[FREE DOWNLOAD] How to Write An Ad That Will Work for All of Your Salon Marketing

by Greg Milner | Aug 12, 2016 | Ads that Have Worked, Advertising Tips, Ask the Experts, Blog, Salon Advertising Tips

Last week, I talked about what you need to know before you write any form of marketing material for your salon.

Now, I did promise I’d show you exactly how you can write an ad that turns your silent phone into a never-ending ringing-machine. This includes the 7 CRUCIAL elements to any successful salon marketing campaign.

Let’s dive in.

There are two types of popular marketing: branding, and direct response. This type of marketing I’ll be talking about is will be direct response.

Branding marketing works wonders for Apple and your local bank – but it’s a money guzzler for salons and spas.

As a salon owner, marketing can be VERY overwhelming, and it’s very easily a huge waste of money. That is, if you don’t do your marketing right. Time and time again, salon owners (and specifically, our members before they join any of our programs) will run branding ads, or ads promoting HUGEEEE discounts.

The thing is, “50% off an eyebrow wax,” or “50% a cut and color!” just doesn’t work. I’ve never been compelled to book in for a “discounted” service – have you?

Direct response marketing, put simply, creating adverts and offers that benefit the customer, NOT the salon or spa. Discounts work on the salon’s behalf – they get you in customers.

Direct response, however, ALWAYS will solve a client’s problem: whether it may be frizzy hair, long hair, hairy legs, cellulite, acne – whatever your service is, you solve a problem.

You already know the 3 elements you must figure out before you write any ad – and if you don’t, read them now, otherwise the following won’t make much sense.

Those 3 elements (you’ve gotta know what you’re selling, to whom, and why they should buy from you) are crucial for you to figure out these 7 must-have elements in ANY marketing campaign, especially for your salon.

They are –

1. A headline: your salon name is a SHITTY HEADLINE.
2. An offer: no, this isn’t discounting. DISCOUNTING IS EVIL!
3. List benefits: what specific problems do you solve? Bumpy legs from shaving, frizzy hair?
4. A guarantee: This is the most powerful, yet rarely, and so poorly used.
5. Some proof: How can you prove what you say is true? How can you make your potential clients TRUST you?
6. Scarcity: why should they call now to book?
7. Call to action (CTA): what do they do next?

Phew. That’s a lot to take in.

See, 99% of salon marketing falls into the fatal, profit-grabbing trap of talking about their own business:

“Our clients have come to trust OUR experts… for OUR expertise…. our cutting-edge machines…..”

STOP. Just, stop. I was bored writing that sentence, and I’M A MARKETER!

Marketing that fails is bragging about your business. Marketing that makes money, always puts the client first. Always.

See, advertising is SALESMANSHIP IN PRINT.

Here’s an INCREDIBLE direct response ad – written from a manufacturer. It’s clearly been written by a copywriter – someone who’s job is to write marketing for a living – someone like me.

It has a headline that’s direct, and to the point. It’s job is to appeal one to those are interested, and to compel the intrigued readers into reading the ad.

Let’s dive in:

1. Headline

The headline here is straightforward, and bluntly put: it’s about making more money. They’re clearly targeting people who use Seal-It, either in their current business or as part of their hobby. By giving them this elusive idea that they can MAKE money from the products they use instantly intrigues them.

Read on.

2. Offer

They’re not selling a product itself through this ad, instead they’re creating a relationship with the interested reader. This is called lead generation advertising.

The offer here is to become a distributor of Seal-It, and to make money: they’ve made it clear: “Become a Seal-It Distributor and make money now!”

3. Benefits

Seal-It did it beautifully: a simple list, clearly stating the benefits… “unlimited earning potential,” “no franchise fees…” – they’ve already stated the solutions to a reader’s potential questions.

4. A guarantee: This is the most powerful, yet rarely, and so poorly used.

Although they don’t state a specific guarantee, the little yellow box stating who they can potentially sell Seal-It too, and the testimonial below the box replaces the guarantee.

5. Proof

They’ve added a clear testimonial – AND an image of the couple. Any form of testimonial will increase trust, and increase sales, but photos of the person whom the testimonial is from will increase sales even MORE.

After all, humans connect better with other humans.

6. Scarcity

Usually, in direct response marketing, you’ll have a limit on what you’re selling. That limit is in either time the offer is available, amount of appointments/quantity available, or anything that makes people **act now**.

After all, that’s what scarcity is designed to do: scarcity triggers the fear button that every human has.

7. Call to action (CTA)

They’ve made it clear: “Call now for your free information packet!”
Can’t get any clearer than that.

To the contrary, actually. The people who WILL read this ad are PRECISELY the only people the advertiser wants. That’s true for you, that’s true for ANY form or direct response advertising:

This is a real advert written by Ogilvy & Mather, one of the largest marketing firms in the world. Click the ad to read the entire thing.

This is a real advert written by Ogilvy & Mather, one of the largest marketing firms in the world. It’s long, about ten-times longer than the Seal-It ad above, yet, it’s one of their best converting ads of all time. Click the ad to read the entire thing.

This ad is not only written for their perfect client, but it covers ALL 7 elements. They’ve written the ad so well, that even I want to call Ogilvy – and I’m not even in the financial industry!

Here’s the thing: if people aren’t interested in what you have to sell, they won’t read a THING.

But if people ARE interested – they’ll read everything. They’ll soak EVERYTHING UP with a sponge.

And that’s the difference between brand advertising, and direct response advertising. You want to tap into your perfect client’s mind, and push their pain points. This is why you must figure out your perfect client before you write anything for your salon marketing.

Because if you don’t know what your perfect client wants, how can you sell anything to them?

Here’s an example of a direct response ad for the salon industry:

If you have wrinkles, dark-eyes or anything else that dermatitis cream solves – you bet you’d be reading that ad. Chances are, you’d be picking up that phone, too. And that’s what direct response marketing is designed to do:

Get people to pick up the phone and call you.

And to do that, you need to have an irresistible offer. Figure out what you’re going to sell, to whom, and why they should buy from you, and start writing your ad following the 7 elements above.

When your salon marketing is done right, the ad will be ringing: off the hook.