Holiday Marketing Ideas for your Salon

The holiday season is here! Holiday marketing does not have to be expensive or time-consuming but with so many businesses offering specials and discounts around this time of the year, it is important to stay competitive. We’ve compiled some of the best holiday marketing ideas designed to help you increase product sales and book more appointments!

1. Show your Loyal Customers some Love
   Make sure you show your most loyal clients how important they are to you and your business by offering them special discounts or early access to holiday sales.

2. Consider BOGO (buy one, get one) or “Two for them, One for Me” Promotions
   It’s always nice to purchase a gift for someone but even better if the gift giver is receiving something free to treat themselves as well! Even if the free gift is something small, your clients will love getting a freebie.

3. Holiday Giveaways and Contests
   Run a holiday giveaway to encourage clients to book appointments or even to increase your social media following. Here are a couple ideas which you can customize however you’d like: Book your next 3 appointments and be entered to win a holiday gift set or follow me on social media + tag a Friend to be entered to win 20% off your next appointment.

4. Holiday Gift Sets
   Create pre-packaged holiday gift sets for your clients. Consider packaging together inventory that you’ve had sitting around for awhile at a discounted price and dress it up with a pretty bow or fun packaging.

5. Create a Sense of Urgency
   Choose a shopping holiday such as Black Friday to run a limited time offer and encourage your clients to take advantage of a time sensitive sale. You can also do this with a longer timeframe such as a “One Week Only” sale.

6. Launch a Holiday Sale to Attract New Clients
   If you are in need of new clients, consider creating a holiday sale that is targeted to attract new clients. For example - “Free Haircut with all Color Services for New Clients who book an Appointment in the Month of December”.

Now that you have tons of great ideas for this holiday season, get to work on making the most of it and don’t forget to utilize social media to advertise all of your great holiday specials! Here are a couple easy to use apps you can use to design beautiful posts on social media:

Canva - Everything you need to design like a professional!

Mojo - Create stunning animated stories

Can you Afford to go Solo?

Now more than ever, beauty professionals are considering going solo and working out of salon suites to provide themselves and their clients with a safe and clean environment. Going independent is an exciting and sometimes intimidating thought. Being your own boss, setting your own schedule and having full control of your work environment all sound great but a lot of beauty professionals are asking themselves: Can I afford to go solo? With a solid client base and a few helpful tools and resources, the answer is yes, you can!

Let’s do the Math

The first step to determining if you are ready to go solo or not is to do the math! It is really quite simple and we’ve put together a helpful weekly profit calculator to help you get an idea of how much you can earn on average as an independent beauty professional. Keep in mind that as a suite salon owner you will be keeping 100% of your profits, if you are working out of a traditional commission based salon, this will be a great factor for you. At Vibe Salon Suites all of the utilities and maintenance are covered in your rent so no need to worry about that! Simply calculate how many clients & services you have per week on average and multiply that by the average cost of each service. Deduct your product costs, weekly suite rent and any other business related costs you may have. Don’t forget to factor in profit for any retail product sales! In most cases, you will find that you definitely can afford to go solo and you may even find that you will make even more money per week than you do now.

Click here to try the weekly profit calculator

Learn more about the benefits of going solo

See what other independent beauty pros have to say about going solo

How to Pay your Suite Rent in Product Sales

Selling beauty products out of your salon suite can pay your weekly rent when done properly! As a salon owner, you have the freedom to sell whichever products you choose, selecting products that both you and your clients love will keep them coming back for more!

Choose your Brand

The first step to running any successful business is to choose your brand. Not just the brand of the products you will sell, but the brand of your salon and how it connects with those products. Is your specialty blonde hair? If so, be sure to have a wide variety of products targeted to clients with lighter hair. Are you an esthetician? Skin care products for your clients to take home is a must. Maybe you run a side business creating jewelry, have that on display as well! In a more direct sense, choosing the actual brand of the products you are selling requires some thought as well. The most important factor in choosing the right product brand is to choose a brand you love, a brand that you use on your clients during their service and a brand that you would use at home on yourself.

Setting your Prices

If you are just starting out in your salon, you can’t afford to discount your products just yet. Save the discounts for later when you identify products that aren’t selling. In the beginning, it is important to do your research. You want to find the perfect balance between setting a price that is profitable for you and also a fair price to your clients. Once you find that perfect balance, you should have no issue selling products in your salon. Here are a few common pricing strategies for you to consider:

1. Cost plus pricing —The most simple strategy is to calculate your costs and add a mark-up

2. Competitive pricing—Set your prices based on what the competition charges (research other salons in your area and see what they are charging for the same products)

3. Value-based pricing—Setting a price based on how much you believe the customer will pay for it

Promote and Advertise

Now that you have chosen the right products and have them set at the right price, it is time to advertise and sell these awesome products to your clients! The first step is to use the products you love on your clients during their service, make sure you are explaining to them what you are using and why it is beneficial. During their service, suggest products that are specific to their needs and offer to help them choose a great product to take home after their service is done.

Another great way to promote your products is to utilize your social media platforms to promote your products. Tutorial videos or even how-to videos while servicing a client are both great ways to get the word out about your products and the best ways to use them. If your clients see you using the products on yourself or on your clients they will trust that you believe in those products and be more likely to purchase them from you.

Now that you have all these great tips on how to successfully sell products within your salon, get out there and put them to work!

Exclusive Perks for Vibe Beauty Professionals

When you join the Vibe community you get access to exclusive perks, education and tools to help you grow your business! At Vibe Salon Suites, we are not just your landlord, we are your business partner! We want you to succeed and will do everything possible to help you make your dreams a reality.

Professional Liability Insurance

Take advantage of an affordable, comprehensive liability insurance program at an exclusive rate of just $139 per year designed for independent beauty professionals through Elite Beauty Society.

Gloss Genius All-In-One Business Solution

Automated appointment scheduling, credit card processing, and built-in marketing tools provide everything you need in one convenient bundle for only $20/month! Click here to learn more about Gloss Genius.

Discounts on Products & Beauty Supplies 

We've partnered with some of the biggest names in the beauty supply industry such as SalonCentric, CosmoProf and Premier Beauty to offer our professionals exclusive discounts!

Vibe Pro App - Coming Soon! 

Our exclusive app for Vibe Beauty Professionals will be packed full of educational resources, access to exclusive deals and convenient tools such as suite maintenance requests and more!

How to Encourage your Clients to Support your Business during the Coronavirus Outbreak

There is no doubt that the Coronavirus outbreak has put everyone on edge especially independent beauty professionals. Drastic measures have been taken to increase social distancing resulting in salon closures and postponed appointments. This will no doubt have a negative impact on small businesses across the nation so it is important to ensure you are utilizing this time off to grow your business. Here are some ideas on how you can encourage your clients to support your business during this uncertain time:

• Gift Certificates - Encourage your clients to purchase gift certificates to be used at a later time. As you are rescheduling appointments, ask your clients if they would like to purchase a gift certificate in the amount of the services they are planning to have. Most people understand that this is a hard time for your business so they may be willing to purchase their services ahead of time.

• Reviews - Online reviews and referrals are a great way to drive new business. While most of your clients are staying home they should have plenty of free time to go online to your website or social media pages and leave a great review.

• Increase Social Media Interaction - Make sure you are posting to social media as much as possible and encouraging your followers and clients to like, share and comment on your posts. This will help increase your online visibility and increase your number of followers. Focusing on your social media content and visibility is a great way to pass the time and the positive results will end up benefiting your business far past the time when this outbreak is over.

• Book Future Appointments - Encourage your current and future clients to book their appointment for a later date. You will most likely have a full book in the months to come so planning ahead and making sure you have your appointments booked ahead of time will help keep you organized for that busy time.

• Sell Products Online or Offer Porch Delivery - Selling products is a great way to keep income coming in while you are unable to service your clients. Now more than ever, your clients will need to take care of their hair from home. Encourage them to invest in products they can use from home such as conditioning treatments or to stock up on products to help your business during this time. Many beauty supply companies are offering independent beauty professionals the opportunity to purchase products online through their website and have them drop-shipped to your clients home. Make sure you are promoting this service through your social media pages and website.

Lastly, it is important to stay positive and realize that there is the opportunity for a great outcome after all of this. You should take this time to focus on doing all of the things you never had time to do before - update your website or booking page, spend more time increasing your social media following and take the time to watch online tutorials or videos to help build your skills. Once you return back to business as usual, you will have a great foundation to build on and plenty of appointments to fill your books.