Is this a year of growth and expansion for your beauty business? We're hyped to hear it (and looking forward to seeing your beauty business growth in action).
The truth is that beauty business growth doesn't have to be overwhelming or scary–and if you're committed to taking small, consistent steps, you can find seamless success.
But if you, like so many other beauty pros, don't know exactly where to start, don't sweat it–we're sharing some of our industry-leading advice about how to elevate your marketing to boost your salon, shop, or spa's growth.
KEY TAKEAWAYS: This blog explores vital marketing components for promoting beauty business growth, like social media marketing, content marketing, audience demographics, unique identifiers, and more.
Must-Know Marketing Tips for Beauty Business Growth
Branding Identity & Brand Building
You want to promote beauty business growth–but that's nearly impossible to do if you don't have a firm grasp of your brand's identity. Customers can't become regulars if they don't understand your brand, and customers can't refer you to other potential customers if your identity is murky or doesn't stand out.
If you're looking to grow your business, the first step of that is looking within. What's your brand identity? What sets you apart? What's differentiating you from others in this industry? Understanding the basics of your brand is key to your growth tactic and should be the foundational step you take before you tackle other aspects of your marketing technique.
Target Audience Demographics
You want to grow–but who do you want to attract to your shop? Growth isn't about adding anybody and everybody to your client list; it's about finding YOUR people–the ones that you want to serve, the ones that are going to become regular customers.
It's not enough to throw anything at the wall and hope it sticks–you need to understand who you're chasing down as your regular customers.
Start by figuring out who your target audience is and why you're chasing that demographic. What are they like? What are they chasing? What are they looking for in a beauty pro business? How do you meet those needs?
Pinpoint Your Key Differentiators
If you want to start drawing that target audience directly into your salon, shop, or spa, you need to make the connection for them about what sets you apart from other brands. That means it's crucial not just to understand but optimize the key differentiators of your brand–then make that a central point of your marketing strategy.
Ask yourself–how are you different from other brands in your industry? Do you have a specific specialty? What makes that specialty SO much better than others? Do you fill a gap in the market? If you do, how? Start a list of your key differentiators and be honest about what you offer that other salons and shops don't.
Then, use that list as the fuel behind your marketing fire.
Email List Integrations
Want to know what marketing tactic has some of the highest and most consistent ROI? Spoiler alert: it's email marketing. If you want to grow your community–and strengthen the bonds with your current audience–an email list is a must.
Email is your direct line of communication for the audience who is CHOOSING you. Signing up for your email list means they want to hear from you–so listen to them and communicate with them.
Email is a great way to open the line of communication, reach out with updates, remind clients to schedule, and even share great new programs (like referrals, which we'll touch on in a moment).
Scheduling Software
Growing your business doesn't always mean a radical change or a ton of new strategies–sometimes, it just means optimizing a current workflow and removing obstacles that make booking you harder.
For example, if you're still only booking appointments over the phone and don't have scheduling software that allows clients to book you themselves with a few simple clicks, you're likely setting up additional obstacles in your booking process.
Most clients–both regulars and potentials–want the freedom of browsing your site, getting to know you, and then scheduling an appointment without ever needing to hop on the phone.
Level Up Your Review Game
It's no secret that social proof is a MUST to get new clients into your salon or shop. Very few people make choices about their service providers without doing a little recon and research. If they stumble upon your Google My Business page or Yelp profile, what will they see? Are reviews and testimonials readily available? Are there plenty of them to comb through? Are they overwhelmingly positive? Optimizing your reviews–and making leaving reviews part of your regular workflow–is a must for your business's growth strategy.
Referral Programs & Affiliate Programs
Growing your business means adding new clients to your roster, and one of the best ways to do that is to implement seamless referral programs. Your current clients can act as your marketers with minimal effort. They spread the word, get clients in your chair, and get killer benefits (like discounts and deals on your services).
Content Marketing Strategy
There are a lot of ways you can do this, but ultimately, we recommend starting a blog on your beauty biz's website. Yep, we said a blog. And, yep, we're serious. No, it's not 2010–but that doesn't mean blogging is dead. In fact, content is now (and maybe always will be?) king of marketing strategies.
Content marketing feeds directly into client outreach strategies and organic SEO, which means it's an affordable, effective long-term plan for getting more eyes on your site and more clicks on your "schedule appointment" button.
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