BEAUTY SALONS CAN CAPITALIZE ON SMARTPHONE USE BY SMS MARKETING DIRECTLY TO THEIR CUSTOMERS.
In the 21st century, advertisements have become ubiquitous; everywhere you turn, someone is trying to sell you something. Because of that, many people have started to avoid advertisements whenever they can. You might be one of those people; if not, you definitely know someone who is. Those who are trying to avoid the ever-present advertisements have ad-blockers on their computers, they quickly unsubscribe from newsletters, and they watch television mainly by DVR. They avoid advertisements like the plague. Who can blame them? They’re everywhere. However, that’s a serious problem if you’re trying to run a beauty salon.
BEAUTY SALONS AND WORD OF MOUTH
Ever since the earliest days of beauty salons, they’ve been hubs of information sharing. Women come to beauty salons for the latest in cosmetics tips, hair care products, and general wellness. They are also marketplaces for news and information. You need to capitalize on that rich history of the beauty salon without inundating your customers with advertisements. Furthermore, you need to find a way to cut above the noise. So, how do you do that?
SMS marketing is an incredible way to cut through the clutter of other advertisements and reach your customers right where they are. You’ve probably noticed when women come into your shop, they disengage from most items. Rarely do they bring their laptops or tablets into the salon. However, they almost always bring their phones. Their phones are how they stay in touch with the children, the babysitter, their work, and so on.
To continue that tradition of word of mouth and information-sharing at the salon, you should invest in SMS marketing. That is marketing directly to their phones via text and picture messages.
SIGN UP YOUR CUSTOMERS
When you are trying to create an SMS marketing list, you need to make sure you get your customers’ permissions to send them SMS messages. A popular way to do this is to have new customers fill out a form when they sign up for their first appointment. Include a box asking if they consent to signing up for SMS messages. You should be careful to include an easy way to unsubscribe into each message.
Customers do not appreciate feeling trapped into a messaging or advertising program. However, if you are offering great deals via SMS, they probably won’t want to unsubscribe. If you have other loyalty programs and newsletters, you need to make the SMS message list somehow different. You can differentiate it from the rest by offering special privileges to the customers on the list.
SMS is great for sending special offers because you can send coupons directly to customers’ phones, and they’ll definitely have them when they come into the store. They won’t have to remember to bring a special offer or extra item.
APPOINTMENT REMINDERS
The overwhelming majority of text messages are read within three minutes of being received; that means you can immediately reach out to hundreds of customers and gin up business whenever the salon slows down. You’ll be able to remind customers of appointments, create rapid-response specials, and advertise limited-time offers.
When customers forget to come to their appointments, it leaves empty chairs that are not doing anybody any good. When chairs sit empty, you lose money and walk-ins will have to wait. If you can send appointment reminders via SMS, you’ll be able to verify that someone is actually coming to her appointment. If she’s not coming, you’ll at least know that and be able to free up a chair.
SMS marketing is great for salons because it combines the history of salons as hubs of information-sharing with the rapid technological innovation of the 21st century. Your salon can definitely benefit from an SMS marketing program.