How to design profitable salon promotions that sell out (without discounting!)
Although I’m a total summer girl, fall does have its own allure as well.
Fall is a fresh start and time for fun cozy things - scarves, layers of sweaters and thick socks, snuggling up to warm mugs of hot chocolate or your favorite tea.
And as you know well - in the beauty industry, things start ramping back up for the holiday season!
So, my dear friend...are you feeling chock full of creative and exciting ideas for new offerings in your business this season??
From pumpkin spice facials, to back-to-school and back to work (for some) hairstyles, there’s room for so much creativity in your promotions!
Promotions can be fun and profitable if done right...so why do they often get a bad name in the beauty industry?
Business owners think of promotions as dreaded discounts - you know the ones: “50% off a Cut and Color!” or “Facial for $40!”
This gives off an air of desperation and totally undermines the skill and talent of the artist. Whether you’re a hairstylist, nail tech, spray tanner and waxer, you’ve undoubtedly been in a situation where you wanted to sell more services or products and wanted your clients to get excited to book, but you don’t want to sacrifice your prices to do it.
So what’s to be done?
Here’s some great news for you: you can sell out and fill up your books this fall without doing deep discounts.
Today I want to share a secret formula to create smash hit promotions this fall - promotions that are highly profitable to you, but also get people really excited to book with you or buy from you.
I’m also sharing my no-fail strategy to sell out of your promotions, whether you’ve got a small client list, an itty bitty social following, or you’ve never done promotions before.
This is one of the “mini lessons” that’s in my program The Ad Lab - this is my first time sharing it on my blog and Youtube but it’s just SO juicy I couldn’t not share it. I want to see every beauty biz owner that follows me absolutely thriving with killer promotions - so here’s how you’re gonna do it up right this fall!
The Promotion
Want to run promotions that are exciting, attractive, and really make people want to book with you this fall, but don’t devalue your services and don’t attract deal-seeking clients?? Obviously you do. We all want that.
Now, full disclosure - I can’t take credit for this brilliant formula. It was taught to me by Pam Stellema, a beauty business coach and copywriter for the beauty industry.
She’s a guest teacher in my program about Facebook and Instagram ads (**more on that in a little bit!**)
This formula is based around One Golden Rule You Must Never Break: do not ever, for any reason, under any circumstance, discount your main services (aka your “primary” services!) You know, the big-ticket services that you’re known for… never touch the pricing on that or you’ll hurt your pricing integrity. Just...don’t do it. Okay, now that that’s established...
...when creating promotions, you do have flexibility adjusting prices or offering discounts on something: your secondary services.
How to tell the difference between “Primary” and “Secondary” services? Keep reading!
Step 1: Write down your Primary and Secondary services
Take out a sheet of paper and divide it into two columns.
Call the left column "Primary services" and the right hand column "Secondary services".
Your Primary services are your most popular services (the "money makers"). These are the things that you expertise in. They’re often related to your personal dream of what you want your business to be known for. So we’re talking facials, waxing, balayage etc.
Your Secondary services are often offshoots of your primary services - the type you don’t sell too many of, or provide less often. As an example, if microdermabrasion is your primary service, hand microdermabrasion might be a secondary service you offer. These services usually take less time and cost less, so they can be considered a “bonus” or “add-on” to a primary service.
(PS. if you don’t offer this kind of thing yet, here’s your sign to start doing it! You already have the tech and materials for it - so make up a price list and start offering secondary services!)
Step 2: Create your promotional packages
Now that you've identified your primary and secondary services, it's time to create packages.
Pick one service from Primary services and one service from Secondary services, and combine them together with a special price.
So a package would include one main seller service and an "add-on" bonus, your secondary.
Here are some examples: “Get microdermabrasion for $99, receive a complimentary hand microdermabrasion valued at $75” or “Free lash and brow tint when you book our signature facial! This package is valued at $145 for only $100."
If you’re a hairstylist, you might want to add on a moisture or protein treatment, or an Olaplex treatment onto any hair color service. You can assign this a total value, like $40 - and add it on as a free bonus for any bookings this fall.
There are almost unlimited possibilities for combining your services into specially priced packages your clients will love. Give your package a fun fall-themed name ("Pumpkin-Spiced Facial Special!") Your clients will go crazy for it!
In my course The Facebook Formula, you’ll get a ton of examples of promotions that have done INCREDIBLY well from all sorts of beauty businesses.
Step 3: Advertise your promotion with FB and IG Ads
Ideally you'll have created a few different promotional packages for your fall season - to advertise monthly (i.e. unique promotions for September, October, November etc.)
Here's how you're gonna use "no-fail" easy-peasy advertising to sell out of your promotions all season: you’re going to be using social media to promote your packages to brand new faces with paid ads!
Running ads on Facebook and Instagram is a breeze - and they work incredibly well to share your promotions with new people in your city. You can target exactly who you want for your dream clients - age, location, interests, etc. Ads reach way beyond your current followers, and when done right, they are the best way to sell out fast of all your fall promotions.
And I haven't even mentioned the best part - they're super affordable!!
Even just for $5 a day, or $35 a week, you can start making hundreds of dollars in sales. My students in the Facebook Formula have followed the right steps and hit sales goals way beyond their expectations again and again.
Here's a cool story from my student Linda Roman about her experience:
"I’ve had more than 200 clients book with me through my Facebook ads. Our last campaign, we had to turn off after 1 just a week due to high demand! I booked 24 clients for facials and made $2,400 in revenue (plus gift card sales). In total I spent $70 on this ad. They’ve done wonders for my business!"
If you’ve ever been disappointed with boosted posts or sponsored posts on Instagram and Facebook, you’re not alone! You're just not following the right steps. I'm here to show you how it's done!
I’ve taught hundreds of beauty professionals how to do ads on social media properly, and I'd love to show you how you can blow your sales goals out of the water this fall and right into 2022!
If you want to learn how to create your own irresistible ads on Facebook and Instagram, to sell out of your juicy fall packages, download my fresh new eBook:
The Social Advertising Handbook For Beauty Pros
It’ll teach you the basics to creating irresistible, client-attracting Facebook and Instagram Ads for your beauty business, in a snap!
And if you want to really scale your business this year, my VIP social advertising program, The Ad Lab, is open for enrollment right now! You can get all the details right here: https://www.joinadlab.com/
In conclusion
I hope you’ve learned a great lesson about promotions today - that they aren’t “bad”, they just need to be packaged, priced, and advertised in a certain way to appeal to your target audience.
You can use the formula that my friend Pam Stellema taught me in order to package up irresistible promotions that are still highly profitable to you all year - get started on setting one up today!
When it comes to time to advertise your promotion, you really can’t go wrong with Facebook and Instagram ads. Target your exact dream client, bring them irresistible value, and watch the magic happen as strangers become lifelong clients.
I hope this fall season brings you all the cozy feelings and that your beauty business continues to glow up and thrive!
Xo,
Stephanie