Hair & Beauty Salon Business Plan: 5 Tips For Attracting New Customers

Hair and beauty salon owners who want to grow their businesses know that having a strong business plan is a first step toward their goals. And, any good business plan incorporates a marketing and advertising strategy that is specifically designed to attract new customers.

Here are 5 tips for attracting new customers to your hair and beauty salon business:

1. Develop a special coupon or promotion for your new customers:

Consider what it would take to motivate you to change your buying behaviors for the stores you currently visit regularly. Once you are in the habit of buying from the same store or vendor, chances are you will not try a new one based merely upon a catchy ad. On the other hand, imagine that you are offered a special coupon or promotion as an incentive to try out the store: it is likely you would be more likely to consider making the switch. Your target prospects feel the same way. So, as you build the marketing and advertising component of your business plan, make sure that you consider offering special coupons and promotions to attract new customers to your salon.

2. Save money by targeting only those customers who are most likely to respond:

If you are using traditional media channels like TV, radio and local magazines to promote your salon, you advertising expenses will be prohibitively high. These media vehicles are notoriously expensive because they rely on a blanket approach, whereby an entire geographical area receives the same ads - regardless of whether each individual your campaign reaches actually meets your target consumer profile! Now, contrast that to the available direct marketing techniques that properly divide your target prospects into segments, isolating those customers who are most likely to buy from you. The more you know about which members of your community are most likely to buy from you and which are not, the more precisely you can target those individuals and the further your advertising dollar will go.

3. Be sure to target those customers most likely to be willing to try a new salon:

As mentioned above, it is very difficult to entice people to change their behaviors once those behaviors are entrenched in a regular habit pattern. It is best not to waste your limited advertising dollars on prospects that have no good reason to look for a new salon because they are complacently comfortable with their current one. Rather, it is better to concentrate on finding customers who are most likely to give your salon a try. One such target-rich prospect base is that of new movers: those customers who have just recently moved into your neighborhood. By subscribing to a ew mover direct mail service that offers up-to-date new mover mailing lists and direct mail fulfillment services, you are able to target only those customers who have recently moved into your business area and are probably already looking for a new salon to try. Why not let that be yours?

4. Plan to contact your target prospects monthly:

Designing a marketing campaign specifically to target new customers is an excellent way to get new business, as mentioned above. Moreover, it is important that you set aside the necessary budget to contact those prospects monthly. Only a consistent campaign that targets a fresh group of new, hot prospects each month can yield predictable results.

5. Follow up their initial visit to your salon with a contact:

Once a first-time customer has visited your salon, it is smart to follow up their visit with a phone call, e-mail, or postcard. Take the opportunity to thank them for their business and to ask a few questions about how they liked the service they received. Besides gathering valuable information you can use to improve your services, such a follow-up contact also sends a strong message to your customers that you care about their business and want to see them back in your salon again.

Creating a business plan for your hair and beauty salon is an important step in building a stronger, more profitable business. Be sure to incorporate precisely-targeted marketing campaigns that reach the right customers who are most likely to give your salon a try. Then, follow up the initial visit of new customers with an e-mail, phone call or postcard in order to gather valuable information and send the right message about how you value their business.