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MARKETING STRATEGY FOR A BEAUTY SALON


FEATURES OF THE INDUSTRY

Salons or beauty studios are extremely popular in many countries and offer a wide range of services - haircuts, styling, coloring and hair care, manicures and pedicures, cosmetic procedures and skincare, makeup, waxing and depilation, massage and SPA procedures, tanning, cosmetics sales, style and fashion consultations, and more. Some salons offer a full range of possible services, going beyond the classic range, while others specialize only in specific areas. However, in any case, the beauty market is extremely complex with many features that necessitate systematic marketing for commercial success. Here are the main characteristics discussed:

• High Competition. The number of salons per square kilometer in cities is overwhelming. The picture is also complemented by home-based stylists who either take clients in their own homes or visit clients themselves. This situation is due to the popularity of work and professions in the beauty industry among women, the opportunity to obtain the necessary profession in a relatively short time, and small investments in their own business compared to other businesses.

• Fashion and Style. The beauty industry, like no other, keeps up with new trends in the world of fashion and beauty. Masters must constantly keep up with new trends and adapt to the needs of their clients. Even if a client is more conservative, a beauty salon and its stylists still need to demonstrate knowledge of the world of fashion, style, new technologies, and innovations in beauty and self-care.

• Customer Care. Customer-oriented and an individual approach to each client are the foundation of the salon or master's success. The uniqueness of the industry lies in the need to sell a mass service to an individual buyer, creating the impression of the uniqueness of the service and care specifically for this client here and now.

• Personal Sympathy. For the beauty industry, personal connections and friendly relationships are crucial. Unlike other fields of activity, establishing friendly relations and personal sympathy between the master and the client is a prerequisite for long-term client retention.

• Importance of Recommendations. One of the main channels for attracting new clients is "word of mouth," or personal recommendations from friends and acquaintances. In this case, personal sympathy, friendly relations, and excellent service really become invaluable and challenging to overestimate.

• Powerful Marketing Mixes. In industries with a high dependence on personal recommendations, every client is considered as valuable as gold, as each new client eventually brings in 2-3 or more clients through recommendations. Successful beauty salons create a developed marketing ecosystem to attract new clients and invest considerable resources in marketing, which then returns with an influx of clients through recommendations from friends and acquaintances.

The list of industry features can be extended by delving into various business segments, but the purpose of this article is to demonstrate marketing strategies, approaches, and tools, for which the above characteristics are key and defining. So, how to compete in such conditions? First of all, let's make a small remark that from now on, we will consider the marketing of more or less organized beauty salons, leaving out home-based stylists and small businesses without formalized marketing.


SOME GENERAL STRATEGIES AND APPROACHESS

So, beauty salons and studios use quite powerful marketing complexes to promote their services. Although the beauty industry inherently allows for a wide creative field in marketing, the following approaches and tools deserve the most attention:

• Location Choice. However banal it may seem, the salon's location holds significant importance for market positioning and the potential to attract high-income target audiences. The location choice will profoundly impact the salon's clientele, so it's crucial to consider this in advance. Indeed, expecting an elite status for a salon situated in the middle of a low income residential area is challenging. For the construction of a successful salon, a preferable option would be a location in the historical part of the city, new stylish residential complexes, or, outside the city, in conjunction with a spa or hotel complex. No, we're not suggesting that a location in a residential area lacks viability. We're simply emphasizing that the choice of location will significantly influence the salon's client base, and this understanding is essential.

• Social Media. Unlike many industries where traditional media serves as the primary communication channel and social media acts as a supplementary tool, for the beauty industry, social media and messengers are the primary channels for client engagement. The very nature of beauty services, coupled with clients willingly sharing results on social networks, makes these platforms ideal for salon promotion. Social media sits at the top of the sales funnel and serves as an excellent tool for capturing the attention of potential clients, further nurturing their interest through the salon's website.

• Website. Having captured the potential client's attention through social media or other means, the salon must then present itself systematically and visually on a professional and attractive website. Many successful beauty salons boast visually appealing websites featuring professional photo galleries and videos showcasing the salon's atmosphere, interior, work results, and satisfied customer reviews.

• SEO. In addition to social media, beauty salons actively compete for top positions in organic (non-advertising) Google search results to attract search traffic. Accordingly, industry leaders conduct highly professional internal website optimization and continually invest in external backlinks from reputable donor sites.

• Content Marketing. It's essential to create interesting and engaging content, both visual and textual, for dissemination across various platforms, including the salon's website, social media pages, messaging apps, and more. The creativity of the content directly influences the level of customer engagement. This includes captivating photos and videos for visuals and informative texts about the latest methodologies and innovations in the beauty industry for more discerning clients.

• Handling Reviews and Comments. Active marketing on social media may encounter challenges such as negative comments and reviews. Being prepared for this in advance is crucial. Specially trained social media management specialists should handle online audience interactions to avoid damage to the salon's reputation.

• Bloggers and Opinion Leaders. In the beauty industry, a prevalent promotion tool for cosmetic products is collaboration with beauty bloggers and influencers who have achieved the status of opinion leaders in the cosmetic field. Working with such bloggers and appropriately promoting the salon can have a significant impact on the image and attract new client.

• Customer-Centric Approach. As mentioned at the beginning of the article, personal preference, friendly relationships, and service quality hold special significance in the beauty industry. Establishments with hired staff must continually work on maintaining and improving relationships between employees and clients. Everyone should be aware of the impact of their actions and relationships with clients on overall profitability and business development.

• Technology and Innovation. Technology should be leveraged to enhance service quality and customer satisfaction, as well as to promote services. For instance, a salon's mobile application with a dedicated client account can improve service by allowing clients to view available appointment slots, book online, plan visits on a calendar, participate in loyalty programs, and receive targeted promotions for additional services. This personalized approach caters to individual clients or client segments.

It should be noted that within one article, we cannot show all the pitfalls or demonstrate all the marketing methods and tools specific to the beauty salon. In other words, these are just a few examples of quite general marketing approaches that can be applied to the beauty salon business. From a practical point of view, everything is much more complicated - the choice of a specific marketing strategy and tools depends on the target audience, competitive environment, and unique advantages of the salon, etc. At the same time, it is desirable to understand that marketing of a beauty salon may encounter a number of specific problems that are unique to each individual case and require an individual approach to their solution.

Achieving the commercial objectives of a company through effective marketing requires a deep understanding of the market situation, consumer needs, the ability to analyze and explore alternatives, and a creative approach to problem-solving. Our company has extensive experience in defining optimal marketing strategies for our clients' businesses, creating a strong brand and market positioning, as well as developing a marketing mix and implementing the chosen strategy. You can familiarize yourself with the services and solutions our company offers on the "Services" and "Solutions" pages, respectively.