Ideas to make beauty salon busy

beautyb

Hi, Ive recently opened a Beauty salon in Dublin 7. Its very quiet and I'm starting to worry.Is it normal to be this quiet to start? Last week it was quite busy but most of people where known to me.. I would like some ideas how to get the business to be more busy. I advertise with google and facebook.. i use social media to its fullest but still not very rewarding. Ive had an opening day which wasn't crazy busy but still pulled a few people. Any suggestions would be appreciated

uck51js9zml2yt

How long are you open?
Have you a website?
Did you have a marketing plan when setting up?
In your business plan how did you intend to develop your business.
In the short-term maybe try flyers in local shops and supermarkets.

beautyb

only 2 weeks opened, yes i have a website and marketing plan and all that but seems its not working to well. I have to try leave leaflets around the area as i only left flyers for the opening day.

messrs

Have you flyers? Maybe drop some into local Weightwatchers/slimming world classes.
try to get lots of shares on FB - maybe suggest a competition, when you receive X number of likes you will do a draw for everyone that shared your page
would you consider advertising on Groupon or Living Social or one of them - just run some deals to get people going to you
Any schools around you - maybe drop in leaflets offering Debs packages (altho that season is prob over)
what about offices - hand out leaflets offering Christmas party packages

uck51js9zml2yt

beautyb wrote: »

only 2 weeks opened, yes i have a website and marketing plan and all that but seems its not working to well. I have to try leave leaflets around the area as i only left flyers for the opening day.

Just be careful with flyers, they have a "crumple zone"
I've found people tend to bin them, a card on the other hand goes into the wallet or purse.

Schools are back and peoples spare cash is gone on that. Avoid Groupon etc as they don't generally make for repeat customers.

Also ask a mod to move this to entrepreneurial and business management forum. You'll get better replies.
Where in D7 are you? I'm not sure if a mod will allow you to mention the name of the salon as it may be seen as spamming.

You're only open a few weeks and you need to be drumming up business. It won't walk in the door.
Maybe advertise in the local credit union notice board or parish magazine.
I know Christ the king church has a magazine.

Turtle_

How about offering a complimentary half hour massage to a couple of businesses in the area and ask them to think of you if their customers are talking/asking about salons and hang a poster for your salon in their window or something?

miamee

Make sure you ask any customers you do get in to review you on Facebook.

Maybe run a competition for a free treatment for everyone who checks in on Facebook for the next 2 weeks or something (their friends will see the check in on FB).

Also as others have said, get out and about in the local area and tell everyone that you are there. If there is a local newspaper (like Northside People or something) see if you can advertise in that or run a competition. People will come if they know that you are there, but you need to tell them and then make sure that they tell their friends until you have built up a few regulars. Make use of your friends and family if you are from the area and get them in for a 'tester' to try out your services and then tell everyone they know. If you are giving free treatments though only choose the people you know will tell lots of other people - be strict, no pojt giving freebies if you get nothing in return

Kurumba

I was in my local salon the other day and the girl working there said that they have waxing wednesdays where all waxing is half price. She said people travel from the length and breath of Dublin to go there. It's a huge success.
Might be a good way to build a customer base. Also run a competition on facebook, 2 free treatments of choice, just like and share etc.

I think special offers to start off with would be the way to go, i know i'm always on the lookout for good offers and if i like somewhere i always go back.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

It's word of mouth that's your best advertisement. The amount of people who tell us that they read our reviews on Facebook, gets a lot of people in who might not have tried us without it.

Colleges, word tends to spread like wildfire, we started out with one girl from a local university who told her friends, who told their sisters, who told their friends and honestly that 1 student brought in so much business.

Long days. Hard work. Staying til late if you need to. September in beauty salons always tend to be a quiet month in salons anyway.

Don't give away anything for free. People seem to think there's a reason it's free. Don't undervalue yourself. You could advertise vouchers such as buy a 15 euro voucher for 10 euro. That way, people will still have to add some money towards it for a treatment.

waterfordgirl

Im living in dublin 7 - could you pm me your website? Im always on the lookout for somewhere new!

cactusgal

waterfordgirl wrote: »

Im living in dublin 7 - could you pm me your website? Im always on the lookout for somewhere new!

Me too, please pm me, thanks!

SATSUMA

Im in the area too you can PM me your website if you want.

I only go to salons that offer the best deals. For example i can get a shellac done for €15 and €20 both places aren't that fancy but they do a good job. Its all about prices if you want people to come, and stay.

So... a new salon wouldn't attract me unless there were offers on in the first instance/ or a decent price range. So i think advertising through facebook is the best way. You need really good offers at the beginning and word will spread.

I don't know where you are in D7 but don't forget Blackhall place, the trainee solicitors are there now for 9 months so if you were going to drop flyers that would be worth it! Just stand outside and hand them out to people going in!

best of luck

cactusgal

Definitely agree with the above poster, it's all about price for me, and of course good service. Also late opening hours. There are several salons very near me, but I don't go to them as I consider their prices too high. I happily travel to one salon for nails (good prices, open late-ish), one for waxing ( good prices, good service) and one for tan (decent price, open til 10 pm). I am a very loyal customer if prices are good!

miamee

Also actual Facebook ads (not just posts on your page) can be quite effective and inexpensive - it suits the campaign to what you have to spend and you can target it to m/f, age range, location, etc.

Melisandre121

Not sure if this would be viable, but maybe you could set up a stall somewhere in a busy part of town and perform some free treatments and hand out flyers? That would definitely attract attention

uck51js9zml2yt

Melisandre121 wrote: »

Not sure if this would be viable, but maybe you could set up a stall somewhere in a busy part of town and perform some free treatments and hand out flyers? That would definitely attract attention

She would need a casual traders licence to do so....and they aren't cheap.

Sunny Dayz

Op is there a hair salon nearby? If you could chat to them and see if you can leave some flyers with them in exchange for displaying their flyers in your salon. If people are going to a wedding or debs, it's handy to get hair and make up done in places close together.
Also I don't know that area of Dunlin but is there any hotels nearby which don't have a spa? Again some leaflets or cards in reception would be handy for someone on holiday or going to a wedding. Maybe offer a discount to hotel guests?

rougegal

Lots of great suggestions here. I agree that Living Social/Groupon discounts are not worth it - there's little repeat custom and you're devaluing your product/service.
Some other ideas:
Discounted treatments for students (on certain days of the week)
Likewise for over 55s /60s
Mother/Daughter treatment offers.
Lots of salons offer bundle pricing like tan, nails & makeup for a discounted price for all 3. For example, I get a lash tint, brow shape and tint for just 20 euro.
Do you have gift vouchers? These sell well as Xmas & birthday gifts.
Best of luck with your new salon!

beautyb

miamee wrote: »

Make sure you ask any customers you do get in to review you on Facebook.

Maybe run a competition for a free treatment for everyone who checks in on Facebook for the next 2 weeks or something (their friends will see the check in on FB).

Also as others have said, get out and about in the local area and tell everyone that you are there. If there is a local newspaper (like Northside People or something) see if you can advertise in that or run a competition. People will come if they know that you are there, but you need to tell them and then make sure that they tell their friends until you have built up a few regulars. Make use of your friends and family if you are from the area and get them in for a 'tester' to try out your services and then tell everyone they know. If you are giving free treatments though only choose the people you know will tell lots of other people - be strict, no pojt giving freebies if you get nothing in return

The local paper is too expensive and not even that they advertise you somewhere where you dont really get seen due to ppl having permanent spots(the best spots). Im doing facebook competitions at the moment so hopefully that will pick up along all the other advice. Ill pop down to the local credit union. Im just afraid they will say no or look at me weirdly??

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

Get some beauty bloggers in too. I am in the industry too, and the worst thing you can do is under value yourself.

uck51js9zml2yt

beautyb wrote: »

The local paper is too expensive and not even that they advertise you somewhere where you dont really get seen due to ppl having permanent spots(the best spots). Im doing facebook competitions at the moment so hopefully that will pick up along all the other advice. Ill pop down to the local credit union. Im just afraid they will say no or look at me weirdly??

The credit unions generally have a notice board. At least the one in east Cabra does.
Tesco is also a good spot.
Get business cards or flyers done on vistaprint and leave them in local shops. Most will accommodate you.

beautyb

Melisandre121 wrote: »

Not sure if this would be viable, but maybe you could set up a stall somewhere in a busy part of town and perform some free treatments and hand out flyers? That would definitely attract attention

I would try this if only id know where would be good or if they would allow me to try this .. Id need to make sure I have electricity to provide most treatments or without it they would be limited to nails and eyelashes. maybe make-up ..
more info on this would be great

beautyb

Izabella Tasty Metal wrote: »

The credit unions generally have a notice board. At least the one in east Cabra does.
Tesco is also a good spot.
Get business cards or flyers done on vistaprint and leave them in local shops. Most will accommodate you.

I have the cards already so will definitly leave them around

beautyb

LexieOnRale wrote: »

Get some beauty bloggers in too. I am in the industry too, and the worst thing you can do is under value yourself.

Contact them to get a free treatment done ?

beautyb

rougegal wrote: »

Lots of great suggestions here. I agree that Living Social/Groupon discounts are not worth it - there's little repeat custom and you're devaluing your product/service.
Some other ideas:
Discounted treatments for students (on certain days of the week)
Likewise for over 55s /60s
Mother/Daughter treatment offers.
Lots of salons offer bundle pricing like tan, nails & makeup for a discounted price for all 3. For example, I get a lash tint, brow shape and tint for just 20 euro.
Do you have gift vouchers? These sell well as Xmas & birthday gifts.
Best of luck with your new salon!

yes i have gift vouchers, there just not popular now .. hopefully soon

beautyb

Izabella Tasty Metal wrote: »

She would need a casual traders licence to do so....and they aren't cheap.

thought so

uck51js9zml2yt

miamee wrote: »

Also actual Facebook ads (not just posts on your page) can be quite effective and inexpensive - it suits the campaign to what you have to spend and you can target it to m/f, age range, location, etc.

Good idea bit you need to know what you're doing in setting budget, demographics, wording etc.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

beautyb wrote: »

Contact them to get a free treatment done ?

Yes in exchange for a review

messrs

OP if you want to pm me on your details, ill share it on my FB page. Am interested in trying out a new salon aswell

Addle

I know locally, business seems to revolve around tans and nails rather than treatments.
Do you do shellac/gel nails?

beautyb

Addle wrote: »

I know locally, business seems to revolve around tans and nails rather than treatments.
Do you do shellac/gel nails?

yes i do shellac and tan , but not gels, will do soon

Faith

Make sure that both your website and facebook page are well maintained. If I visit a website and the information is out of date, or there are dead links, I'll move on. Make sure your price list, opening hours and location are clearly visible. Similarly, poor grammar and spelling on a Facebook page totally puts me off. I see it as a sign of poor attention to detail and lack of care - two things I don't want from a business! If needs be, ask someone to proofread everything, as it can be easy to miss errors.

Sunny Dayz

Agreed. Keep your facebook page up to date. Make sure to take pictures of your work done, and check with the client if you can put up the pic and tag them in it.
Eg Mary gets her make up done. Salon puts a pic on fb and tags her in it. Mary's friends see her pic of her lovely make up and Emma "like"s it. Pic then shows on Angela's newfeed that Emma likes this pic.
See where this is going...

cactusgal

Also, opening hours. If you can stay open after people finish work, I'd say it would be very busy in the evenings. It can be very hard to find places that are open after work.

Autumn Moon

Hi beautyb! Can you pm me your details please? On the look out for somewhere to get nails done!
Thanks!

fall

Pm me too please. Drop fliers into local school staff rooms. You could get some regulars there.

on_my_oe

My geography isn't the best, but DIT have a campus at Grangegorman, you could try reaching out to them. What about Aughrim Street Credit Union? Also try approaching some of the local doctors surgeries to see if you could leave cards etc?

Xaracatz

I'd third the idea of avoiding Groupon or the like. I've seen it happen a number of times where it may get people in the door, but they don't come back (and I've been guilty of doing this myself - you just end up getting the next Groupon for the next deal in the next place).

Mine isn't as good a suggestion as others, as it may be harder to get it to work, but if you have a lot of experience in your area, you could try submitting a piece (rather than an advert) to local newspapers / radio stations. You could talk about changing trends in beauty. The emergence / popularity of treatments / what is a fad, and what has become a staple and what has fallen by the wayside. Get your name out as somebody who knows about this stuff.

The best of luck! You're still in early days, but you're dead right to be as proactive as possible.

Gee_G

I've recently opened a salon myself(not in Dublin) and I have had huge success with promoting my Facebook page. You can pick who your target audience is, age group, gender, location etc and you can set a daily budget which determines how many people your post reaches. You should set yourself a €10 or €20 budget every week to promote on Facebook.

Also, is there many offices/businesses etc. Around your salon? Why not print up some discount cards and hand them in to all these places and tell them their staff get discount.

fall

Which end of the phibsboro road are you on? Is there parking?

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

To b honest I'd be inclined to say gels are a complete time sink.
If you don't have gels that means you'll need to pay for a course and materials.
Then you practice, and you'll have a speed at the start of approx 2 hours for a set of gels. You can charge what, 50 for gels? I know my lady charges me 40 for mine. That's 25 euro per hour.

In 1 hour you can do
2 shellacs @ 30 euro per set
4 shape and tints @ 20 euro (if not more)
1 refill for eyelashes @ 60 euro

You're losing money.