HAIRHOOD Magazine (Digital Version) t.-. Sep 2015 | Page 3

Hh & EDITOR desk HAIRHOOD HAIR CARE SALON BUSINESS AND THE UNTAPPED OPPORTUNITY Today's growing salon industry has opened up new opportunity to achieve real financial independence by owning a successful salon. Indeed, more and more salon professionals are selling their salons and retiring as multi-millionaires which only happened in a few rare cases twenty years ago. The rules of the road on the journey of salon success have changed considerably as has the definition of success in the salon industry. Yesterday's salon owner strived to make a good living and be the star in their successful salon. Today's salon owner strives to build real value and retire financially independent so they can travel the world and enjoy the fruits of their risk and hard work. The modern salon owner is far more entrepreneurial, creative, savvy, and innovative than their predecessors. There is almost universal agreement amongst today's young “salon-trepreneurs” that yesterday's rules to running a salon will, at best, only lead to providing a good living. But, to achieve the kind of success that is available in today's thriving and everchanging salon industry, salon owners have to master this new set of rules. MAKE MARKETING A CENTRAL PART OF YOUR PLAN To have a successful salon, you have to have loyal clients who receive real value from your services and feel an affinity to your brand and ethos. To far too many salon owners, marketing means advertising. Avoid this mistake. According to the Marketing Association, marketing is the Marketing is “the set of activities for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for clients”. HAIRCARE BEAUTY TIPS & GUIDE Avoid Top Knot To Keep Your Hair Healthy and Long Apply Dry Shampoo To Keep Your Hair Smooth and Straight Apply Colour To Your Hair For Beauty Creativity Adapt Supreme Wave-on Once In A While Your marketing strategy should include equal parts of advertising, promotion, and communication. Advertising is media that is paid for in efforts of attracting clients to your salon. Examples of advertising initiatives would be placing a print ads in your local newspaper, renting a billboard, or running an ads campaign on your local radio station. Promotion is efforts that don't necessarily require paid media, but attract new clients through more creative means. Examples of communication would be ensuring you have visible and attractive signage, issuing press releases about noteworthy events to your local newspapers, and have a easy to find website that is listed in all of the local directories. IDENTIFY YOUR NICHE For most salons, traditional advertising is extremely difficult and will have limited returns. The primary reason for this is the competitive landscape that many salons face where too many salons provide almost identical services and a competing for a limited number of clients. To advertise successfully, a salon must develop USP's (Unique Selling Propositions). In other words, you must ha