Guide to Building Clientele for your Salon

Building a clientele for your salon is one of the most important parts of running a successful business. Ideally, you want loyal clients to keep coming back. How should you go about building a clientele for your salon? In this guide, we will go over each step towards creating a loyal clientele for your business.

Learn More About Your Customers

Before you can start building clientele, you will need to know who your target customers are. A good way to start is by doing research and creating personas for your business. Some questions you will need to know and understand:

• Who they are
• Where they are located
• How you can reach them
• Their spending habits
• How much they’re willing to pay
• What type of service they’re looking for

The more you know about your target customers, the easier it is to market to them. You should have an idea of the type of clientele you want depending on the type of service you offer. For example, you will market your business differently if you sell a luxury high-end service than one which is cost-efficient.

Demographic

Demographic refers to the structure of the population. This includes age, income, race, marital status, and more. Where is your business located and the type of clientele you can reach? It is difficult to sell a service at a luxury price in a lower income neighbourhood. You should locate your salon according to the type of customers you want.

Once you know the type of clientele you want, start creating personas. Creating personas allow you to market your services with a specific target user in mind. It should be backed up by data gathered from your research.

Create Personas

Persona is a representation of your most common target customer. In most cases, it’s recommended to stick to no more than four personas. The most important goal of your research is to prioritize problems and solutions.

Determine what problems your clients will have coming in. Maybe they’re in need of a new haircut for a job interview? Or maybe your client’s skin is breaking out. You will need to locate the issues and find solutions for them.

Each persona should have a photo, name, description, and problem. Get as specific as you can. The more you draw out, the more you will understand your clientele and how to reach them.

Example
This is Stephanie. She is a 26-year-old bartender living in Los Angeles making $40k a year. She enjoys getting glammed up for a night out with her friends, which means going to the salon at least once every two weeks to get her nails and hair done. Her goal is to find an affordable salon near her home that can be her go-to salon for all her beauty needs. Some of her frustrations include finding services from a salon she can trust and be comfortable with one which also meets her budget.

Marketing for Your Salon

After learning more about your target market, now you will need to figure out how to market yourself. This will require a combination of both online and offline marketing.

Online Marketing

This consists of building a website, social media marketing, email campaigns, and any marketing activities that will happen online. We’ve written an article on how to build an online presence and you can read more about it here.

After learning how to build your online presence, you can market your digital platforms to your target customers. Put thought into how you want your brand to appear online and how you will attract your clientele.

By having a strong online presence, it helps to build trust with your clientele. It is a platform to show off your hard work. Build yourself as a market leader in your industry. It will allow your customers to feel confident about the type of work you do.

Offline Marketing

Offline marketing includes all the marketing activities that happen outside of the digital atmosphere. This consists of creating and handing out flyers, going to events, networking with the local community, and more. When building clientele, you want to have those personable relationships.

We would suggest you create marketing materials that you can pass out to locals in the community. Try attending a few industry-related events and network with those that may be interested in your business. This is your chance to get your name out there and start building your clientele.

Show off Your Hard Work

Customers want to visually see your work and what you can do for them. Having a portfolio online is a great way to start creating buzz around your work, especially on social media platforms such as Instagram. A lot of great work gets shared around as inspiration and for those looking to find new salons.

Take Great Photos for Your Salon

To showcase your work, you want to be able to take great photos. Lucky for you, we’ve created A Guide to Take Better Photos for your Salon. To quickly summarize it, we recommend:

• Taking before and after photos
• Using natural lighting for well-lit photos
• Consider composition
• Using post-production editing programs such as VSCO or Photoshop

The more photos of your work, the better—therefore you can select your best work to post online.

Using Instagram as Your Platform

Instagram is such a great platform to build your online presence and a clientele. It’s where you can post photos of your own work while sharing tips and tricks with the online community. You want to provide the solutions to their problems by giving each client the best service you can provide.

Creating the Experience for Your Clients

After creating a stunning brand on social media platforms, you want to create a great experience for your clients. From the moment they enter your salon to the very end of each appointment, you want to create an experience that will encourage them to keep coming back to you. That is how to create a loyal clientele for your salon.

Upon Entering Your Salon

As soon as they walk in, you want to give a great first impression. Your salon should be clean and professionally set up. You should want your clients to feel comfortable and at ease when they walk in.

There are small gestures you can do when they walk in and as they wait for their appointment:

• Offering water or coffee
• Ask to take their jacket
• Have magazines for them to browse
• Offer free WiFi

During the Appointment

Some clients will prefer not to talk during their appointments while others can enjoy a good conversation. Ask your client about their day and try to learn more about their lifestyle. You could even ask questions and offer tips regarding their current beauty routine. Make them feel as comfortable as possible.

Before they Leave Your Salon

After finishing the appointment, make sure that your client was satisfied with the service. Offer them one of your business cards and don’t forget to schedule them for future appointments. This is your chance to book them in for future touch-ups and follow-up appointments while they’re right there in your salon.

We highly recommend using a professional, digital system to organize your schedule. It will allow you to quickly book your appointments far in advance. You will be able to manage your schedule well, saving you time and effort.

Offer Rewards and Incentives

Aside from being good at your work, you can build a loyal clientele for your salon by offering rewards and incentives. Give your clients additional reasons to come back. They may even bring a friend or two with them next time.

Introduction Offers

Many salons offer introductory prices and offer for first-time clients. It’s a way to get new clients into the doors and experience your services. It’s also your chance to blow them away with what you can offer them. Do a good job and they’ll keep coming back for more.

This can include your regular services at a discounted price, an introductory package, or an additional service added free of charge for first-time clients.

Promotions or Giveaways for events, holidays, and seasons

Creating promotions around events, holidays, and seasons are great ways to get people in your salon to build your clientele. For example, prom and wedding seasons are a busy time for many women that seek beauty services. This is a great opportunity to host promotions for those looking to get pampered up for their big days. Another great time to create a promotion that is specific to your salon is an anniversary promotion.

Bring a Friend Incentives

There’s nothing like having a pampering girls date. You can include “bring a friend” incentives by creating packages or offering a discount for the second person. This is great for services such as massages, nails, facials, and more. The more people you can get into your salon, the better chance you have at building a stronger clientele.

Rewards After A Certain Number of Services

After the same loyal client goes to your salon for a certain number of services, maybe you can throw in a reward or incentive. Maybe after 6 nail appointments, they can get a free hand massage on the 7th. There are so many different things that you can offer to encourage clients to keep coming back.

Now you have everything you need to start building a clientele. To recap, you should know and understand your target audience, market your salon, build an online portfolio, create an amazing salon experience, and offer additional rewards or incentives.

What are you doing to build a clientele for your salon?