Attracting new clients, retaining existing ones, increasing revenue, and growing your business all start with effective marketing.
As a business owner, navigating the world of marketing without formal training can be daunting. However, it’s crucial to understand the best marketing activities for your salon.
Luckily, Kitomba’s suite of powerful marketing tools offers everything you need to automate, streamline, and maximise your marketing efforts, ensuring a thriving business.
Let’s delve into some top tips for effective marketing and prioritise the most essential activities for your salon:
1. Word of mouth
Your reputation and reviews are paramount when it comes to attracting new clients to your salon. Never underestimate the power of word of mouth.
People trust recommendations from people they know, so encourage your existing clients to recommend new ones and always ask for reviews.
To help automate this process, you can set up an automated marketing text or email using Kitomba Everyday Marketing to trigger a message to be sent to your loyal clients asking them to leave a review, refer a friend, and thank them for their loyalty.
Alternatively, you can use Kitomba’s innovative REACH.ai integration. Its Reputation AI feature uses artificial intelligence to send personalised messages to your most loyal clients, asking them to leave a review after an appointment.
Positive reviews are posted to your Google Business Profile, while negative reviews are handed over to your team to address.
Learn more about Kitomba’s AI-driven marketing integration.
2. Email marketing
Email marketing is a cornerstone tactic that I always recommend. It’s powerful because you own your database. While social media may garner followers, you don’t own the platform, unlike with a database. This means that your subscribers want to hear from you!
Crafting beautiful emails is easily achievable with Kitomba’s in-built Campaign Marketing feature or integration with Mailchimp.
You can also automate both email and text marketing messages to connect with your clients and keep them coming back with Kitomba’s Everyday Marketing feature.
Success tip: Make sure your clients accept promotions! When adding a new client or seeing regulars, ensure your team asks them if they’d like to receive special offers from you, and capture their email address in their Kitomba client card. You must tick ‘accept promos’ in their client card to be eligible to send them marketing messages.
Want an even easier way to get their permission? Use the client card’s give-to-client feature and allow your clients to update their details straight into the Kitomba system. That means no more mishearing and writing down the wrong email address, plus it accepts promotions for them!
Here are a few tips for standing out in your clients’ inbox:
- Write compelling subject lines to entice customers to open the email. To stand out in a client’s inbox, the subject line is the most important part.
- Keep emails short with a clear call-to-action (CTA). This is the action you’d like them to take after reading your email, like booking an appointment with you.
- Create segmented client lists using your software to ensure you reach the right audience. Kitomba makes this super easy! For example, you can email clients who haven’t visited you in a while, or get a specific service. By making sure you are only sending an email to the group of people that are interested in it, you’ll be sure to.
3. Text message marketing
We take our phones everywhere with us, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that text message marketing is one of the most effective tools you have to get in touch with your clients.
With Kitomba’s text campaign feature, sending a text campaign couldn’t be easier. It takes you through the process of choosing the group of clients you want to send a message to.
The hardest part is writing the message, which is why Kitomba has created a free eBook, 40+ text campaign templates for salons and spas, with pre-written message templates designed to capture your client’s attention and inspire them to take action.
Simply choose a template that you like, tailor it for your business, and send it using Kitomba’s text campaigns feature to launch your marketing campaign!
Ready to claim your copy? Download your free text campaign templates here.
4. Social media
Social media plays a pivotal role in brand discovery, with 55% of consumers finding new brands through these platforms. Additionally, 71% are more likely to make a purchase based on social media referrals. Establishing a robust social media strategy is essential for growth.
Look at what social media content is getting the most engagement from your followers, and create more of it!
In conclusion, marketing for small businesses like hair salons or spas requires strategy, but more importantly, it’s about showcasing you and your brand.
Remember, people buy from people, then they buy things.
Authenticity is key to building a brand, and branding is the expression of you. Marketing simply involves activities that promote your services and products, and regular communication around these services is key for successful sales and revenue growth.
Focusing on these four marketing channels gives you a great foundation for success! To learn more about Kitomba’s powerful marketing features to help you retain your clients and keep them coming back, click here: marketing tools for salons and spas.
