Marketing Ideas For Hair Salons And Hairstylists In 2024

Finding new hair salon marketing ideas and strategies that actually work is not easy. But that’s only half the battle. You still have to execute them successfully. Finding out how to execute isn’t always easy and can be time-consuming. As a hairstylist, you probably can’t afford to spend all that time on endless research, so I’ve prepared a guide to help you with your hair salon marketing in 2024, from idea to execution. 

We’re going to be touching on both online and offline marketing ideas for hair salons. They’ll be listed by their importance and impact, but feel free to pick the ones you like best, to begin with. 

1. Get your hair salon listed on Google Maps

Getting your business listed on Google Maps isn’t some new, innovative marketing idea for hair salons; it’s a necessity. And, it’s free! It’s first on this list because if you’re not listed on Google Maps, you can’t easily share your salon’s location with your clients. 

Google Maps is also the best way to attract nearby customers who are searching online for hair salon services in their area. 

This is how hair salons nearby Chula Vista in California appear on Google Maps: 

You might think it’s a complicated process to add your salon on Google Maps, but it’s actually very easy and takes only a few minutes. And, as I previously mentioned, it’s free. 

So the first step is to go to the Google My Business website and create an account. Google My Business is simply the place where people add their business to appear on Google Maps. Create an account, fill in your business information, and ask to be verified.

Check out this video to see all the steps in details: 

2. Use online reviews to your advantage

Reviews help people decide whether to visit your business or not. It’s the online version of word-of-mouth.

“88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.“ SearchEngineLand

Kindly remind your customers to leave a review for your hair salon listing on Google Maps, on your Yelp listing, on your Facebook profile, or wherever you think your clients are actively searching.

Good hair salon marketing means building trust and lasting relationships with your clients, so always reply kindly to their reviews. This will show them that you value their opinion, even if it’s not always a positive one.

And because it’s not always easy to stay calm in situations like these, we’ve created an article about “How to respond to negative reviews about your hair salon”.

3. Send text message reminders for appointments

Hair salons lose about 20% of their revenue due to no-shows. Clients often forget about their hair appointments. It happens. But you can reduce that no-show rate to almost 0% by sending appointment reminder messages.

You can either send appointment reminder messages by typing them manually from your phone, or you can send them automatically from Goldie, the best appointment reminder app for hairstylists and salons. The best part is that you can take deposits and tips online, without having to deal with cash anymore. Also, Goldie lets you collect payments from clients via payment link or contactless with just your phone, without a POS or any extra equipment required.

You can download and install the app for free. It’s available in the App Store if you are using an Apple device or in Google Play if you are using an Android device.

Your hair salon marketing strategy needs appointment reminders, because even if you do an amazing job at promoting your hair salon and attract new clients, you’ll still lose around 20% of your appointments. So reducing that no-show rate is key if you want to grow your profits.

Looking at the Capterra reviews for the Goldie app, users claim that the appointment reminder option really improved their no-show rate.

“Goldie has cut my no shows to less than 1% – from around 15% – from the very first use.”

4. Offer convenient booking such as an online booking page

This is it. The best marketing idea for hair salons. Or at least my favorite one: setting up an online booking system for your hair salon.  

There are many reasons why an online booking page is great. It can help you get more appointments from existing clients since we all love the possibility of booking appointments ourselves. But online booking can also help you attract new clients simply by sharing your booking page on your social media channels.  

Setting up an online booking system for your hair salon is easier than you might think, and all you need is a mobile phone. This is how your Online Booking page could look like. It took me less than 30 minutes to set up my online booking page with Goldie, the app I’ve talked about earlier.

You can add your hair salon’s name, logo, services and prices, opening times, and a picture of your choice.

Activate your “Book Now” button on Facebook and Instagram

If you want to find out more, I’ve created a detailed guide on how to set up online booking for your business using Goldie. Also, don’t forget to activate your “Book Now” button on social media. Recently, we’ve become partners with Facebook and Instagram, and now you can book appointments easily in your Goldie calendar via social media.

5. Impress with your Facebook and Instagram profiles

There’s no hair salon marketing strategy without social media. Clients expect hairstylists to find images of your work on your social media pages. Think of it as your precious online portfolio.

The good part is that posting on social media is free and easy. The not-so-great part is that it can be quite time-consuming to engage with your followers and create some buzz. 

Social media marketing for hair salons deserves a whole article on its own to really help boost your social media skills. Check out this article that offers 21 tips and strategies for salons, all about Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

6. Create a modern website for your hair salon

I know what you’re thinking: “I don’t really need a website; I have Facebook and Instagram.” And in a way, that’s correct. But having a website has its own advantages.

You can showcase your portfolio and only display your best work. Social Media is great for showcasing your work, but some of the older pictures tend to get buried by new ones in time. And you might still want people to see your favorite work when deciding whether to make an appointment or not.

A website will help your hair salon appear on Google if people are searching for it.

Here’s a list of places where you should also display your website address:

• Business directories such as Yelp, Foursquare, Yellowpages, etc
• Your salon’s Facebook and Instagram accounts
• Google Maps account (Google My Business)
• Your online booking page
• Business cards

If your hair salon doesn’t already have a website, you could reach out to a web design agency. However, I recommend that you save yourself a fair amount of money and create the website yourself. There’s plenty of site-building tools out there that are inexpensive and easy to use for non-technical people. Anyway, if you’re not looking to create a complex website for your salon, the Goldie online booking system is more than enough for small business owners, and it’s free!

7. Send hair care and styling tips after new appointments

Sending follow-up messages with hair care tips after appointments is one of the best hairstylist marketing ideas. It’s one of the easiest ways to build trust and loyalty. If you use an app like Goldie, it’s easy to set templates for different types of follow-up messages that you can send with just one tap.

Examples of messages you could send after an appointment:

• Coupon or discounts for their next appointment
• Haircare tips for colored hair (how to make the hair color last longer)
• Haircare tips for bleached hair
• Haircare tips for dry or oily hair
• How to care for relaxed hair
• Hairstyling tips for curly hair
• Seasonal hair and styling tips
• Hair tips for brides (you can send these after the bridal hair trial)
• How to use certain hair products (if you sell those products especially)
• “Thank you” follow-up message

8. Provide loyalty cards & programs

“It is six to seven times more expensive to attract a new customer than it is to retain an existing one” business2community.com 

You’ll really want to hold on to your existing clients; you’ve worked hard to get them! Offering a loyalty program at your hair salon will keep your clients happy, and they will feel appreciated every time they get a discount.

This is an easy way to promote your hair salon because all you need are printed loyalty cards. And our designers created some for you, that you can download for free. Check out our free printable loyalty card templates for hair salons & stylists.

All you’ll have to do is print them. You can print them yourself or at a print shop. We’d recommend the print shop, but it all depends on your budget. At the end of the day, your clients will be happy to receive a discount, no matter what.

9. Ofer referral discounts

Promoting yourself as a hairstylist can get draining at times. So why not let your clients promote you and your hair salon? Your clients probably talk about you already. So turn those casual talks into future appointments at your hair salon by offering refer-a-friend discount cards.

Similar to our previous hair salon marketing idea, you’ll need to hand out printed cards to your clients. In this case, you could as a print shop to design and print them for you, or you can choose a design and personalize it on Zazzle.com, and order the printed cards online.

10. Partner up with other local businesses

Connect with other local businesses that offer services that are complementary to your hair salon services, such as makeup artists or wedding & event organizers. Wellness-related businesses also make great partners for hair salons.

By partnering up with other local businesses, you’ll expand your reach. Your partners will be promoting you, just like you will be promoting them. You and your partners can even create a complete solution for a type of event. A beauty package maybe. Or you could partner up with a makeup artist, nail artist, and photographer for a wedding package. If you could get a wedding planner on board, they’ll surely bring in many appointments.

Another great idea that will help you promote your hair salon is to provide hairstyling for a fashion event. You might even get featured in the local news, and that’s actually next on the list of best marketing ideas for hair salons and stylists.

11. Be present in the local news

While this is not the easiest way to promote your hair salon, it’s definitely worth the extra effort. To get the local newspapers and communities to feature your salon, you’ll need to organize or be part of a local event or campaign. Whenever there’s a fashion even in your city, you should try to partner up and offer your hairstyling services, even for free.

The great thing about these type of campaigns is that you not only promote your hair salon, but you also help people and improve their lives. Making a difference in someone’s life is extraordinary.

Campaigns and events that could get your hair salon featured in the local news:

• Free hair care and styling advice for young girls. For example, one Saturday per month you could teach young girls all about styling their hair and give them free, personalized advice.
• A campaign offering free haircuts and styling for low-income/struggling individuals before attending a job interview.
• A campaign offering free hairstyling for low-income brides.
• A campaign offering free haircuts and styling at nursing homes.
• Free haircuts for homeless & low-income/struggling individuals.
• Style hair at various local fashion events or beauty contests.

So.. what’s next? Where to start?

Take some time to consider what are the best marketing ideas for your hair salon and how you’d like to promote yourself as a hairstylist.

Then create a marketing plan for your hair salon and get right at it. Don’t forget to be persistent. Most people give up in the first weeks because they expect to see results right away. Being persistent is the key to success.

Good luck and let us know in the comment section below about your marketing efforts or your favorite marketing tips and tricks.