Your clients chose your salon because they trusted you. They seeked out your advice, and valued your educated opinion. And now, thanks to COVID-19, your salon is closed. But that doesn’t mean the demand for your expertise has disappeared. In fact, while your clients are also facing the curtailing of their everyday lives, they’re going to be looking for something they can control, and in times of hardship, people seek out the things that make them feel good. This is your moment.
Get comfortable with video
Choose a couple of themes per week, such as exfoliating, cosmeceuticals, or even reactions to products, and prepare a piece to camera, where you can decipher any problems your customers may be experiencing, and offer solutions on how they can overcome them. For every three posts, use one to direct customers to your site to purchase product.
“Video is a versatile and engaging content format that not only gives customers a real-life picture of what is going on; it’s also easy to share across multiple platforms. Consumers like it because it’s easy to digest, entertaining and engaging, and marketers like it because it can give a potentially huge return on investment (ROI) through many channels,” says digital marketing expert, David Vlamik. “Video is very accessible to anyone with internet access, both to watch and to produce. While there is certainly a trend towards higher quality video on a professional level, anyone can hop onto their laptop and create their own video in less than an hour.”
Become your own customer
What was the treatment that most customers were curious about, but may have been unsure about trying? Do it to yourself. If it’s an ongoing treatment, create a series where viewers can see an ongoing effect. Assure them that it will be available when you re-open. To create a sense of excitement over it, suggest there is a waiting list for the treatment. You can even take a deposit to secure a position on the waiting list.
Make use of Stories
Instagram Stories, that is. You’ve seen influencers ask followers to “ask me a question”. Pick a day of the week and make that your regular question day. If you want to really hone it, pick a theme too. For example, this week you may be taking questions on eyebrow tattooing, and next week, it may be about brow lamination. Save the segments to your highlights, to encourage people to visit later. “The trick to this is to make sure you’re offering an informative, interesting point of view. Give well thought-out, accurate answers. The aim is to connect audiences to an expert who can provide unique insights into a topic,” says David.
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