Okay, so how much advertising/marketing is enough? Well, there can never be enough. But rule of thumb to have a successfully marketed business is a minimum of 10% of your GROSS Annual income should be spent on advertising.
If your salon is generating $175,000 a year then you should be spending at LEAST $17,500 on advertising for your salon a year.
Some ideas are:
#1 Business Cards...obviously
#2 Website...nowadays, if you don't have a professional looking website for your business, you stand a chance of losing growth potential and awareness. Nobody opens a phone book anymore, GOOGLE is everyones search tool now. If you aren't listed, you'll get passed over for another salon in your area that has the nice looking website and information available to them.
#3 Special Events. - There are times of the year that you should be taking the opportunity to capture clients. New Year, Valentines, Easter/Spring Break, Thanksgiving, Halloween, St.Patricks Day....and of course your Anniversary every year. Send out direct mail offers to your clients as well as new customers offering them a special offer of some type.
#4 Birthdays - Your clients would love to get a birthday postcard from you, it shows that you remember them and who doesn't like receiving gifts. So an offer that they can redeem on the MONTH of their birthday would be appreciated by them.
#5 Welcome - Do you take the time to send your new clients a thank you card for choosing to come to your salon. Maybe a comment card they can fill out about their experience at your salon and a discount on their next visit within the next 60days. If they didn't buy a package on their first visit, it will entice them to come back and do so. People that bought a package on their first visit, i'm sure will have used it in the next 2 months and can use the coupon to renew at a discounted rate.
#6 Referrals - Your customers enjoy tanning at your salon, it's not a chore, it's a luxury and they chose your business as the place they will spend their money. if they didn't like you, they wouldn't be there. So offering them a referral card to bring in someone new (word of mouth) is always favoured and has better response because their friends told them to. Put the cards on the bed by form of a fold over business card. Leaving them on a table in the corner or on the wall will not get as much attention as cards left directly on the bed that they physically have to pick up and read and move each and every time they tan. It will stand out in their head that you have a referral program. Offer them something free for sending a new customer and watch them start referring everyone. Remember, everyone loves something for free.
All of these are simple methods of what you can implement into your marketing campaign for your business to increase your profits and customer retention.
I can help you produce all of the above, feel free to contact me by email if you have any questions or need a quote.
info@chronosmarketing.com