WHY YOUR MARKETING MAY NOT BE WORKING By Kara Lehmann

Many of us begin our journey running a beauty business with a beat to our step, a heart full of hope and a beautiful vision for living the life of our dreams.

And while being a Beauty Business Owner is one of the most incredible career paths you can take, it also comes with its challenges. One of the top challenges I hear from within my community is the overwhelm that comes with Marketing.

To be honest, marketing can seem like one of those things you know you *should* be doing, but often, we don’t find the time to make it a priority. Or we wing it and stick to what has been working for years!

Then all of a sudden a staff member might leave, a change might occur to the economy, and suddenly we can be faced with a downturn in bookings, a drop in sales and our growth plateaus.

So how do you know if your marketing strategies are working? Well for one, are your social media posts, email campaigns or google ads bringing people in through your door?

If you actively have people engaging, making bookings, or mentioning how they found you, you’ve most likely got a killer marketing strategy in place! Well done!

If it’s working, then you are doing something right! If it’s not bringing people through the door or increasing your average client spend, then it may be time to refresh your marketing strategy and give it a little refresh.

Many of the Beauty Business Owners I speak to will have automations or systems in place for their marketing, but they often get busy, so it can stay the same for years on end!

Worst of all, their profits aren’t moving upwards because the strategies are stagnant, and the client has lost the personal connection with your business.

So, what are some key steps you can take to audit your marketing and make sure it’s working well for your business growth?

The first place to start is to set aside some time to go over your current systems that you have in place and audit them. What are your insights, open rates, click throughs and average sales from the marketing that you are currently doing?

Break it down into your Social Media Channels, SMS, Email, Web, Local Area Advertising, and any other methods of marketing that you are using.

Once you have this information, you can make note of what is working well and making you money, but also what is not working, and create an action plan to improve the results of the campaigns and turn them around!

When you have completed your audit, you might be a little surprised by the results. If they are working well, Congratulations! Don’t change the strategy! You can, however, make sure you keep them up to date and relevant to the current seasons, trends, and services you have available.

If you aren’t excited about what you see here’s a few small ways you can make a start on improving your marketing to increase your results.

My first step is to remove yourself as the position of the owner of the business and look at your content and campaigns from the eyes of the potential customer.

Are you communicating your mission and vision to your audience well?

Do they know exactly what you do and why you do it?

Do you touch on their problems they want solved or their pain and pleasure points?

Are you encouraging them to engage and interact with you?

Do they know anything about the people behind the brand?

Are you building authentic relationships and connections with them?

Something I see many salons struggling with is engagement from their marketing and one of the biggest tips I can give you is to stop pushing sales on them and start listening to their concerns and help them through genuine connection.

When you engage with a social media post, receive an email or SMS what makes you want to respond? Is it the promotion or is it the feeling of wanting the result?

When we put ourselves in the shoes of the customer and how it feels to be a valued client of your business, I can guarantee you that your marketing will explode!

I want this success and joy for you. So, let’s with some examples of how you can do this.

● Get to know your customers. What are their biggest pain points? What do they love to experience? What results are they drawn to? This will ultimately allow you to build stronger relationships with your customers.

● Use descriptive words in your messages and captions. Make your customer feel something when they are reading your content.

● Stop making it all about just the sale or the service

● Simplify your messaging. Simply reach out and ask your customers and talk with them.

● Make them feel valued and appreciated.

● Share tips and tricks that are going to serve them in their day-to-day life.

● Envision yourself speaking with them 1:1 when you’re creating your content or campaigns.

When you simplify your strategies and create campaigns and content that speaks directly to your audience, the results will naturally drive sales.

So, I encourage you today to go and book some time into your calendar with the New Financial Year approaching, to go and audit your business marketing strategies and make sure they are bringing your business abundance.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed and haven’t even made a start with some of the marketing strategies you know you need, but just don’t seem to have the time. Start small. With one marketing channel and make yourself a list of tasks that will help implement your new marketing channel.

If you’re struggling with the ‘how to’ when it comes to marketing, look at some free resources on places such as YouTube or invest in a course that will help you learn more about the strategies you need to create. And if all else fails, look to a mentor or expert to help create the systems for you. There’s lots of service providers from Virtual Assistants, Marketing Agencies, Strategists and Coaches who can help you if you just can’t do it yourself.

I hope you have found this helpful and it inspires you to take action for the new financial year, to have a strong marketing system in place to allow you to keep growing and smashing your business goals!

Visit www.thebeautybossva.com today for more details about our services.