Android, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, Playbook, with all of these mobile devices, do they have a place in your salon or stylist station? These devices can do more than the traditional mobile texting and phone capabilities, they can do spreadsheet, process credit cards, keep calendars and more. But are you getting the most from your mobile devices in the salon?

Have you began to run your business with your iPhone whether it is one of the latest apps out or for you to make set appointments on the web? Do you think they have a place in the salon? Please add your comments below.

We discussed in an earlier post about how important Branding was important for salons and stylists. When trying to have the lowest prices in town takes over and the quality of your work suffers, the retention of clients will suffer as well. Check out this post from LinkedUp Marketing as the article talks about Creating a Salon Brand. Please leave a comment below.

http://www.linkupmarketing.com/general/creating-a-salon-brand/

It wasn’t too long ago in the salon industry that a simple flyer and a friend referral was enough to sustain a steady flow of clients into your hair salon / spa door. This is what the industry is calling a one way form of communication. Reason is, you send your message out, but no real way of getting any feedback from that message. And as time went on, it was said that you need to have a website as a salon or stylist in order for you to not only legitimize your business, but be available for the millions of users online who ARE looking for your services. Many have taken the leap and surprisingly, there are still a many who have not put up a single webpage with their branded name for people to find.

You still need a website if you don’t already have one. And a Facebook page is not enough because you are limited in the data that you can capture from clients and you are not able to customize it for your specific business. All social media is should be an attachment of your main website. But now, there is a new marketing strategy in town and that is Mobile Marketing. From the statistics on WikiPedia, there are more than 302,947,098 mobile phones among the more than 310,866,000 people in the US. So it’s safe to say that the majority of our population has a mobile phone. And with those mobile phones, the days of just using it to primarily talk is over. With the emergence of the iPhone, BlackBerry, Android phones and others, people are surfing the net, downloading apps, and texting. So now is the time to begin working on not only having a main website, but also creating a mobile enabled website (so that when a mobile user visits, the site is optimized to be viewed properly on their device), looking into getting a branding native mobile app (would it be convenient for your clients to be able to book appts. and keep up with you from your app?), and also look into QR Code (where they can use their bar code scanner to send them to places on the web that you want to take them).

If you thought that just having a website was enough, think again. People carry their phones everywhere they go, now it is your chance to go along with them as well and if they need you, they can easily find you. And don’t forget that the mobile tablets like iPad and the Motorola Xoom are becoming more popular as well. Also, check out more on some of the statistics of mobile uses for searching on mobile phones from Social Media Today.

Salon Marketing Network

We talk a lot on this site on ways to improve your business using the latest and greatest technology online. Through technology like Social Media & Websites, you are able to market your services like never before. But we are beginning to see a new trend come about and the campaigns are off-line and that is the use of QR Codes. What are QR Codes? They are just like barcodes that allow you to scan to get information, but it is this 2 dimensional square with all kinds of crazy boxes and lines. Some of the places I have seen these being used were on mailers like Express for Men, on beverage cases, and even some stores in the mall. All a client has to do is whip out their smart phone, scan the QR Code, and they can be directed to a website or unlock a hidden message.

From SocialMediaExaminer.com:

When you scan or read a QR code with your iPhone, Android or other camera-enabled Smartphone, you can link to digital content on the web; activate a number of phone functions including email, IM and SMS; and connect the mobile device to a web browser.

So imagine the uses this could have for your salon or business? You can create call-to-actions with your business cards or flyers so that you can have clients go to a section of your site. You can use it to provide descriptions for your hair products by allowing clients to scan and seek more information. Here is where you may use QR Codes for your salon business:

The back (or front and back) of your business card.
Your brochures and other marketing materials.
The sides of trucks and trailers.
Product tags and packaging
Convention and event nametags
Restaurant menus
Event ticket stubs
Point-of-sale receipts

As more people begin to purchase and use iPhones, Androids, and other smartphones, you will begin to see the trend of users expecting you to use QR Codes in the salon and your salon business. When you go out or look through your mail, look and see if you have companies already sending you material with QR Codes. We guarantee you will run across at least one.

Here are uses of QR Codes you could think about:

QR Codes could link to:

Installation instructions
Sources for replacement parts and service
Directions to your business
The process for hiring your professional services
Valuable coupons and special offers
Recommendations for complementary products and services
Free mp3 downloads
Customer feedback forms

It wasn’t too long ago that you would visit your local salon and the preferred method of payment was either cash or check. It may be times that your client would want to use a credit or debit card and you would either direct them to the nearest ATM. As time continued on, more salons would begin understanding the importance of providing their clients with a way to accept credit/debit cards by using merchant terminals. But if you have a merchant account or have inquired about one, you know that there are monthly fees and other processing fees that come with using them. It is a necessary evil because you run the risk of losing clients because it is such a hassle for your clients to pay for their services in a limited manner. And when it comes to stylists who are independent and rent a booth, you are on your own in the way you accept payments.

If you are able to afford the monthly’s and fees, then the terminal is the way to go. But if not, in comes a new company that has the merchant businesses scratching their heads and its name is Square. It is probably the simplest way to begin accepting credit card payments and get this, the cost to get started is FREE! As long as you have an Android, iPad, or iPhone, all you need is this FREE card reader and their app and you are ready for business.

Square is a revolutionary service that enables anyone to accept credit cards anywhere. Square offers an easy to use, free credit card reader that plugs into a phone or iPad. It’s simple to sign up. There is no extra equipment, complicated contracts, monthly fees or merchant account required.

So imagine after your client is done, you pull out your iPhone and fire up the Square app, put in the clients bill info and swipe. It’s that easy! The receipt is emailed to the client and it provide geotagging (add the geographical information so that you know and the client knows the location of the card swipe) Begin moving with the latest technology in your salon or your salon business.

Check out the video to learn more about Square:

More Info from Gizmodo

In business, your Brand means everything to the overall outlook of how people think about your business. It is your Brand that makes a person feel confident in conducting business with you freely, be hesitant to do business, or decide to not do business with you at all. Sometimes with salons and even salon professionals, they forget how important their Brand is, and how it is perceived by the rest of the world.

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a “name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers. You want people when your salon name or your name is spoken, to know what your business stands for“. Whether your Brand is a clean environment, friendly and a professional staff, and the highest quality products, you want that message to be spread throughout your client base. Think about the Donald Trump Brand. With his Brand you understand that you will be paying top dollar for staying in any of his hotels. But people are willing to pay top dollar because they know that in return, you will get grade ‘A’ service unlike any other hotel. If your clients know that about your salon, that means that you can afford to charge a more premium price for your services. If you were to poll many of your clients, they are willing to pay extra for a high quality, stress-free, and relaxing experience as oppose to trying to be charged that with a poor a Brand with low to medium quality, stressful, loud, and a non-relaxing environment.

If you have not thought about how your clients see your Brand, you should. About.com talks about Branding and how it affects your business:

To succeed in branding you must understand the needs and wants of your customers and prospects. You do this by integrating your brand strategies through your company at every point of public contact.

Your brand resides within the hearts and minds of customers, clients, and prospects. It is the sum total of their experiences and perceptions, some of which you can influence, and some that you cannot.

A strong brand is invaluable as the battle for customers intensifies day by day. It’s important to spend time investing in researching, defining, and building your brand. After all your brand is the source of a promise to your consumer. It’s a foundational piece in your marketing communication and one you do not want to be without.

Working on your overall Brand should be at the top of your priority list for your salon business because it is the one thing that will define what your business stands for and gives your clients an understanding of what to expect when doing business with you.

Photo Courtesy of The Miami Story (D&L Hair Salon, South Miami)

I can remember back in my days in the salon where I could hear the beautiful music of Kenny G, Anita Baker, Jazz, Easy Listening, and other coffee house type music. The music would be so pleasant and calm until during Kenny’s high note, a skip would occur, then another, and then before you know it, someone was running back to the back to change the CDs or wipe down the CD. This definitely did nothing for the atmosphere which was relaxing to chaos. And after while, you begin to remember ever single song, and every single word. Don’t think for a second that your clients aren’t feeling the same way too. Sure they love coming to get their services, but if they hear one more song they heard the last time they were there, they could scream.

But there is hope for your salon. In comes a plethora of online music sources for whatever genre you choose. Depending on the genre you like for your salon, these online music sites provide you with an infinite loop of music for your taste and the good thing is, most are FREE! Check out some of these online music sources and begin to unlock the power of digital music:

1. Sirius XM [$12.99 per month]

Sirius is a good online source that gives you many channels to choose from that are commercial free. (Spa and Coffee House are good choices) But it does carry a monthly cost.
Desktop – Yes
Mobile Phone – Yes [Android, iPhone, BlackBerry]

2. Pandora [Free or $36 per year]

If you haven’t heard of Pandora, where have you been the last few years? This is one of the most popular sources of online music that not only allows you to listen at your computer, but also keep the music going on your mobile phones. You can choose the Free version, but you will get commercials and you are allowed only a few song skips before you have to wait an hour. It does have a really deep library of music and all you have to do is type in the artist, song, or genre you are looking for and Pandora will take care of the rest by finding songs that relate to the artist, song, or genre.
Desktop – Yes
Mobile Phone – Yes [Android, iPhone, BlackBerry]

3. Slacker [Free or $47.88 per year]

Slacker definitely grew on me as a BlackBerry user and they have since expanded to iPhone and Android. They are very similar to Pandora, but with the premium you not online get unlimited skips, no commercials, but you also get the lyrics of the song (if that is something that you want, but who’s looking at the in the salon). It is a good alternative to Pandora especially if you are using the free versions and you are finished with your skips with Pandora and want to hear something else. Just like Pandora, you can put in a artist, song, or genre. But the cool thing about Slacker is, they have Stations for different genres so you don’t have to create artist stations, they have the songs already there for you under a certain genre station.
Desktop – Yes
Mobile Phone – Yes [Android, iPhone, BlackBerry]

These are just a few to get you started with moving your salon to the digital age in music. Now when your clients come in, they can can severals types of music to listen to while getting their services. Time to let your Salon Music set the tone in your salon again.

We found this article by Lee Fehrenbacher while going “Around the Web” and it talks about Kris Kruse, owner of The Gentry Hair Salon & Shoppe, who talks about the importance of utilizing online media and social media.

“I think as a business you have to go where your customers are, and everybody is on the Internet,” Kruse said. “People are using Facebook and I think the people that don’t takeadvantage of this now, in this climate, are going to get lost.”

Kruse goes on to talk about how she sends out discounts through her Facebook to rev up her client base online:

“I can go to our Facebook page and say, ‘Enter this discount code and get 10 percent off,’” she said. “That will help direct people to our Facebook page.”

The thing we want salons and salon professionals to understand with our site is that the new era in salon marketing and business is upon us and we need to begin making the transition because this business model is not going anywhere anytime soon.  To read the rest of this article, please visit http://wbjtoday.com/blog/hair-salon-20/7316/

Photo Source – The Wenatchee Business Journal

For more thing Around the Web, check out the section.

If you haven’t noticed that in the last 3 years, more and more of your clients are seeking their information online through search engines & social media.  Before the MySpaces, Googles, and Facebooks, you could just place advertisements out there and your clients had no choice but to use those to base their decisions.  As a salon, your best friend was the Yellow Pages to showcase your salon information.  With that being said, as salons and salon professionals, your way to reach those new clients were limited with little to no feedback on whether your campaign was effective or not, which means, you could be throwing money away and not even know it.  But don’t fret, there’s a new marketing game in town.

Now, it is nothing to have your clients spreading information good or bad about you and your services through Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs.  Now by connecting with your current clients through blogs & social media, you have a good chance that someone takes your online coupons, specials, and messages to send them around online.  And you want to know the good thing about having these messages go around?  These messages will remain online forever and ever!  Unlike placing an ad for a month, and after that month it is gone, or once a person reads the paper they toss it along with your nicely designed ad, your digital message about your salon’s “New Hair Products available” or “$5 off Monday Special” will live on.  Ruth Shipley of Social Media Examiner writes a good post “When Consumers Revolt Against Traditional Marketing, What Should You Do?“, where she talks about how traditional marketing is dying and how President Barack Obama changed the rules on campaigning and spreading his message during his 2008 campaign:

Instead of playing by the old rules, he made new rules. He started blogging and he created profiles on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

And we know how this story ended with him becoming our new president.  He didn’t allow tradition to dictate how he would market his message.  He understood that his target was changing and knew that he had to change as well.  Just like Obama, many salon businesses are running off of a shoe string budget and have to get more for their money.  And with this shift in the way consumers operate to marketing, it is a great thing for salons.  She goes on to talk about the attitudes of consumers to traditional adveristing:

Many people have turned their collective backs on traditional advertising and ask their friends and family members for advice instead. They know any ad they see is just a sales pitch. And they probably don’t need whatever is being advertised.

So if you haven’t already, start shifting some of your focus to online.  If you don’t want to blog, find someone in your salon who likes to write and get to blogging.  There are many options out there like WordPress, TypePad, and Blogger.  If you are just a stylist, start our small with posts about what styles you have recently done.  Upload pictures to spruce up your blog.  Don’t forget to add as many ways for your visitors to share the blog posts with their friends.  And if you have not already, begin sending out information via Facebook and Twitter.

Once you begin to get people talking about you, you will begin to watch the amount of traffic to your salon increase and the money that you need to spend to spread those messages will steadily decrease.  Now get to tweeting already, your clients are waiting!

With love in the air, hearts open, and one of the days that most women mark on their calendar as a day that they will be rewarded for their loyalty and love, what are we doing for our clients?  With all of the love being spread around, are we spreading the love to our clients?  I am sure that there will be lots of women and lots of men out there getting ready for their big dates and want to look extra sharp for Monday.  This poses a great opportunity to not only get the regulars in the door, but also the not so regulars.

Have you sent out your newsletter or coupons to your clients encouraging them to come on in before their big evening? If not, you are definitely missing out.  A nice Valentine’s tweet to your clients, “Roses are red, violets are blue. We’ve got $5 off today just 4 U! #love #client” (Make sure to use HashTags, gotta show Hashtags love) or something to that effect.  If you are using a Facebook Fan Page, send it out on there (make sure that you are connecting your FanPage to your Twitter to shoot out messages to not only your Facebook, but Twitter at the same time).  Or you can use your Facebook Personal Page to get the message out to your clients.

It is always important to always find ways to reward clients and to get them coming back.  And what better day to do it than the day of Amore, Valentine’s Day.

Paul Castain published a good article about “How To Love Your Customer!” and he provided seven ways to do so:

1)    The Power Of Surprises: Yep, I covered this one before and it won’t be the last time because surprises rock! I give several examples of how some firms I deal with have surprised me. I also share a few ways you can surprise your clients.

Note: This is something that should also be discussed in your next team sales meeting by posing the question “In what ways can we continue to surprise our clients”

2)    Find A Way To “Wow” Your Clients When You Drop The Ball: Mistakes happen, how will you turn things around? I offer a few examples to help get you thinking!

3)    Understand That Sometimes People Don’t Tell You When They Are Upset: Its important you recognize the signs. Its also important that you understand that sometimes people vent about these things on Twitter, Facebook, their blog etc. Are you listening?

4)    Make Your Client Look Like A Rock Star! I talk about the importance of continually offering ideas and resources. I also talk about a concept I call “resource positioning” and why I do this in every meeting! I mention a concept called “The Sales Listening Station” After you listen to the podcast, please circle back and click here for details on how you can set up your very own Sales Listening Station. And just because I’m human, I feel a need to point out that during this part of the podcast I mention that “There is no shortage of good ideas” I meant to say “There’s no monopoly on good ideas” What the hell was I thinking?

5)    Be A Breath Of Fresh Air: This is your cue to inject your personality into your work. Just like when we were “dating” we need to keep things fun, exiting.

6)    Make Sure You Have Great Communication: I talk about the power of questioning and how that improves your communication. A common needs analysis mistake. I reference the Mackay 66. Feel free to circle back and click here.

7)    Understand The Courtship Never Ends

Happy Valentine’s Day!