Culture, nostalgia, and wicked cuts are all things reminiscent of a bygone era and are the building blocks for barber shops in 2019. There’s no denying the humble barber shop has seen a resurgence in the 21st century, but barbers now face a greater challenge than those of yore: competition. There are so many businesses competing for the same audience in the modern-day market that it can start to feel crowded.
It’s now more important than ever to have a robust marketing plan in place to thwart your competitors and reign as champion barber, and Shortcuts’ salon software can help.
Plot, plan and prosper
The online space is ripe with opportunity for your business, and there are so many marketing activities you can explore to engage with your target audience. But just because there are a million and one ways you could market your business, it doesn’t mean you should. Remember, it’s all about quality, not quantity, people.
The first step to marketing your barber shop business is to take the time and plan out some strategies. Where are your customers, and potential customers, hanging out – either locally or online? How much budget can you allocate to your marketing? What kinds of activities will your target audience engage with?
Devise a strategy, map out your plan, then you can kick off the execution.
Buddy up with influencers
Influencer marketing is such a powerful avenue for your business. It involves working with an influencer to promote your business and it can be incredibly effective. If you choose wisely, of course.
When working with an influencer, you’re putting your brand in front of their trusting audience which is great for you, but you need to make sure that the influencer, and their reputation, is a good match for your business. Their following should also show potential to convert to clients, for instance, ideally they’ll be in at least the same city as you.
Start by researching potential influencers you can partner with. These might be Instagrammers, bloggers or YouTubers in your city. The key is to find an influencer that you think your brand will gel with and has a following that would be genuinely interested in your business. From here you can reach out to them and chat about what you’re looking for in the partnership. You might like to invite them to your barber shop for a free cut, and in return they could post a photo on their Instagram.
Become a social media master
Social media can’t be ignored as part of the marketing mix in 2019. It’s crucial for you to be active on social and regularly monitor it for reviews and comments. There’s nothing worse than a potential client visiting your Facebook page and seeing the most recent post is from 2016. Yikes.
The good news is social media doesn’t have to be an ever-present beast you need to tackle. Lock some time in your Appointment Book every day to check in on your social channels, where you can respond to any comments, messages and reviews. To save yourself even more time, wrap your hands around a scheduling tool, like Sked Social (Schedugram) or Plann, to line up a few posts so they’re ready to go automatically when your barber shop simply gets too busy to step away from.
Set it and forget it with barber shop software
When the going gets tough, email marketing can fall to the wayside. But it’s one super valuable marketing tool that doesn’t have to cost you time if you have the help of one vital barber shop software tool: Set & Forget Marketing.
With Set & Forget Marketing, you can set up all the essential email and SMS campaigns you could ever need to send, then set them to run automatically so you can focus your energy elsewhere in the business. These campaigns could be anything from happy birthday messages, refer a friend offers, and we miss you emails. With our salon software, you can set these campaigns to send automatically at timely intervals for your business to help you retain and keep in touch with your clients for a fraction of the effort.
Chat with us today to learn all the ins and outs of our Set & Forget Marketing feature.
