Salon Marketing: 10 Ways to Sell a Service

Do you want to know the secret to running a thriving salon business and increase salon revenue? Three words: always be marketing.

Having an ongoing salon marketing strategy is critical to bringing in a steady stream of foot traffic and clients.

In this post, we’ll share some pointers to help salon owners do just that. We’ll be discussing the ways that you can market your services, attract new clients, and shed light on tactics to help you sell more products while you’re at it.

As a salon owner, marketing your salon services is crucial as they form the bulk of your revenue. But selling services can be tricky because unlike products, they’re not physical. Your key role as a salon owner is to persuade both existing and new clients about the benefits of your services.

This approach, coupled with loyal clients’ feedback, retail sales, loyalty programs, referral programs, and the introduction of new services, can help increase salon revenue and attract more clients to your hair salon.

Marketing and selling your services – 10 things you can try:

Look the part

You’d be hard-pressed to sell your services as a hairdresser if you and your employees don’t have fabulous hair, so make sure everyone in your team looks the part.

Salon marketing starts with hiring.

Recruit individuals who already take pride in their appearance. Once you’ve hired the right people, make it easier for them to look their best by offering benefits like hair and skin allowances or product and service discounts.

Ulta Beauty for example, offers employee discounts of 20-50% off their products and services. Meanwhile, the Loft Hair Design in Escondido, California, “grants monthly product allowances and complimentary personal services,” according to Chron.

Have a detailed menu explaining each service

Imagine you’re looking at a restaurant menu – would you be more likely to pick the one that simply says ‘hamburger’ or the one that has a description of the burger’s ingredients and preparation? Chances are, you’d pick the latter. Salon marketing works the same way.

Having vivid descriptions of your services gives customers a better idea of what they’re getting. This eliminates uncertainty and allows clients to be more at ease with their purchase.

In some cases, adding compelling descriptions to your service menu can also increase the perceived value of your offerings, allowing you to sell them at a premium.

Here’s a great example from O Skin Med Spa. Each service comes with a compelling, detailed description. You’ll notice that they’re not just selling the “features” of the service (e.g. microdermabrasion, extensions, etc.). They also go to great lengths to sell the client experience and benefits that you’ll get out of their offerings.

The O Skin Signature Facial description reads:

This advanced luxurious whitening and brightening facial treatment gives skin back its youthful glow. Highly effective, it immediately lifts dullness and diminishes the look of dark spots while immersing the skin in moisture.

Consider doing something similar when you’re describing your salon services. In addition to telling people what comes with each offering, describe the benefits and results that they’ll get out of it.

Offer free consultations

Providing free consultations is a great way to get people through your doors. A complimentary session alleviates concerns for customers who may not be too sure about your services. Free consults are also a boon for you, as a service provider, because they enable you to assess each client to figure out the best treatment or service for them.

Here’s a tip when giving complimentary consultations: offer tremendous value and see to it that the client has a great experience.

You usually just have one shot at converting a potential customer, and bear in mind that the client may also be shopping around for the best provider.

So, make sure their experience with you stands out.

Stay on top of your online listings

Salons and spas are quite popular on business listing sites such as Google and Yelp, so if you haven’t set up or claimed your listings yet, it’s high time you did. Provide as many details as you can about your business and add lots of photos.

Once your listings are all set up, you should encourage existing clients to leave reviews. Social proof and client feedback goes a long way, and positive ratings can tip the scale when new clients are deciding on which salon or spa to visit.

Consider the images below. Based on these listings, which salon do you think gets more calls or visits? Judging by the appearance of their listings (and let’s face it, most consumers judge businesses by their online profiles), the one on the right gets more attention. Why? Because it looks more attractive thanks to its numerous reviews and photos.

Make booking easy

Make ease and convenience part of your salon marketing by letting customers book appointments on your website or even on your Facebook page.

Get yourself some online appointment software that has these capabilities so your clients can quickly and easily book yor services online or on social media.

For best results, choose a solution that offers automated reminders via SMS and email. You’ll not only reduce no-shows, but you’ll save a ton of time from having to manually touch base with customers to remind them about their visit.

Position yourself as an expert

One of the best ways to attract and retain existing clients is to position yourself as the go-to service provider in your niche.

If you can, invest in thought leadership and PR by getting yourself featured in news outlets. Connect with the local media and offer beauty tips and other helpful information. Doing so allows you to show off your expertise on a wider platform, increasing your exposure and building credibility.

Take your services to the customer

If it make sense for your business, consider taking your services to the customer.

There’s a significant demand for event-based beauty services. Think hair and makeup artists for weddings, photo shoots, and other functions. Tapping into this market can open up new revenue opportunities while giving clients another reason to choose your salon.

If you’re offering on-site beauty services, make sure you’re marketing them well. Mention these services on your website, post signage all round your salon, and talk them up in-store while you’re interacting with your customers.

What about marketing salon products?

Now, let’s talk about the retail side of things. Physical products may be secondary to your services, but they can still contribute a great deal to your bottom line. Here’s how to use salon marketing to move more inventory.

Optimise the position and placement of your merchandise

First things first. Make sure your retail items are positioned in key locations in your shop. For salons and spas, the best places to showcase products is near your reception or checkout counter.

People tend linger in these areas, so you want to give them the opportunity to look around and find something they like.

Practice upselling

Make it a point to upsell products to your salon clients.

The key to doing this successfully is to make it a natural part of the conversation. Take the time getting to know your customers and build rapport. Figure out their needs and then educate them on the products that would benefit them the most. For instance, if your client tells you that their eye-bags are bothering them, you could mention that you have the perfect eye cream for them to try.

You could also upsell products that serve as natural extensions of your services. Let’s say you’re providing a keratin treatment to one of your customers; why not upsell them your sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner so they can maintain their hair effectively?

Again, you want to educate the client, so rather than just pushing them to buy the items, inform then on the benefits of sulfate-free products and why they’re recommended for people who have keratin-treated hair.

Use product-specific deals

Another good way to move your inventory is to give customers the opportunity to rake up additional savings during their visit. Run a promotion in which clients can get a discount on their retail purchase when they get a service done in your store.

The hair salon Cool Cuts 4 Kids does this really well. Whenever someone comes in to take their kid for a haircut, the stylist gives them a scratch card that comes with a mystery discount.

See if you can do something similar in your salon business. Run a retail promotion and offer it to clients who are already buying a service. For best results, throw in a little twist to your promo — perhaps a mystery offer or a raffle.

Final words on salon marketing

Selling both salon services and products can be tricky, but the right marketing mix makes it completely doable. Test the different methods mentioned in this post and our other resources and see what works!

Have you tried any of these salon marketing tactics? How did they work for you? Let us know in the comments!

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