How important is it for a salon or a clinic to design and implement a marketing plan? This was the second topic up for discussion at the inaugural Professional Beauty Industry Roundtable, which focused on business support.
Eight industry experts took part in the roundtable, including, DMK’s Daniel Dickson, HÜD Skin + Body’s Gry Tømte, Professional Beauty Solutions’ Matt Williams, Angel Touch Skin Boutique’s Rebecca Daniel, Dermalogica’s Suzette Cassie, The Paddington Beauty Room’s Anna Field, Derma Aesthetics’ Reika Roberts and Skinside Out’s Robyn McAlpine.
Each thought leader had some insightful tips to share about how they went about their marketing, but whether they were a supplier or salon owner, the general consensus was unanimous – a marketing plan is essential.
Read their edited responses below or watch the video for the full discussion.
Matt – Be willing to adapt to change
“Mike Tyson says, ‘Everyone’s got a plan, until they get punched in the face’. Plans need to be adaptable.”
Robyn – Little things add up
“It’s about measuring your marketing, because you could be putting money down all these little holes and not getting the return. It’s really important to be across all platforms, but also making sure you’re putting your investment, and putting your energy, and your voice, and the personality of your business into the right platforms that are going to get the best return for you.”
Anna – Plan, plan, plan
“The most important thing is having a plan – a marketing plan is vital. I know what my marketing needs are six months in advance. So I’m working a little bit everyday towards it, to never get swamped. Marketing’s vital – plan it.”
Gry – Use social media
“A lot of our marketing revolves around getting our values out there on social media. Social media is big for us and we use Instagram a lot. We’ve been lucky enough to work with a lot of influencers without having to approach them.”
Suzette – Make it easy for the customer
“Make sure you are set up for mobile marketing, because people are getting to you from their mobile more and more so. Invest in those sort of things that will help people can find you easily, and interact with your product or your salon.”
Daniel – Be flexible “When we’ve got a plan, that’s awesome. But deploying that plan is the next thing. We’ve got a 24-7 resource site to download marketing material, which offers flexibility and versatility for a salon owner. Did you know all of that work on a digital platform is between 8:30pm and 2am? Making those flexible changes have been enormous for our owners to say, ‘Well now I feel like I can do what I’m great doing during the day. And when I’m having my glass of something at night time, I can sit and do that’.”
Reika – Plan in advance
“Marketing for a clinic owner can be overwhelming; you need to be able to break it down to make sense of it for your clinic and your environment. [00:44:] It can’t be what’s happening next month. It has to be what we are doing for Christmas, and working in advance.”
Rebecca -Test and measure
“One thing about my salon is I have an older clientele. They’re not on Facebook or Instagram. They still like a good old-fashioned newsletter. I’ve really had to test and measure what works for my salon. Everything is test and measure. Also, we’re beauty therapists; we’re not marketing experts, so I went and found a marketing person to help me, so I could get the best out of what I was spending.”