SMS Marketing for salons tips!

Ok, so we know we’ve done a few SMS marketing blogs, but what we haven’t done is a blog on how to reinvent your salons SMS marketing.The reason why we have chosen now to discuss this topic is because it's absolutely imperative to have a business plan for the winter months over Christmas and New Year. For the salon industry, we tend to have a spike over the celebratory period and then a huge drop into the New Year. Your marketing plan should ensure you are prepared for the quiet spell but also encourage a more stable and positive movement into January.

Even though we do offer a competitive rate in comparison to most salon software providers, we can be in agreement that if SMS marketing has no real aim then it can be extremely expensive and slightly annoying from a customer’s point of view. So below we have listed some ways of how SMS marketing can help you and instances it should be used in. We hope you enjoy the read.

Filtering is the most important part of your marketing campaign. The reason for this is because you can measure your spend much more effectively, which is essentially what you need to calculate your return on investment (ROI). Sending texts of offers out to bulk clients is an absolute no-no and is in most cases, a waste of money. You need to ensure your customer has expressed interest first of all and secondly, deserves the discount you are offering.

Another valid point to make is that you are invading your customers space by marketing to their device. Text marketing is not used by everyone which means you need to make it personal, compelling, relevant and to the point or unfortunately, your number will most likely be blocked.

Reminder SMS- Reminding your customer that they have an appointment is a great way to reduce no shows. You can use the usual time of 48 hours in advance but sometimes it’s best to offer a few more days’ notice.

Birthday Offers- Who doesn’t want to look glam for their birthday?  Sending birthday offers for the birth month of your client is a great way to personalise your service to the client as an individual. It makes them feel special and shows your salon is up to date with their information, making them more inclined to visit you.

Salon Events or Offers- Have a big offer you would like to market to special individuals?  Use your filter system to filter out any responsive clients who you think really deserve the offer and you’re on to a winner. The key with this is to ensure texts are kept as to the point as possible but still professional and also, timing. Offers should be sent with the appearance of limited availability.

Fill last minute cancelled slots with a text message. Even if you have to discount the treatment by 50% you are making more than you would have done by accepting defeat on the cancelled appointment.

It’s a great way to ensure some personality to your brand. You can communicate with your customers and show them what you can offer them that their competitors can’t. Baring this in mind, you need to be sure that you are putting across the right brand impression.

What’s great about Salon Tracker’s marketing suite is that all of your pre designed campaigns are all personalised with your salon details, so, name, details of the offer and a call to action (usually the salon number or online booking link). It seems like such a simple thing but you need to include brand awareness on your text.