Back To School! Back To Profits!

It’s that time of year. Summer is still in full swing but fall is just around the corner and it’s time to go back to school. This annual occurrence means lots of things to everyone but the one thing it should mean to your salon or spa is opportunity. This time of year effects your client base in some shape or form which makes it important for you to have a good plan in place to launch a back to school campaign that serves your client base.

Here’s some ideas:

1. Do your research! Begin by looking at your demographics. Going back to school impacts children, teenagers, parents and teachers. Who do you have more of and what services would benefit them? Once you answer this you can steer your back to school marketing campaign in their direction.
2. Create your promotion! Make a choice to offer service discounts, product specials or a combination of both. Be sure to design the look and feel to match the type of client you are targeting. For example, if you are targeting younger children use lots of color and maybe even write the ad as if a child wrote it, deliberately misspelling words, use big and fun fonts, etc. Be creative.
3. Get the message out there! Have in-store signage, mail out postcards, send emails or texts, put it up on your website and promote it on social media. Post at least two weeks prior to launching the program so you insure more of your audience sees it.
4. Create guidelines and goals for your team and be sure everyone is involved and ready to talk it up.
5. Be Different! Go above and beyond your standard promotions. What does that mean? Well, run the promotion you come up with but also do even more. For example, during the month you are running your back to school promotion, host an event (based on the demographic you are targeting) like “Parent Teacher Conference” or “Teen Back To School Night” where you offer specials, refreshments, and services. Consider a grand prize attachment to your standard promotion. This could be, “Take advantage of our back to school offer today and get your name entered into a drawing to win a backpack full of surprises and savings. You could fill the backpack with school supplies, gift cards to your salon or spa and Staples along with your retail products.

As you can see, when you spice it up, make it stand out and have fun with it, marketing to your clients during back to school month can be something that helps you propel your sales forward and helps you make more money!