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.
