I love paid advertising. As long as you track your return on investment, it can be a huge way to grow your business. In fact, I invest tens of thousands of dollars in paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram every year. And for every dollar I spend, I make back about 6 dollars. Imagine if you could invest $100 and get back $600, you’d do it, right? 

I also teach a program called The Facebook Formula For Salons where I help beauty business owners to grow their business and their clientele with social media advertising.

So you know I’m allll in on paid marketing to grow your business.

But I didn’t start out that way! When I first started my business, I had such a low budget to work with, and I was spending my own personal money on my business. I didn’t have a marketing budget to speak of!

I know that most people in my audience are new business owners. I surveyed my email list and found that 30% of you have had your business for less than a year. Things are tough in the first year! You’re trying to figure out how to price your services, improve your skills, pay your rent and keep your lights on. 

But you also feel the pressure to bring in clients. If it doesn’t happen sooner or later, you’re not going to be able to sustain your business. But how can you grow your business if you don’t have any money to advertise? It seems like a catch 22! 

Trust me, I’ve been there and I want to help you. There are so many fun, creative ideas that you can use to advertise your business, even if you’re just starting out and don’t have much to work with. Some of them take a bit of time to set up, but usually when you’re starting out you do have extra time, just not the budget. Use a couple of these ideas, and you’ll have more and more clients finding you and booking with you!

The micro-influencer campaign

If you want to make an impact and reach more people in your business, without spending any money (or on a very small budget), you need to look at micro influencers in your city. When you think “influencer” you might be thinking of Kylie Jenner, but I don’t mean that at all.

There are probably dozens if not hundreds of bloggers, Youtubers and Instagram heavyweights in your town, and you might not even know it! But they’re helping people decide which businesses to support, which products to buy, and yes even where to get their beauty needs satisfied.

Two of my Facebook group members had amazing success with local influencers to grow their bookings and clientele. Krystal from Origins of Beauty made almost $1250 in bookings when a blogger recommended her nail salon. And Ashlee from Bronzed Babes With Ash has an ongoing Instagram promotion with a local model who refers spray tan clients to her weekly. Click here to read their stories.

The great thing about this idea is, it can be absolutely free to you. You can often partner with an influencer just by offering them a free treatment or a gift card for your business. Yes, this does have a cost - your time and the products used - but it can bring you so much business it’s totally worth it.

First, you’ll need to be sure that you find the right person to promote your business. Jump onto Instagram and start looking for local “mini influencers”. More than having a massive following, you’ll want to find someone who has great engagement - especially comments - and who is speaking to the same audience that you have, with a similar brand.

Once you find the right fit, you’ll want to come to a clear agreement with your influencer about what exactly they’ll be doing for you. How many posts will they make? What’s included in the posts? What’s the timing of the promotion?

You might want to have them showing off your services as they’re getting a treatment done, sharing before and after photos, taking lifestyle photos of their hair/makeup/brows etc in a photoshoot. There are so many creative ideas, but the main point is that they’re talking to their followers about your services, and pointing them directly to you.

Influencer marketing is so powerful because you’re tapping into the trust that is held between the influencer and their audience. If they recommend your business and share what they love about it, it’s more powerful than anything else.

Interested in running an influencer campaign? Read the ultimate guide to salon influencers here.

The new client “Welcome Package”

This is a brilliant idea that Pam Stellema, salon business coach and copywriter, shared inside of our private students group for The Facebook Formula For Salons. You might be thinking “A welcome package is for existing clients, I want to get new clients though!” -- but hear me out!

Do you follow up with your clients in a personalized way after their appointments? I’m guessing the answer is most often “no”. But if you don’t do that, you could be preventing existing clients from coming back and becoming loyal customers, and you’re also missing out on a chance to attract new clients.

Pam calls this strategy the “Welcome package”: you send out a physical package to new clients in the mail after their first appointment. The cost to you is minimal; you just have to print out the materials and mail them, but the benefits can be huge.

The package contains a menu of services, a personal thank you letter, and a gift voucher. The gift voucher is where the free advertising comes in. Tell your client in the letter that the gift voucher is transferable, and that they’re welcome to gift it to their friend or family member. This is the perfect time to ask for a referral, right after their appointment, and it’s not just a referral, it also comes with a reward to come and visit you. Your client might come back and use the voucher herself, or she might gift it - either way it’s a win for you as it strengthens loyalty and encourages referrals.

The voucher should be for a dollar value instead of a % off value, as dollar values are usually seen as much more highly valuable, and it feels like a gift card.

To learn more about Pam and her amazing salon business coaching, click here.

The secret website gift card

Speaking of gift cards, here’s another gift card idea that is 100% free, but helps encourage more bookings every single day. And it has to do with your website.

Did you know that 98% of people who visit your website will typically never book with you? It’s true! The average conversion rate for a website is just 2%. Most people who visit your website will click away without you ever hearing from them again. Whether they found you on Google or Instagram, they were interested but they just didn’t follow through. But you can change this with a hidden gift card on your website.

Here’s how you do it: Create a special promotion just for people who are on your website. You could limit it just to new clients, or you could make it for anyone who has yet to try out a specific package or treatment. This “gift card” or voucher should have a $ value; for example $10 off or $5 off. This value will depend on how expensive the treatment is of course.

Once you’ve decided on your offer, create a popup on your website like this:

In order to claim the voucher code, they’ll enter their email address and receive an automated email from you with more info and the gift card code. This is a double win for you: You get the client’s email address so you can keep in touch with them instead of losing them, and your website visitors are suddenly much more likely to book with you because they’ve just found a special offer.

This type of popup can be set up with Mailchimp or Sumo.com. I personally use Sumo for my website popups, and I collect a ton of email addresses through it. Website popups really work, especially if you’re giving away something special!

For more ideas to make your website work hard to grow your beauty business, read my blog post here.

The automated reviews system

Review are free advertising! Getting reviews helps your salon to show up higher on Google when people search for beauty businesses like yours. They are also great for putting on your website and on social. Social reviews are the most powerful form of advertising, because other people are vouching for you.

Do you have a system to collect reviews from clients on a regular basis? If not, you’re not the only one. Many business owners leave them to chance. But such an important tool in your business shouldn’t be ignored. We need to get you a system that will help refer clients to your salon daily.

A very easy way to collect reviews and get dozens of new ones is to have an automated email that goes out to new clients the day after their appointment following up with them, asking for their feedback, and a link to review you on Google. You can choose Facebook, Google or Yelp. I think that Google is the most important, powerful place to get reviews. You can set up these automated emails in your booking software typically. If you’re just starting out with a small clientele, you can even send them out manually.

Next, take your reviews and 5x their results by sharing them everywhere. On your website, in your IG stories, in your emails. For anyone who hasn’t tried you yet, the reviews speak volumes about the quality of your work. They’re the ultimate free advertising! 

The Facebook groups strategy

You’re probably a part of some Facebook groups, private communities dedicated just to your city on Facebook. And maybe you’ve wondered in the past if it’s okay to advertise your services in there. Here’s my opinion: Facebook groups can be great for growing your business, but it’s best not to sell. Instead, use them as a space to educate and inspire.

This is what I did with my business at the very beginning when no one knew about me: I would go into Facebook groups, introduce myself, and share a piece of content: usually a blog post or an ebook related to my services. Because I wasn’t directly selling, it didn’t seem spammy or salesy, it was just me helping out the community.

You can use Facebook groups this exact same way! Go in the groups, introduce yourself, and provide value instead of selling, and people will pay attention. This is especially if effective if the Facebook group is for moms, or women, or whoever your ideal client is. Of course, you want to make sure it’s local to your city or town as well.

What about your content? What should you share in the group? Thinking about valuable content that people truly want to read that shares ideas, inspiration, or a new skill. Your content could be an ebook, a free guide, a roundup of local businesses. Something that you wrote as a blog post where it helps them and also talks about your business: How to care for a spray tan, 10 up-do styles that are trending this summer, or how to choose the right brow shape for your face.

Share your content in the group, ask the members for their feedback or to take a look, and tell them about your business. This strategy is perfect if you’re just starting out and want a salon marketing idea for when no one’s heard of you yet.

Want to learn how to create a “guide” or pdf about your salon services? Read my blog post here.

The “Free PR” pitches that barely anyone does

Have you ever thought that what you do isn’t interesting enough to get into the news? Well it’s absolutely not true! Magazines and newspapers are always looking for experts in every sector to comment on trends, to help them with stories, and to quote. And as a beauty expert, whatever your niche a guarantee someone is looking for your expertise!

By getting in the news, you’ll have new people finding your business, you’ll be able to brag about it on social media and your website, and it’ll help you build up your social proof. “As featured in Brides Magazine” would look pretty good on your website, don’t you think? It’s a great way to show off to potential clients that you’re the real deal.

So the question is, how can you get in the news? There’s a free resource called HARO, Help A Reporter Out, which will become your best friend for PR exposure. On this website, journalists from all sorts of publications share stories they’re working on that they want expert opinions for. Here are just a few examples I’ve received recently:

Oh, and did I mention that HARO is free to use? All you have to do is sign up, choose the “Lifestyle and fitness” category, and then 3 times a day you’ll get an email digest with expert requests. You’ll frequently get questions about hairstyles, skincare, beauty, makeup, beauty trends… there are so many requests! Just choose the ones you feel most passionate about, respond to their requests (with a quick bio about why you’re qualified to answer speak on this topic) and you might get published!

I personally have been doing the PR for my business for the past few years and I’ve been published in Salon Today, Nails Magazine, Beauty Launchpad… and they have helped me to build up my brand and my expertise. I highly recommend using PR and HARO as a free way to build up your brand and your expertise.

In conclusion

There are so many powerful ways to get your name out there as a beauty business, thanks to the internet. Of course, you’ll always have Instagram and social media as a free way to advertise, but sometimes you want some creative inspiration; something different.

By using public relations, harnessing the power of your website, doubling down on social reviews, working with influencers, and welcoming in new clients the smart way, you’ll be doing great things for advertising your beauty business. Enjoy!

Join my free advertising class for solo beauty pros!