by Greg Milner | Aug 19, 2013 | Email marketing, Featured, Newsletter marketing, Website Marketing
‘Everybody’ is rushing headlong into social media, Facebooking and Instagramming themselves into a lather of red-faced emotional excitement. It’s the bright shiny object, and the ‘experts’ are shouting at whomever will listen, “don’t bother with anything else, Facebook etc is where you need to be.”
Well, let’s get a little perspective here. Sometimes, you need to take a deep breath and look at things with a little of what I call ‘accurate thinking.’
Let’s take a quick look at what kinds of media are available for salon & spa owners to use in their marketing. I’ll lump Facebook, Google, email, Twitter, mobile phones and anything else you use a screen to look at as ‘Online’. (And I’ll include in that the ‘daily deals’, which are marketed exclusively online.)
Then there’s everything else. All that old-fashioned, dreary, clunky, ‘expensive’ stuff that suddenly is so Nineties, so last season; direct mail, print advertising, TV and radio, outdoor advertising – I’ll lump all that together and call it ‘Offline’.
Get hundreds of done-for-you salon marketing & advertising templates as a Member of Worldwide Salon Marketing here.
It seems pretty clear to me that salon & spa owners are increasingly falling in love with ‘online’, rushing to it like lemmings to the edge of the cliff. And in the mad rush, increasingly ignoring everything else. Email, social media, web marketing are the new Kings, relegating ‘traditional’ media as mere serfs and peasants.
Well, I’m here to tell ya, if that’s how you’re thinkin’, you’re missing opportunity. There IS validity in the argument that says “look around at what everybody else is doing, and do exactly the opposite. The herd, as Warren Buffett is fond of saying, is almost always wrong.
Victoria’s Secret mail 400 million catalogs a year. Hmmm, if online marketing’s so hot, why would they do that?
Here’s why you need to pay attention:
As more and more businesses abandon ‘old-fashioned’ media in favor of the siren call of online, seduced by it’s newness, it’s perceived cheapness, its ‘instant’ results, they’re unwittingly running into quicksand. The law of diminishing returns applies. You can double the power of a car’s engine, but the speed only increases by 30%, not 100%.
The more people rush to online, the more difficult it is to attract attention, to be heard above the ever-growing noise.
And suddenly, back in the ‘offline’ room, you can hear a whisper. Because nobody’s there. And that’s where opportunity lies, my friends.Think about this: your mailbox was once one of the few methods by which advertisers could reach you. Today, almost nobody sends marketing by direct mail any more.
And here’s the secret: those in the ‘almost nobody’ category are reaping the rewards of near-empty mailboxes.
According to the Direct Marketing Association of America, Victoria’s Secret ships more than 400 MILLION catalogs a year in the US alone – that’s 1.33 per person. And merchants across the US are sending a total of over 20 billion catalogs annually, a figure that’s increasing by 5% annually.
They’re doing it because
a) it works. And it’s working better and better, as it competes with fewer and fewer marketing messages directed at the consumer’s physical mailbox. The air in the mailbox is getting clearer and clearer.
b) They’ve figured out that ignoring direct mail would actually reduce the effect of the effort their putting in online.
The really smart businesses are increasing their use of old-fashioned media, not decreasing it. Victoria’s Secret sales generated by a combination of catalog-driving-to-online are increasing 10% annually, compared with only 4% annual increase in the company’s stores.
Is online really the ‘holy grail’? Not according to some of the world’s biggest ‘online’ companies. Google persistently uses hard copy to pitch its ad space. Hmmm. If Google can’t figure out how to market themselves using only online media, how are you doing?
Get hundreds of done-for-you salon marketing & advertising templates as a Member of Worldwide Salon Marketing here.
Price comparison website moneysupermarket.com has just hired a direct marketing company to manage its first hard-copy mail campaign. Huh? Now, hooda thunk it – why would an online company want to use old-fashioned, clunky letters ‘n stamps ‘n envelopes?
And as more and more email becomes pesky, direct mail becomes more welcomed. According to research by Pitney-Bowes (admittedly a direct mail specialist) more than half of people surveyed got annoyed by monthly emails. Only 23% found regular direct mail aggravating.
There are very good reasons we at WSM focus a large amount of time on creating more and more advertising and marketing templates for our member salons in a form designed to be used in good ole hard copy; print ads, posters, letters, mailbox flyers and more. Email and other forms of online marketing might be efficient. But nothing is as effective, as long-lasting as hard copy.
WSM member salons & spas can access literally hundreds of templates for all their advertising needs in the Members Only sealed section website here.
by Greg Milner | Jul 16, 2013 | Advertising Tips, Featured, The Smell of Success
A facial with snail slime? It’s generated a fortune in free publicity for one Tokyo salon
I’ve been nagging salons and spas for years; “Find a Niche – or die.” If you continue to try to be all things to all people, you’ll never be anything of much value to anybody. Two examples of exactly that kind of ‘niche thinking’ leaped out at me from my newspaper this morning.
The first, from Japan, where one salon in central Tokyo has generated itself literally millions of dollars worth of publicity worldwide after a UK TV reporter tried out a new facial treatment – snail slime!
[cf]Snails[/cf]
As part of the salon’s “Celebrity Escargot Course” customers will get five minutes of snail therapy, along with massage and other facial treatments. The snails alone cost $106 – no doubt because they’re ‘organic’, surely a word that’s been re-invented as synonym for ‘expensive’.
The second example of clever niche salon marketing is from my own home town. Barber shops have been struggling for years against the rising tide of ‘unisex’ salons, but they’re fighting back – with the old-fashioned cut-throat razor.
As you’ll see from the article below (click to enlarge), these barber shops are – perhaps unwittingly, but fortunately – cashing in on the nostalgia market; a growing hankering for old-fashioned values, old-fashioned smells, ‘old’ technology – almost a revolt against the overwhelming glitz and bling of technology, speed, celebrity obsession and shiny new things.
So why am I telling you this? Hopefully, to get you thinking, planning, scheming, conniving, working to develop, exploit and cash in on your own niche, your own specialist area, your own small but lucrative area of expertise that can’t be found anywhere else, that can’t be commoditized.
One that can’t be compared on price alone with the me-too services offered by a dozen other salons within walking distance of your own.
NOTE: Niche products and niche marketing is the subject of an entire seminar session we’ll be conducting for Worldwide Salon Marketing member salons in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane later this year.
Worldwide Salon Marketing is THE place salon owners come to for expert advice, tools, strategies and done-for-you systems online and offline that make marketing your salon easy.
When you join WSM, you’re becoming a Member of the world’s most exclusive group of entrepreneurial salon & spa owners.
SPECIAL OFFER: Get the world famous Essential Salon Owner’s Marketing Toolkit when you sign up for My Social Salon, the ONLY complete, done-for-you web, mobile and ‘traditional’ marketing system for hair & beauty salons.
Click here to watch the free video.
by Greg Milner | Jul 16, 2013 | New Zealand
Over the last 5 years since starting Worldwide Salon Marketing in New Zealand we have seen and heard many success stories from salons owners, some of whom prior to joining WSM have been close to closing their doors, and others that already have successful and established salons but just want to know how to improve their businesses even further and make more money.
It’s fantastic to be part of helping salons achieve great success and reach goals, so when that success is recognized by a third party its even more satisfying.
Which is exactly what happened to Margaret Walsh of Face & Body in Titirangi.
At the recent New Zealand Beauty Gala Awards at the Pullman Hotel in Auckland Margaret and her team at Face and Body in Titirangi, picked up the ‘Runner-up’ prize in the category for Marketing Excellence, an Award sponsored by Worldwide Salon Marketing NZ.
Worldwide Salon Marketing wants to congratulate Margaret for her achievement. Marketing is always evolving and Margaret has shown that her salon has used a great blend of traditional media, whilst embracing new media like apps and social media.
WELL DONE MARGARET WALSH & THE TEAM AT FACE & BODY TITIRANGI!!!
CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF MARGARET WALSH
And I also want to extend a MASSIVE congratulations to the winner of Marketing Excellence, Nicola Quinn from Nicola Quinn Day Spa in Christchurch.
There’s a funny story behind this also. Nicola is not a member of WSM, however I have always been an admirer of Nicola’s salon, even more so since the terrible things that have happened with the earthquakes in Christchurch over the last couple of years.
Whilst in Christchurch visiting some of our WSM members I popped in to say hello to Nicola who was unavailable. So I left her a hand written note encouraging her to enter the Marketing Excellence award, which she obviously did. When presenting her award on the night Nicola told me she still has my note, which I thought was great.
So a BIG CONGRATS to Nicola Quinn and her team at Nicola Quinn Day Spa.
Finally, Worldwide Salon Marketing NZ also co-sponsored the ‘Best New Business’ category to which we would like to congratulate Louise Dickinson of ‘Chrysalis’ in Browns Bay, Auckland.
Well done to ALL the finalists from the Team at Worldwide Salon Marketing!
Christopher and the Team at Worldwide Salon Marketing New Zealand help salon owners chase the dream of becoming more successful and profitable. If you like the sound of that then click here to find out more – obligation FREE. We have packages that can fit ALL salon types and sizes!
by Greg Milner | Jul 5, 2013 | Blog, Featured
Disgruntled customers can trash your reputation online…just as easily, happy ones can make all the difference
The world has changed. Just a few years ago, your clients might tell a handful of people about their experience – good or bad – in your salon. Now, they can tell millions with the click of a mouse, thanks to the proliferation of review sites online.
Review sites have become a major cog in any salon’s marketing systems. Millions of people make their travel decisions based on the reviews they read on Tripadvisor (www.tripadvisor.com). Millions more choose a restaurant based on the reviews on Urban Spoon (www.urbanspoon.com) and others like it. For many small businesses, particularly in the hair & beauty industry, they can be the difference between attracting a new customer, or repelling her.
That reviews have become so important makes sense; studies show that more than 70% of people now make their buying decisions after doing an online search.
Getting a review score like this (for one of our Worldwide Salon Marketing member salons, Lady at Bay in Sydney) can do wonders for your ‘Reputation Management’ online.
The trouble is, many salon owners are often unaware of their online reviews, a situation that’s spawned a brand new industry called ‘Reputation Management’, with some companies paying thousands of dollars a month to consultants just to manage, monitor and enhance what their customers are saying online.
In this interview, listen in as founder of Worth of Mouth Online, Fiona Adler explains why businesses need not fear their reputation will be trashed online…
[cf]Fiona[/cf]
For the full interview, Members can log in to the Worldwide Salon Marketing Members Only ‘sealed section’ website here. ‘
Want help with your online reputation? Call Worldwide Salon Marketing on 08 9443 9327 (North America 250 590 0449, New Zealand 09 476 1592)
by Greg Milner | Jul 1, 2013 | Email marketing, Featured
I get literally hundreds of emails every day. And I don’t mind, because I study a lot of them for clues to getting better response to my own email marketing.
So, if you’re using email to market to your clients, here are a couple of things you need to pay attention to.
Here’s what NOT to do; below is a picture from part of my inbox. Now, in this case I’m using Gmail. As you can see from these two examples, the subject lines (in bold) are dreary enough to deserve instant deletion.
But it gets worse. Right after the subject line, text that screams
“This is a boring, automatically-generated piece of advertising junk, please ignore me!”
Now, the reason this happens is because these businesses are
a) not very clever at this sort of thing, and don’t actually examine their own marketing, and
b) they’re sending email using an html editor, which inserts all sorts of graphics and pictures to make it look pretty.
What they’re too dumb to figure out is that people like to feel they’re being written to personally, not just a number in a mass marketing exercise.
The non-bolded line of the first email above is clearly taken from the first line of the html email below:
Second, there was absolutely zero attempt to mail-merge my name into the subject of the email. These days, there’s no excuse for this.
Third, you wouldn’t email your mother with fancy graphics, headers and pictures, you’d write to her in plain text, with not much more than a ‘love from Mary XXXX’ at the bottom of it. So why would you inhibit your chances of intimacy, of relationship-building with your intended audience, by cluttering it up with obviously-advertising graphics etc?
Back to subject lines – the subject line is simply the HEADLINE for the email. It has one job, and one job only, and that’s to get the damn thing opened and read. Nothing more.
Your email could have vital information in it about the outbreak of World War III, but unless the subject line is compelling, the war’s just going to pass people by.
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