I have built my business running ads on Facebook and Instagram, and teaching others how to do the same.

A huge chunk of my monthly budget is on social media ads because they work so well.

I spend $100+ every day on ads, but don’t sweat that number if you can’t cut it, yourself. Most of my students in the beauty industry who run ads spend $5-$10 a day on their Facebook and Instagram ads, and it still pays off for them.

You might actually be sitting there in the position of having NO money available for advertising, thinking, “Is there any hope for me? How do I reach new clients without any ads?”

YES there is hope for you, and lots of it!

Over the past few years I’ve seen that one of the best ways of meeting new customers in all types of businesses is through partnerships with other businesses.

Practically speaking, it makes sense: there are hundreds of other businesses in your town that have clients who overlap with your ideal clients, sharing hobbies, interests and similar values and beliefs.

Examples of overlap clients in the beauty industry are those who shop at organic tea stores, go to yoga studios, bridal makeup clients, people who hire photographers - I’ve even heard of beauty businesses partnering with divorce lawyers!

When you start thinking a little more broadly (like the social media algorithms do) about who likes what and what else they like that goes with that, there’s a world of opportunity waiting for you.

Teaming up with other local businesses is fun and often free - and ALWAYS a great way to meet new potential clients.

Today we’re gonna dive into how to find potential good partner businesses, how to develop a good partnership offer that’s mutually beneficial, and most importantly, how you can use your new partnership to grow your clientele.

No matter the type of beauty business you own - hair salon, nail salon, waxing studio, skincare lab or makeup booth - there are definitely a ton of businesses in your area that you can partner with for a mutually beneficial and fun relationship that gets you both more clients!

Each of these ideas can be tinkered with and made unique to you and your salon, so don’t feel like you have to copy them to the letter. Reach out to businesses that resonate with you, and develop a partnership that feels authentic to you, in the way that you want to do it. Use this list to get inspired and run with it!

Partnership Idea #1: Running, attending, or hosting a local event

Your town or city most likely runs a ton of events throughout the year to support local businesses: christmas markets, farmer’s markets, networking and charity events.

You can start off by attending these events and introducing yourself to the vendors, and once you get more comfortable, find out how you can become a vendor.

And then, once you’re really warmed up and you’ve made some solid local connections, you can try hosting your own event!

There are so many options here, from attending to running your own. Connect with your local coffee shops, yoga studios, and other salons and spas in the area to see what they’re involved with. Start making connections and having conversations. You never know where it will take you!

If you’re ready to jump into hosting your own event, there are lots of ways you can run it. You can choose to host it for free (though this is best only if you have the spare funds to sacrifice) or charging a small fee to vendors and attendees.

You could host educational sessions or demonstrations, you could promote products and sales, you can give away or ask for samples from other local businesses along with their business cards. You can team up with businesses for giveaways and contests. The options are as endless as your imagination!

It’s a smart idea to try to line up events with holidays and special occasions if possible, like Christmas, New Years, Valentine’s Day etc. As well, giving your event a theme will help you pick out suitable businesses that will fit it, and it’s easier to advertise.

If you’d like to test out the compatibility of you/your team and a potential local partner, you could try hosting an event in your space and invite other local (non-competing) businesses to come. Or you can host an online event, as well.

For example, a spray tan studio I know hosted a very popular online wellness day, with yoga sessions, local beer giveaways, and spray tan voucher sales. Lots of other cool businesses were involved and it was a fantastic networking and marketing event for everyone.

There are just a few things that are a *must* for partner events:

Make sure that you’re partnering with businesses that serve a clientele that will appreciate what you do
Make sure you clarify and firm up the responsibilities of each one of the businesses involved, like who will be taking care of invites, who will be bringing/donating items, who will be at the event on the day of, etc
Be really clear on what you want to get out of it and set some goals for the event. Examples could be making a point of networking with new contacts, getting email addresses, making sales, etc.

Partnership idea #2: Cross promotion

You know that saying, “A rising tide lifts all boats”?

If your salon or spa is doing well, you have the opportunity to help another beauty business out by partnering with them, and vice versa.

Think of some businesses that offer a service similar to yours that your clients often get.

Those types of beauty businesses make fantastic partners. Imagine if a local makeup artist told 100 of her best customers about you? These are your ideal clients: they like to look their best and invest in their beauty, and they’re local. Your perfect new clientele waiting for you, just down the street!

There are a couple different models of cross promotion that work well for salons and spas.

Running a referral program with another local beauty business is mutually beneficial for your books and your bank account. How it usually works is that when they refer you to a client, you agree to pay them a small percentage of the service charge if the referred client books with you, or a dollar amount agreed upon ahead of time.

If you’re running a referral program, you’ll want to make sure you give your partner business cards that they can give to their clients with your details on it. This is the best way to track and pay out referrals fairly.

But what if you can’t afford to pay a partner for their referrals? Don’t sweat it, there are other ways to make it mutually beneficial.

You could agree to a simple reciprocal exchange where you both send business each others way, without money being exchanged
You could give your partner a gift card for every month they refer at least x number of clients.

Cross promotion could also just mean you’ve agreed to put up sales materials, flyers, posters, or product displays in the others’ storefront or suite, or support your partner online.

If your partner has a large Instagram presence or a good email list, you can both promote each others events/sales/promotions via email or social media. Often, these partner promos have a discount code attached for your clientele.

And finally, you can also partner up with a local beauty business on a package service deal.

In the past, some of my students have combined their hairstyling services with freelance makeup artists or waxers to create a super-cool offer that promotes two businesses in one.

Try out any combination of these partner promotions with local businesses to see which suits you and your salon best.

Partnership idea #3: Pop up treatments

If you have a mobile studio, work freelance, rent a booth that doesn’t get much action, or otherwise don’t have a steady location to perform your services, finding a local non-competing spa, clinic, salon or suite to run a pop-up event can be a great partnership opportunity.

My student Genevieve did this when she was first starting out on her own, and it was just the kick her business needed.

If you’re considering a pop-up event, here are some things to keep in mind:

Make sure that your potential pop-up partner only offers non-competing services
Confirm with your partner that you’ll be able to contact the clients you see afterwards so you can bring them into your community
Promote the event yourself and ask your partner to promote it too. Offer to create all the promo materials so they don’t have to do extra work.

On the flip side, if you own a salon or suite and have the space to allow for a pop-up event, you can offer to be a hosting partner for a non-competing beauty biz. This is a great way to meet some new potential clients and give back to your community.

Partnership idea #4: Giveaways, contests, and product promos

This is one of my favourite ideas and the most fun to put together.

Everyone loves a good giveaway! And think of the opportunity for partnership: gathering goodies from different beauty and wellness businesses in your area, making new connections, and offering a real sweet treat for a lucky winner.

This can play out a bunch of different ways and can include a contest, randomly selected winners, or a raffle. You can promote your partnership giveaway/contest/raffle on yours and your partners’ Instagram and Facebook, talk it up in your salon, share it on a local podcast or radio station - whatever you gotta do to get the word out!

The best way to get people to enter is using social media and/or email addresses to increase each partner’s following.

In order to enter, people have to follow each partner business on Instagram, or enter their email address. If entering with an email address, it’s important you make it clear to people entering that their email address will be shared will all businesses involved, and get each person’s permission for that.

However, if you have a healthy partnership and share clients with your partner already, you can also do a raffle and an in-person draw for a winner.

Giveaways and contests are a great opportunity to introduce yourself to other businesses in your area and open the door for other collaborations, too.

Here are some best practices for pulling off a really successful giveaway with partners:

Make it really clear who is donating what and the specific dollar amount, just in case of complications or confusions along the way
Make a plan well ahead of gathering the giveaway materials and running the contest. Put it in writing for both yourself and partners how you’d like the collaboration to go, specific goals, the responsibilities of each partner and what you hope to achieve for everyone involved.
Run a debrief within a few days of doing the collaboration while it’s still fresh in your mind, and review the specifics: amount of money spent by each partner, client results, what worked, what didn’t. A debrief is a great way for everyone involved to discover if future collaborations can be improved or continued as is.

Best practices for all partnerships to grow your business and reputation

Tip #1: Be present and memorable

Instead of introducing yourself online through Instagram or email, drop by in person. Make a list of the local businesses you want to hit and make a day of it, bringing any materials you might need (cards, flyers, or just pen and paper to write down ideas). You might also want to bring a little gift bag or samples to say thank you for their time. This will keep you top of mind, and help people to see you in a generous light.

Meeting potential partners face to face will make all the difference. Even if you don’t come to an agreement right away because the owner is in a rush, you can always follow up through email.

Tip #2: Be patient and take baby steps

It’s okay to start off a partnership small and simple. If you’re new to partnering with others, you can dip your toes into by having a small agreement to promote each other online at first.

Sometimes partnerships can look promising at the start, but turn sour because someone’s “best foot forward’ wears off and they show their true colors. That’s why it’s good to start small. You will get to know who your partner really is as you grow together, and make ‘micro decisions’ along the way as to whether you’d like to double down on partnering.

Tip #3: Use every opportunity to network and keep a possible partnership in sights

Attend or host mixers and networking events with female business owners in your town. This can be super simple to pull off, even if it’s just an offer of drinks at a pub to introduce yourselves and float some ideas around. You might even make a new friend!

Partnerships can be so profitable and bring a real sense of community and togetherness to your salon, spa, or solo beauty business. Reach out, start a conversation, see what happens, and start taking steps towards a partnership today!