How to put the love into your Valentine’s Day Email Marketing
A complete plan of action for marketing your Beauty Salon this Valentine’s Day
When the December holidays came to a close, most Spa and Salon Owners were looking forward to slowing down and taking some time out in January. But, Smart Salon Owners who pay attention to their marketing calendar, have not forgotten that one of the three biggest marketing events of the year is coming up. I am obviously talking about Valentine’s Day. Love it or hate it, Valentine’s Day is a Salon Owner’s dream come true. It is a great excuse for you to aggressively market your services and make good money. Valentine’s Day is not only good business for Florists, Lingerie Shops and Jewellery Stores, it is also good for Beauty Businesses just like yours. This means that you had better be ready to engage your customers and create compelling promotions because Valentine’s Day is in a little over two weeks.
Marketing for Valentine’s Day requires some sales thinking, planning and creativity if you’re going to get outstanding results. Because Valentine’s Day is such an important marketing event, this post is going to be longer than usual, but what follows is everything you need to know and do to market your Salon successfully this Valentine’s Day.
Before you do anything, prepare your database
I keep teaching that your marketing can only be as good as your database. You always want quality and quantity in your marketing database, but if you ever have to choose, choose quality first and quantity second. Speaking about quality, check your database for three things before you start your Valentine’s Day marketing Firstly, make sure your customers names are spelled correctly. You don’t want customers receiving a great SMS or Email and then you shoot yourself in the foot with poor spelling. Secondly, make sure that you aren’t missing mobile numbers or email addresses. When you look at the Salon Studio CRM’s main contact page, you can see all of your customer’s critical contact details at a glance. As a Salon Marketer, your goal is simple, you shouldn’t see any empty fields on this main page. Lastly, check for duplication. SMS and Email marketing increases dramatically between the 1st and the 14th of Feb and nothing irritates a customer more than sending them multiple SMS’s and Emails about the same thing.
Identify your Valentine’s Day Target Markets.
The # 2 marketing mistake Salon Owners make (after discounting) is what I call “spray and pray marketing.” Spray and pray is the symptom of lazy, careless marketing and a lack of sales thinking. It happens when Salon Owners and Managers create one promotion and then send it out to their entire database regardless of whether that special offer is right for the customer or not. So the next step in your Valentine’s Day Marketing plan is to ask yourself the question, “Who are my Valentine’s Day target markets?” In other words, you are trying to figure out who are the most likely candidates on your database to respond to Valentine’s Day Marketing. Proper selection is 50% of the battle.
To identify your different customer groups is actually very easy. All need is a little information because “Rule number 1” of marketing states that “the more information you have about your client the more control you have over the purchasing relationship. You don’t have to know everything about your customers, but you need the basics so that you can match the right market with timely, relevant, valuable offers. The good news is if you have filled in your Salon Studio CRM Clients Cards correctly, your customers have already been profiled and you can immediately identify your most likely Valentine’s Day Customer Groups which are;
1. Male Clients: Men traditionally spend more than women do on Valentine’s Day. They are generally clueless when it comes to shopping and they need your help. Men need products and services for their wives, girlfriends, fiancés, moms, sisters etc. Salon Studio customers must keep an eye on the Salon Studio CRM Marketing Store for Ready-Made Gift Guides specially for men as well as a promo called, “How to avoid a fight on Valentine’s Day.”
2. Female Clients: Women don’t only spend their own money, they also have access to their man’s credit card. Woman are usually more romantic than men and they tend to think about others more than themselves. They are looking for something different for the man in their life, but they also need to look good on the day. You will also find that female customers are also open to buying their moms and dad’s Valentine’s Day gifts. Salon Studio customers must keep an eye on the Salon Studio CRM Marketing Store for Ready-Made Gift Guides specially for women.
3. Married Clients: Any married man who forgets Valentines Day, or who forgets to give his wife a Valentines Day gift is dead meat.
4. Single Clients: Don’t forget the singles. Not everyone on your database is married or in a relationship. Send them an Anti-Valentines Day promotion. Salon Studio customers must keep an eye on the Salon Studio CRM Marketing Store for Ready-Made Anti-Valentine’s day promotion as well as a flyer called, “You don’t need a man to spoil you this Valentine’s Day.”
5. New Clients: Don’t forget to look after the new customers on your database. Make sure that you send every new customer a Valentines Day promotion that incentivises them to come back in.
6. Staff – don’t forget your staff. They need some love, recognition and appreciation too!
7. Loyal Customers: On the day, make sure that you send out a Valentines Day eCard to all of your customers thanking them for their loyal support. Don’t be cheesy, make it sincere and genuine. Salon Studio customers must keep an eye on the Salon Studio CRM Marketing Store for Ready-Made Valentines eCards.
Create special offers for each Target Market
You don’t have to be a Rocket Scientist to know that men and women are different or that married and single people have different needs and preferences. Now that you have put some thought into who you want to target, the next question you want to ask is, “Why do they purchase and what do they want?” We know that consumers buy products and services for only two reasons, to solve problems and to make themselves feel good, so make sure that you match the right services with their needs. Also, remember to highlight the customers problems in your email subject lines as well as in your attention grabbing headlines.
Here are some very practical ideas on creating your Valentines Day promotions
1. Work with the theme, but try and be a little unexpected. It is a known fact that the market is saturated with Spa’s and Salons and they are all saying the same boring stuff in all of their adverts, particularly on Valentine’s Day. Since everyone and their brother will be talking about “pampering the one you love” and sending out emails with hearts, cupids and roses on them and subject lines with references to love, you’ll want to make sure that your emails, SMS’s, Social Media and print media marketing stands out of the crowd. Stay away from cheesy cliches like, “Celebrate the month of love…” In short, don’t copy your competition.
2. Promote Gift Vouchers like Crazy. Vouchers are extremely easy to sell at this time of the year, specially for guys who don’t know what to get their ladies. But, make sure that your Valentine’s Day Gift Vouchers and Special Offers are valid for the whole of February. Most of your clients won’t be able to come in for their service on the 14th. Use email subject lines like, “always the perfect gift” or “for the woman who knows what she wants – even when you don’t”
3. Gift guides make shopping easy – Send an email marketing campaign with gift ideas by price point for him and her. When you send an email, always include a call-to-action button that encourages your readers to Buy Now. Without exception, every-one of the Ready-Made, Done for you gift guides in the Marketing Store have call to action buttons in them.
4. Don’t forget the singles! Obviously, not everyone has a significant other. The singles among your client base may well be sick of all the talk of love and romance. Cater to them by way of a romance-free shopping even. Google “Anti-Valentines Day” and you will quickly find a load of great ideas for marketing to singles.
5. Cupid Cares: Valentine’s Day is becoming another over-saturated consumer holiday. Every Salon will be looking at some cheesy way to make a “sweetheart” special or sell some Valentine’s Day-related junk. Be different, stand out from your competitors and try something meaningful this year. On your promotions, flyers, banners, emails, website and Facebook page boldly state that your Salon is donating a percentage of sales for the day, the week or the month to a local charity, SPCA, Hospice etc. Be a “Heart Donor” on the day and share some love. At the end of the month, make a donation to your chosen organisation and then send a thank-you card to all of your customers telling them that you made a donation of X value on their behalf to the charity / cause of choice. Don’t forget to put the photo’s of you handing the cheque over onto Facebook. Use the PR to communicate to your customers that your Salon is not just another business, it is a business that cares about the community!
6. Show some love to your employees. Common sense tells us that employees who feel loved and appreciated are happier, more likely to deliver exceptional customer service. Your customers are much more likely to feel ‘loved’ by your business when your Therapists feel value. During February, send Valentines Cards via email with notes of appreciation to your staff noting personal traits and talents you appreciate. Post customer raves on Facebook.
Don’t forget to download your Valentine’s Day Marketing Templates
Over the next few days, keep visiting the Marketing Store inside of Salon Studio CRM as I am going to keep adding more tools and templates to the member’s only website. If you haven’t been on Salon Studio CRM’s email and Facebook Marketing yet don’t worry because we have created a video showing you from start to finish how do download and customise the templates, how to email them out and place them on your Facebook page.
