18. What is wrong with your marketing?

Hi everyone, this is the weekly Build Your Salon podcast with me, Phil Jackson. I'm here with the tools you need to generate the profits you deserve so that you can lead a fuller life. Today I have two questions for you. The first is, what is going wrong with your salon marketing? And secondly, who do you think you're talking to? And actually the two questions are very closely linked. Now, those of you that have been following me for a while will know that I am something of a salon marketing junkie, self-confessed. So that probably means that I notice salon marketing a little bit more than the average person. And what I'm seeing is really depressing and actually very disappointing. I love our industry. I think it's a fantastic, vibrant industry, being pumped full of youthful energy every single year. And I love the buzz that I get when I'm around salon owners and people that work in salons. But all of that creativity, all of that energy, all of that spark disappears when it comes to our salon marketing. And what we're left with is actually very uninspiring and very bland marketing materials. And in fact, I think the most common problem, which brought me on to the who do you think you're talking to question, I think the most common problem is that we haven't adequately identified who the marketing is supposed to be speaking to. Now, if you're lucky, if you're sending out untargeted marketing, if you're really lucky, the worst that will happen is that the marketing will disappear without trace. It will just fizzle out and not get noticed by anybody. If you're unlucky, you may actually be alienating your target market by not talking to them in a way that they can understand and relate to. So how do we talk to people in a way that they understand and relate? And how do we make sure we're hitting the buttons that our target market are interested in? Well, a very common way of doing it is using something called customer avatars. And customer avatars are imaginary people. They don't exist. They don't use real names for them. But they have a set of characteristics that you believe identify your target market. You don't just have to have one, but I'm going to take you through one of my customer avatars that I use in my salon here in Newbury just to demonstrate the point.

And my most important customer avatar, her name is Jenny. And I know quite a bit about Jenny. Jenny is in her late 40s. She's on her second marriage. And at the moment, she's married to a guy called Rob, who, by the way, is my customer avatar number two. She has two children of university age. I know where she works. I know where she shops. I know the car she drives. I know where she gets her news. I know her broad political opinions. So I really know Jenny in a very personal way. What that means is that when I'm communicating, when I'm sending marketing out into the big wide world, I don't just write a Facebook post. And I don't just put a flyer together. What I do is I write a Facebook post to Jenny. What I do is put a flyer together with her in mind. And it has two really big advantages. Firstly, it means that you're hitting those buttons we were talking about earlier. So you're talking to Jenny in a way that she relates to. But secondly, it adds a consistent voice to all the marketing across all platforms. So it means that every time you do a Facebook post or a flyer or a newspaper article, you're talking in the same tone and with the same character. And what that starts to build is a brand identity for your salon as well. So here's what I want you to do. I want you to start having a think about your customer avatars. Now, the easiest way to get started on customer avatars is to have a look at the clientele that you already have. So you should, if your database is anywhere near up together, you should be able to start putting some characteristics for your version of Jenny together quite easily. So you should, even with just a finger in the wind, start to figure out how old Jenny might be. And you should be able to have a look at your database and figure out where she's likely to be living, for example. Then what I would do is start to talk to your team. Now, what I don't do is put together a huge 25-question survey for my team to take to their customers for the next six weeks. It's just really hard work and it won't get done, to be honest with you. They haven't got time. And if they have got time, then you've got a bigger problem in the salon than just who your marketing is talking to. What I want you to do instead is just choose one question to send to one category of customers. So what I would do is I would approach my team and I'd say, okay guys, I want you to have a look at everybody who you believe, you don't have to even ask, but everyone who you believe is over 50. And I want you to ask them just one question, what car do you drive?

And get them to keep a quick tally by the reception desk of your results. So what will happen, instead of defining your whole customer avatar in one go and having it absolutely nailed, it will evolve and refine over time. So you'll get a better and better idea of who your avatar is and who you're talking to. Now there is a slight caveat. If you're trying to change your business, if you're trying to shift your customer market, if you're trying to steer the salon in a slightly different direction to where you are currently, don't use your current customer base for your customer avatar. What you're going to do is you have your customer avatar as your desired customer. So for example, if your salon has a reputation for dealing mainly with older ladies and you want a slightly younger clientele coming through the door, then I would identify a customer avatar that's slightly younger so that your marketing is talking to your desired market rather than the market you've got at the moment. So get stuck in there, do some Googling. If you Google customer avatar template and have a look on images, I've had a look today and there are loads to get you started. So you can either grab one of those or have a quick go at putting something together yourself. Have some fun with your customer avatars. It's supposed to be a lighthearted exercise and bring a little bit of that joy into your market as well. Hope that's been useful for you. If you've had some really good results with your marketing, please get in touch. You know that I love hearing from salon owners and about how well you're doing. In the meantime, take care and I'll see you next week. Hey everyone, it's Phil again. I hope you enjoyed the episode. If you did, please subscribe and be sure to tell your friends. For more help and information on running your salon and your life, head over to buildyoursalon.com. I'll see you there.