Professional Hair Extension Marketing (part 2)
It's Time To Extend Your Potential With Unique Service Advantages!
By: Larry H. Oskin, President, Marketing Solutions,
Inc.
Click
here to read part 1
Marketing & Advertising Strategies!
Darren Stork, president of SO.CAP, USA Hair Extensions -- Midwest
notes, "Do you want to become known as 'THE Top Hair Extensionist'
in town? If you really want to become respected as the best team
of hair extensionists in your area, you will need to create a complete
annual marketing, advertising and PR strategy dedicated to hair
extensions, while balancing it with your other services like haircuts,
haircolor, nailcare and spacare. If no one has created a position
for themselves as the leading hair extensionists in town, then you
will need to create a marketing plan that will earn this title for
you. Even if others do offer hair extensions locally, there's no
reason you cannot become respected as the top hair extensionist.
There are many options and promotional strategies that you may consider.
As part of our certification educational programs, we work with
our salon professionals to teach them how to effectively market
hair extensions as these sell-through techniques will be critically
important to your long-term success and profitability."
  Print
Advertising: Consider advertising your hair extension makeovers
and artistry in some of the best local city and regional magazines.
Even if you only acquire ¼, 1/3 or ½ page full color
advertisements two to three times per year, this will help to position
you as one of the top hair extension artists in town. We do not
recommend newspaper advertising unless they are offering a special
salon, haircare, hair extensions or 'Best Of' section.
Direct Mail Marketing: Direct mail should
become an essential part of your annual hair extension marketing
strategy! Create colorful postcards with beautiful hair extension
makeover photographs and your logo on the front with a personalized
message about complimentary consultations on the backside. Collect
the names, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses from
your clients. Create a computerized direct mail database of your
clients, so you will be able to mail them special hair extension
postcards, newsletters, fliers and brochures. Explore upscale Clipper
Magazine, Savvy Shopper and Mint - direct mail magazines, where
you can affordably promote your haircolor for less than 3 to 4 cents
per home, while reaching as many as 50,000 homes surrounding your
salon. They also offer targeted detached label postcards at less
than 9 cents per home.
Email Marketing: This strategy should also
now become another essential part of your annual hair extension
marketing strategy! You can create colorful email blasts with some
of your most amazing hair extension makeovers. Create a special
computerized email database of your clients, so you or your webmaster
will be able to email them hair extension news, promotions and makeover
ideas.
Internet & Website Marketing Options:
Make sure your website promotes your hair extensions, sharing a
complete gallery of your makeover photographs. Tell about all of
your various hair extension services, products and extras. Take
the time to do an Internet search of hair extension websites, where
consumers can find local hair extensionists. Type in 'hair extensions'
on your next Google Search. You will be amazed. As you already should
know by visiting this website, one of the leading websites internationally
is www.HairExtensionGuide.com. This website is perfect for salon
clients and salon professionals alike. Here you will find all of
the top professional hair extension companies. You can also search
to see who is competitively listed in your area. You will certainly
be able to learn more about professional hair extensions by checking
updates at this website weekly and monthly. This website gives you
the opportunity to promote yourself and your salon as hair extension
specialists.
Radio & TV Broadcast Advertising Options:
We only recommend cable TV and radio advertising in small city markets
or if you have multiple locations in a large metropolitan city.
Radio and TV are quite expensive, if you buy preferred drive time
spots. It is not worth buying R.O.S. or 'Run Of Schedule' with odd
hours in the middle of the night. Radio and TV will usually target
a much larger area than you need, while most salon clients still
will only drive 3 to 5 miles for their services. If you can afford
it and you can put together an ongoing campaign, then do it. Your
radio and TV stations will help you create the commercials, so negotiate
for these as part of your annual advertising agreement package.
 You
Must Wear Them To Sell Them! This is true. You have heard this
before for creative haircolor and highlight artistry. This is even
more true for professional salon hair extensions. Make sure everyone
on your staff wears them, especially your receptionists. You cannot
effectively sell hair extensions if you don't wear them.
Pretty For Prom & Fun Bridal Party Promotions:
We have had fun promoting a few hair extension pieces to match the
prom dresses, bridesmaid's gowns or party dresses for only $10 per
piece or $25 for three hair strands / pieces. You can run advertisements
in the high school and college newspapers as well as to run full
color advertisements in your regional bridal magazines. You can
offer 3 FREE Hair Extension strands / pieces to match any prom,
homecoming or bridal party dress, with complete 'Pretty For Prom'
or 'Bridal Party' Packages - each with a new haircut, haircolor
or highlight, upstyle, eyebrow arch, manicure and pedicure.
Seasonal Promotions: You can also seasonally
promote temporary hair extensions with fantasy haircolor artistry
for holidays with green for St. Patrick's Day, red or pink for Valentine's
Day, orange and black for Halloween. You can promote hair extensions
with team colors for the big local and national football games.
Hair Extension & Makeover Consultation Books:
These are the most fun promotions. Share as many of your own makeover
photographs as you can in your advertising, posters and point-of-purchase
materials. Create your own 'Hair Extension Makeover Consultation
Stylebooks'. Include feature articles about hair extensions from
local and national magazines.
Reception Area Stylebooks: Passion International
Stylebooks just published their first Passion Hair Extension Stylebook
this year with makeovers and versatile hair designs from top salons
across the USA. Many salons from Intercoiffure, SO.CAP. USA Hair
Extensions, Hairdreams, Hairlocs, Great Lengths and Cinderella are
represented. Whether you make your own or purchase a stylebook,
these are great visual merchandising tools to share with your clients
during consultations. We suggest that you take professional photographs
of your hair extension makeovers to send out to the many national
consumer hair magazines and stylebooks. You may even want to participate
in one of the upcoming Passion International Stylebook photography
competitions. You can even contact me, if you are interested in
participating at a future Passion International Stylebook Photography
Competition Session. Look for these at trade shows or call Passion
at 800-362-7071. A picture is still worth a thousand words!
 Teens:
Teen girls love hair extensions for added texture, length, fantasy
haircolor and highlights. They love everything fun, flirty and fashionable.
With teens, you can promote both temporary clip-ons and permanent
hair extensions. You will be surprised at how they can afford it,
with a little help from their parents. Try to create special Teen
Nights with lecture demonstrations and educational events in your
salon and at the local high schools. Hand out special Salon V.I.P.
Cards and Hair Extension Gift Certificates to everyone in attendance.
Offer a few free colorful hair extensions to the captains of the
high school cheerleaders and dancers. Everyone follows the lead
of these teen fashionistas.
Men: Create and market a special hair extensions
program just for men with thin and thinning hair. Once you have
a few men start to wear your hair extensions for volume, body, length,
texture and highlights, you will be surprised at how many more men
you will start to handle. Michael Baker a SO.CAP. USA Midwest Hair
Educator and Hair Extensionist that owns the Michael Warren Salon
in Elkhart, IN - specializes in men's hair extensions. He has perfected
very small micro-grafts, so you can't see or feel the hair extensions
in your client's hair. He has established a large clientele of local
men and celebrities as well as many who drive for hours on end just
to take advantage of his unique expertise.
Cross Marketing: Visit with local dermatologists
and medical clinics that help teens and women with alopecia or those
that are recovering from chemotherapy treatments. Drop off your
cards and brochures, while offering free hair extensions and hair
replacement service consultations. Be sure to offer these folks
private and confidential consultations. You may be able to offer
their receptionist a complimentary product or partial service, just
for working with you.
Point-Of-Purchase Merchandising: Create colorful
tent cards, mirror cards, counter cards, self talkers, posters,
window banners and outdoor signage that will seasonally promote
all of you creative hair extension services both in and outside
of your salon. Be sure to share big photographs of your best hair
extension makeovers on women, men and teens.
 Full
Price Or Promotional Discounts? We strongly suggest that you
promote your hair extension services at full price. If desired,
you may want to offer a $100 or $200 gift certificate discount towards
any new first-time full head of hair extensions. You certainly can
offer a gift with purchase by offering a large gift of professional
home haircare products, tools and special hair extension safe hairbrushes
with any full head of hair extensions. You can even cross market
your hair extensions with other salon and spa services.
Boilerplate Hair Extension Marketing Programs:
Some of the professional companies like SO.CAP. USA Hair Extensions
offer you pre-designed brochures, posters, postcards, newspaper
and magazine advertisements where you can easily add your own salon
logo, address, telephone number and website information. They may
offer this artwork on their websites or on CD's. If they offer PR
Reprints from nationally published feature articles, ask how you
can get copies of these to use in your salon and to frame for your
'Wall Of Fame'.
Promote You Basic & Advanced Hair Extension
Certifications: Your salon 'Wall Of Fame' should boast framed
copies of your Hair Extension Certification Award certificates.
Clients are always very impressed by well educated hair designers.
PR & Media Relations Strategies:
Remember that local and national PR exposure must be pursued by
you to promote your hair extension specialties, while educating
the public on these specialty services. You cannot over commercialize
or 'sell' anything through PR via press releases and feature stories.
Plan a hair extension makeover photography session, so you can share
your best work with the local newspapers as well as the national
consumer hair magazines. Once published, take this new found fame
to the bank with posters and advertisements that scream "ABC
Salon Makes National & International Headlines!" These
special hair extension makeover photographs should also be used
in your newspaper advertisements, postcards, newsletters and on
your website.
Specialty Hair Extension Products: It is
important that you are ready to promote how your clients should
take care of professional hair extensions at home between salon
visits. We suggest that you include a $50 to $75 value package of
Specialty Hair Extension Shampoos, Conditioners, Styling Aids and
a Hairbrush with each new Full Head Hair Extension Service. When
clients are willing to spend $1500 to $2000 on a hair extension
service, you cannot be afraid to sell a $50 to $100 home haircare
regimen. For example, SO.CAP. USA Hair Extensions offers their own
complete systems of 4U Haircare Products as well as a special hair
brush, which each are specifically designed to safely protect any
client with permanently bonded hair extensions. These same products
can be used on regular hair, yet this is a wonderful addition to
help ensure your clients hair extensions last for at least 6 months
while also making your salon more profitable.
Glamorize With Fantasy Hair Extensions, Crystals
& Accessories: Investigate all of the latest hair extension
options, accessories, hair jewelry and crystals. To successfully
promote crystals, hair jewelry and hair ornamentation, you need
to have strong visual merchandising displays in your salon. Ron
Cardillo suggests, "Create beautiful visual displays that can
be shared at your salon stations, front desks and in your retail
areas. Design fashionable mannequin heads that illustrate your diverse
hair artistry with crystal and hair jewelry. At SO.CAP. USA Hair
Extensions, they use real Swarovski Crystals for our accent design
pieces as they add enhanced beauty, brilliance, shine and color
to the overall hair design."
 There
are two types of hair crystals. These same professional crystals
also come in clip-on versions. The professional Swarovski Crystals
by SO.CAP. USA Hair Extensions are actually permanently bonded to
the hair with keratin and their warm or cold fusion bonding equipment,
like a regular hair extension. Your clients can shampoo, swim, brush
and style their hair, even if they must do so carefully.
Feathers and beads make another fun, yet elegant
hair extensions accessory option. Great for parties and nightclubs,
today's professional bonded versions too can be applied like hair
extensions to stay in place. Clip-ons are also available here. Research
the quality of your salon's feather accessories for the hair.
Hair Tattoos: Explore the latest hair tattoos
for your salon clients. These are really fun. They stick to the
hair in a pre-set pattern, much like applying a band-aid. The hair
tattoos are much more temporary, while they will come out with the
next shampoo or hair brushing. Unlike the less expensive retail
versions, you can again offer your clients many unique, high fashion
and semi-permanent solutions.
Charity Events: You may be able to promote
your hair extensions, by being affiliated with a charity. For example,
SO.CAP. USA Hair Extensions first launched Pink Hair For Hope several
years ago as an annual fundraiser for the National Breast Cancer
Foundation, where salon clients can visit participating salons across
North America during September and October each year, to add fun
pink hair extension grafts to their hair for a small $10 donation,
per hair graft. This event has not only helped raise hundreds of
thousands of dollars for breast cancer awareness and education,
it has helped raise awareness of fantasy haircolor extensions.
Create New Hair Extension Marketing Solutions:
There definitely is a market today for professional hair extensions.
Take advantage of this open marketplace by creating a complete marketing,
advertising and PR program for your salon. Those salons that say,
"Not here!" just aren't paying attention to the latest
fashion news. It's time to use hair extensions and creative hair
design accessories to make your salon known as one of the top fashion
forward salons in your community!
Click
here to read part 1
note:
Larry H. Oskin is president of Marketing Solutions, Inc., a full-service
marketing, advertising, graphic design and PR agency specializing
in the professional beauty industry. Clients include salons, spas,
medical spas, distributors and manufacturers from across North America.
Headquartered in Fairfax, VA. For more information call 703-359-6000,
Email LOskin@MktgSols.com or visit www.MktgSols.com.
Pictures by: The Hair Extension Guide and So.Cap.
USA.
For more information about SO.CAP.USA Hair Extensions or to attend
an upcoming Hair Extension Certification Seminar, call 877-855-4247
or 914-423-6545.
Visit them on the web at www.SOCAPUSA.com
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