Most salons/day spas do not spend a great deal of time or money on marketing. If truth were told, they really don? have to because easy to adapt an action plan marketing mindset that will give them the foundation to generate substantial amounts of additional business.
Unfortunately; however, most owners/managers fall into a trap and make one or more of the five biggest marketing mistakes. Their marketing formula is a sure fire business disaster.
Here are the five biggest marketing mistakes owners and managers of salons/spas make.
Not having a marketing plan.
Over the years, I've noticed a similar attribute of many salon/day spa owners who are working too hard for far too little financial reward. Most owners/managers are more doers than they are planners.
In the real world, being a doer is perhaps the real mark of a successful person. That's why you are a rare breed. The trouble is, too many salon/spa owners do the wrong activities either the right way, or the right activities the wrong way.
If you want to do the right activities the right way, you'll want to work on a plan.
To have a plan that will work you will want to:
- Understand your market and the competition.
- Understand your customer(s)from the following perspectives:
- Geographics (where they are)
- Demographics (who they are)
- Psychographics (what they think)
- Focus on a core customer.
- Develop your marketing message.
- Determine your marketing mediums (the communication vehicles you use to deliver the message).
- Set marketing and sales goals, e.g., number of new clients, dollars per client, cost per new client, lifetime value of a client, etc.
- Develop your marketing budget.
Not differentiating your salon/spa from the competition.
One of the biggest mistakes salon/day spa owners make is not making their businesses unique. That's where your USP (unique selling proposition) comes in.
A USP states to the world what makes your salon/spa different, which you'll want to incorporate it into everything you do (your promises, guarantees, policies and procedures, employee evaluations, and more). By doing that, you'll make your USP come alive.
Remember it's not the products you carry or the services you deliver that make your business unique, It's what you do or the way you do it that makes the difference. (All looked at from the customers perspective.)
Not having a systematic referral-generating program.
Referrals generate your highest quality clients. If you don? have a referral program in place, you are missing the boat. According to Paul and Sarah Edwards (authors of Getting the Business to Come to You), up to 45% of most service businesses are chosen by customers based on recommendations of others.
Here are a few things to remember about referral systems.
- Great customer service doesn't automatically always translate into lots of referrals. You get referrals because of deliberate planning.
- Word of mouth advertising (WOMA) and referrals are not the same thing. WOMA happens in casual conversation between people. A referral system (system = a process that produces predictable results) is a methodical process you put in place to capture qualified prospects through association with other people.
- Making it rain referrals always starts with your attitude. Referrals all start with asking for them. Many owners/managers don't want to ask because they are afraid of putting people out. This attitude all but guarantees they'll come up short on the number of new customers coming through their doors.
- Customers want to give you referrals. Who doesn't want to share their little secret? The great service they got from you. Just make sure to make it easy for them to do so.
Neglecting to communicate and market to your current clients.
Have you spent a ton of money acquiring your clients? If they are already doing business with you, they have given you their vote of confidence. Why not concentrate your efforts on them, or at least on the top 20% of your clients. They are predisposed to buy more or come more often to you.
Why do you think the manufacturers would love to get their hands on the list of your clients who purchase the manufacturer's products? Come on, the manufacturers are savvy marketers, you can be too!
Not realizing you are in the business of marketing your services/products.
Last week I was talking with a business colleague about a new, marketing action plan, group program I'll be launching this fall. He said, Andrew it's a fabulous course, how are you going to get people enrolled? By asking me that question my colleague had gently reminded me my main business was not creating and delivering services and products?y main business is marketing those services and products.
Does the same apply to you? Your business is not cutting hair or doing facials or massage, it's marketing the business that cuts hair or does facials or massage. What starts to happen when you think this way is you start to leverage the value of your time and you then start asking yourself a critical business building question, what is the highest and best use of my time?
Don't be fooled into thinking you are in the business of producing and delivering products and services. Rather, you are in the business of marketing a business that produces and/or delivers services and product.
By Andrew Finkelstein, The Beauty Resource