With clients at the ready to open their pocketbooks and shell out dough for everything from services to gifts, stepping up your marketing during the holiday season is a no-brainer. The No. 1 rule: You must plan ahead and start early. Think: As soon as you say goodbye to Halloween say hello to prepping. “In early November you’ll want to finalize any promotions, packages and sales; send any marketing collateral to the printer; order additional retail items; and map out your digital marketing strategy,” explains Tara Walsh, master lash artist and The Lashprenuer lash business coach and consultant. With this early planning out of the way, it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty of smart holiday marketing.
Create Awareness
Put the “holiday special” buzz in your clients’ ears no later than one to two appointments or one week before the sale. “Timing is essential to capturing holiday buyers before they’ve committed their monies elsewhere,” says Walsh, who notes rolling out week-by-week strategies will maximize sales. “Your marketing plan [should] target overachievers who finish their shopping in early November as well as last-minute shoppers who wait until the week of Christmas to tie up any loose ends.” Your clients no doubt have friends and family they’ll be splurging on or who will be attending holiday soirees, so don’t let the opportunity to chat them up about their loved ones pass you by. “Sometimes it’s as simple as planting the seed to remind clients that their mom has been ogling their lashes for months and could use a self-confidence boost or about their girlfriend who’s feeling lonely since it’s her first holiday season since the divorce,” says Walsh.
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Stock Up
Go a step further and place a reminder sign at the front desk describing your package deals or any freebies with purchase, such as aftercare kits or gift cards, and line the shelves with holiday stocking stuffers like lash wands, beauty-themed ornaments, and lash and brow conditioning serums. “Anything that’s small enough to fit into a stocking really catches the attention of clients and is an easy few bucks in your pocket whether clients use it in a stocking or as a ‘gift’ to themselves,” says Walsh.
Use Technology
Make it easy for clients and offer online gift cards they can print from home (try thegiftcardcafe.com if you don’t have a system in place!) and utilize social media to excite and gain followers with holiday- themed raffles or contests. “Once you have chosen a winner be sure to contact all [entrants] and offer them a small discount for participating since they’ve already expressed an interest in your services,” suggests Walsh. If you do your due diligence and implement the campaign in early November, you’ll be the first business they’ll think of when the holiday parties roll around, she adds.
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Think Beyond-And-Ahead
Don’t let yourself get behind the eight-ball: Start thinking now about your bookings for the new year ahead. “A lot of clients throw caution to the wind during the holiday season but suffer from the financial ‘Holiday Hangover’ come January 1 when they pull way back on spending,” explains Walsh. Lock in your regulars before they go over budget in their hopping as well as newbies who came to you for their holiday shindigs by offering package deals that take their lashes and fills through February. “They’re more likely to continue getting fills if they purchased a ‘holiday deal’ full set in December,” says Walsh. “Even if you’re not making a significant amount of money off the discounted package price, the annual value of the client once she’s become addicted to your lash work is well worth taking the hit those first few appointments.”
[Image: Getty Images]
