Whether you’ve just opened your doors or you’ve been around for years, it’s always nice to drop your local community a little reminder that your business is right around the corner. One way that has been proven successful for salon/spa owners is to invite clients and locals to a fun and lively salon open house soirée.
What Exactly Does A Salon Open House Entail?
In a nutshell, an open house is an organised event giving you a chance to connect with current clients while also introducing your brand to new, potential ones.
What Should You Be Doing On The Night?
There are many ways of organising open house events, but no matter which way you decide to go, it has to be fun, friendly and unforgettable. Also, try not to go all salesy on your guests. Instead, you should introduce them to some of the services your salon/spa offers, and explain their benefits as well (for free of course!).
Related | Phorest FM Episode 14: Hosting Salon Events & Discussing Dating In The Workplace
Promoting Your Special Event
There are a couple of easy ways to get current clients’ attention when sending out invitations to your exciting night.
Invite Clients Through Email
Send out a salon open house invitation to customers via email using your Phorest system. Here’s an idea for a graphic (to save it, right click on the image and select the ‘Save Image As…’ button. On mobile, just hold down your finger or thumb and save the image.)
Send Your Invitation By SMS
SMS marketing is instant, direct, and its open rate is 95% – you can be guaranteed your clients will see it your invitation! But, how should the SMS read, you may be wondering? Look no further, here are a couple of templates you could use (’cause that’s how we roll!)
<<name of client>>, You are cordially invited to Upper Cuts exclusive VIP Open House on July 9th @ 7pm! Come on down for drinks, snacks and a bit of beauty! OptOut: 07624801416
Hi<<name of client>>, we’re delighted to invite you to our OPEN DAY at <<name of salon>> with prosecco & snacks, a free <<mini treatment>> & raffle! OptOut: 07624801416
Hi <<name of client>>, join us on our OPEN DAY at <<name of salon>> on <<date>> at <<time>>. Free <<mini treatment>>, great raffle, prosecco & snacks! OptOut:07624801416
What About Non-Clients?
Announcing Your Open House On Social Media
If you also want to invite non-clients, why not boost a Facebook post to your target audience? That way it’ll reach a suitable number of people. Next, how much should you spend on the post? Why not start with £5/€8 and see how the post does.
Related | Facebook Salon Marketing – Should You Be Boosting Your Posts?
If you wanted, you could use the graphic above (see email section) to grab people’s attention on Facebook; or maybe you’d prefer this one:
Getting non-clients to attend might be a little trickier, but still very doable! One way you can do this is to incentivise clients to bring guests with them. Hold a raffle or a competition, and people who bring guests will be given more tickets (meaning a better chance to win). The prize could be a gift voucher for the salon or a free luxury package.
Alternatively, you could also do a little offline marketing and ask local business to put up posters of your event. Record shops, local convenience stores and fuel stations are great options to advertise to the community.
Finally, another great way to publicise your salon open house event would be to identify the favorite fashion and beauty bloggers in your city and invite them along. Even give them a special ‘MEDIA’ pass to get them to talk about the event beforehand (building some more buzz around it at the same time)!
Reminder: It’s Not All About The Party!
It’s important to put on a really nice event, but don’t forget that you have an opportunity to gather new client details and get a few bookings onto your calendar for the upcoming weeks. So when guests arrive, have them fill out a form or sign up via your iPad (this can be done with Phorest Salon Software). That way, you can market to them later. We would recommend that you have someone specifically tasked at getting as many attendees to book an appointment with you before they leave. The goal will be to turn this party into a full working calendar. 🙂
So, what do you think? Would you consider putting together a salon open house?
For more great tips, check out our full resource on how to set up, run and grow a successful salon business.
Thanks for reading!
#LetsGrow
