by Greg Milner | Jan 25, 2012 | Ads that Have Worked, Australia, New Zealand
STOP PRESS: We’ve just opened the NEW Salon Advertising Templates Webstore here!
If you are a Worldwide Salon Marketing Inner Circle member you will know what an amazing marketing tool and integral part of the program the members only website is. Many members tell me how they often spend hours browsing around all the different templates and marketing ideas and solutions.
And each and every year the website grows as more material is added and the archive gets bigger. In fact there is over 6 years worth of archived material on the website now. It’s easy for some of the older archives to be lost in depths of the website.
And it’s safe to say that if you were to employ a design firm or an ad agency to create the material on the members website and give you multiple options for designs, template sizes and concepts, you would be looking at spending into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. On the other side of the coin, if you were to try and design all this material yourself, well firstly you’d probably need a degree in copy writing, graphic design and a heck of a lot of time on your hands!!!
So, in this new feature I intend to delve deep into the archives, blow the dust and cob webs away and unearth some of the hidden gems that perhaps you have never come across before.
In this first feature I am going to look at a clever little flyer that was actually created by a Pizza Shop.
This was actually one of the very first promotions we use for our salon D’Aguiar: hair.skin.nails after joining the Inner Circle Program back in 2007 and it was a huge succuss. Our version was slightly different and at the top said ‘FREE $20 Voucher – No Strings Attached’ We then looped a piece of string through the flyer and hung it on peoples door knobs around our neighbourhood. We consistently got 10 bookings from every 100 door flyers delivered and we had so many people saying they LOVED the out of the box marketing!
We still have dozens of clients that come to our salon today who originally came from this flyer. So when you think for the cost of a $20 service, we have made upwards of $4 – 5K from EACH of those clients since then, it’s a pretty good return on investment!
Here’s a link to find this template in the members only sealed section.
http://www.worldwidesalonmarketing.com/members/salon-marketing-ideas/ideas-to-steal/a-different-kind-of-mailbox-flyer-try-this/
If you are a WSM Member and want to share a success story from another members only website ‘hidden gem’ then drop me an email chris@worldwidesalonmarketing.com and I’ll be sure to feature it in an up and coming article!
If you are NOT a WSM Member and are sick and tired of sitting in front of a computer screen trying to come up with designs and copy for flyers and ads, if technology bamboozles you, click here to watch the video and Request a FREE live demo of the My Social Salon program.
by Greg Milner | Jan 12, 2012 | New Zealand
Whenever putting together any marketing campaign it’s not just as simple as printing a few flyers or emailing a handful of clients and all of a sudden being bombarded with calls from them wanting to buy what your advertising – sure that would be nice but with the increasing competition out there all vying for your customers dollar or pound (not just from rival salons) then you have to think smart about how you are going to get your clients so excited and worked up about a package or product you are about to release, that they are already pre-disposed to buying it from you when it finally does go on offer. You have to build the hype in advance.
Michael Hill Was Creating A Buzz!
Last week I walked past a local jewelry shop and noticed a long queue of customers eagerly waiting outside. There was a rope fence separating them from the entrance and a red velvet curtain blocking customers from seeing inside the store. The customers were standing on tippy toes trying to see what was going on inside…they were REALLY excited!
The blackboard outside the store said…
‘TODAY ONLY – Make Me An offer on All Jewelry in Store’
They had created a buzz, excitement and mystery with their customers and passers by, and put a time limit on it to add to that – TODAY ONLY! People are naturally inquisitive and if they see people flocking like sheep then they don’t want to feel left out…they want to be in the know too!
As salon owners we need to be creating this type of hype with our clients, planning and executing our marketing with thought and not just being impulsive or reactionary. That’s how so many salons waste money – as they say ‘you fail to plan, you plan to fail.’
And planning is exactly what Louise Gray of Louise Gray Skin Care in Ponsonby, Auckland did in order to sell over $6000 of Christmas 2 for 1 vouchers.
Louise Gray and her Team in Auckland, NZ
In a coaching call early in November last year I talked through with Louise the importance of building hype especially when doing a promotion such as this or similarly memberships. I helped her to construct a 3-step email campaign and planned what dates to send out the emails.
The initial email called for her clients to register to get early bird notification when these vouchers went on sale – just 15 minutes more notice than non-registered clients. The email also limited the number of 2 for 1 vouchers going on sale to create urgency and get people to register.
Email 2 reminded her clients to register and also let them know how many had registered so far. This increased the urgency as it showed the demand for the 2 for 1 vouchers was HOT!
The 3rd email was to pre registered clients announcing the vouchers where ON SALE NOW and created urgency for these clients to call and get their voucher before the email was sent out to all 2136 clients on her database 15 minutes later.
The sequence of emails created a buzz and subsequently sold $6000 worth of vouchers. And of course that means there is going to be an influx of new clients in the salon over the next few months as the ‘free’ voucher had to be given to a new client and had an expiry of 3 months to get these people in the door fast!
And the best thing of all…email is FREE!
So next time you are planning any marketing campaign, think about how you are going to deliver that campaign to your target audience to get the best results.
by Greg Milner | Jan 10, 2012 | Featured
One of the famous ads written by Gary Halbert for Tova Borgnine’s new perfume range. It was ‘tacky’ direct response, and it started Borgnine’s company on the road to multi-million dollar success
This is an ad written more than two decades ago for a new skin care product developed for Tova Borgnine, wife of the late actor Ernest Borgnine. Take a look at it. And before you screw your nose up, dismiss it as too ‘tacky’, not glossy and pretty, too much text and not enough glamorous pictures, consider this:
It was by far one of the most successful beauty ads ever written.
This ad was penned by the late, great copywriter Gary Halbert in the mid eighties. (Members can log into the ‘sealed section and download this and another great version in full size pdfs.)
If you did turn your nose up at these ads, you’re not alone. Back when Borgnine was starting her fledgling perfume and skin care company, she couldn’t afford to have the products stocked in the up-market shops. Instead, she used direct mail and direct response display ads extensively, many of them written by Halbert, in newspapers across the country.
Right up to (or down to, depending on your point of view) the super-tabloid National Inquirer. Her use of ‘tacky’ direct response marketing brought out the snobs.
“I love your products,” she was told by friends, “But I wish you would have them in the tops stores, like Saks – I couldn’t possibly tell my friends you advertise in the National Inquirer…”
But Tova had the last laugh. She eventually made it onto the home shopping network QVC, turning her start-up into a multi million dollar nationally-known success.
This ad had ALL of the essential elements of effective direct response…
- Desire (To recapture youth),
- Hope (That this will work),
- Fear (Of plastic surgery – including a bad result),
- Evidence (Picture of Tova – demonstrates she’s using her own product to look so youthful),
- Social Proof (Big Name Stars use it – including Tova’s husband Ernest),
- Curiosity (The ad never reveals EXACTLY what the gunk is – though it alludes to an “ancient” mystery discovered by Aztecs),
- Exclusivity (“This formula is certainly not cheap”),
- Dare (Try it for yourself – in front of a mirror – and see the amazing results),
- Risk Reversal (If not satisfied, send it back)
by Greg Milner | Aug 25, 2011 | Policies and Procedures
NEW! The Complete WSM Policies, Procedures and Staff Solutions System for Beauty & Hair Salons
by Greg Milner | Aug 24, 2011 | Canada
As Canadian spa owner Vicki Watson has discovered, good ‘direct response’ marketing practices work no matter your geographical location, size or demographic.
From Canada comes an email this week of the kind that’s become so familiar to us, but gratifying all the same. Like so many salon & spa owners who are Members of the Inner Circle marketing & mentoring program, Vicki Watson of Wrapture Spa in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan is defying ‘the economy’ and rejoicing in her new-found success and freedom.
“I have been a spa owner for 13 years and since finding Worldwide Salon Marketing my business and my (outside work) life are flourishing to levels I had only before dreamed about. Through my fabulous coaching calls with Catherine (Hanson, director of WSM Canada) I have been able to see clearly and work through limiting beliefs that were inhibiting the growth of my company and of me personally.
Catherine is incredible at sharing information that has helped her own business thrive and this alone, literally helps me sleep better at night. Understanding my business as it compares to my peers has been a phenomenal and re-assuring resource. Having frank conversations with my coach who has actually “been there” gives me confidence in moving forward when making crucial decisions.
WSM Canada director Catherine Hanson – coaches our Members based on her own super-successful salon in Winnipeg
“My biggest ‘AHA’ moment and most valued coaching advice—thank you Catherine – is as follows; I have moved out of my comfort zone, or shall I say treatment room two days a week (from 6) and I can honestly say it is like I have learned to breath again. I have a new appreciation for the potential of my business and I wake up every day excited about the myriad of possibilities that will contribute too many more years of business success. I can hardly wait to break away from my regular treatment schedule in order to dedicate even more time to working ON my business instead of in it.
“I no longer feel like I am in a constant fog of disorganized chaos trying to be everything to everyone and doing none of it well. I have a new appreciation for being an entrepreneur and since adopting many of the WSM principles no longer view myself as an “employee” in my own business. Importantly, neither do my staff; Many of the principles (contained in) Selling Like Crazy and the Queen of Referrals program are helping staff to take ownership in my business as well as taking responsibility for their part in daily work successes.
“I can’t thank WSM enough for these resources and for the fact that I don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time I do an ad or a promotion. The time saved on sourcing images and setting up templates alone is worth every penny! These sound practices don’t cost me a fortune and can all be tracked, right down to the penny which gives me the confidence to roll out new promotion after new promotion. Also, understanding the value of going after the clients we have not retained in the past has been an astonishing revelation!
“I cannot say enough about the impact this program is having on my success and work life balance as a business owner! Many continued thanks to Catherine and the WSM team!”
