Beautician? Hairdresser? Why you ARE the new CUPID!

From tanning and waxing to dyeing and crying, beauticians and hairdressers have seen it all! With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, the beauty industry are preparing for one of the biggest business booms of the year.

Whether you are female, male, single or taken; the 21^st century has made it okay to want to look good and of course, show off the results! Women are (obviously) obliged to partake in the odd pamper, but DailyMail (2012) studies suggest that men really are putting the man back into a MANicure with beauty salons in the UK ‘reporting a 66 per cent rise in the number of male clients’.

Those of you in and amongst the beauty industry are creating the aura for customers to feel beautiful with your treatments, whether that be a haircut, massage or a full body wax. A trip to the beauty, tanning or hair salon can sort you out and put you in good prep for any day let alone, Valentine’s Day!

That being said…here at Salon Tracker we’ve gathered the facts, scorned the heart break and unravelled the greatest gifts of 2014 for you to advertise in your salon,  treat your own beau or to just treat yourself!

Happy Valentine’s Day xxx

•  Offer ‘special’ promotions for the day. The majority of salon go-ers are women so it is important to highlight love packages that couples can enjoy together to ensure speciality is felt by both parties.

• Make your salon the ultimate love nest! Typically, Valentine’s Day is all about love, so for the sake of one week out of the year….roll out the red carpet, blow up the balloons, dazzle with glittery lights and douse with tasteful champagne and yummy chocolates to show when you do things you do them well. This will help sell the packages and create an aura of comfort and romance for both women and men (…we all know they secretly love gush too!!)

• Promote to the male audience via social activities. A lot of men will be actively searching for treatments around this time for their partner due to it being a typically pleasing gift. The problem is there are so many salons and therefore so many choices, so, where to choose? Promoting through gyms, local football clubs, restaurants are all great places to leave contact cards and offers as these are places men will feel at ease to call and book, they will wait for a reach out so make sure your salon is doing exactly that!

• Social Media is also a great way to not only promote offers but to market to those who might not have known about your salon. Competitions are a great example so why not think about conducting a competition on your Facebook or Twitter page on the condition that they have to like and share your page. Get clients to direct message you pictures and stories explaining why their significant other deserves a Valentine’s makeover. The stories can be funny, special or romantic but the best one wins and gets published on your site.

•  SMS marketing with Salon Tracker. If you aren’t already with us, why not? Salon Tracker has some brilliant features such as advanced marketing techniques with the ability to send texts or emails to those in between certain age groups or even highlighting your most loyal customers or likely to come in at a weekend or weekday, use it to your best ability and target those customers who you think might want lavishing this Valentine’s Day. This can be through different techniques and doesn’t have to just be promoting couples packages! Remember not to single (excuse the pun) people out.

• Join Forces with the local florist… because we all know women love flowers!

• Single and sexy! Of course Valentine’s Day is generally appealing to those with partners or dating, however, why not attempt to target the singles. Some people use Valentine’s as an excuse to go out and celebrate their singlehood or to try and meet a partner why not offer some daring and luscious makeovers or TLC at the salon. Design something for those who aren’t romantically involved. Maybe run a “Sexy and Single” or “Single and Fabulous” night, where the ladies can enjoy a pamper evening of facials, champagne, manicures etc. Emphasise the fun aspect of the day rather than the romantic side. Who says Valentine’s Day is for couples only?

• Competition time! With every customer in the door in the week running up to V-Day, it might be an idea to put them into a competition to win a meal courtesy of your salon or a treatment package tailored to their needs with added goodies or chocolates. This is also a great way to establish rapport with clients and ensure loyalty. If you run the competition on Social Media it might make people come in for a ‘convenient eyebrow wax’ or ‘touch up of the hair cut (from last week). After all, every customer is eligible.

Whatever you get up to, working or celebrating…remember all you need is L.O.V.E