Combined Business Marketing

[KrisP]

Hi everyone,

I own a hair salon and was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for me to do combined marketing with other businesses so that we can work together to improve both our businesses?

Not sure of what type of business to co-market with, but any suggestions will be very welcome.

Thanks in advance!

[Mickeyrat]

The first thing that springs to mind for me is makeup - for weddings, balls etc.

Michelle

[abacus]

wow Kris , I can think of HEAPS I Love cross/combined marketing and it is pretty easy in a retail situation. (And one of my best friends in a hairdresser with a salon

Let's start with your salon...

Do you rent space to a nail tech? Nail tech's can improve your salon by new clients coming in to get nails done (they possibly don't get their hair cut in your salon) When the nail tech has a client in, include the nail tech client in the general "salon chat" It is OK for your junior to casually go over have brief chat with the nail client (ooh nice colour etc) Build a repport and eventually those nail clients become hair clients (Don't do a hard sell though just let it happen)

Do you have a number of ladies (or men) who have their own businesses? Put up a "Mates Rates Board" Say Mrs X wants screens put on her house..You can say "Oh one of my clients does that..there is a card on the board with their details"

Cakes and Biscuits? Do you do the cake or coffee thing with coffee/tea when ladies are getting a treatment? If so...ADVERTISE where they come from. Do a deal with a local bakery to supplly cakes and biscuits (at a slight discount) in return for some signage. Mix up the variety and comment on them when you serve them. (We have these really yummy choc chip cookies from ABC bakery down the road today..they are almost sinful!!)


Community marketing.

Make up some flyers with some package offers:

Hair/nail/makeup packages for formals Place these at local dress shops where the girls will be going for their dresses.

Offer a "princess package" (this is really popular with my friend) A "Princess package" where 6 girls (little girls 7-13) come to the salon and get their hair, nails and make up done. It is a simple wash straighten (or curl) hair, paint nails in a soft pink and really cute make-up. Offer these on a Saturday afternoon or Sunday. Advertise this with local dance studios and junior sports clubs.


that is all my early morning brain can think of right now.

Sue

[KrisP]

Thanks Michelle and Sue!

Sue - wow that's certainly some food for thought - I can see us networking in the very near future! I will definitely consider some of the ideas, thanks heaps!

Kris

[abacus]

Thanks Kris.

Don't overdo it... There are LOTS of ideas out there.

Pick ONE idea and work it hard for a full 60 days....then it will become ingrained as "just a thing you do"

Then move on to another idea.

I spoke to my friend today (sent her a copy of what I sent you) and she said the nail tech is the best thing she has done. It is trully a win-win she gets extra business from the extra clients and she gets some income from sub-letting the space. She did warn that you need to get a good one though, not someone fresh out of college. She advised that ideally they should come to you with at least 10-15 regular clients.

Feel free to pm me or email me anytime to have a chat (edted to remove email address)
Meanwhile if you see any clever ideas for security screen door company marketing let me know !!

[JohnPhillips]

Think about which businesses have the same type of customers you are looking for, then look at how you can add value to them while exposing them to little or no risk. This is called a strategic alliance.

As an example, when I was running an IT support business, we set up a strategic alliance with an insurance broker. They offered their customers a free network audit from us at renewal time. The pitch was “It’s great you’ve protected your physical assets with insurance, but if something happened, would you be able to get your data back? Because you’re a great customer, I can offer you this free network audit normally valued at $497 from xyz computer support so you can be sure”. This benefits both parties. The insurance broker is now elevated from just an insurance guy to someone who considers multiple areas of business risk and gave their customer something of high perceived value. We got a lead.

Without knowing who your target market it, it’s difficult to think of specific examples. If you are a higher end hair dresser, you could talk to a local beauty salon and see if they could hand out a discount voucher for your salon, or something similar to their customers. You could also reciprocate so you can both generate leads.

This is a cheap, effective marketing strategy.

[John Bogiatzis]

Hello KrisP,

The the majority of the posts share great value in what your trying question.

Joint ventures are one of the most powerful ways for small business to gain leverage. In fact a little inside tip JV's have been a the main marketing focus of my business

The way to go about developing Joint Ventures:

1. Become clear on your target market: You must first indetify different businesses (non-competing) in your area that you share the same target market - the more precise the better the results.
2. Focus on relationship first: One of the mistakes a lot of small business owners make is they approach another business by saying let's combine our marketing together with a great JV! This has the potential to scare people away - by focussing on building a relationship first and talking about JV's later you will be in a much better position to continue add value to both your businesses.
3. Long term view: With JV's you really need to adopt a long term view 2 years + and start identifying not just one-off JV promo's but rather strategic alliance partners that you almost immerse your businesses together and you both feed off the marketing and success of each other.

Hope that helps.

John Bogiatzis
Universal Seminars