Holiday Marketing Ho Ho Ho



     The holidays are a time of tremendous opportuity in every salon business. Making your salon a one stop gift giving shop can have your business booming November through December. Clients are rushing around trying to pick out the perfect gifts for family, friends, relatives and co-workers. One sure fire way to get their attention is through targeted holiday marketing. One strategy? Create wish lists out of a simple word document. I will post example text at the end of this post. Offer them to each and every client that walks your doors these next few weeks. Offer to make their holiday shopping one stop, stress free by giving everyone on their list the gift of beauty. Have tabletalkers and posters strategically placed throughout the salon offering gift cards. Have reminders on your stations to make sure they have extra gift cards on hand for the unexpected guests that you don’t want to wind up leaving empty handed. Ramp up your retail efforts with special holiday items. Pre-Package $10 15 25 and 50 dollar grab and go gifts. Have them wrapped up in a beautiful basket or gift bag and keep them up front by the cash/reception area. These are impulse purchases, much like other area retailers. How may things have you bought that caught your eye when you were done shopping?

     Get creative with your holiday retail. Like Cream and Coffee gift sets that maybe have a few packets of Starbucks VIA ready brew and a hand cream. Or maybe cream and sugar with a hand cream and body sugar packaged with a nice fluffy from the dollar store. Or a holiday trimming gift set that has toenail clippers with a gift card for a pedicure. Or maybe a sugar and spice gift set with a body sugar and apple cider milingspice packets? Packaging a retail item like a foot cream with a pedicure is always nice so they have a little something extra top open up in addition to the gift card. Offer to make up Spaliday gift baskets with personalized content. Maybe they have a new daughter-in-law with a favorite scent. You can be a resource for all their holiday shopping so they can spend the rest of their free time getting services at your salon. Don’t forget gift cards. I always went big at the holidays. I didn’t bother discounting small gift cards,think about it, they sell themselves. Quit feeling guilty amd worrying about their money. I swear sometimes we worry about their money more than they do. Quit operating in scarcity mode and start operating in abundance mode. It makes all the difference. Think bigger like 500 gift cards that have 575 dollar value. Or a thousand dollar gift card that has a 1200 dollar value. The highest I sold was a 2000 dollar gift card with a 2500 dollar value. Think big and you will reap the benefits of a prosperous holiday season!

My Holiday Wish List

Let us take the stress out of Holiday shopping for your loved ones! Give us your name, Santa’s name, the best way to get in touch with Santa and what you want for this Holiday Season. Then leave the rest to us! We will contact your Secret Santa and let them know what you want, gift-wrap it and hand deliver it to them the week before Christmas. It’s a win/win for both of you. You get what you want and they know you’re going to like what you get.

Your Name _______________________________ Today’s date ________________Email___________________________

Cell # __________________________ Work # _______________________________Home # _________________________

My Secret Santa’s are: (list anyone here that is going to buy you a gift this season)

((The wish list wouldn't print in a second column and printed at the end. It should be right next to the Contact info. Print 2 or 3 contacts per sheet))

1. Santa’s Name_________________________________
Best place to contact Santa _____________________
Cell # _______________________________________
Work # ______________________________________
Home #______________________________________
Email _______________________________________
Santa’s relation to you, or message to Santa: _____
_____________________________________________


Wish List: ________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________

The Giving Tree

Todays marketing tip is about giving back to your clientele. To quote St Francis “For it is in giving that we receive. “

     So many days we are the recipients of our clients love and money, this holiday is a wonderful opportunity to give back and share the love. Every year in my salon I put up “The Giving Tree”. I decorate a small tree with cute little pre-decorated ring boxes I find on line at nilecorp.com and inside I tuck a gift for my clients. Where the ring would go I fold a little paper that has a salon discount on it. I use a word document and print several types of discounts for my clients. Understand though I don’t just pick any gift. I strategically focus on upsells and add on services. I write things like Free upgrade to a spa manicure, or pedicure. Free paraffin dip. 15% off Spa manicure. 15% off anti-aging hand treatment. I offer the opportunity for my clients to experience an upgrade on their normal services because let’s face it. If they never experience the upgrade they really can’t understand the benefit. Once they experience the upgrade they will forever know what they are missing. This small gesture gives them the opportunity to see feel, smell and even taste the difference. Many of my spa treatments come with a complimentary beverage or treat. Peppermint patties and peppermint tea accompanies my Peppermint pedicure. Chocolate cherry hot coco comes with my Chocolate covered cherry pedi. Pumpkin spice tea comes with my pumpkin pedi, you get the drift.

     So the next time you ask them if they want to upgrade their service with your latest spa service they are more likely to say yes in order to get the spa experience. I also add in gift certificate specials like get a free 10 dollar gift card with every 50 dollar gift card purchase. Free gift, like a sample solor oil and travel hand cream. I do add a few 50% off retail purchases just for the excitement. Think about what it is you are trying to promote in your salon and make it a little easier for your clients to purchase and experience. The giving tree is up all season until January 1 but the special gifts have a very limited time line, usually from Jan1 to end of February or March. Just enough time to get through a few quiet months while promoting your best services. Everyone that visits the salon, even those just buying gift certificates are encouraged to take a gift off the tree. With these next few weeks we will see many more customers treating themselves for a special holiday party or just because. Don’t miss the opportunity to give back and say thank you for your loyalty and your business. I never forget for one moment without them there is no me.