Archana G
The holiday season is one of the busiest and most profitable times of the year for salons. But it’s also when small businesses fight for consumers’ attention. Black Friday and Small Business Saturday are excellent opportunities to boost bookings, drive retail sales, and increase salon awareness among new clients. Whether you’re an established salon or a new venture, effective promotions don’t need to be expensive to achieve success. With a little creativity, smart planning, and strong digital awareness, your business can leverage this shopping weekend and make it into one of the most successful times of the year.
Tips to Promote a Hair Salon on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday
Black Friday salon promotion and Small Business Saturday promotions are important for salons. But they don’t have to be expensive. Some affordable salon promotion ideas include:
Provide Fast-Action Services
Black Friday shoppers love timeliness and appreciate the sense of urgency that comes with feeling like they are getting a deal before it expires. Create discounts that provide a sense of urgency to help prospective clients speed up a decision and to line up more bookings on your calendar. Discounts like this are low-cost because you are not outspending the discount. You only discount after you have confirmed bookings.
Bundle Services for Value
Bundling services will increase your revenue per client while still making clients feel like they are saving money. Deals and bundles such as holiday hair bundles, men’s grooming bundles, color refresh packages, Friday bonanzas, Saturday self-care discounts, and more are some ways to play this out. These salon bundle deals for holidays work well for Small Business Saturday promotions, as shoppers are investigating how to support local businesses while also treating themselves.
Smart Product Promotions and Discounts
Retail products have excellent margins. But large discounts can sometimes put small businesses at risk of loss, especially if you offer low-cost services. Rather, you can explore lower-cost retail offers such as bundling products with services, small discounts on selected products, or small discounts on services upon product purchase, etc.
Create a ‘Holiday Hair Care Kit.’
A bundle of travel sizes of shampoo, conditioner, and treatment products, at slightly discounted prices, is a fantastic way to increase sales during this holiday season. Clients love a curated set as a gift. Additionally, offering free samples enhances the appeal of the bags when customers buy retail products from the salon.
Maximize Your Online Visibility in Advance of the Holiday Weekend
It’s crucial to level up your digital presence, and especially your website, for increased usage and attention as you make plans for Black Friday and Small Business Saturday. To stay ahead, you can update your website and even mobile apps to feature seasonal offerings. You can develop a new, clear, easy-to-find page on your website that has:
- Black Friday offers.
- Small Business Saturday special ideas for salons.
- Gift card prompts.
- Hours of operation or event information.
You can even add a countdown timer for some urgency.
Each of your pages should be able to load quickly and be mobile-friendly, containing an easy-to-spot ‘Book Now’ button on every page. Please ensure that clients enjoy a seamless experience when booking their promotional packages directly. You can even create automated reminders for bookings, sent to the clients periodically to cut down your no-shows.
In addition to promotions, it is important to optimize your listing for local holiday searches. Before the peak season arrives, check if your Google Business Profile is up to date and optimized for your holiday hours. Ensure it has pictures of your space and special holiday decorations. If you are proactive and digitally adept, please ensure you have a brief post highlighting your promotional packages for the weekend.
- Focus on SEO
Local SEO is one of the highest-performing strategies for salons, as most clients are searching for things like “hair salons near me,” “best personal grooming shops near me,” etc. To improve SEO rankings, create simple but seasonal content on your website. Keep blogs or landing pages that can bring more traffic by keeping the content engaging, informative, and reach-focused.
Use Low-Cost Email Marketing
Email marketing is still one of the most effective strategies for salon marketing without spending much money. Consider some of these holiday weekend email ideas to improve your strategy:
- Provide early access to pricing during the weekend.
- A list of your bundles or gift card pricing.
- Appointment reminder to get them in before the holiday and offer them pre-booking.
- Send a last-chance email on Saturday evening to remind clients of the countdown.
Getting Your Salon Ready for Peak Traffic Hours
Promotions will bring people in the door, but a positive experience in your salon will help convert first-time visitors into loyal clients. Prepping for success can be as simple as
- Adjusting your staffing for the weekend
- Organizing product shelves
- Designing retail bundles as a promotion
- Set up a display at checkout for holiday shopping
- Having stations stocked and decluttered
During the holiday season, small efforts like cider or chocolates can contribute to the festive experience at minimal cost.
Host a Small Business Saturday “Mini Event.”
You don’t have to pull off a full open house. A small, 2-hour event will drive sales and social awareness. You can do the following to create an engaging experience:
- A live product demonstration
- A free hair consultation
- A braid or curl station
- A raffle, maybe a gift basket, or a free service
- Photos with a holiday-theme backdrop
Events will generate foot traffic and build community for very low cost if you keep them simple.
Adobe reports that during Black Friday 2024, U.S. consumers spent $10.8 billion online, a 10.2% increase that demonstrates the potential power of this shopping weekend for salons.
Wrapping Up
Black Friday and Small Business Saturday are two of the best and most powerful opportunities any hair salon has to increase revenue, new client acquisition, and goodwill in the community without a large marketing budget. As long as you get creative with promotions, are crafty with bundling, get your salon set up digitally, and have a warm and inviting experience in the salon, this shopping holiday can be very rewarding for your salon. With a robust online presence and some intentional communication, even the simplest promotions can generate significant and enduring growth. Stay tuned with Elite mCommerce to share more holiday specials, increase your salon’s visibility, and draw in more customers in the area this season.
