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E-marketing is the cheapest, most effective way to drive up business during the quiet period over the summer

12 August 2010

Especially if you use your database skilfully. Making use of the extensive search options available with software, such as picking out clients with colour who will need to protect their hair from the summer sun, you can hone your marketing message.

With people thinking about going away on exotic holidays, your timing couldn’t be better to get your message out there and boost your business. The key is to look as professional as possible. Sending out an ordinary email can look a bit homemade and won’t compare favourably with the salon down the road which is sending out slick emails with beautifully designed layouts.

“Those emails that come through with pictures embedded and coloured backgrounds are HTML documents; in effect, web pages,” explains Tom Bentley-Taylor, general manager of salon software provider Shortcuts. “They are easy to setup if you have the right system and training. Our unique Set & Forget Marketing feature offers clients a choice of templates they can amend and edit and then send out direct using their own database. It’s very simple and straightforward.”

Shortcuts offers a variety of attractive, professional-looking campaigns already written as part of Set & Forget. All a salon needs do is input its own branding. These can then be set to go off automatically, rather than wait to be sent manually, which means you could set up summer promotions in January to go out in August.

It is also possible with Set & Forget Marketing to produce a cost-effective newsletter which can help create a sense of community with your clients. You can then use this to promote your top summer offers supported by tips for summer care. And because they are sent using Shortcuts data you’ve collected, everything is measurable. Set & Forget Marketing sends back to the salon detailed reports on campaigns such as open rates, click-throughs to online booking and results of surveys. These surveys can give invaluable feedback from clients allowing you to improve the service you offer.

“It doesn’t take long select and tailor the campaign templates, decide who it goes to and when it goes to them. It will then go out automatically at the frequency you decide with the salon’s clients receiving timely, relevant and beautiful emails until the salon decides to change it,” adds Tom.

Another fantastic e-marketing tool is the TextME service that Shortcuts provides. This benefits salons in two ways; making confirmations cheaper & easier and providing an effective & immediate marketing medium. Marketing via this method is extremely powerful as the response rates surpass all others forms of communication and advertising. TextME allows the message to be personalised with the client’s first name and as most messages are read immediately it is a great way to fill any empty appointment book columns.

The other area of effective e-marketing is social media and, in particular, Facebook. There are now over 23 million users in the UK alone. Many salons set up their own pages to create a community and promote their latest news and offers. Shortcuts has a unique Facebook application that allows clients to book straight from a Facebook page and as soon as the appointment is booked they get an email confirming it.

Although paper-based marketing can be done it is more expensive than electronic methods and can take longer to get results. Shortcuts is committed to the development of e-marketing tools and using new media to boost the business of salons and spas across the world.











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