Marketing Advice

[BotoxBoy]

Mine is "safe,personal, effective' too cheesy?

 

[R D Beauty]

Thanks very much for sharing your knowledge

 

[Verve Designs]

I dont' think people ought to be worried about sounding smug or cheesy really...they're aspirational descriptions about how we want to be seen

To my mind, they're the ideal thing somene would say if they were asked to describe our businesses.

 

[BotoxBoy]

 

[Rubytues]

Ooh now then, I'm just starting out and haven't established just yet.
But My top 3 is 'classy, clean & professional'

 

[Verve Designs]

So what I want to know is, in practical terms (lets leave the marketing language aside for a moment) is how people like us can turn our keywords into a brand/marketing message.

Looking at case-studies is fine- but there's a point where have to turn all this into practical activities.

 

[sfullam]

Love this thread just posting so I can keep Reading later. Hate it when I read something interesting and can't find it later. (pinched the idea of another geek) x


Sent from my iPhone using SalonGeek

Good idea, looking forward to reading more from this thread. I have just started from home and mobile 5 weeks ago, things are going well but we all strive to do better x

 

[Craig Fulton]

Interesting!!!

So in my case (i do tanning) would my brand vaules be that my solution has 100% natural ingrediets that is kind to your skin etc.

Just seeing if im o the right track

Hi ABDiva,

Offering 100% natural ingredients in your solution is an action to your brand values. We will explore actions and brand behaviour very soon. In your case you could form your brand values around organic/green/environmentally friendly etc. The only issue with this value is that the beauty industry can be quite saturated with the natural ethos.

I am going to talk about how to select effective brand values as soon as I have answered some more requests on here.

 

[Craig Fulton]

Don't go Carl, its good to have your opinion on here too.

So, I think we should all post our THREE WORDS.....what do you think?

Mine is

quirky, out-of-the-box (I put hyphens in so its one word ), natural

Nice technique on the hyphens there . Also interesting values. Would these be similar to your personality?

 

[Craig Fulton]

Hi....

Maybe you could do a 'top yen tips' list for us all?! X

Yes great idea. I will condense all of this so its easier to keep track rather than my long posts . Maybe a road map to see our progress. So far we have taken two steps.

1. Realise the reality of the pool you are swimming in (or Market for the geeks)

2. Identify your clearly outlined brand values (the foundation of your business)

And we will keep building from here :green:

 

[Craig Fulton]

I dont' think people ought to be worried about sounding smug or cheesy really...they're aspirational descriptions about how we want to be seen

To my mind, they're the ideal thing somene would say if they were asked to describe our businesses.

Exactly Carl. Some people may think your brand values are rubbish (how many apple haters are out there?) and others will love you. As with all beliefs/values/faiths you will always have people polarised through which side they sit on. Though what you will have is a much more loyal clientele (consumer evangelists) that will believe passionately in your brand and will try to 'convert' others.

Again this is on the discussion list! great we have that road map now

 

[lucytwinkletoes]

WOW - im hooked too!! cannot wait for the next installment!!! xx

 

[Craig Fulton]

Aside from cost (this can be very expensive), the majority of marketers are still practicing out-dated traditional marketing techniques

However, I'll disagree slighly here, and there are always exceptions to the rule

"No matter what form of interruption marketing you do (flyering, direct mailing, radio adverts) someone else has much more money to throw at it and therefore will out noise you."

Not with any clever philosophical debate, but simply because it's worked (that is leaflets) for a salon I own. We kept it VERY local however, as the point about casting our net too wide and getting ignored because (and on this point I very much agree) that the "white-noise" of advertising becomes more deafeaning the further away from your business you try and pitch your message.

Yes you are right Carl and I myself have also had various degrees of success with interruption marketing techniques. Though these were much higher rates only as far back as 5 years ago. Companies are trying to shout louder year on year and budget is king at this game. Consumers become more accustomed to blocking the noise and as you say our radius decreases. Top of mind awareness (when you name the brand prompted by that category i.e car, you say Honda etc) is naturally higher closer to the locality of the service. I would not dismiss such activities if you are finding positive results. Merely be aware they are declining rapidly and have contingency plans set in place so not to solely rely on such activities.


Clearly, doing what I do, I'd agree that cultivating a "brand" is paramount, and something every company ought to be doing.

One of my favourite quotes is "A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company.” - and anything you can do to make that "gut feeling" a positive can only be a good thing for your business in my book as it's the emotional and psychological relationship you have with your customers. {QUOTE}

Superb quote!! we want to make more of these positive gut feelings!

 

[BotoxBoy]

Thanks Craig for this...it's gonna be really useful!

One thing I found out the hard way so far is that as a new business you are NOT a brand as yet... It is something that takes slot of work, consistency and determination to even begin to establish a presence...

The other thing is protection of this I.e. Legal protection but that is another issue for another thread probably...

X

 

[Craig Fulton]

So what I want to know is, in practical terms (lets leave the marketing language aside for a moment) is how people like us can turn our keywords into a brand/marketing message.

Looking at case-studies is fine- but there's a point where have to turn all this into practical activities.

Ofcourse there is no use just saying what our great brand values are. Its all about our brand behaviour that translates those values. Though i cannot stress enough the importance of this step in our journey. Without everyone achieving a solid footing on brand values, then we would be on shaky ground and the consumer will literally knock us down. We will get there though I promise :green:.

 

[Craig Fulton]

Thanks Craig for this...it's gonna be really useful!

One thing I found out the hard way so far is that as a new business you are NOT a brand as yet... It is something that takes slot of work, consistency and determination to even begin to establish a presence...

The other thing is protection of this I.e. Legal protection but that is another issue for another thread probably...

X

I am glad you are finding this useful. If only one salon or mobile therapist gained from this thread then it would all be worth while.

Building a brand can often seem like a daunting prospect at first (often they happen by accident) though you can never find much useful information for guidance. Building a brand should be fun as having the opportunity to own your own business and your own piece of you is something special. Be proud of that.

I have some knowledge on the legal side of things in terms of copyrights etc. Maybe Carl will have some knowledge on some subject too so don't hesitate to ask.

 

[Craig Fulton]

Ok Guys, thank you for everyones contributions so far. As always if you want to ask any questions don't hesitate to ask.

We have had a few people identify their chosen brand values and I want to ignite these with passion. If you are truly passionate about your brand values then you will have no problem translating these to your staff and your consumers. So lets get to work! This is a nice short post with a little activity.

If it was your sole mission/purpose, what would you change about your industry?

This can be something huge or something very tiny. It can be anything!! There are no real boundaries here. All that really matters is that it is important to you and you feel really passionate about this!

 

[BotoxBoy]

I would change everyone who uses inconsistent branding, grammar and paperwork.

I would also like to make my business as least medical as possible despite the medical nature of some of it so that clients feel as relaxed as possible.

I would also like, and am determined, to be paper free!

X

Adam

 

[persianista]

I would like evry person who does hair/beauty for money to have at least two years training. No more messers/benefit bandits. Make it exclusive to the true professionals.

 

[dandelionpoppy]

I would like it to be more inclusive so that no matter what their age, sex , social standing or level of skincare knowledge clients would feel confident in entering any establishment.