your marketing plan guide For salons & Spas

your marketing plan guide For salons & Spas

Contents Step One: Evaluate the last 12 months Step Two: Do a SWOT analysis Step Three: Set your goals Step Four: Decide on your business strategy Step Five: Budget and resources Step Six: Now plan the detail Step Seven: Use all the promotional tools available to you Step Eight: Day-to-day implementation Step Nine: How your Salon Marketing Calendar works Step Ten: Make your Marketing Calendar your own Step Eleven: A word of caution Step Twelve: Make a public declaration Step Thirteen: Measurement and evaluation

Fail to plan, plan to fail A cliché. But true. Spending a few hours at the start of the year writing a marketing plan for your salon will impact big time on your profitability. But before you take a deep dive into detailed planning take a step back and try this two-pronged approach. 1 Look at the big picture assess what you ve achieved and where you want to go. 2 Now decide on the nuts and bolts of how you re going to get there with your monthly marketing and PR activity.

Step One Evaluate the last 12 months

Step one: Evaluate the last 12 months Try to put at least a couple of hours aside for this step. And don t be tempted to skip it to get on to the exciting bit. Taking time out to do your planning and analysis at this stage will re-pay dividends later. Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the frst four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln There are 3 main areas to review and think about: 1.1 Finances 1.2 marketing and PR activity 1.3 customer Care Let s examine them one at a time...

1.1 your finances Did your business meet its financial goals last year? Did most of your revenue come from existing salon clients or from new ones? What percentage of clients only visited once, never to return? Which are your most profitable salon services? When did you last increase your prices? everything has a past. Everything a person, an object, a word, everything. If you don t know the past, you can t understand the present and plan properly for the future. Chaim Potok

1.2 Marketing and PR This is a big area so leave plenty of time. Think about: Activities: What salon/spa promotional activities did you do? What worked? What didn t? And why not? Website: Is your website mobile friendly? How does it compare to your local competitors websites? Does the copywriting sound clunky and let it down? Are you ranking high in Google so new clients can find you? All Channels: Are you using all available marketing channels/tools or just relying on one, such as social media? Gaping holes like this in your salon marketing mean you will lose out big time to marketing savvy competitors. Your Database: Have you grown your email database over the last 12 months? It is one of your most valuable marketing assets. You own it and you control it unlike social media. Systems & Processes: Do you have salon marketing systems in place for retaining and rewarding clients? Are they documented and followed by all your team? cont...

1.2 Marketing and PR (cont) Your Clients: Identify the characteristics that make your best clients profitable and enjoyable to work with. These are the type of salon client you want to target. Your Competitors: have been busy marketing. Whilst you don t want to become paranoid about them, it is marketing folly to ignore them. Analyse your top 3 competitors. Review their salon website, their social media, do a mystery shop, look in the local newspaper and read their online reviews. How do they compare to your hair or beauty business? Be honest. Your Brand: Look at your salon marketing materials adverts, leaflets, salon graphics, price and treatment guides, A-boards etc. Are they bang on-brand and a great selling tool or dated and in need of a refresh? ««You: What about your own marketing skills. Perhaps you feel you need to invest time in improving them this year.

1.3 Salon Customer Care How do you compare to your competition? Consider the quality of your recruitment and training. What do your clients think of your hair or beauty salon? Look at complaints and feedback. What message does the appearance of your salon and your team send out to your clients? At the end of this Step One (Evaluation) you should have a greater understanding of the gaps in your business. Now move on to Step Two.

Step Two Do a SWOT analysis

Step Two: Do a SWOT analysis it s surprising how things change in the course of a year and just 5 minutes reviewing your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) can bring you down to earth with a bump. It can also help you see the way forward. Think about: Your available financial resources & cashflow Range and level of services you offer Your client base Your pricing structure Competitor activity Marketing activity and brand awareness Salon team

Step Three Set your goals

Step Three: Set your goals A goal is a dream with a deadline Napoleon Hill Paint a picture of your salon at the end of the year. And work backwards from this. How would your salon website look? How many new clients would have beaten a path to your salon door? Goals, objectives, call them what you will. But just a word of caution they do need to be SMART (Specific, Meaningful, Achievable, Realistic and Time-limited). Example S.M.A.R.T. goals: Get xx new client appointments each calendar month Increase average services invoice from xx per visit to yy per visit by 31st December Improve therapist/stylist utilisation (up time) from xx% to yy% by 30th June Boost salon website visitors from xx per week to yy per week. ««Increase your client email database from xx number of addresses to yy number of addresses by 31st December

What s stopping you? Having set your year s objectives now think about what s preventing you realising your salon vision. What do you need to do to accomplish your goals? A new salon website? More marketing education for yourself or your manager? Or a new look and re-brand? #SalonMarketing Tip: Make time to work on your business Get in 20 minutes earlier every day so you immediately have the extra time you need for your marketing habits! And if you re not an early bird, just stay for 20 minutes at the end of the day. You need to make time to work on your business, not just in.

Step Four Decide on your business strategy

Step Four: Decide on your business strategy Strategy is really just a fancy term for your broad approach. So, look at the following areas and decide on your future salon policy. A clear salon branding strategy for your salon differentiates you in the local marketplace. It enables you to charge more for your hair or beauty services, gain loyalty and attract new clients. It makes you different from your competitors. Your salon services strategy. Would additional services such as hair extensions or aesthetic treatments add value to your offering? How does the profitability of each service compare on an hourly rate should you drop some treatments? Pricing strategy. Are you low price or high end? Do you offer routine discounts? ««Your promotional strategy. The bit that most people think of as marketing! It s about pulling together a range of marketing tools advertising, online, PR, search engine optimisation, social media, local partnerships, blogging - in the most effective way to attract and retain clients.

Step Five Budget and resources

Step Five: Budget and resources Decide on your overall budget. Marketing should be seen as an investment in your hair and beauty business NOT an expense to try and minimise as much as possible. The salons that really make a mark are the ones that understand this. DO also build in some flexibility. If a golden marketing opportunity comes along you don t want to refuse it just because your budget is tight.

Step Six Now plan the detail

Step Six: Now plan the detail Planning without action is futile, action without planning is fatal Unknown Now you ve looked at the bigger picture and decided on your approach (strategy) you can then move to the second part of your salon marketing plan setting out how you will implement it month by month. The nitty-gritty actions and events you need to do to reach your business goals. Steps seven to fourteen explain how to do this... keep reading.

Step Seven Use all the promotional tools available to you

Step Seven: Use all the promotional tools available to you A frequent (and potentially fatal) marketing error made by salon entrepreneurs is to focus on just one communication (marketing) channel. But, deliver your marketing message using a variety channels (such as your website, in-salon materials, advertising, PR, local partners and social media) and you ll increase the likelihood of reaching your target audience. Repetition works. It just makes sense. Not everyone reads the local papers, is on Facebook or reads your e-news. But use a combination of these salon marketing tools and you dramatically improve your chances of being seen. A word of caution. Beware of the opposite extreme with a scattergun approach to marketing your salon. The knack is to decide on the best mix of marketing channels to deliver your promotional message on your limited resources. This is where your Salon Marketing Calendar (of which more in a minute) comes in.

Step Eight Day-to-day implementation

Step EIght: Day-to-day implementation I find a simple chart (see the Calendar template below) for the year is the easiest way to get planning. To save you time and effort I ve put one together for you with events for this year on it plus the marketing channels options for each one. It s all ready for you to print off and start filling in. In fact, I ve already completed the main activities for you so no excuses... Click here to Download Now

Step Nine How your Salon Marketing Calendar works

Step Nine: How your Salon Marketing Calendar works You ll see I ve focused on the main events throughout the year such as Valentines, Easter, going back to school etc because I feel they are the best place to start. If you do nothing else but market around these events you ll do well. However, you ll see I ve left space each month for you to add your own salon s events in. You may have an anniversary coming up this year. Or perhaps you re having a big charity event or PR opportunity. Just pop your event in and get planning which mix of marketing tools you re going to use.

Step Ten Make your Marketing Calendar your own

Step Ten: Make your Marketing Calendar your own Of course your Calendar is not just about events. Think about: Client loyalty Boosting retention Increasing the average salon spend per visit Building brand awareness in your area Attracting new staff Increasing retail sales All of these can be added to your Salon Marketing Calendar.

Step Eleven A word of caution

Step Eleven: A word of caution It s easy to get carried away and put in oodles of marketing activities for the coming months onto your shiny new Calendar. Please don t. Remember: You considered budget and resources carefully in Step Five when you were assessing the bigger picture. Keep this in mind. If you attempt too much the chances are you won t get it done or the quality will suffer. Think too about the people resources available to you. It s no good creating a fantastic Calendar of Salon Marketing events if you know you re going to be short-staffed due to maternity leave. Delegate tasks where you can and set up regular meetings to assess progress. And if a marketing activity isn t getting the results then don t be afraid to change it. A salon marketing plan needs to be flexible don t feel you committed to an activity and must stick at it. If you get too ambitious and your marketing plan gets left by the wayside after a month or two it s very de-motivating for you and your team. So stay realistic. You ll achieve more in the long-run.

Step Twelve Make a public declaration

Step Twelve: Make a public declaration Like going on a diet or giving up smoking it always helps the will power if you go public. Sharing your marketing plan with your team and partner is a great way to help you stay the course. It s quite easy. Just pin it on the wall. By the kettle perhaps? Just make sure you and your team see it numbers of time each day. And you ll be more likely to stick with it. You run a salon business. You have many conflicting calls on your time. Of course you do. Don t say you don t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Louis Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein. H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Step Thirteen Measurement and evaluation

Step Thirteen: Measurement and evaluation There is one thing left to do. Decide how and what you need to measure the only way you know if your salon marketing is truly working is by measuring it. Measurement is not a one-off event; collect these figures either every 4 weeks or each calendar month, whichever suits you best. Your salon till software should run most of these reports at the click of a button. Service (professional) sales i.e. everything except retail sales. Retail product sales (net of vat) for the current period. The value x of your average services invoice (net of vat). Remember to exclude retail sales. The number of new salon clients you have gained in this period. The number of new clients who returned for a second salon visit. The number of clients who took up your salon promotions and offers in this period. #SalonMarketing Tip: Make sure your figures are always net of vat so you compare like with like.

LOOKING TO GROW YOUR SALON? We can help... «Hair & Beauty specialists «Salon websites written & designed «Salon marketing education «Social media for salons www.lockhart-meyer.co.uk Interested? call 01386 751469 For a chat or email us