Salon and spa branding are now a “requirement” if you want to stand out in your area. The business world is more complex than ever. This is largely due to the fact that so many businesses are involved with the worldwide web. Therefore, rather than simply focusing on your business, you must also focus on building an entire beauty salon brand.
For many salon owners, building a hair salon brand can feel overwhelming. Many salon and spa owners are just starting to venture into the area of branding and marketing their business. As a result, figuring out how to create a successful salon brand or spa brand can be a rather arduous task. Luckily, there is no need to worry. The following is a list of steps to take towards building your beauty business brand.
What is salon branding?
For those who are new to these concepts, a salon brand is essentially the total experience of your salon & spa from the perspective of all those who experience it. Much more than a name, symbol, or logo, a hair salon brand is the life that a business takes on in the mind of the media, investors, employees, and customers. Despite being more of an abstract concept, salon branding and spa branding is a profound business tool that drives up the value of your business.
On the other hand, beauty salon branding is a term that also describes your visual design, logo and the name that represents your brand. These creations are made to make the brand easily recognizable and more visible. For example, companies such as Target have created massive brands that cause their customers, employees, etc. to be triggered into thinking about their brand whenever they see their red and white logo, or sometimes simply red and white in general. People do not think about the overall business, rather, they tend to think about their favorite commercials, experiences, etc. with regard to the brand.
Why is salon branding so important?
Traditionally, the beauty salon industry has relied on the fact that people seek out hair and spa services as part of their regular routines. However, in this day and age, branding your beauty salon is important because:
- Competition is steep: Given that most salons now have an online presence, competition in the salon industry is steep. Therefore, your customer will be exposed to dozens of nearby salons online. All while they are considering booking an appointment with yours.
- Choosing your target customer: Additionally, building a brand requires companies to identify their target customer. From there, you will be able to develop strategies that will allow you to attract and communicate with those who are most likely to frequent your salon.
- Create a loyal following: Moreover, by figuring out who your target customer is, you will be that much closer to establishing a loyal following. Over time, you will be able to interact with them, commune with them, and create a “tribe” of loyal salon customers.
Keys to building your beauty business brand
Now that we know more about brands and branding, let’s review the various methods of applying these concepts to your beauty salon. Some tips for doing so are as follows:
Create your perfect client profile
As stated, branding your company will require you to identify your target customer. This is done by creating your perfect client profile. To do so, you must decide who you would most like to market your services to and do business with. Would you like to work with college students? Do you want to help older women “get their groove back”? Think long and hard about who you want to attract and who you would like to work. This will determine which of these clients will become the foundation on which you will begin to build your brand.
To create your perfect client profile, you should ask yourself the following questions:
- What types of clients do you identify and relate to most?
- What types of clients do your competitors cater to?
- Is there a particular demographic in your area that seems to be ignored?
- What types of clients seem to leave the best reviews?
- What services do you offer, how much do you charge for them, and who do these prices and services most align with?
- Which clients have been your favorite to work with thus far?
Get into the specifics with your salon branding
Now that you have asked yourself the pointed questions, narrow it down by identifying these specifics:
- Where is your perfect customer located?
- What is the age range of these customers?
- What is the gender of these customers?
- Do you know about their hobbies and interests?
- What are their most common beliefs and values?
- What is their level of income?
Talk about “you” in your salon branding
Now that you know more about your target customers, you need to define your company as a brand. To do so, you need to decide:
- What are your core values.
- What makes you stand out.
- Why you do what you do.
- How do you express these things.
Why they should choose you
Once you know who you are as a brand, you need to determine what makes your brand worthy of customers as opposed to your competition. Do you offer unique hairstyles that they cannot get anywhere else? Do you cater to those who need a confidence boost? Are you offering competitive prices that will save your clients money? Is your environment especially fun or exciting? No matter what it is, in order to build your brand, you must fully understand what makes you a serious contender and play into it. For instance, if your brand is built on fun, you may want to start posting funny videos with your stylists and customers to attract more customers who are on the same wavelength.
Overall, while salon branding may sound complex and overly abstract, it is much simpler than you think. On the very basic level, branding is about figuring out who you want to sell your services to, what you can offer them, and how to promote this on your website, social media pages, and most importantly, in person. Given that branding is more about the experience than anything, you should be going above and beyond to put yourself in your clients’ shoes and create an experience that caters to them specifically.
Check our full list of resources to learn more about building your beauty business brand.
Once you develop your salon brand, you will need to update your marketing plan. Check our article on updating your salon marketing plan.