Facebook, Twitter, radio, TV, flyers… There are many ways to market your salon, but which ones work? Tracking your marketing through attribution is the best way to find out!
Ever hear the story about the salon owner who ran one form of marketing and expected it to triple his profits? Brian DeMint has, mostly because he used to be “that guy.” These days, he has a much better handle on marketing Perfect Tan in Temecula, CA, and is happy to report that all of his promotional efforts are successful at bringing people into his salon. How does he know this? He’s taken the time to study the effectiveness of his marketing with a little method called attribution, and recommends other salon owners do it, too. The results, he says, might be shocking.
Attribution is a big word used to describe a simple yet reliable way of tracking the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. When done correctly, it will give you a good idea of how people are actually hearing about your business, and what’s inspiring them to come in and give your salon a try. “When things get slow,” said Brian, “many salon owners look to start cutting their marketing expenses. This is the biggest mistake they can make, because they typically don’t understand the value of the various forms of marketing they’re using, so they have no idea how cutting these expenses can end up hurting their businesses.”
A highly-effective yet age-old process is used to determine the reach of Brian’s marketing efforts. “We give our clients a survey to fill out while they’re waiting to tan,” he explained. “It’s not very big or involved, and we always offer free upgrades or lotion products as an incentive for them to participate. It’s perfect for those times when there might be a short wait to tan.” The Perfect Tan survey asks tanners about which forms of marketing they’ve seen – Facebook, Twitter, magazine, etc. – and also asks them to rate, on a scale from one to ten, how strongly the marketing encouraged them to come to the salon for the first time.
While Brian is still fine-tuning his survey process, using attribution has taught him much about marketing. “The most important thing it’s taught me is how all of my marketing and promotions efforts work together to bring people into our store,” he said. “Our clients are seeing our flyers, have liked us on Facebook and subscribe to our Twitter and Instagram feeds. Even our local magazine ads have been seen by nearly all of our tanners at one time or another.” As far as Brian is concerned, the success of Perfect Tan is the result of combining all the marketing efforts used to promote it.
Thinking of cutting back on your marketing to save a buck? Try conducting an attribution exercise before you do and you’ll realize how valuable all your marketing efforts really are!
Here’s the attribution study Brian uses to survey his tanners at Perfect Tan:
- Have you ever seen a Facebook post by (your salon name)?
YES / NO
a. If no, go to question 2.
b. On a scale from 1 – 10, 10 being the most significant, how significant was that Facebook post in encouraging you to come to (your salon) for the first time?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Have you ever seen a Tweet by (your salon)?
YES / NO
a. If no, go to question 3.
b. On a scale from 1 – 10, 10 being the most significant, how significant was that Tweet in encouraging you to come to (your salon) for the first time?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Have you ever seen an Instagram post by (your salon)?
YES / NO
a. If no, go to question 4.
b. On a scale from 1 – 10, 10 being the most significant, how significant was that post in encouraging you to come to (your salon) for the first time?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Have you ever seen a magazine ad by (your salon)?
YES / NO
a. If no, go to question 5.
b. On a scale from 1 – 10, 10 being the most significant, how significant was that ad in encouraging you to come to (your salon) for the first time?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Have you visited the (your salon) website before?
YES / NO
On a scale from 1 – 10, 10 being the most significant, how significant was that experience in encouraging you to come to (your salon) for the first time?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
