How to Build and Grow Your Business During COVID-19:

Stay connected

We’re all in this together and it’s a great time to share stories, post images and interact with your audience to build a stronger sense of camaraderie with your clients and employees. Encourage your clients to connect with you and ask questions on hair care, products, what to do during this waiting period, and anything they have simply been dying to ask. Really engage and keep your brand and business in front of each of them so they see you as a source of information and fun during this challenging time.

Make sure to update your clients, regularly. So many people want to connect with you and hear what you are up to since they can’t see you for their regular hair care routine. Take this opportunity to be funny, charming and informative. Consider adding a sign up form to your website and sending regular email updates to keep the conversation going or simply using your social media accounts for daily tips, tricks, how to’s or just a simple hello to your followers. Keep people in the loop about any upcoming changes, product availability and even ways to support you and your business during this tough time. Share with them how much you value them and appreciate their business.

Take this time to strengthen the bonds within your community. As people are adjusting to their “new” daily routines, many are flooding social media platforms as their sources of information, release and ways to simply engage with the world. So engage with them! Provide information and resources that can help them and make their lives easier as they adjust to this new norm.

Be resourceful

There are many ways for you and your business to respond to the current COVID-19 pandemic and our suggestions is to be sensible, positive and resourceful. Be cognizant and considerate of the real impact this will have on your customers. Consider your brand and business and how you can help. Reach out to your audience and find out what they need – and what you can do to help.

Are they looking for ways to hide their roots? Do they need braiding tips? Is this a time to help them get that pinterest day-to-day look they have always wanted but simply haven’t had the time to learn? Be that resource. Field their questions and create the answers.

Since people are not able to come and visit your salon, think about creative ways to bring your business to them. Always wanted to start that blog? Start it. Always wanted to create IGTV or Facebook Live videos? Create them. Be that awesome resource and drive more people to your business who will be ready to book their appointment the second your doors open. By doing this, you are creating an even tighter bond with your audience and proving your value, your worth and they will be bound to you for quite a long time.

Think outside the box. What if you have 10 different clients looking to create a specific look (i.e. a bubble braid), you can always create a class and charge a fee to show them how to create their  everyday look. The sky is the limit, use this time wisely and get your employees involved. What ideas do each of them have to stay connected? Even a simple phone call to the people on your client list letting them know you are thinking of them goes a long way.

Clients need products and want the salon quality products not what is at the local grocery store. Perfect! Have you signed up for your Salon Interactive account? It’s simple!

Get started here: https://www.saloninteractive.com/premierbeauty/

This is honestly the easiest way to begin and keep up retail product revenue. Just remember to consistently post to your social media and call your clients to act on your posts. Remind them to continue to place their product orders, thank them for helping your business and tell them how excited you are to see their beautiful faces!

Steps you can take today

Even if you’re not able to operate your business as normal right now, there are still things you can do to help navigate all of the uncertainty and set yourself a part from the competition and up for success in the long-term.

* Audit your website
* Look over your day-to-day business strategy – should you alter your processes? Is there room for improvement?
* Your retail product shelves – do they need a little love? How can you rearrange everything to best sell in your salon?
* Go over your policies and procedures. Update where needed.
* Have a third party contract coming up, evaluate it and see if there are other options.
* Need to start that blog or create a landing page to capture client information to build an email marketing campaign?
* Want to begin “how to” videos? Or discuss why you love a product or tool with your clients? Where do you begin and how can you promote your brand well?
* Now is the time to reevaluate your business strategy and see what works, what doesn’t and what can be improved on.
* Meet with your employees on virtual chats and discuss their thoughts on how to best reach your clients.

Take this time to explore the options that have been on the “to do list” but you never had the time to get too. Utilize this time and take advantage of it so you can come out of this ahead of the game.

Plan, Prep, Publish

With so many people confined to their homes, many are spending a great deal on time online. Take this opportunity to create meaningful content that really resonates with your client. Keep it up beat,  positive and insightful. No one likes a negative Nancy and after all, we are in this together and everyone has been affected by this.

Don’t have great content or running out of ideas? We have you covered with our GRAB & GO content in our easy downloadable google drive.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1l4Vt4n7dggu_941dkBald1lblSFXvHLa

We created these beautiful assets for you to use and entice your clients to support you during this time by buying their favorite products and supporting you in the process. To make it easy to continue to promote your business, simply grab the assets and use them at will. A great tip is to post once every day or other day on Instagram (make sure to use stories as it has a larger audience reach) and try to post on Facebook once or twice a day. Stay as active as you can and really engage and communicate with your clients so they can know that their purchases really support you, your business and your employees.

Note: Don’t want to download the assets, no biggie! You can always screen shot on IG and simply crop to fit the photo correctly. If you prefer, there are repost apps available and you can grab the photo and caption content to make it as easy as possible.

The strategies you put in place now and how you engage with your clients during this time, will have a long lasting effect on your business and will even be a great way to continue marketing and engaging over many years to come. Having this time to play around with social posts, stories, videos, tips and tricks will let you see what your clients are interested in and what they aren’t so do not be afraid to take advantage of this time and really push forward to gain that moment in marketing that you always wanted but simply didn’t have enough time to focus on. Now, it can be something that becomes a part of everyday life without you realizing so when everyone is back to their usual routine, it feels like a natural part of your day versus forced.

We’re here to help

We know that this is a difficult time for everyone. We don’t have all the answers, but we’re committed to providing you with accurate, relevant, and timely resources that you’ll need as you navigate through the uncertainty ahead. As we mentioned previously, we are ALL in this together, and we’re here to help and hope that the asset library we created for you and Salon Interactive drive the revenue stream needed to your business going.

Be well, stay safe.
See you all soon!