5 Branding Tips for Successful Salon Owners
The salon business is one of the longest surviving in history. It has transcended the ages and remains an essential industry in society regardless of class, location, or season.
According to SBDCNet, there are around 80,000 hair care establishments in the United States of America alone.
Also, Statista estimates that the beauty salon industry was worth just under $66 billion in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The salon business is an important facet of society and a venture worth getting into.
But the industry is saturated with other hard-working businesses trying to distinguish themselves. That can make it hard for a fresh face to stand out from other well-known hair salons. However, it’s not an impossible feat.
Read on as we walk you through some effective branding strategies that could help your business flourish.
What Is Salon Branding?
Salon Branding is the process of creating a unique identity for your salon business. Such identity sets you apart from your competitors in the industry.
The salon industry is saturated, and it is crucial to stand out if you want your salon to be successful. A salon can satisfy various needs, from beauty to hair. As such, it is vital to communicate the purpose of your salon when thinking of a brand.
Branding in the salon industry also makes it possible to spread the word about your business effectively. Likewise, having a name for your salon also facilitates better advertisement.
Make sure to keep the following tips in mind as you begin the branding journey:
1. Identify Your Target Audience
A successful business begins and ends with the customer. Your end consumer is the most critical link in the chain. Before creating your brand, you need to identify the people you aim to push your business to.
Some factors determine your target demographic, the most important one being your location. What kind of people often walk past your store? If your business also has an online presence, it may not be as restricted by location. Nevertheless, it is still essential to identify your core customer base.
Once you have identified your target demographic, you will better understand what they are looking for in a salon brand. You can achieve this by creating profiles for customers that fit the criteria and pitching a brand to them in a simulation of sorts.
The goal of such an exercise is to fit your brand to your customer. It’s easier to draw people in by giving them what they are looking for instead of hoping they grow accustomed to what you are offering.
2. Tell a Story With Your Brand
This is an effective strategy used to capture the minds of an audience. It involves structuring your brand media and marketing strategies around a story. The point of this aspect of branding is to breathe life into your brand identity. You end up giving your salon business a personality that your customer base finds endearing and relatable.
You can achieve this effect by paying attention to some key aspects of your brand. For example, you want to pay attention to your use of color, font choice, and use of shapes, to mention but a few. So, let’s discuss these three aspects.
- Color: Studies have shown that colors have psychological effects on the human mind. Following that train of thought, nothing sets the tone better for your salon than choosing a suitable color scheme. Not only will it directly affect the productivity of your employees, but it will also affect the willingness of customers to visit your store.
- Font Choice: It may sound silly, but the font you use with your branding affects your customer base. You can observe this in leading brands around the world. Make sure you understand the effect different font styles have on your customer demographic before choosing one to represent your brand.
- Shapes: This mainly affects your logo creation. It would be best if you considered how people perceive different shape combinations and choose the final product that will appeal to your target customer base.
3. Create A Unique Experience With The Products You Use
The salon experience goes beyond haircare. Customers remember the details of their time with you, from the conversations to the atmosphere and right down to the products you use on them. So you want to create a soothing experience that will have them coming back for more.
The best way to achieve that is to establish brand loyalty as early as possible. There are hundreds of hair products out there, but not all of them can fit what you are trying to communicate with your brand. Sifting through these products can be a hassle, but platforms like WiseBarber review popular products to help make your choice easier.
Do not rush a decision because nothing is more important than the customer’s experience. Word is bound to spread by mouth, and you want them to be singing your praise.
4. Identify Your Competitive Edge
We have emphasized how saturated the industry is many times in this article. That is so you understand how important it is for your salon’s brand to stand out. You need to give your customer base a reason to come to you instead of the thousands of alternatives. As such, it is crucial to identify what you can offer that other salons cannot.
Why should someone cut their hair at your salon instead of my usual place? What makes your salon different from the ten or so other salons in the area? Customers may not outrightly say this, but you can be sure they are thinking it. An excellent answer to this question is to offer a unique service.
Some salon business owners accomplish this by expanding the range of services their salons offer. That’s why you often see beauty salons that do everything from hair to nails. Why leave your home simply to cut your hair when you can have a beauty day and feel great all over after a day at your favorite salon?
In the same vein, try and come up with something different that could make the trip down to your salon worthwhile. For example, it could be something unique to your salon’s location or exclusive access to a famous brand. Always leave your customers wanting more.
5. Establish An Online Presence
We live in the technological age where almost everything is online. With the amount of daily traffic online, you can understand why establishing a brand presence on the internet is essential to the growth of every business. It can be tempting to rush right into establishing your brand online, but you need to be careful.
A mistake many brands make is not taking the time to understand the online landscape before launching a campaign. The internet operates under its own set of rules, and rushing into online marketing blindly could come back to bite you.
As such, you should keep the following in mind before putting your salon brand out there for the whole world to see.
Know Where to Make an Appearance
Think of the internet as a city. The different parts of town follow a general theme, such as the business district or the residential area. The last thing you would want is to advertise or make an appearance on a website or platform that has nothing to do with your brand.
That is why you need to research before creating an online presence for your brand. First, determine the best place with traffic that fits your target customer base.
Make Sure Your Website Properly Represents Your Brand
If you decide to create a platform for your salon business online, make sure the website radiates the same energy your business does.
The effort that goes into launching your website shouldn’t be any less than that of your business. The goal is to create a memorable online experience for your customer base. Also keep in mind that online marketing ensures steady growth in your business if you do it right.
Wanting to start your own salon business is a noble pursuit, but it is worth doing well. So make sure to pay attention to the points mentioned in this article.
You may find the task ahead of you daunting, and that is okay. But, thankfully, you do not need to start this journey alone. Aside from the tips highlighted in this post, there are many more successful rebranding strategies that you could benefit from.