Your Salon can learn a thing or two from Mr Video
A few weeks ago I posted an article about birthday marketing for Salons. If you missed it, click here. I have said it before and I will say it again, birthdays present Salons like yours with what is probably the easiest and best marketing opportunity available. In fact, if you are prepared, birthday marketing can be as easy as taking candy from a baby, but, most Spa’s and Salons miss out on these awesome opportunities to boost income and customer loyalty and it boils down to nothing more than marketing laziness!
On Friday the 5th of August I celebrated my 37th birthday. I have grown up and lived most of my 37 years right here in in Alberton. I know the area, the shops, the malls and all the businesses. But on the day of my birthday, I spent money at one local business – Mr Video in Randhart. But here’s the interesting thing, I haven’t been to Mr Video in Randhart for over a year because I moved to a neighbouring suburb and I started using another video store that is closer to my home. So why do I get my DVD’s from Mr Video again?
On the day of my birthday, they were the only local business to send me a birthday SMS. The message they sent me was simple but brilliant, when I got it, I thought to myself, “Now that sounds like a good idea!” Here’s the SMS they sent
“Happy Birthday! Wishing you many nights of great movie watching! Please collect your FREE DVD rental for today only! From Mr Video Randhart 011-908-4316”
It turned out to be such a good idea that I ended up getting two DVD’s that night, the free one and another new release that I paid for. That’s the beauty of birthday marketing, if you can just get a consumer to your Salon, chance are extremely high that they will spend money.
All the other businesses I shop at in Alberton missed the boat here. Whether they sent me a special offer, or even just a simple wish, they missed an opportunity to market to me at an appropriate time when I was in the mood to celebrate and spend money. Using this SMS as a case study, let’s examine it quickly.
- It had the right timing. At Salon Studio, we always teach our clients that if you want to succeed at marketing you have to send the right message to the right person at the right time. Any SMS or Email delivered on your client’s birthday is delivered at just the right time.
- The message offered me value. Do I want to watch a free movie of my choice on the day of my birthday? Of course! Giving away the free DVD didn’t cost Mr Video much money, but it made me say to myself, “Wow that’s really nice of these guys!”
- It was a limited offer. A special offer is not special if I can get it anytime I want. To move people to take action you have to limit your offer in terms of limited stock or limited time. This is especially true of birthday promotions. If I didn’t act now I lost out. Make sure you limit all of your birthday promotions accordingly. The sms got me into their shop on the day of my birthday, which happened to be a Friday
- It had a name and a contact number. I am stating the obvious, but do you know how often Salons send out an SMS and they forget to say who it is from and how to get in touch!! Just this afternoon I got a promotion on my phone from a Hair Salon and it had no name and no contact details – what a waste of an SMS Marketing campaign that could have had a great return on investment!
So here’s my point. This SMS cost took very little time, money or effort to send but has yielded great returns for Mr Video. Using this template as a springboard, what SMS can you send to your clients for their birthday? Stop what you are doing right now and go to the Templates page inside Salon Studio CRM and create your own birthday SMS promotion. After all, all of your clients will have a birthday this year. Salon Studio CRM will alert you in advance of your customer’s birthday and it only takes 3 clicks of a mouse button to send – so If you are prepared you will reap the rewards – If Mr Video can do it so can you.
P.S. A HUGE THANK YOU TO MICHELLE WIENAND OF MAGNOLIA BEAUTY SANCTUARY IN RANDBURG FOR THE AWESOME BIRTHDAY SMS. YOU WERE THE ONLY SALON OWNER TO WISH ME ON MY BIRTHDAY! AS ALWAYS YOU ARE A MARKETING SUPERSTAR AND WE KNOW YOU ARE GOING TO ACHIEVE MASSIVE SUCCESS IN YOUR SALON.
