With Local Businesses

Co-marketing with local businesses enables you to support the community, connect with new clients, and enhance your brand image. Consider writing down a list of local companies to reach out to, such as gyms, coffee shops, and smoothie bars.

Ask if you can display a promotional sign in their building and give them exclusive discount cards to distribute to customers. Offer to do the same for their business. Co-marketing can improve your community reputation, as it shows your desire to help fellow businesses succeed. It can also help you grow your network and reach more prospective clients.

3. Ask for Reviews and Feedback

Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the best methods to attract clients to your spa or salon. Nearly all customers — 90% — read reviews before making a purchase. Additionally, 58% said they would pay more if the brand had positive reviews.

Testimonials and reviews provide valuable insights into your business, staff, product and service quality, and overall guest experience. The more feedback you can collect, the better. Consider asking your guests to leave a review on your Google business page, Facebook page, or Yelp after they receive a service.

4. Host Community Events and Activities

Hosting events is a fantastic opportunity to connect with the community and cultivate a positive brand image. Here are a few salon and spa event ideas to build buzz around your brand and attract potential clients:

• Workshops and classes: Consider hosting public styling master classes or workshops. These outreach events can help showcase your services and meet potential customers. Don’t forget to provide food and beverages!
• Holiday-themed events: Take advantage of holiday seasons to host fun, family-friendly events, like trunk-or-treats and New Year’s parties.
• Art shows: Consider partnering with local artists and exhibiting their works. This can help draw in new clients and add some color to your walls.

5. Serve Your Community

Finding ways to give back to the community helps those in need and builds positive associations around your brand. Consider community service events like:

• Toy or food drive: For example, you could host a toy drive and ask clients to bring in a new toy. In return, they could receive 15% off their service that day. Similarly, you could host a food drive and ask guests to bring in nonperishable food items. They could receive a discount based on the number of items they bring in.
• Hair donations: When clients request a haircut of at least 10 inches, ask if they’d like you to save and donate their hair to Locks of Love or a similar nonprofit.
• Mobile salon: You could set up a mobile salon and offer free haircuts to homeless people.

Keeping up With Trends and Seasonality

If you’re looking for other methods to grow your marketing strategy, there are limitless opportunities to capitalize on the changing seasons. Below are a few seasonal salon and spa promotions to try out.

Fall and Winter

If you need salon marketing ideas for the fall and winter seasons, consider the following:

• Back-to-school specials: Since fall is back-to-school season, you might offer product or service discounts for teachers and students. Going back to the idea of co-marketing with local businesses, you can also partner with nearby schools to advertise this promotion.
• Holiday cards: Email or text marketing is the perfect opportunity to send your clients a little gift to thank them for being loyal customers. Create a personalized e-card with a voucher, coupon, or gift code to show gratitude and spread holiday cheer. Additionally, there are numerous salon retail psychology strategies to boost holiday sales, such as throwing in gifts with purchases.
• Valentine’s Day promos: You can also send Valentine’s Day e-cards with a special offering to show your appreciation for your clients. Customers who patronize your spa or salon on Valentine’s Day could also receive a small gift basket with beauty product samples.

Spring and Summer

Last but certainly not least, let’s wrap up our list with spring and summer marketing ideas for spas and salons:

• Mother’s Day and Father’s Day specials: There are various Mother’s Day ideas for spas and salons. Running a promotion for mothers and daughters can attract women of all ages to your business. You could offer a discount on a select service or hand out branded gift bags or vouchers after their appointments. There’s also no shortage of Father’s Day ideas. Consider handing out something special for the dads, such as gift bundles with haircare and skincare products. Don’t forget to throw in an earthy fragrance or two!
• Summer product discounts: As warm weather rolls around, it’s the perfect time to highlight sunless tanning oils, hair masks, sea salt sprays, and other fun summer products. Consider advertising product and service specials to give your clients something to look forward to during the summer season.
• Bridal season promos: Everyone knows summer is a prime season to tie the knot. That means bookings for hair, spray tans, nails, and makeup are through the roof. Naturally, this is the ideal time to offer bridal party specials. You can promote these services on social media, email, SMS, and any other channels you use.

On the hunt for more inspiration? Check out our guide of 50 salon marketing ideas, along with our 30 spa promotions!

Explore Meevo for Your Spa or Salon Marketing Initiatives

At Meevo, we make marketing your salon or spa simpler than ever. Through our comprehensive Marketing Suite, you can access various features designed to streamline client engagement and grow your brand. These capabilities include email and text marketing, local SEO management, social posting, and performance metrics tracking.

Learn more about Meevo’s all-in-one marketing software by booking a demo today!