As the New Year’s Eve countdown hits 0 and it’s officially 2023, you’ll breathe a sigh of relief. The busyness of Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and beyond is finally over. But now the new year is here. And what does that mean for your salon?
With a little planning and strategy, you can make 2023 your most impactful year yet for your eyebrow salon. Read these tips to strategize for growth and prosperity in the new year!
Take Time for Yourself
After a bustling holiday season, you’re likely exhausted. From Thanksgiving to the New Year, your salon was brimming with customers. Before you can dive headfirst into 2023, make time for yourself. This might mean taking a trip and lying on a beach. Or maybe it means a home pedicure and relaxing in a bubble bath at home for a day. Whatever your style is, schedule self-care. You can’t start building up your salon if you don’t make time for yourself first!
Declutter
As you take down your holiday decorations, it’s time to start fresh. Wipe down surfaces, declutter workstations, and clean the reception area. Wash windows and remove any dated signage. After a hectic holiday season, the salon likely needs a deep clean. Taking some time to clean it out will allow you to start the year right.
Now is also a good time to take inventory of the products and tools your employees use. If there are particular tools they don’t use, take time to throw them out. Buy some new tools that would help them do their jobs better instead. Throw out any expired or heavily used products going into the new year.
Reevaluate your Vision
Now that you’ve taken time for yourself and spruced the salon up, it’s time to reevaluate your vision and overall strategy. If you’ve seen a strong ROI with online advertisement and social media, you might want to double down on it this year. Work with your team to evaluate what worked and what didn’t in the past year.
Now is also the time to think about where your business is going. Ask yourself what your five-year plan is for your eyebrow salon. Is it a larger space? If so, think about how this year will support the goal of moving out. Maybe your vision is tripling your customer base. You’ll want to take this year to double down on partnerships and advertising.
Set Goals
Now that you’ve revisited your salon’s vision, you can create SMART goals to attain them. Too often, goals can be forgotten if they’re not specific enough. SMART goals help fix this problem with their specificity. SMART goals stand for Smart, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based. Start thinking about your vision and long-term plans when creating these goals.
Here’s an example of what a SMART goal could look like for your salon:
· Specific: I want to attract and retain 50 new regular clients for my eyebrow salon.
· Measurable: I will measure a “regular” client by someone who books a service at least every 3 months or less. I will keep track of “regular” clients by tracking clients in our client relationship management tool.
· Attainable: We will increase our digital presence on social media and ads, work with the hair salon we have an existing partnership with, and ask for referrals.
· Relevant: By adding to our customer base with 50 new regular clients, we will come closer to our 5-year plan of creating a second location.
· Time-Based: We will have 50 new clients by year-end. We will measure by quarters to make sure we’re hitting our goals, so we will work to obtain 12 new regular customers by the end of Q1.
Review Prices and Services
Since the very beginning of the pandemic in 2020, you’ve likely felt the impact of supply chain issues and skyrocketing prices. What you paid for brow supplies and products in 2020 is likely quite different from now. Now would be an excellent time to review your costs and consider your margins.
Review your financials from the past year. Based on your current margins, could you raise prices on your services a bit to eat the cost of rising inflation? Starting with a slight price increase in the new year is a good rule of thumb. Your customers will understand the need to raise prices a bit if it’s needed. Be sure to communicate the prices with them so there are no surprises along the way.
Schedule Everything!
Break out your fresh 2023 calendar. Now is the time to start scheduling your events and promotions. Your calendar will vary depending on your vision and overall goals. If your business is focused on establishing itself in the community in the new year, you’ll want to reach out to other local businesses. Your events might showcase your services to other local companies. If you want to grow your clientele, focus more on promotions and showcasing your services.
Also, consider the season. January may be a little slower as people recover from the holidays. Find fresh ways to bring people in. You can celebrate New Year’s Resolution Week with 20% off services. Customers who vowed to keep their brows tidy this year can get a punch card with free service after 10 punches during a quieter season. Find ways to incentivize people to get their brows done regularly, then schedule it!
Make Time for Education
As we welcome the new year, we undoubtedly can expect new trends. 2022 saw laminated brows, fluffy brows, and bleached brows on the runway. Anticipate that your customers are aware of these new trends. It’s important to get ahead of the curve. Map out any new services or techniques you might offer in 2023. Schedule time with your employees so they learn how to implement these services.
Make sure new hires are up to speed with an introduction of services. Simultaneously, existing employees should receive training sessions with specific benchmarks to reach by certain dates. If you notice someone is struggling with a new brow trend, work with them individually to bring them up to speed. Investing in education in 2023 means investing in your employees too. They’ll stay engaged if they feel like they’re receiving the career development they need.
Spruce Up Your Online Presence
As you declutter your salon and calendar, your online presence is next. If you’ve decided you need to change your hours or increase your prices to meet your 2023 goals, update this on your website immediately. Make sure your online booking tool and Google Business Profile are also updated.
Evaluate your social media profiles after your website. It’s a great idea to make a social media calendar. Social media calendars keep you organized with content. Instead of wracking your brain to find something to post, social media calendars take the guesswork out of posting. You can even use a social media scheduling tool that posts for you to cut down on time. Have your employees help you with posting. Your social media posts should showcase their work with clients. Look out for any mentions too. User-generated content makes for excellent posts!
Create an Advertising Strategy
There are tons of new potential clients out there. They just have to find you! Local advertisements are great ways to find new business. Digital advertising on platforms like Google allow you to reach users who are searching for keywords related to your business. Get right in front of locals searching for a new eyebrow salon with an adjustable daily ad budget.
Simultaneously, new opportunities for advertising lie in your community. Reach out to nearby businesses that make sense for your salon. For example, the new bridal shop that is set to open in spring 2023 near you is an excellent opportunity. You can establish a partnership with them for a bridal discount on brow microblading. Work on establishing yourself as an asset in your community for more partnership opportunities.
Up Your Email Marketing Game
Whether we like it or not, email is intertwined with our daily lives. It’s no surprise that email marketing is highly successful since we always have our eyes on our inboxes. Email marketing has an impressive ROI of $42 back in your pocket for every $1 spent. 2023 is absolutely the year to start an email marketing list if you haven’t yet.
You likely have a CRM system with your customers’ data. Use this list to create an email marketing list to highlight upcoming promotions and holidays. Segmentation can up your game even further. By segmenting your email marketing list into specific audiences, you can tailor messages. For example, you can send out birthday promotional emails for everyone with an April birthday. You can also take note of anyone who hasn’t visited in the past 6 months and send them an attractive discount to incentivize them to come in.
Find New Referral Opportunities
If you’re focused on massive growth in 2023, tap into your greatest asset of all: your customers! This is the year to start a referral program to reach your goals. Let your loyal customers know that you’re starting a referral program. Give an attractive incentive to your loyal customers for bringing in someone new, like 50% off service. Extend that same offer to your new customer and watch the new loyal customers multiply!
To keep a referral program organized, your data collection has to be excellent. Always ask new customers how they heard about you. If they mention an existing customer referral, be sure to record their name in your CRM system to give them proper credit. It’s important to ask every client how they heard about you for reasons beyond the customer referral program. You’ll also get insight into what advertising and marketing platforms give you the highest ROI!
Sell Products
Make 2023 the year you start selling products to your customers to improve their salon experience. Your employees can talk about and incorporate products into their services. Eyebrow powders, wax, and soap are great sales tools. Brow artists can make commissions off any products they sell. Meanwhile, extra capital also contributes to your bottom line.
Brow products also serve as an excellent loyalty tool for the new year. As customers see how lovely the products look during service and buy them, they’ll continue to repurchase them when they run out. Eyebrowz Designs has brow powder, soap, and kits that will make your customers look beautiful. You have the option to print your company’s logo on every single product, so customers will never forget where they purchased their favorite new brow kit.
Get started with your salon’s very own product line today!