10 Esthetician Marketing Ideas You Need to Attract New Clients

Estheticians are probably the most loved professionals in the beauty industry. They spoil you with skincare treatments, waxing, face massage, etc. Anyway, business life is not always as beautiful as it seems to be. 

Cosmetologists face many challenges in their businesses, such as lack of clients or lack of personal branding. That’s exactly why we taught about helping you attract more clients to your business.

In this article, you’re going to find 10 practical esthetician marketing ideas that will help you get more clients and boost your beauty business. These tips are easy to put into practice, and you’ll find below all the resources you need to implement them.

Get ready to market your beauty business both online and offline with these 10 awesome marketing ideas for beauty salons.

1. Create your website

There are many professionals who consider that they don’t really need a website for their business, or that it is too expensive to maintain one. Now, let me tell you something: when people search for a service or a professional around the internet, they trust more an esthetician with a website that contains all the information they need, instead of a professional that can barely be found on the internet, or one that simply has a social media page.

A website will help your beauty salon appear on Google when people are searching for a professional like you. Here’s a list of places where you should also share your website link: 

• Your salon’s Facebook and Instagram accounts;
• Google Maps account;
• Your online booking page;
• Business cards and advertising materials.

Nowadays, it’s easier than ever to create your own website. Tools like Wix have thousands of templates, and you can customize each of them with your own business information. You can even create your beauty portfolio with photos of your clients and add them to your website.

Plus, you can create an online booking link and embed it in a “book now” button on your website. Technology does all the job for you if you know how to share your business information properly. With the booking button, people will be able to book an appointment with you without having to call anymore.

Make sure your website has a pleasant design and contains all the essential information, and you’ll have a full schedule guaranteed.

Here’s how you can create a free online booking system for your esthetician business. 

2. Work with your distributor

This business-to-business marketing idea can be beneficial both for you and your partner. How does this work? Well, for example, you can ask your product distributor to promote yourself on their social media pages (big brands usually have many followers) or to recommend yourself to other salons. 

Let’s say you are an esthetician working in a beauty salon and your distributors also share products to massage salons, barbershops, hair salons, nail salons, and so on. You can agree with them to be promoted in those places, and in exchange, you will promote them to other cosmetologists and beauty professionals you know.

This will end up in a win-win situation. You will have more people coming into your salon, while your distributors will get some new distribution contracts.

3. Be active on social media

Who’s not online does not exist, and this is a general truth for all businesses. When you create your esthetician marketing strategy, you must include social media for sure.

Clients usually look for “before and after” photos on social media before actually deciding to have an appointment. Think about your Instagram feed or Facebook wall as your sales assistant.

What you show in your social media profiles says everything about how professional you are, how qualitative your products are, and how happy your clients are. And the best part of it is that this beauty salon marketing strategy is free and accessible for everyone. Plus, you can activate your “Book Now” button, connect it with your Goldie online booking page, and have your calendar permanently scheduled. Here’s a complete guide on how to create an online booking system.

4. Send marketing messages to clients

Now, here’s an essential point in your business. Your clients have to always stay informed with updates and changes you make in your business because that makes them feel valued and encourages them to book, and even to recommend you to others.

Consider sending marketing messages to your clients with salon updates, price changes, special deals, and even requirements regarding hygiene and protection. 

With Goldie, you can send a marketing text message to specific clients, depending on your filtering options. Gain precious time and forget about texting each client individually. If you’re not using Goldie yet, you can download it for free from the App Store or Google Play and give it a try. It does all the job for you! 

5. Socialize

Having good social skills can be a marketing strategy for your esthetician business. As a cosmetologist, you mostly work with women, and if you want to attract them to your beauty salon, you must be friendly and extroverted. 

A great idea to put into practice could be making new friends when enjoying your free time on weekends. You can ask your friends to bring some new people with them and start conversations on different topics related to beauty. You can launch them an invitation to a beauty treatment, and there you are, with some new potential clients coming into your salon.

Another thing you can do if you are working in a beauty salon is to ask your salon mates to promote yourself to their clients. For example, the hairstylist working with you can send her clients to you for cosmetic services, and in return, you can advise your clients to contact her for their hair appointments. This step is essential for your esthetician business, and you’ll find out at the next point why I’m saying it.

6. Take advantage of word of mouth

Compared to traditional marketing strategies, word of mouth is more effective in attracting new clients. According to specialists, word of mouth generates more than twice the sales of paid advertising.

Giving a human touch to your promotion strategy sells the best, and that’s exactly why I mentioned that social skills are life-saving and that your salon mates can be the ideal persons to ask for help. Besides them, don’t be afraid to ask your loyal clients to recommend you to their family and friends too. 

7. Offer loyalty cards

Yes, your loyal clients may help you in attracting new ones, but you have to reward their loyalty first. 

A great way to do it is by providing loyalty cards in your esthetician salon. On Zazzle, you can find many cosmetologist loyalty cards that you can buy and share in your salon. They come with different offers, like a 50% discount after 9 visits to you, or a free appointment after a certain number of paid appointments. 

Clients will appreciate your generosity and will feel proud to be part of your salon community. Providing loyalty cards was and still remains one of the most effective marketing ideas for beauty salons. 

8. Focus on visual branding

Your salon’s design matters a lot, even though you didn’t consider it an important part of selling more. By using certain colors, shapes, or materials, you create your personal brand and that is one of the most important aspects of your marketing strategy. 

Salon decor might not be your main priority when it comes to esthetician marketing promotion ideas, but the truth is that it has a huge influence on the way clients feel when they enter your salon. 

Providing beauty services is not enough if you want to be part of the top professionals in your industry. In order to create a beautiful and complete experience for your clients, you have to make them feel different in your salon. You can do it by having a design they didn’t see anywhere else, or by making your beauty salon the most welcoming place they’ve been to. Like an escaping door for a few minutes or hours. 

To create harmony when it comes to visual branding, try choosing your brand colors and shapes and use them both in your salon decor and in the social media graphics you post.

9. Write on your blog

Having a blog is both relaxing and beneficial. On the one hand, you can relax after a full day by writing about all kinds of things you’ve been going through, and on the other hand, you can learn new information by doing research on topics related to your industry and sharing them with your clients or similar professionals. 

Constantly learning and being up to date with the latest news in your industry is essential. By maintaining a blog, you will not only keep yourself informed, but you will also attract new clients and, most of all, you will be able to convince them directly to come to your salon. All you have to do is to highlight the advantages of coming to your salon in a story that doesn’t sound too promotional.

10. Maintain a proper hygiene

You’re probably thinking that marketing has nothing to do with hygiene, but let me tell you something: people notice when you’re making efforts to keep your salon tools disinfected, and they will come to you again and again, especially because they feel safe. 

Despite your competitors, you have a huge advantage when you maintain proper hygiene in your esthetician salon. The main advantage I’m talking about is that they will appreciate both your talent and your efforts, and word of mouth works best in this case. 

If you want to know more about how to properly sanitize your cosmetology tools, check out this step-by-step guide shared by a professional esthetician. She built all her clientele base through word of mouth, thanks to the efforts she’s been putting in disinfecting her salon tools and by always improving her talent and skills through lots of cosmetology training sessions.