by Greg Milner | Feb 6, 2015 | Ads that Have Worked, Featured, Salon Advertising Tips
“Salon Marketing Why Salons Fail?” I just don’t get it. How can it possibly be that so many salon owners and beauty professionals spend so much time, effort and money furnishing their shop, making things look glossy and sexy, hiring and training staff…and put so little effort into the one thing that really matters; getting customers.
Sure, all of those things – ensuring the ‘public face’ of your business is clean, well-groomed and wears a smile is important. But it’s at least as important to put the same kind of effort into the systems, tools and tricks that get customers through the door. And by that, I mean salon marketing systems, and the ‘sales thinking’ that needs to go into them.
Thumbing through a local suburban newsletter this week, I stumbled on page after page of truly awful marketing. My staff scanned a few of these, so you can get a better idea of what I’m talking about.
Collectively and individually, these examples are about as lousy and useless as advertising gets. There are dozens of mistakes in all of these ads, I’ll point out just a few. (And see if you can identify them with your own marketing efforts.)
Let’s take this little gem of an ad. It’s right up there with the worst ads in the world. Hard to know where to start with this one, but let’s try
1) the headline. Er, there isn’t one, unless you count the name of the business. And almost without exception, your business name is the last thing you’d put at the top of your ad. In Dallas a few years ago, I met a guy whose industrial fan business changed it’s name from HVLS Fan Company to Big Ass Fans. Now that’s a name that’d pass for a headline. This one ain’t.
2) Price. There’s nothing else going for it. And, like most business owners who’ve made not the slightest attempt to educate themselves on any form of marketing, those who compete on price alone are on a slippery slide to oblivion. There’ll always be somebody who’ll undercut you. And in this case, even the price is airy-fairy. The mere use of the word ‘from’ sets off warning bells.
3) Story. There’s no story here to involve the reader. No compelling reason to read the ad at all.
4) there’s no proof. Why should I use this salon, other than on price alone? There’s not an ounce of evidence here that I’ll get what I’m paying for.
Salon Marketing Why Salons Fail
This ad isn’t much better. If the very BEST, most compelling thing this business can say about itself is that it’d like to ‘welcome Emma Harris to our team of highly qualified therapists’, they’re in deep trouble. There’s everything wrong about this ad, I’ll analyze three.
1) It makes the mistake of talking about the business, not the customer. ALL people act out of self-interest first. The unconscious first question in any reader’s mind is
‘what’s in it for me?’
In this case, a new therapist (big deal) at a salon I’ve never heard of. Be still, my beating heart.
2) It immediately sets the tone for the business by offering a 50% discount. Put aside that discounting is evil and profit-sapping by its very nature, the ‘50% off’ statement is meaningless anyway. 50% off what?
3) Like the ad above, there’s no compelling story here. What does ‘hair free’ mean? How do they do it? Will it hurt? Who’s had it done, and what do they say about it?
Here’s another one, from the same paper. (They must have all listened to the same ad sales rep; “Have a look at what all the other advertisers are doing, and do something pretty much the same.”)
This one makes the same mistake as Example #1 (name of the business at the top of the ad) plus a few extras.
1) A picture that wastes an enormous amount of ‘selling space’ without selling anything. Who are these people, and why are they in the ad?
2) There’s nothing even resembling an offer. Having read this ad, what is the reader supposed to do…cut it out and stick it to the fridge?
3) The bullet points are meaningless. Under new management? Didn’t know the last management, so why would ‘new management’ mean anything to me? ‘Subiaco service without Subiaco prices’? They’re price cutting. If they knew how to charge ‘Subiaco prices’, presumably they would. Business is about making a profit. ‘No appointment necessary’? It means they let customers call the tune, not the other way around.
By and large, these ads and thousands of others like them (yours too?) are little more than expensive business cards. If you want to make your marketing work, you have two choices:
1) Spend years studying great advertising, learning how to write copy that sells, implementing that knowledge, testing and measuring it in your salon. OR
2) Do it the easy way. Have a look at the Salon Marketing Starter Pack The Salon Marketing Starter Pack is full of templates you can use now to create winning flyers, sales letters and promotions. Including the Famous Raise The Dead Series.
Salon Marketing Why Salons Fail
by Greg Milner | Jan 17, 2015 | Ads that Have Worked, Advertising Tips, Beating the Competition, Featured, Getting Salon Clients Quickly, Packaging Salon Services, Salon Advertising Tips, Salon Marketing Online, The Smell of Success
I’ve lost count of the number of times over the past 10 years I’ve been accused of advocating ‘tacky’, so-called ‘unprofessional’ or ‘cheap’ marketing for salons and spas. In one memorable instance, a member of the ‘upper echelon’ of the beauty industry, a veteran of some 30 years, approached me during a marketing seminar I was giving and snootily told me “no self-respecting proper company would lower themselves to using your sales & marketing tactics.”
Well, I told her then, and I’m here to tell ya now, she was wrong in every possible way.
Have you heard of Time Magazine? Yep, the very same, establishment publishing giant that’s documented the movers and shakers of the world since 1923.
Like all publishers, Time makes its money from advertising, and to a less extent, subscriptions.
Now, nobody would ever consider Time Magazine any kind of hip, brash, swashbuckling outfit. Certainly not the kind of ‘old-money’ business that’d consider doing something even remotely ‘trashy’ or lowbrow just to boost its market share.
Um, well, yes they would.
Here’s a Time offer that arrived in WSM Director of Online George Slater’s mailbox this week. Yes, a full-color, four page direct mail piece offering
FREE WATCHES!
…in exchange for a drastically-discounted, 54-month subscription. (Watches. Time. Get it?) Now, for the serious student of marketing, this is worth studying. There’s nothing new here. Time is using one of the oldest, tried-and-tested, bait ‘n switch marketing strategies in the book. Because they know that people will often buy the product just to get the free bonus.
You see this exact strategy every time you browse your local newsstand; a free DVD or CD, glued to or packaged inside the magazine. Only a handful of people actually want the magazine. But many more just want the bonus CD. In Thailand, the Talisman 
Billiards Company gives away a free golf shirt with every order over $100. “I do see people increasing their order just so they can get the free shirt,” says Talisman owner Tony Jones.
This strategy works in almost any business. Salons and spas are no different. Got a cupboard full of products you haven’t been able to give rid of? Give them away, with an offer tied to an appointment for a service. “Yours Free” has for more than a century – and remains – one of the most powerful phrases in any marketing arsenal.
by Greg Milner | Sep 3, 2014 | Ads that Have Worked, Advertising Tips, Blog, Increasing Retail Sales
Myra’s new website, built as part of her Membership of My Social Salon (still being updated.)
Marketing a small, one-person salon in the suburbs can be a daunting, confusing experience. Tens of thousands of hair & beauty professionals start out this way, and most never break out of the ‘hobby’ mindset. But Hoppers Crossing (VIC) beauty specialist Myra Changtime isn’t one to limit herself to a hobby income, just because she’s operating from a home salon.
When Myra joined Worldwide Salon Marketing’s My Social Salon mentoring and marketing program in May 2014, she was struggling. “I was lucky to be doing $1,500 a week in treatments and retail,” she says.
But, in this video recording via Skype, Myra reveals how in just three months, her client visits, and turnover, have doubled.
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Note to Members: log in to the Members Only Resources Library here to download the actual ad, in editable Word format, that Myra talks about in this video
NOT A MEMBER? Go here to find out how to get the same tools, templates, techniques and online systems that thousands of salons have used all over the world to boost sales.
by Greg Milner | Apr 24, 2012 | Ads that Have Worked, Featured, New Zealand
Most of us have had that horrible experience with a Yellow Pages or advertising sales rep in the past where they think they know best as to how your ad should look, we’ve gone with what they’ve said thinking that they are the experts, only to be left with an incredibly ineffective advert that looks ‘pretty’ but generates no phone calls and a large invoice!
Chloe Wilson of Unique Beauty, Timaru NZ
Well for Chloe Wilson of Unique Beauty in Timaru, New Zealand the days of trusting ad reps are long gone! She now trusts in one thing…her own opinion of how an effective advert should be constructed.
Since then she has been going guns blazing and has in fact tripled her salons turnover since joining Worldwide Salon Marketing around 8 months ago.
Here is what Chloe had to say….
“When I opened up my beauty salon in April 2011, it was very slow at the start, I spent over 6,000 on advertising that wasn’t working, in August I found WSM on the internet and started up with a 1500 leaflet drop to the surrounding area to the salon. I had 15 people book in from it and more from there just it just flowed.
After having a few phone calls with Toni, I let her know how scared I was about putting this advert in the yellow pages – she reassured me it would work, so I stuck with it. The advert cost me $2000 and doesn’t just look like an expensive business card anymore.
When the YP came out in October I had 3 phone calls on the day of it coming out and about 20 the next week following. I still get phone calls every week for the deal in advert and just people getting other treatments.
Since November I’ve only had 3 quiet weeks and I’ve had fully booked weeks, working 3 late nights a week and I’ve tripled my income a week from $500 a week to 2,000-3,000 weekly. I have also 10 weddings this year as well which has brought me more people to the salon and 3 booked in for the end of the year (friends from brides has make-up done with me).”
For Inner Circle Members I have made the actual Yellow Pages ad used by Chloe available on the members website for you to see.
You can click here to view the Yellow pages ad in the members only website
Thanks for sharing your success with us Chloe. I’m sure you’ll have inspired many salon owners to give their ad rep a good old kick in the backside the next time they try and tell them they know best!
Keep up the great work!
Chris Sanders, Director Worldwide Salon Marketing NZ
Isn’t it time you started making some real money in your salon and doing marketing that actually gets results just like Chloe got? If you are ready to take the next step in your business then click here NOW to find out more!
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 | May 13, 2010 | Ads that Have Worked, Marketing Superstars, New Zealand, The Right Mindset
Hair Salon Template: NZ Salon Marketing Superstar, Toni Cunningham’s Autumn Mailbox Drop Reaps Fantastic Rewards!
If there is a common theme amongst our successful My Social Salon members it’s that they ALL take massive action to get the results they want for their business. And Toni Cunningham of Decadence Salon in Palmerston North, New Zealand is one of those MASSIVE ACTION taking salon owners.
Toni Cunningham, Owner of Decadence Salon in Palmerston North, NZ
Toni joined the program back in December 2009 and has seen her salon’s weekly turnover increase by significant 20% in that time. And the great thing about Toni is that she doesn’t get deflated or defeated when she does a campaign and doesn’t quite get the results she wanted, because she has so many other successful salon marketing campaigns on the go that she is always getting great results from different areas.
When I get calls from ‘non inner circle members’ telling me that their marketing isn’t working, I normally ask them what marketing they have done, to which the response is something like,
“Well I delivered 37 flyers into mailboxes 8 weeks ago and I haven’t heard back from anyone yet…”
It is simply not enough, and the results will show that.
Many Salon owners have been slaves to their business and staff, not paying themselves a wage for 1, 2, 10 even 20 years and most of these people have the perception that marketing is a waste of time and has to be expensive, but it isn’t. There are so many low cost strategies if not FREE ways you can market your salon.
Read on below to see how a low cost mailbox drop brought in $4158 for Toni Cunningham in the month of April…
“Hi Chris
Just wanted to let you know that April was our best month (even bet Christmas) it’s fantastic to see the salon growing continuously every month. I have to say couldn’t have done it without WSM.
I have to say it’s really rewarding after my husband and I have dropped 500 flyers to go into the salon and see 10 messages on the phone and then the calendar just fills up, its great.
The team gets such a kick out of seeing the calendar fill quite rapidly.
I have only been in the program since December and have seen some great results, have made a part timer full time ,and we are in the process of hiring another stylist.
If this is what we have achieved in the last 6 months I say bring on the next 6 months.
Last month we took massive action, we did our monthly newsletter, Kids Free Hair Cuts Flyer (in school holidays), Autumn Flyer, along with all the New client letters, birthday letters, Raise the dead letters.
By far the Autumn package was the most successful, we are dropping 500 every week and getting amazing results. It cost $45 for flyers and envelopes and we booked 42 packages at $99 and what is even better, is 34 were new clients.”
And from chatting with Toni recently she dropped another 500 flyers around the neighbourhood in the first week of May and got another 9 bookings (49 in total so far). And of course these results do not include all the new and existing clients she got from her other marketing campaigns.
So Let’s break things down.
500 Flyers plus envelopes cost Toni $45.
She delivered 2000 flyers over 4 weeks in April, so the total cost for the flyers and envelopes was $180.
Each of those 42 clients spent $99, so an immediate income of $4158 (this does not include any retail sold).
Let’s say on average each new client is worth $1000 per year to Toni and that half of the 34 new clients became regular clients. That would be an increase in annual turnover of $17,000.
Not a bad return for a $180 investment.
Well done Toni and keep up the excellent work!
