Top 10 Ways To Get More Clients In Your Beauty Salon

Has your beauty salon been a little quiet recently? Or perhaps you simply want to start extending your client base.

Either way, it can be difficult to know how to get more clients in your beauty salon. So, we’ve broken down some ways to gain new customers to get you inspired.

You’ll definitely want to stick around to the end, as we’re offering a Free Digital Review of your beauty salon business.

1. Leverage your existing clients

Before you begin broadening your horizons, it is integral to make sure that things are already running smoothly with your existing clients. After all, they are your walking, talking social proof!

• Create an exceptional experience for your existing clients

First things first, are your existing clients receiving cream of the crop beauty services? Do they get an unmatched experience? Do your staff go above and beyond to make your clients happy? Are they getting value for money?

These are all things which are important to your existing clients, and therefore should be important to you.

If these expectations aren’t being met, you might be able to tell by an increase in:

• One time customers
• Negative reviews
• Complaints

Whilst it can crush you as a business owner to face these things, it is crucial to use them as learning points. The only way is up! 

• Ask your clients to leave reviews

Once you have ensured that your beauty salon is operating smoothly, it’s time to start gathering reviews.

79% of people say that they trust online reviews just as much as personal recommendations. So, whilst word of mouth is bound to get you a few extra clients, collating those 5 star reviews will extend your reach to anyone who stumbles upon your salon.

You can get the ball rolling by asking your regular clients to leave a review. However, if you want to take things a step further, you can incentivise clients by offering them a discount or reward for leaving feedback.

• Start a referral scheme

Referral schemes are an excellent way to gain new clients whilst rewarding your existing clients. It’s a win-win!

An example of a referral scheme could be: bring a friend or family member to your next appointment, and you’ll both receive 10% off.

2. Create a consistent brand identity

If you’re wondering how to get more clients in your beauty salon, creating a strong, consistent brand identity is going to elevate all of your marketing efforts and make your business more memorable.

• Consider your USPs

Firstly, what are your unique selling points? Perhaps you use eco-friendly products, or have gender neutral pricing.

Whatever makes your beauty salon stand out, you’ll need to establish these key points. Why? By having a few unique selling points up your sleeve, you’ll be able to grasp the attention of your target market effortlessly.

• Consider your tone of voice

Tone of voice describes how your brand communicates with your target audience. It might express your brand’s personality whilst falling inline with your values.

Having consistency here will ensure that your audience hears the same voice, no matter what channel they are interacting with you on. But most importantly, a consistent tone establishes trust with your audience.

• Consider your brand colours, typography, etc

Finally, you’ll need to ensure that your branding is visually consistent.

When you stick to the same colour palettes and fonts, your potential customers will begin recognising you instantly, without having to read any content. In fact, consistent colours increase brand recognition by 80%.

3. Invest in a high quality website that converts

A website is almost like a virtual copy of your business. Therefore, there are a lot of things to consider when perfecting your beauty salon website.

• User friendly design

First and foremost, your website should be usable. Whilst the content itself might be amazing, there’s no use to this if your customers can’t find what they’re looking for.

There are a few things which make a website user friendly, including:

• Fast website loading speed
• Easy to navigate to the pages you are looking for
• Mobile friendly
• Accessible to all users
• Easy to scan (and find that all-important booking button)

And so much more! To put your website to the test, ask someone who has not visited the website before to give you feedback. You might set them tasks, such as “find how to book an appointment”.

• Visually appealing and polished

It is always more important to have a website that is user friendly than attractive. However, your customers are likely clicking on countless websites a day, so there is no harm in wowing them with a memorable design.

Keep your branding in mind when it comes to designing your site. It should have plenty of white space to ensure the layout is not cluttered, and messaging is able to shine through. You should also be sure to use high quality images, that are ideally your own.

Don’t forget to also review the design across all devices, the most important being mobile, since the majority of your users will browse your site on their phone.

• Optimised for search engines

What’s the point of a website that nobody can find? Optimising your website for search engines will ensure that your salon is easily discoverable.

The main way to optimise your website is using keywords. Every page should be targeting at least one keyword, for example “beauty salon London”. So, for those who do not yet know that your business exists, they can find you via organic search.

4. Establish an online presence through social media

When it comes to getting new clients in your beauty salon, we all know the power of social media. However, it takes more than posting a few photos to start gaining new clients. It fundamentally comes down to how you use social media.

• Get on platforms that your target audience use

Imagine you are in a building and are about to promote your services to potential clients, who you know are on the third floor. Would you still go and pitch to the people on the first and second floor?

Of course not!

The same applies to social media. If your salon targets 35-44 year olds, the chances are that they are not going to be on social media platforms such as TikTok. So, don’t waste your valuable time trying to promote to people who aren’t even there.

Instead, ensure that you are on all the socials your target audience are using. The most common for beauty salons is Instagram and Facebook.

• Create the right content

Depending on the social platform, you’ll want to create the right content. For example, Instagram favours video content, whereas Twitter favours photos and links.

However, it can sometimes hold you back to just think about the type of content you are posting. It is more important to keep your social content unique and relevant to your business.

With that being said, don’t just go around advertising your business in every post. Think about what your target audience wants to see. This could be educational content, such as how to look after acrylic nails, or humorous content, for example your team dancing to a Tik Tok trend.

By varying your content, you will show your audience that you are a trustworthy business with personality.

5. Set up and optimise your GMB profile

If you haven’t claimed your business on Google My Business, this might be why your customers can’t find you. Read our previous blog on how to set up your GMB profile here.

• Include key business information

When you begin optimising your GMB profile, the first thing you should do is ensure that all your important business information is displayed. This could be anything from opening hours to accessibility.

If you have your information readily available on your profile, potential clients will make a faster and more informed decision about whether they want to book with you.

Be sure to keep this updated, since it could cost you a negative review, for example if a customer turned up thinking your salon was open but your hours had changed.

• Regularly post images and updates

Another great feature of Google My Business is being able to display images and create posts.

In the images section of your profile, upload high quality photos of your salon and your work. We recommend updating this once a week to keep your profile fresh.

You can also add business updates, which look similar to social media posts. Here, you might post important business updates or share the latest news about your salon.

• Respond to reviews

Google My Business is an excellent place for your customers to leave reviews. However, it can give a bad impression on your audience if reviews are left unanswered, especially negative ones.

Take the time each week to respond to positive reviews, thanking your customers for their time. If you receive a negative review – don’t panic! The best thing to do is respond to the review publicly, letting the customer know that you will set things right for them.

6. Run paid adverts

Whilst SEO is a long-term project, when you want to get new clients in your beauty salon quickly, paid ads are the way to go. When you run pay-per-click adverts, you can not only reach your target audience, but you can also strategically target relevant customers who are already searching for your services.

• Google Ads

The first channel you can run paid ads on is Google Ads. These are displayed at the top of Google’s search results. To see for yourself, open a new tab and type “beauty salon” into the search bar. The first result likely has “ad” next to it, indicating that it is a Google ad.

There are many paths you can take when it comes to Google Ads. You can run text ads to gain new clients via the search results as we have discussed, or remarket to those who have already been interested in your business through banner ads.

But overall, when executed correctly, running Google Ads is a seriously great way to drive relevant traffic to your website.

• Facebook Ads

You can also run paid social media adverts. The most common social platform of choice is Facebook, since it is renowned for its large user base.

When you run paid promotions on Facebook, your ads are also placed on Instagram.

Not only will you benefit from a variety of placements and on-point targeting, but you can experiment with different ad types, from video ads to carousels and everything in between.

7. Create unique, useful content

In the marketing world, you often hear “content is king” and, when done right, it definitely can be. Your content should be both unique and useful for your audience. Here are some content ideas to get the ball rolling:

• Post blog articles

You might be here because you typed in something like “how to get more clients in your beauty salon”. The very fact that you’re reading this blog article right now shows you the sheer power of blogging.

When you create blogs based on relevant keywords, it can drive relevant traffic to your salon website. They also give you the chance to show potential customers your beauty expertise.

Although not everyone may book an appointment straight away, if your content was great, then they will be more likely to remember your business when they next come across you.

So, after reading this blog, if you’re not currently thinking about teaming up with a marketing agency, we’re certain that you’ll remember Green Shoot Marketing as a trustworthy business who knows what they’re talking about!

• YouTube videos

YouTube videos are another great way to reach a wider audience by creating content around topics which are relevant to your salon.

For example, you might create a tutorial of how to strengthen your natural nails. In the video, you can promote your salon subtly by talking about your services and relating them back to the topic.

• TikTok videos

TikTok is a great way to post short-form video content. The best thing about this social platform is that anyone can go viral!

Generally, you can follow popular trends and have a good chance of gaining a lot of views. TikTok also heavily favours humorous content, so feel free to show the lighter side of your business on this platform.

Some video ideas could include makeup transformations, tour of the salon or “pick your favourite nails” where you show your best work and encourage viewers to comment.

8. Ensure you have a convenient booking system

The easier it is for a potential client to book, the more likely they are going to do it! If you want to know how to get more clients in your beauty salon, having a clear and convenient booking system is the way to go.

• Book online

70% of people say that they would choose to book online if a variety of booking options were available. So, having an online booking system should be your first priority when considering how you will take bookings.

However, if you are going to do it, do it right! There is nothing more frustrating than a booking system which is hard to use or simply doesn’t work at all. Ensure that customers can book all your available services, and that they receive a confirmation notification once they have successfully booked to avoid confusion.

• Call the salon

Although most people prefer to book online at a beauty salon, this should not be the only option available. If a potential client wants to discuss which service might be right for them, they should be able to call your salon and book on the phone.

If you neglect phone calls because you have an online booking system in place, you are most likely going to lose out on a lot of customers.

• Book via social media

Although it might be a big commitment, allowing booking through social media could help you gain more clients in your salon.

Consumers, nowadays, expect businesses to have a sales aspect to their social media pages. They want to be able to ask questions, or even book an appointment through your social media direct messages.

But to take it a step further, 40% of consumers expect brands to respond within the first hour of reaching out via social media. So, if you’re going to start taking bookings through social media, there should be someone managing this at all times to ensure you do not miss any new clients.

9. Collaborate with local businesses

Another great way to get more clients in your beauty salon is to collaborate with other local businesses. Of course, we do not mean your competition. Instead, find a local business who might have a similar target audience, or who share the same values.

For example, you might find a local hair salon that uses eco-friendly products like you do.

There are many ways that you can collaborate, including:

• Sharing each others flyers
• Shouting each other out on social media
• Referrals: their customers get 10% off when they visit your salon for the first time, and vice versa

10. Monitor your results and adapt

The reality of marketing a business is: not everything works for everyone. You might find that one thing has worked exceptionally well for another salon, but you don’t seem to be getting the same results.

But how will you know if something is or is not working?

You monitor your campaigns!

If you aren’t tracking the success of your efforts, then you could end up wasting your time and resources on something that isn’t giving you a return on your investment. When you run a campaign, keep track of the results and adapt if things aren’t working out.

Summary: How to get more clients in your beauty salon

1. Leverage your existing clients
2. Create a consistent brand identity
3. Invest in a high quality website that converts
4. Establish an online presence through social media
5. Set up and optimise your GMB profile
6. Run paid adverts
7. Create unique, useful content
8. Ensure you have a convenient booking system
9. Collaborate with local businesses
10. Monitor your results and adapt

Get a Free Digital Review of your beauty salon

Do you have the time and resources to implement a strong marketing strategy for your salon business? At Green Shoot Marketing, we are experts at making your salon sparkle across all digital marketing channels.

To give you a helping hand, we’re offering a Free Digital Review of your salon business – no strings attached. You can request your review below.

Request a Free Digital Review Here

Got any questions? Feel free to get in touch with us, we’re always happy to help!