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As a salon owner, your schedule is relentless. Between working behind the chair, taking care of payroll, and paying the bills, there’s not a lot of time leftover for anything else.

Except marketing your business is also a top priority; if you don’t market, you won’t attract new clients or keep the ones you already have. Good news: Your marketing strategy doesn’t have to be time consuming or complicated to make an impact. With the right system, all of your marketing — from special promotions to automated birthday messages — can be easily executed, allowing you to stay in front of your clients year-round.

Read through the following key areas to determine if your salon software is delivering the marketing you need, and if you’re maximizing its potential. 

Email Promo Blasts
Email marketing blasts are the simplest way to send a promotion to a targeted group of clients.

STX Cloud offers its users the ability to easily design eye-catching emails and then target either all guests or specific guests based on history, purchases or trends. To design an email, select from any of the template-builder categories (such as images, paragraphs, contact info, buttons, social media icons, etc.), pick your style, drag and drop, and voila! The options are endless and always produce a great looking marketing piece for your business. 

Marketing emails can be scheduled weeks in advance, or sent out on-the-spot. One salon owner recently used her STX Cloud software to save a slow Saturday while she was vacationing several states away. After taking a look at the books and seeing an unusually empty day, she quickly put together a color promo and sent it to her entire database. The result ended up being the most profitable day she had all year.

Last-minute promos are perfect in a pinch, but planning promos quarterly or monthly allows you to create a marketing plan for your business that flows all year long. Create a list of popular marketing events, such as Back To School, Father’s Day, Black Friday and so on, and simply design all the email promos in advance.

Marketing Effortlessly 24/7
Automated Marketing effortlessly sends out emails on your behalf. Simply create an email design with the STX Cloud drag and drop tools, then select from a variety of automated options. Automated options include emails to first time visitors, referral thank yous, birthday wishes, or the ultimate revenue generator — we miss you emails.

Think of it this way: Salon owners have enough going on trying to run a business, let the software do the work for you. Guests will get that extra touch point and your message is always exactly what you want to say.

Here are some great ideas on how to use your automated campaigns:

  • First Time Visits – Send them 10 percent off product for their next visit, mention your rewards program and include a link to all the services the salon offers.  Showcasing your other services will lead to booking add-on services they may not have otherwise been exposed to.
  • Happy Birthday – Not only thoughtful, but who doesn’t love a birthday bonus!
  • Referral Thank You – If the software could produce a beautiful handwritten card, that would be the only thing better. In STX Cloud, simply note the client who referred a guest and the software will auto-send a Thank You email to the referrer. Also, don’t forget to let them know how many reward points they earned just for sharing that you’re so fantastic!
  • We Miss You – They call this one the “money-maker” and with good reason!  Regardless of our attempts to have 100 percent rebooking, things do fall through the cracks. If a client doesn’t have a future appointment on the books, the system will automatically email them a nudge to book. Users can design and implement as many week-intervals as they would like, e.g. four weeks, eight weeks, 16 weeks, and 26 weeks. Include your online booking link, and if sending the nudge after a longer period of time, maybe include a little discount to lure them back in.

Social Media Strategies
Social media is another piece of the marketing puzzle that’s often underutilized. Guest visits are often weeks apart and during that downtime they have a lot of exposure to other establishments hoping to gain their business. Social media pages like Instagram and Facebook are a great tool to maintain regular communication between visits. Social media pages should be a resource for your followers to see before and afters, consider new looks, be exposed to products you offer, and educate them on how to keep up their look at home. Building that bond is important to client retention. 

When it comes to your booking and point-of-sale system, a great way to integrate social media with new revenue is by showcasing your online booking link on your Facebook page. Also add links to blogs on your website to improve your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) by getting more visitors to your page. 

For salons that need extra help maximizing their social media presence, STX Cloud offers additional packages with custom designs for social pages, posting and boosting posts, reputation management, and more.​

A Phone App for YOUR Clients
To take it to the next level, STX Cloud helps its customers create a custom salon app for your guests to download and discover more about your salon. Showcase the services you offer, staff bios, location information, reward points, scratch-off contests, reviews and current promotions.

Alongside the app, you can also utilize a Bluetooth add-on feature that does the work for you. This beacon searches for nearby guests that have your app downloaded to their phones and automatically sends promotions to them to stop in. It’s magical!

  • Small Mentions – Generate traffic to your app, webpage and social media by including your links, username handles and tags in a variety of places throughout the client experience.
  • Window Clings – Use whiteboard markers on your mirrors or buy custom window clings to display your social media handles, e.g. @YourBusinessName or “Download Our App!”
  • Appointment Reminders – STX Cloud offers two-way text and email confirmations that are 100 percent personalized to your business. Add a “Follow Us @YourBusinessName” to your texts, or social media icons in your emails.
  • Green Receipts and Printed Receipts – Include a note about downloading the app and mention your social media handles and website link at the bottom of your receipts. 
  • Cross Promoting – All your marketing efforts should cross paths to build on each other. On Instagram, mention your app; then on Facebook, mention your blog; on the blog, mention your online booking. It should all tie-in together.

Planning and Execution
Your software is a gold mine filled with clients. But how much time are you spending marketing to that database? Are you putting all your effort and energy into finding new clients? Reframe your marketing plan and take a look at your existing clientele.

With STX Cloud, you can target any specific group and market to them directly. Have you ever sent color care shampoo recommendations to clients who had a color service? What about targeting women who may want extensions? Or marketing your referral program? The possibilities are endless — you just have to utilize the tools in your software. With strategic marketing, you can capture more business within your existing clientele who are being overlooked.

Rely on Your Support SystemMarketing is the most powerful tool your software should provide. Automated emails, confirmation texts and custom apps make your clients feel special and connected to your business. Unleash the power of marketing in your salon and you’ll stay in front of your clients all year long — even when they’re not in the salon.

Feeling overwhelmed? With the right partner, you’re never alone in creating your digital marketing. STX Cloud’s support education team staff provides videos, single-page, quick guides and one-on-one live training to its customers.  STX Cloud is continually updated, automated and evolving to always ensure that you’re receiving top quality service and features while still being quick and easy to use.

STX Cloud can provide you with all this and more. Click here to learn more about how it can help your business run more efficiently and profitably

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Originally posted on Modern Salon