Every good salon business needs a good salon marketing plan – that is a fact! Following the right marketing plan will dramatically improve the success of your salon and will help you reach new customers and retain your existing ones. If you are looking to expand your salon business and learn how to create the perfect marketing plan template, step-by-step, then keep on reading.
1st step – Budget
Before you begin your salon marketing plan through setting any business objectives or crafting tactics to target your potential customers, you need to be aware and realistic about your salon’s budget. Calculating a budget to match your business aspiration realistically is more tricky than it seems. In order to tackle this task, it is better to split your budget plan in two:
- Long-term goals - choose a long-term timeframe and aim to calculate the value, cash flow, potential expenses, and so on. The next step is to make a decision on what level of your business you need to aspire to achieve to get the desired budget outcome.
- Short-term or growth goals – once you’ve got your long-term goals settled, you can backwards-engineer them into little short-term goals which eventually lead to your long-term goals achievement.
Now it’s time to get some figures onto paper. Your marketing plan template should consist of detailed action plan and budget which consider every element of your franchise marketing structure. These figures must be regularly consulted and their results should be measured.
2nd step – Current Business Analysis
What’s a marketing plan template without an analysis of the current condition of your salon business? In order to do that, you need to include in your salon marketing plan a brief history of your business achievements as well as any obstacles you had to tackle. When performing Current Business Analysis, do not forget that you need to include:
- Salon name, starting date, and structure of the business
- Your salon mission and values
- Services or products that your company offers
- An evaluation of the current financial state of your salon business
- Any reoccurring issues which your business has encountered
3rd step – Creating Your Salon Marketing Objectives
A key point in this step is to be specific. The more specific your objectives are, the easier you will achieve them. Is it the brand awareness that your salon needs? Are you successful in getting new customers, but you fail to retain them? Set yourself measurable objectives, such as a specific increased sales figure. If your salon marketing plan objectives are not measurable, then you can’t be sure whether you have achieved them at all.
PDF Topic: "The Best Salon Marketing Plan Template"
4th step - Creating Your ‘Buyer Personas’
Every salon marketing plan needs a correctly identified target audience. Rarely ever in salon businesses do you need to target a mass audience, what you do need, in fact, is a segmented audience. The more segmented the audience, the more you know about it, the easier it is to craft a salon marketing strategy which will successfully appeal to them.
Creating perspective buyer personas will help you understand your target market in-depth, will let you visualize who you are selling services to, what their desires and needs are and most importantly how your salon marketing plan can meet them. Consider where they live, demographics, even what type of magazines they read or what type of coffee they might drink so that you can make sure that your salon accommodates to their specifics.
And remember, you are fishing for very specific fish, not just every fish in the sea.
5th step – Time Your Salon Sales Marketing Plan
Timing is vital! As you are probably already familiar, there are certain times of the year where business is running dry- the run-up to Christmas is one example. People are busy, looking to save money for Christmas presents and celebrations, and that, as a result, hits your sales. However, post-New Year is a salon franchise prime time, following the “New Year's Resolution effect”. Considering the given examples, try to decide – what time period is most suitable for my franchise to start giving promotional discounts to encourage customer loyalty, for example. Or choose a time-slot to start putting your salon marketing objectives in practice.
6th step– Set a Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Another essential part of any marketing plan template is setting a unique selling point for your salon business. This step is crucial, as it helps your salon brand differentiate from your franchise competitors. Even if it’s just a simple slogan, creating a unique and brand-fitting selling proposition guarantees to achieve higher brand awareness and recognition and has higher potential to resonate with customers, as well as entice loyalty. Consider, for example, L’Oreal’s slogan – “Because you are worth it!”, it brands the company’s products as a ‘treat’ for the customers, while also encouraging them to use it by giving them a reason – “because you’re worth it!”
7th Step – Salon Marketing Plan Summary
Once you are done with all of the previous steps, reevaluate your plan and make sure that you have covered every point. If your plan is extensive, a good tip is to create a brief salon marketing plan summary as a quick-reference tool, for those days when you need some reminding. Having a good and short summary will also be helpful in pinpointing important issues and elements that you need to measure.
PDF Topic: "The Best Salon Marketing Plan Template"
