Spruce up your Salon this Spring!

It’s May! The month with double Bank Holidays and plenty of Spring weather (we hope!). We’re officially in the Spring/Summer season, so your salon footfall is naturally going to increase with everyone rushing to get their pre-holiday treatments booked. And if any of these are new clients, your salon atmosphere and appearance are the first identities and long-lasting impressions that a client has of your business. This being said, throughout Summer, we therefore think it’s really important that your salon reflects the season that we’re in, just like at Christmas you would always put up your best festive decorations. It should be the exact same with Summer, as this is equally one of your busiest times.

So, you’re probably thinking, what can I do differently that doesn’t cost too much but will make a huge difference to the Spring/Summer styling. We’ve got a few simple ideas for you here to get you off to a good start. So, let’s re-vitalise! And by that we don’t mean a huge costly renovation that’s going to take forever, just a few simple little alterations that can really enhance the mood of your interior.


Colour

Currently, what colours are the walls and floors in your salon? What colour is your ceiling for that matter? It’s a natural fact that lighter colours increase your space. Even though your salon doesn’t literally grow in size, by using brighter colour tones, this helps to create an illusion that the salon is bigger as the light makes the space seem larger. Similarly, to if you put a large mirror on the wall, or just simply mirror a whole wall of a room, this instantly makes the space look larger as the reflection helps to enhance the size of the room. So, if you currently have a dark colour theme, why not try painting your salon walls a shade of cream or white as a starting point? We’re not expecting you to alter the entire room, as sometimes a colour theme can reflect your business branding, however by just lightening the tones a little bit, this can really have a great impact on your salon’s ‘spacious’ effect.


Minimalism Design 

Refreshing the salon also doesn’t mean spending hundreds on new accessories either, you can keep things really simple and apply the 'minimalistic' touch. This is such an easy way to enhance an interior and plus the beauty of this type of style is that it keeps your salon looking clean and your work-spaces clutter-free. You could simply switch up your colour theme by purchasing a couple of new little accessories (such as retail product holders or salon-themed photographs/wall art). Or it could simply mean that you purchase a couple of Spring-themed indoor plants, like an orchid or a bamboo palm to create a fresh, natural environment.


Shelving

A simple and easy way to enhance plain walls and create a homely vibe. Even if you just use the shelves to display some of your latest Summer retail products or put up some photo frames to showcase your best work. This could simply be postcard size photos of client’s nails after treatments, or one of your recent hair colouring services. Another great idea would be to get a polaroid camera for the salon, and if clients don’t mind then you could snap a polaroid of each customer after their treatment and have a little photo-line of all the snaps? For any new clients visiting the salon, this then allows them to see the extent of your client base and all of your hard-work, which is always a good sign for longevity!


Enhanced Waiting Area

If you take a lot of walk-ins, then you would expect that at some point clients are going to have to spend time waiting in your salon. Now, depending how long the wait time is, this gives client prime-time to look in detail at your salon surroundings, and pass judgement if something doesn’t feel up to scratch. Therefore, first pointer - don’t allow them that time! Ensure that waiting spaces are comfortable and inviting, and that there is plenty around to keep the client occupied – whether this be having a TV on the wall, magazines in a basket or a complimentary tea and coffee station. Secondly, ensure that your décor is finished off properly, that painting is neat and that accessories are up-to-date. If a client feels that they have had a relaxing experience in a trendy waiting room, this can go a long way in keeping their custom. For this season, you could simply alter your cushion covers to spring pastels to give the furniture a fresh look. You could also colour theme your mugs to match this new scheme so that all your accessories co-ordinate. You can always store them and then re-use again next year if you want to switch them back to your usual accessories during Winter.

Re-Vamp Old Furnishings

Now if you really want to improve your salon on a tighter budget, then re-cycling your current assets is one of the best ways to do it! It could be something as simple as re-painting your storage furniture or creating a new effect like ‘shabby-chic’ with any of your wooden fixtures! You can really revitalise an old piece of storage equipment with a bit of paint and a design change. Pick up some interior design or home magazines to look at the latest Spring colour schemes and experiment with your current furnishings.


Your Salon Entrance 

This section of your salon really is the first impression, so we’re OK discussing how to alter your interior, however if your outside doesn’t match the inside this can then be just as detrimental. For example, think of if you were looking to try out a new salon, but the outside of it looked a little shabby. Same instance if you were deciding on a restaurant and the entrance looked run-down. We all know that we instantly are put off by untidy business fascia’s, therefore you should take as much pride in your salon entrance as you do the inside rooms. A fresh lick of paint, a clean doorway and some nice spring plants outside will do the job. Just ensure that it remains clean and neat at all times sure that no-one ever passes you up!

So as the weather is due to warm up a little bit, now is definitely the time to give your salon a good spring-clean and spruce up. Take a couple of our ideas on board and try them out to see if it enhances the feel of your salon. We hope that you’ve enjoyed our little tips and look forward to seeing how they help to bring a bit of Spring to you! If you do happen to alter anything, we’d love to see your pics so please email them to info@salontracker.co.uk, in which you could also be in for a chance to feature in one of our posts this Summer!

Salon Tracker x

National Hairstylist Appreciation Day!

I would like to think that you all already appreciate your hairstylists, but on National Hairstylist day you should make sure you go that extra mile. The official day isn’t until the 30^th April, so hopefully this will give you a few days to make sure that you are fully prepared for anything special you might do to show your appreciation. Here are just a few ideas that we’ve put together for both your hairstylists and your customers:

Rewards

If you already have our Salon Tracker software then this would work perfectly for you! Get your customers into your salon on National Hairstylist Appreciation Day by promoting an offer. An example of text that you might a send out would be “We’re celebrating National Hairstylist Appreciation Day, visit the salon on April 30^th for 15% off!”, just a little incentive to get your customers in. Even if you don’t have our software, you can still push some sort of offer, Social Media is a great place to promote any offers, or even just putting something up in your salon window.

Gift Vouchers

Why not treat your staff to a gift voucher, it doesn’t have to be much, maybe just £10-£20 just to show your appreciation. If you know each of your staff’s favourite store then props to you, but if not there’s those ‘One4all’ gift vouchers which let you use the voucher at pretty much any high-street store.

Competition

How about creating a little competition for your customers or a raffle where you can give away products or gift vouchers for services in your salon. It’s a great way to get all of your customers involved and engaging with your salon and with your hairstylists. There are plenty of competitions that you could try out, maybe something like ‘Guess how many hair grips are in the jar’, customers can then pay an entry fee to make their guess and the winner will then receive the money entered.

Staff Party

You could even treat your staff to a team night out, something to give your team morale a boost. It doesn’t have to be an itinerary that’s bursting to the brim, just something to make sure they know that they are appreciated by you.

We hope that this give you a few ideas that you can use in your salon in order to celebrate Hairstylist Appreciation Day! If you need any help sending an SMS from our marketing feature don't hesitate to contact us on 0113 350 8230.

Salon Tracker x

Your 4-week count-down guide for a fully compatible GDPR Salon

We are just over 4 weeks away from the grand release of the GDPR, that’s only 28 days to make sure you are more than ready for it, and don’t end up being charged 4% of your annual turnover. To put that into perspective, if your salon makes £80k a year, you’d be charged £3200 just for making one silly error. That’s not something you want, so here’s how you can avoid it:

• Data must be processed in a way which guarantees suitable security of client’s personal data. This comprises protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and covers accidental loss, destruction or damage by having applicable technical structures in place and suitable organisational measures. Salon Tracker hides all client data, it needs to be unlocked to gain access and every time it is unlocked it is tracked in the data base.

• Data held on clients must be accurate and kept up to date. Salon Tracker software allows you to view all a client’s data in the same place under one client card. This way, you can put a regime in place to regularly check client’s data when the client comes in and ask if it is correct.

• All data must be kept in a form which allows you to be able to identify how long that data is required for and be able to eliminate that data after that duration or if the clients asks for that data to be eliminated. Salon Tracker will be able to assist you with this and look into the data bases to be able to find out all this information and subtract their data from the system permanently.

• The data you hold must be processed lawfully, fairly and in a clear manner. This means stating exactly why you need the data and how you will use it.

• Data is only collected for specified, explicit and legitimate interest and not used in the future in a manner that wasn’t agreed by the person that the data is given from. This means no selling of client data to other businesses, and no giving out information of clients to other clients.

• All data held on clients must be specified for a reason and limited to what information is necessary for the purposes in which the data is used. Within Salon Tracker, customers have to tick to agree to marketing and text service.

Now hopefully you haven’t miss-judged the time you had left to get prepared for the release of the GDPR, but if you have, and this blog still rings alarm bells for you… don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.


We’ve got 4 weeks to go, that means 4 weeks worth of preparation. We’ve made it simple and produced you a check list of activities you can do each week so you can relax a little.


Week 1

• Create a privacy policy 
• Assign one of your staff members with the responsibility of being a Data Protection Officer 
• Go through your customers and remove customer’s data that is no longer needed. For example, customers who haven’t visited the Salon in over a year. This will make things a lot easier. 

Week 2

• Define an age range of consent, 18+ perhaps? 
• Make sure on your marketing campaigns there is an option to opt out of marketing. 


Week 3

• Give clients the right to be removed from the database.

Week 4 – The final week

• Be prepared for client’s data requests - they are entitled to ask for a SAR report on everything you have on them at any given time. 
• You then have 30 days to retrieve the data. Don’t worry, we’re here to help with that. 
• Relax, if you have followed each step you have nothing to worry about. 4% of your annual turnover won’t be going anywhere 
• Make sure your clients are aware that you follow the GDPR legislation closely, it shows your professionalism. 

Any more questions? Don’t hesitate to give us a call on 0113 350 8230 or alternatively email christie@salontracker.co.uk.


Salon Tracker x

Feature of the Month; Help Videos!

I'm sure you all know the struggle when you just can’t figure out how to do something, or the feeling of not wanting to do something wrong. Well, recently on Salon Tracker we have added a new feature; help videos! We’ve created over 50 help videos that you can watch (as long as you have an internet connection) ranging from just simply adding a customer to setting up your customer discount groups.

To find the help videos, just go to the help section and then click on the help videos tab. They are split into the different left menu options, and within each tab you can watch the related videos. To watch a video, just click on the title and it will automatically play. The videos are simple and easy to follow, and have a step by step guide on how a certain task can be completed. However, if you are struggling or something isn’t working quite right, don’t hesitate to contact our support team on 0113 350 8232 and we will be happy to help you out!

This is just a short example of how the videos work, and if you already have the software you can have a look through them now. They tend to last around 1-2 minutes, depending on the complexity of the demonstration, however for videos such as the 'Getting Started' videos these will be around 5 minutes long. And with all the new features and updates we are planning to do in the future, I’m sure that the list of videos will become even longer.

If you have any further questions or would like to get booked in for your demonstration and FREE 2-week trial of the software don’t hesitate to call on 0113 350 8230 or email on info@salontracker.co.uk.

Salon Tracker x

Marketing your Salon this Spring

Hello, and welcome back! Hope you all had a lovely Easter and managed to have some fun even though Winter decided to hang around, we know some of you even experienced a bit of snow on Bank Holiday! But hopefully that’s the last of it now and we can finally start to get in to Spring-mode. So, speaking of Spring, it’s time we did some marketing and discussed some top-tips on the upcoming events that you can use to ensure you have a successful season.

Online Visibility – Let’s get social! Do you have an active company website and social media page? In this day and age, everything is technological and so if your business isn’t active online, this can be detrimental to your sales. Facebook has vastly become a popular ‘check-point’ for people to identify a business. Where in the past this may have been through your Google listing, or just through word of mouth, nowadays people go to social media pages to look at your businesses recent activity, to determine whether they’d like to purchase/buy a treatment from you. It’s crucial that you regularly update your social networks, to ensure that clients can see that you are current and that you constantly communicate with your followers, as this can help to prove a good business reputation.

Email marketing. Do you have all of your clients’ emails at the moment? Email marketing is such a quick and easy way to market to clients in bulk, or to get a message across speedily! There are also lots of email providers that provide analytics about the open and click through rate of your campaigns, one that I like to recommend is Mailchimp, as it is also so user-friendly you’ll soon get the hang of it. According to Wordstream, ‘email is one of the greatest drivers of customer retention’, in which this is a great stat to go by when thinking about sending regular e-newsletters or product news.

SMS marketing. Similarly, to email, SMS marketing is another direct way to reach customers, and quickly too. When we’ve had a scout about looking in to text marketing, we found that a lot of sites, including Instagiv, state that ‘32% of consumers respond to promotional SMS messages’. This is a very high stat, meaning that over a quarter of your client base are likely to react to any marketing messages you send to them by text. Our software actually has its own SMS marketing suite built-in, to make text marketing campaigns simple and easy to create. We also have our own search filters included in the tool so that you can easily identify and pull out certain customers dependent on the sort of campaign you wish to send. For example, if you want to select your best spending customers, no problem, as with 2 clicks you can have the entire list ready to send a text message to, using our software! Keep your eyes peeled later in the blog as we’ll give a couple of SMS examples to get your started.

So, now that we’ve established a few marketing channels that you can use, let’s take a look at some of the events to look out for this Spring, that you can take advantage of for company advertising and let’s put some of our marketing techniques to practice!

First off, Mayday. Only 4 weeks away and a great opportunity to get some Spring promo ideas together, to get your salon footfall increasing! Closely followed by Spring Bank on the 28th May, 2 Bank holiday opportunities in one month! A good idea to get you started is to do a little bit of research in to the current hair & beauty trends, to identify what the up and coming styles are going to be this Spring/ Summer – and then advertise these to your fellow clients across social media. For example, it could be ‘Get your golden Balayage Bank Holiday Ready with <your salon name>’, then perhaps even bundle a little offer in with this, such as ‘Book before end of April to receive <X % off your chosen product>’. Obviously, there are lots of techniques that you can use social media for, whether this be running a Bank Holiday competition, or even a salon selfie contest for your clients to part-take in after a treatment.

Wedding season. From the beginning of May right up until the end of September, especially if you’re a Hair and Beauty salon, you are likely to see an increase in bridal party bookings. So why not advertise that your salon is doing this now and get ahead of your competition. I mean, the chances are the majority of your direct competitors are also going to be offering wedding packages, so what can you do differently to attract clients to choose yours? What about a free complimentary bottle of Prosecco for the bridal group whilst they have their treatments done? Or even collaborate with another local business if this is possible (such as a café or a local bistro) and see if your clients can receive a little % off voucher for food or drinks if they book a wedding package with your salon? A good promotional technique for both your business and theirs!

Dance school packages. A lot of local dance institutes require salon professionals to attend their shows for hair & makeup prep. During Spring and over Bank Holidays, some dance groups may put on shows, whether this be at theatres or even at school galas. This could be a brilliant opportunity for your salon to get some business and to also improve your brand awareness. Your work will be seen by the audience of these dance shows and if you shout loudly about your salon, perhaps even paying a small amount to sponsor the dance college itself, this provides you with even further publicity. Meaning that you can hope for improved recognition for your salon and hopefully the audiences of these shows could be a large volume of potential customers for the future! A little something to think about this Spring.

School and College Proms. We may be a little early here, however lots of students start their dress and suit shopping around this time and so why not advertise early to ensure that they book your salon for their treatments too. Advertise your prom packages on social media, flyers at schools and colleges and even via email/SMS to your current client base to ensure that your salon is full this June!

You’ve then got your all-round seasonal marketing in general, and we mentioned SMS marketing earlier and how our software has a built-in marketing suite with texting tools. Therefore, below are a few little Spring-examples to get you started off;


Hi <<Forename>>

PAYDAY & MAYDAY! Why not book your appointment early to secure your payday treat and bank holiday slot! Book an appointment with us before 30th April to receive 10% off!

<<CompanyName>> <<CompanyTel>> T&Cs Apply



Hi <<Forename>>

Stepping in to Spring! To celebrate the start of the season we are offering a FREE complimentary gift with every appointment booked in April!

<<CompanyName>> <<CompanyTel>> T&Cs Apply 

Hi <<Forename>>

Get your Trendy Golden Balayage or Fresh Highlights with <your salon> this Spring! Appointments are booking up so don’t miss out! Call up to secure your slot today.

<<CompanyName>> <<CompanyTel>> T&Cs Apply



We hope we’ve inspired you and given you a few little things to think about for your marketing this Spring. With these few fresh ideas, by putting these in to practice your salon should see a seasonal boost, setting you up nicely for the rest of the year. And if you want a little bit of extra advice, no problem, our marketing and sales team are always on hand Mon-Fri to help you every step of the way – just give our team a call on 0113 350 8230! We look forward to hearing from you.


Salon Tracker x

Sunday chills spent in the most satisfying way

I know spending your Sunday doing anything other than laying in bed with Netflix on and munchies at the ready might sound a little daunting, but its time to get out of that winter hibernation mode and roll into the summer of success! Sunday’s can be spent doing all kinds of things, but we’ve got a few ideas lined up to help give you that little boost of motivation when you need it most. 

I’m not saying you should spend every hour of every Sunday rattling your brain and completing your full years marketing plan in one sitting, but maybe 3-4 hours of every Sunday will help you stay on track and not leave you in a hot sweat when you realise you’ve come to the end of last quarters plan and have to quickly form the next quarter, brief with your staff and create an action plan all in 2 hours.

Fun motivation fact? – Doing 4 hours of planning near enough every Sunday is the equivalent of 160 hours…  and that’s including 8 Sundays off to do whatever you like. Imagine what you could achieve in 160 hours!

So, first things first. If you want to make the most of these valued days off, wake up early… ish. Be up and ready for 10am at the latest. Make yourself a hearty breakfast, lots of spinach, protein, fruit to give you the energy you’ll need for the day. This way, the day will feel longer and you’ll have time for your own relaxation and free time, especially now that the lighter nights are drawing in. See http://ow.ly/f26M30jb22e for ideas on a great Sunday breakfast.

Secondly, organise your space into a work-friendly environment. Nobody can concentrate in a messy, unclean area because there will constantly be that voice in your head saying “tidy up” which is the very least thing we want when focusing on our businesses needs. Have a neat desk with some satisfying décor such as the mini cactus's that everyone raves about or some fresh flowers to set the mood along with a stress ball to hand which will be most beneficial at the best of times. If a desk environment isn't for you, then take a seat on the sofa - there's no comfort like home comfort! 

That’s the basic necessities covered, moving onto managing your time. To get the most out of the time you’ve got, a schedule would be useful. E.g., 10am-11am – Marketing plan for the next 2 weeks, 11am-12pm – staff rotas for the month,12pm-12.20pm break for a cuppa or bite to eat (breaks are essential), 12.20pm-1pm – social media post planning (Hootsuite is a good platform for this) 1pm-2pm – wrap up, check stock levels, order stock etc. 2pm onwards… free time! Relax, see some friends/ family, catch up on that series you’ve been meaning to, go for a bike ride… the world is yours and you’ll find it so much more enjoyable knowing you’ve got those tasks done that have been consciously following you.

To remember: An organised Salon is what keeps your staff happy and motivated, keep them satisfied and the results will show!

And I’m not going to overload you with too much information, but perhaps a brief on a marketing plan would be helpful. I know the thought of creating marketing plans may sound scary but there Are 5 key steps you should take to make it simple.

• Audit – Review a past time period (a year is usually best) and analyse the current marketplace, any potential and current clients and competitors, old and new. Look at you and your team’s abilities to identify any new opportunities and potential problems that may arise.

• Goals – Set realistic, SMART salon objectives. If you’re unsure on the meaning of SMART objectives, see http://ow.ly/KbL830jcemn for a better understanding.

• Approach – Use your audit to define an expansive approach and select your target audience.

•  Implement – This is where your time management comes in. Form a day-to-day implementation plan full of in depth marketing activities, tools and channels.

• Evaluate – Set your KPI’s and put monitoring systems in place. These should be regular, monthly is always a good indicator.

Still struggling on how to create the perfect marketing plan? See http://ow.ly/bmAg30jceYH to help you get a better idea.

And that's a wrap, the perfect ingredients for a Satisfying Sunday!

Any questions? Don't hesitate to contact us on 0113 350 8230 or via email: info@salontracker.co.uk. 

Salon Tracker x

Easter Marketing Tips!

Easter is coming relatively early this year, falling on the 1^st of April, so you need to get planning ASAP! For this week’s blog we thought we would share with you our best Easter marketing ideas for you and your salon.

The obvious Easter marketing tip to give would be to run an Easter promotion. Giving your customers some sort of special Easter offer will encourage customers, both new and current, to visit your salon. The main benefits for doing a campaign is to increase the number of people visiting your salon, which will also hopefully bring many new customers that will return in the future. Another big benefit of offering some sort of deal to your customers during and Easter is that you will be able to up-sell your full price retail products, as people will be more inclined to spend money if they have saved on their service(s). Here’s an example for an Easter promotion that you could do:

Once you’ve got your promotion planned, you need to get it out to your customers. There’s plenty of ways to do this, however there are some ways that will work a lot better than others. For starters you want to put your offer in your shop window, so that anyone walking past can clearly see the offer that you have on, which could potentially result in someone visiting your salon and not your competitor across the street. Social media is the perfect place to showcase your promotions, especially Facebook. The best thing about social media is probably the fact that it is FREE, so you might as well just give it a go and see if it works for you. You can also pay for promotions on some networks, such as Facebook and Instagram, so this will allow you to reach even more potential customers and get your promotion out there! Another great way to send out your promotion would be by SMS and judging by the fact that 99% of texts are opened, this is a great way to reach out to your customers. With Salon Tracker this can be done straight from the system in a matter of minutes from our marketing feature and sent out either instantly or scheduled for later time. Here are a couple of ideas that you could use for your promo SMS:

Hi <name>

This Easter we are offering 20% discount on all services! Show this text is the salon to receive your discount! Offer ends 8^th April so be quick!

Hi <name>

All us at <salon name> are wishing you a Happy Easter. All of our services and retail products are 20% off when you book over the Easter week!

I would suggest using both Social media and SMS to make customers aware of your promotion, as social media will allow you to reach out to both current and potential customers, whereas with SMS you will only be able to contact your current clients.

Although emails seem to be a thing of the past, compared to SMS, it is still a great way for you to send out your promotions to your customers. And it’s FREE! There are some great email providers out there, such as Mailchimp, that allow you to create templates and send out an email to multiple customers! Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket, try use Social media, SMS messages and Emails to send out your promotions to your customers, and then you can see which one performs best for any future promotions.

Decorating your salon may seem like something that won’t make an impact on your salon, however for many it could be the difference in them visiting or revisiting, as it makes your salon feel welcoming and homely to your clients. You don’t want to go too over the top with your decorations, but just enough to make it look inviting and professional to your clients to ensure that they enjoy their visit. This could also involve creating some sort of product table, that displays all of your retail products that are included in the promotion, as this could encourage a client to spend some extra money and buy a retail product as well if it is clearly displayed on sale to them.

These are just a few marketing tips that we gathered together for you, however there are plenty more marketing tools you can use to promote your salon this Easter. If you want any help regarding the SMS and email marketing from our system, feel free to contact our team who will be able to help you with that.

If you want a demo and trial of the software you can visit our website www.salontracker.co.uk and enter your details, or you can email our team on info@salontracker.co.uk or call on 0113 350 8230!

Salon Tracker x