Are you looking for more ways to drive customers to your barbershop? Have you been doing the following?
- Pass out business cards
- Pass out Flyers
- Give away free haircuts
- Network with other local businesses
- Join BNI groups
- Posting on Social Media Daily
If you’ve done any of the following, I’m sure you’ve been able to bring new customers. However, I’m also sure that you haven’t been able to bring in a consistent flow of customers from these methods. They all work, the only downside is that it doesn’t separate you from most barber shops. This is what EVERY shop is doing, and to stand out you need to be different.
If you’re looking to expand your reach, bring in more customers and earn more money while doing it, check out my list, 11 barber shop marketing ideas, tips and strategies that you can implement into your barbershop today!
1. Social Media Ads
If you’ve been following me for a while, I’m sure you knew this would be on the list. I HIGHLY recommend that you run ads for your barbershop. So much cheaper and more effective then passing out cards or running TV ads. You can literally place your content in front of your customer.
For example, if the ideal customer for your barbershop is between the ages of 25-55 and is a working professional male, who lives and travels through Boston, you can place your ad right in front of them!
If you haven’t done this yet, PLEASE DO! You’re doing yourself, your barbershop and your potential customers a disservice without giving them the opportunity to see your brand!
2. Video Marketing
Video is crushing it right now online, and it’s one of the biggest ways to separate yourself from the competition. Creating videos inside your barber shop that showcase the barbers and your clients helps spread the message to your audience faster, and it resonates with them on a deeper level.
They’ll be able to see the culture and the experience that differentiates you from other shops in your city or town. A picture speaks 1000 words, but a video 10x’s that!
Videos don’t need to be high production either. If you have the budget for a high production video then by all means, go for it. But if just starting out, you’ll do just fine shooting a video on your smartphone. It gives more of an authentic look anyway.
Definitely test different video formats, because you might realize that your audience reacts better to smart phone videos then high production. Sometimes when you produce high quality videos it might come off too commercial like, and you don’t want that, at least not for social media. But at the end of the day, do more videos!!!
3. SEO
SEO is search engine optimization. In other words, SEO means how easy it is to be found online. The better SEO you have, the easier it is for your potential customers to find you on Google, bing, youtube or any other online search engine. To help boost your SEO, it’s ideal to have your Google Business Page setup and website attached to it.
So next time someone googles, “Barber shops near me” your business will be listed where they can contact you by phone or visit your website to learn more about you. Another great way to boost your SEO is by sharing content daily on social media, sharing blogs on your website and adding videos to your YouTube Channel. The more content you have out on the web, the easier it is to find you.
4. Website
This leads me to our next idea, is having a website. Now, is a website necessary for building your brand? No. An online booking software is a great substitute – especially because people can book online with you, BUT, with most booking software you’re not branding your shop you’re branding the booking software.
Do you want people to remember the software they booked on that happens to showcase other barbershops in your area as well? Or do you want them to remember the name of your barbershop?
My suggestion is to have both. Now, if you don’t have the budget to get a fancy website, that’s fine. Google offers a free website that you can use for your business, and literally takes you less than 10 minutes to set up. I recommend to use this as a temporary website until you’re ready to create an official website for the brand.
5. Discounts
Not everyone loves giving discounts, I get it. But most people who dislike this idea aren’t looking at the bigger picture. For starters, let’s not give discounts on days we’re usually busy like Thursday – Saturday. We’re giving discounts to fill up our days that we aren’t busy, for example, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
By filling up the calendar on your slower days, the revenue generated at the end of the month will be MUCH HIGHER, then what it was without running these promotions.
Discounts are great for pulling in NEW business as well. The idea behind offering discounts to new customers is simple. We want them to give us a shot, especially if they’ve never heard of your brand before. Get them in, and once they get the experience, treat them with the utmost respect in order to get them to come back.
Depending on size of discount you might break even on the first visit, and that’s okay. Because you will make profit in their 2nd and 3rd visit. And if you’re really good, you’ll be able to get their brother, their children, cousin and everyone else in their network!
6. Referrals
Which leads me to my next marketing idea on this list. Referral Marketing. There’s a few ways to go about getting referrals from your clients. You can do what most do, and just ask. But as we all know, sometimes asking isn’t enough.
You can have different referral programs, for example, every 5 people they refer to you, they get a month of free haircuts, or a discount for every person they refer. They’re a lot of ways to do this, so go with whatever makes the most sense for your barbershop.
7. Get Positive Reviews!
If you’re not asking your customers to review your business online you’re doing yourself a disservice. Positive reviews for your shop, whether it be on Google, Facebook or Yelp will help you in a few different ways.
For starters, it’s third party credibility. It’s one thing to go around talking about how great your services are, but when it’s your customers praising you, it’s a different story. People are used to hearing businesses talk about how great their services are, that won’t help separate you from the crowd or help you stand out.
If anything, self promoting your greatness too much can be annoying and might come off as spammy. But when it’s your customers talking about their great experience, it sits differently with potential customers. It seems more genuine.
And it also helps with SEO. Again, the more content you’re sharing on your website, the more other media sites or blog sites are talking about your business, the easier it is to find your business. So getting positive reviews are a MUST, it will help put you in front of more people and give you an idea of what other processes or services need to be improved on in your barbershop.
8. Text Message Marketing
As time goes on we are seeing more and more text message ads. This might sound familiar, “Text 25 to 6969 to receive 25% off your next visit!”. A lot of the big brands are using it now to reach larger audiences, and there is no reason barber shops shouldn’t be applying this to their marketing strategy. Text message marketing has been around for a while, but it’s becoming more and more relevant in today’s age.
What’s powerful about text message marketing is your ability to track results. For example, you can’t really track how great of an ad your billboard sign was or how effective your business cards were. However, if you have a “text 20 to receive 25% off next visit” on that advertisement, you can see exactly how well that advertisement did by counting the amount of opt-ins you have.
9. Online booking
This one is for the old school shops that are wondering whether online booking is the right move for their business. Offering online scheduling is a GAME CHANGER for any shop. I get it, you might be used to picking up the phone and taking appointments manually, but by doing it that way, you’re having your haircuts interrupted, ruining the customer experience. Having online booking helps automate your sales process.
It’s also a huge convenience for your customers. Believe it or not, most people don’t like picking up the phone to call businesses, and if you’re in the middle of a cut you might miss that opportunity!
10. Customer Retention Promos
If you’re not sure what customer retention means, it’s how many times you’re able to get your customer to come back after their initial visit. It’s great that you’re getting new customers to your shop by offering discounts, online booking, etc. The next step is retaining these customers, this is important for any marketing strategy.
One of the best ways to get your customers to come back to your chair is by using loyalty programs! Most franchises are using loyalty programs because they increase the lifetime value of your customer, and gets them in the habit of returning regularly.
If you’re curious what other ways you can bring customers back to your barbershop, check out my other article, 5 ways to bring customers back to your chair.
11. Outsource Marketing Strategy
As entrepreneurs we wear many hats, and as our businesses continue to grow we know that they’re tasks that need to be delegated. For some shop owners they can handle their marketing on their own, and the ones that can I applaud you. However, this might be why you’re struggling in your business.
If you’re a shop owner, and you’re cutting hair, handling the finances of your shop, the marketing, the advertising, etc. You aren’t really working on your business, you’re working IN your business.
By delegating these tasks to a marketing professional, you can focus on other areas of your business that need to grow. When researching who to outsource to, make sure to find a company with a proven track record. It’s crazy to me how there are shops out there that leave their marketing strategies to their nieces or nephews, simply because they know how to post on instagram.
Fortunately, our agency specializes in advertising for barber shops. If you’re curious about what we can do for your barbershop, check out some of the results we’ve been able to generate for our barbershop clients here: http://bit.ly/VMResultsBarbershops and join our facebook group for barbers http://facebook.com/groups/barbershangout.
