Free online/offline listings and directories (examples: Yelp local, Yellow Pages, Groupon, MapQuest, Foursquare, other hair/beauty local listings etc.) , all should be leveraged where it makes sense and where the listings and directories cover your trading area (picture a circle, what is the furthest away your clientele will travel from all directions to see you).
Don’t forget Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business Page). You must have a Google account to proceed with this suggestion. The Profile is free and very robust. Google Business Profile displays on the right side of the search screen when you are searching on Google (for a quick view of what we mean, just type in “mane” separated by a space and “reviews”. Our Google Business Profile pops up. You will want to add your graphics for the page to look attractive, but you’ll get the idea by looking at the other sections of our page. Google Business Profile is helpful for your business, and it is free. We receive over 4 digits of clicks monthly and exponentially growing since starting our page about 6 months ago.
Social channels are also a form of online listing, so ensure you add your salon business profile information on all channels even if you are not active on them. Every identifier on the web that mentions your business contributes to your hair salon business appearing high on results ranking when searched organically. Lastly, our website MANEreviews.com also provides free listings that is very useful towards your organic search goals. Go to our web page to list on MANEreviews.com and CLAIM your salon to help grow your hair salon business. CLICK HERE to CLAIM your salon.
2. PAID SEARCH, PAID ONLINE LISTINGS AND PAID SOCIAL FOR SALON MARKETING
Although the reference is not always clear, the term “paid advertising” previously meant the use of traditional places to advertise (TV, radio, newspapers, magazines), but today, it means paid online advertising, which means placement of digital ad messages on websites, blogs and social channels and it also means paid search, which means search engines allow advertisers to show ads on their search engine results pages.
When a business pays to advertise or show up in search results, its generic term is Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or Search Marketing - remember natural/free organic search is called SEO. Discussing it further in this module, we are going to refer to it simply as “paid” rather than “paid online advertising” or “paid search”.
So, let’s use Google as an example of an advertising “agent” for your paid. Google offers a pay per click program called Google Ads and also offers, Google Places (a paid online listing program). You will need to have signed up for a Google Ads account. When signing up for Google Ads, you will be asked for a credit card to where the advertising costs will be charged. Make sure you have a CC ready. Billing is not an option. Even if you just want to review the signing up process, Google will still ask you for a CC.
Then we have social advertising on channels such as Facebook or Instagram who offer an ad program called Facebook Ads. You must have set up a Facebook Ads account. When signing up, like Google, have the credit card ready to be charged the costs of the advertising. And like, Google, there is no billing option. Facebook owns Instagram, so with one click through Facebook Ads, you can set up charges and campaign(s) on both Facebook and Instagram. Other social channels have their form of paid advertising, for reasons of length, we’ve just covered Facebook/Instagram.
Remember, if you are serious in using paid, you have already justified this tactic/action because it is in line with the objectives you set at the start of your salon’s year (see page 2 of this module - Before Proceeding A Few Suggestions - Suggestion 1).
The decision and frequency to which you use paid and paid social ads is primarily dependent on your annual advertising budget. Deciding to use either or a combination of both has implications (good or bad): what is your objective, what ad elements need to be produced/created, what is the desired outcome. You will understand, at least the top line implications of these questions, as we get deeper into this module.
3.CONSIDER YOUR DESIRED OUTCOME(S) USING PAID
a) Build awareness (reach).
b) Collect leads through paid that could be used for an ongoing direct mail program (lead generation and ongoing communication with clients).
c) Get people who click on the ad to buy (client growth and ongoing communication)
d) If not a revenue goal, paid could be used to increase traffic to your hair salon site or
hair salon channel.
e) Using paid to improve website results by finding the most effective keywords for stronger local searching for “a hair salon near me”.
4.DRILLING DEEPER INTO PAID ADVERTISING
Paid search/paid advertising – You have options to place your ads on different browsers, the main ones being: Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge (replacing Explorer in mid 2022), Bing, Yahoo, Chrome, Firefox, Apple, Safari, Brave etc. Each browser uses their proprietary search features to provide the best search results. The browsers’ “spiders” crawl websites, indexing them, ranking them in importance (a whole other subject but your Webmaster can explain). When the results appear organically, the paid ads are usually in two locations, on top or to the right of the results on a desktop size screen. On smaller the screen, like a mobile phone, the locations may differ.
Browsers are first and foremost organic (free) search engines but Google and Bing also offer paid ad programs. Other browsers have a hybrid of this kind of ad program and some browsers do not offer this service but offer organic search only. In the case of Google, the largest, its program is called Google Ads (formerly AdWords). Bing’s program is called Microsoft Ads or Bing Ads. Google has the larger search capability of all browsers, yet it is often useful to consider Google Ads plus Bing Ads in running a campaign.
Paid social advertising – There are many different social channels to advertise with. Pretty much all of them have a paid program. The most popular is Facebook/Instagram (Facebook owns Instagram). If you are doing it yourself, look for social channels that not only has the audience but also a user-friendly interface where you can create and place the ad(s), boost a post or create stories.
5.DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOOGLE ADS (OR AD WORDS) AND GOOGLE DOUBLE CLICK
Although we are discussing Google Ads (formally Google Ad Words) in this module, Google Double Click (formerly AdSense) is another service of Google. It’s important to explain the difference.
Say you have a popular hair salon website or blog with lots of traffic with a minimum of 100,000 visitors a month. If your site has this volume or more, then your site will be of interest to other non-competitive businesses for their advertising purposes. Your salon business can earn extra revenue by making the site/blog available for advertisers to place their ads alongside your content. It’s an interesting option given the potential revenue stream. This is a separate topic, not discussed here.
NOW BACK TO OUR MODULE ON PAID ADVERTISING.
6.DIFFERENCES USES OF TOP SOCIAL CHANNELS AND UNDERSTANDING AUDIENCE INTENT
a/Facebook
“Here is what we have done”
-Used to check in with friends and family and for businesses to engage them
b/Instagram
“Here is what we see”
-Sharing photos/videos and chatting with friends and businesses to engage with them
c/YouTube
“Here is what we want to demonstrate/train/teach you”
-Search topics of interest and new products, demonstrate your business
d/Snapchat
“Here is what we see but only visible for seconds”
-Friends and share photos, strong with mobile user
e/Twitter
“Here is what we are doing”
-Check in for breaking news and current events and opinions
f/LinkedIn
“Here is what we are working on”
-Used by professionals/business, sharing of content, photos, reaching out to network, reputation management oriented, used by individuals, businesses, associations, groups
g/Tik Tok
“Here is where we are singing, dancing, doing comedy, lip-syncing or expressing and doing so through video”
-Used by friends but beginning to attract businesses
h/Pinterest
“Here is what we are doing using images, animated GIFs and videos”
Search topics of interest and new products, design is a very popular topic, demonstrate your business using strong visuals.
NOTE: You should register and protect your hair salon business and hair salon name on all social channels, even where your business is not active. Perhaps later on you will decide to use additional channels. You would not want to buy out someone because they have taken your company’s name and protected it for themselves. There is no law that says they can’t. Seems like a legal hassle that can be avoided, just by protecting your hair salon business profile now. Simply set up username/handle and password, build out your company profile and forget about the channel(s) for now if your business is not active on. Just be sure to check periodically in case there is some activity that needs addressing, like updating your profile or responding to a comment.
7.PAID ADVERTISING BASICS
Our intention in this module is to provide the reader with a grass roots understanding, while not being overwhelmed and discouraged from even starting the process. But let’s not kid ourselves, there are day to day details that matter when doing campaigns, and it can be onerous to determine how to advertise the hair business and may need external professional help like the best hair salon marketing agency. Similar to needing professionals for hair services, your hair salon business may need professional help for marketing/advertising services.
So, if you have questions, perhaps we can answer. Just email us at support@manereviews.com
8.LET’S DEFINE THE BEST BALANCE BETWEEN ORGANIC (FREE) AND PAID FOR YOUR HAIR SALON MARKETING
We always believe you should do everything you can organically (free), before turning to paid. What does this mean?
A/ Organic
Constantly look for ways to optimize your website so that browsers identify your site as active. Browser “spiders” crawl and identify activity on your site. There are many ways the browsers define activity. Some ways include refreshing original content (authored by you or in-company staff), adding 3rd party content (written from outside writers), site encouraging links to their site, sites that have a rich keyword focus keyword (see Section 9), when new photography is added, when the design is changed or lastly having active tabs that frequently update.
One example of an active tab is a PR tab. Press, bloggers, and other journalists/writers look for free photography and frequently would want to download your business shots if they are professionally done and serves a purpose for their article. If they download a shot, they usually do tag your salon – free publicity for the hair salon.
Another simple idea is having a content tab and add content frequently. When MANEreviews.com builds client websites, the layout includes a content tab. Then we provide content curation services and supply content to the salon business on an ongoing basis if the hair salon does not want to do themselves.
With organic social, be active on not more than 2 social channels. Firstly, look for and use all the free features they offer. By focusing on not more than two channels, allows you to still do your day-to-day salon work, any more requires considering additional inside or outside help to post and optimize the features on a regular basis. Ensure profile, address, and contact information are accurate and up to date and protect the other channels (as previously mentioned) but just be active on two. Prepare by having a strategy for spending time outreaching on the channels (liking of other posts, replying back to users, thanking those that have liked your posts etc) and for writing posting (see Module “The Writing of Posts” currently under construction)..
B/ Paid Search
When you search for personal use, the search results display because of the search terms or keywords you are using align with the site or web page description (called meta tags). The text describing the site/page is placed in the “page source” on your site. It helps the web crawlers identify what the web page is about. If the keywords you used for your search match the description of the web site/page or matches close enough, up pops what you are looking for.
NOTE: Searching using one word, that word is called a keyword. If you use more than one word but less than two, that is called a “keyword phrases”. Three+ words is referred to as “long tail keywords”. Happy right now, I am sure.
If you are personally searching, you use the keywords you want for the results you are looking for, without much thought.
Now reverse your thinking. You are the business. YOU now have a reverse objective. You want to promote your hair salon. You want a searcher to see your hair salon come up in the top search results and then visit your website. You want them to browse the web site, book an online appointment or call your salon to book an appointment OR you want a searcher to buy something on your e-commerce store. So, in this role reversal, YOU now must think about what search terms (called keywords) your searcher would use to find your site, which is not necessary what you might use personally, although that is possible.
This is why building a keyword list is soooo important. How do searchers search to find your salon business? Strong business keywords = business website at top of results = business opportunity to increase revenue. Talked about further in the next section.
Google and Bing each operate paid ad programs based on a “Pay per Click” model. This means locating search terms or keywords that your salon business bids on and buys. With Google being the more popular search engine, key word bidding on Bing may be lower but just as targeted. Popular doesn’t mean better. Remember it’s about targeting as pure an audience as possible.
And so, to get the keywords right means a searcher sees your ad in their search results. In the “pay per click” model, it is only when they click on your ad does your salon business pay. Another way of putting it, you are running a campaign, a searcher has used a keyword you’ve bid and “won” on, the searcher sees your ad. Seeing doesn’t cost anything. If it is clicked on the ad, your business gets charged the rate you had bid on when setting up this campaign. For budgeting purposes, your salon business can control costs by setting up a daily limit for the amount charged. If the limit is reached, your ad is not shown anymore until the next day. This can be adjusted as you manage your ad campaign.
The important factor is a smaller more targeted audience is better than a broader audience. You want the most “clickers” to be in your target group who will pay your salon price range, be in your trading area, and have as high a probability as possible needing your hair services.
9. KEYWORDS FOR HAIR SALON MARKETING
Keywords are what your dream client types into their browser to find what they are looking for. If they are looking for hair services, then you want them to find your salon business organically in their search results and/or in your paid search. Keywords are an important element of both organic and paid search. Here is how important they are:
How many permutations and combinations of words are there that those searchers can use to search. Lots and lots. Some keywords are used frequently and therefore are popular, some are not. Some not so frequently used but very targeted – you want these keywords, those not so frequently used (cause bid price is lower) but very targeted. Since you are paying, you want the killer key words with the highest volume and lowest bid possible. That takes time to test and track to determine those killer keywords. Maybe the volume is as low as attracting 1000 searches but if that keyword gives you the most targeted 1000 dream client, it’s a killer keyword. Forget the 1000, maybe the keyword has a volume of 50. If it is so pure that you get almost 100% new dream clients, THAT too is a killer keyword.
There are a variety of sources to obtain your keywords for organic or paid search:
a) Your website (if you are able to determine the keywords searched).
b) Using Google’s Keyword tool or other services such as Ubersuggest.com
c) Your competitors’ website.
d) Content in your industry.
e) Your Google Analytics account.
f) Brainstorming with your staff, family, friends (Ask them: if they wanted to search to find your salon in a particular location, what words or phrases would they use. Their answers may be your keywords).
g) Think in the shower, or wherever you are most focused on your thinking :.) Have a paper/pen nearby or command your voice-controlled intelligent personal assistant service, like Alexa to records your keyword suggestions. You’ll forget if you don’t record immediately.
The Google Keyword tool is a keyword planner and should help your business determine what keywords are popular, meaning it determines what searchers want through the keywords they type (most popular versus least popular search terms).
Ubersuggest.com is pretty good using their free service basic level. To go deeper there is a paid service. We, at MANEreviews.com use the paid services of Uber suggest for our keyword needs at MANEreviews.com as well as providing us with other intelligence we need to grow our business.
See “Module Keywords/Hashtags To Have You On Your Way” (currently under construction) for more details on the use and a list of keyword suggestions.
NOTE: this is a continuous process; your business is always looking for killer keywords
10. GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK ADS – EXAMPLES FOR HAIR SALONS AND SUITES
Below are a few right and wrong ways of creating an ad. Presume here that each ad is supported by either an image, photo, meme, or artist illustration.
Beauty and Hair Campaign:
Example Ad 1:
Description Line 1: Beauty and Hair Salon
(no more than 25-characters on this line):
Description Line 2: Current styles, weddings, updoos, downdoos, spa & more
(no more than 35-characters on this line)
Display or vanity URL: Check out our weekly specials at ABCSalon.ca/beauty
(no more than 35-characters on this line)
In this ad, those searchers who were looking would be searching under too broad a category “beauty and hair” and there may be many ad results options here that exclude your ad. Therefore, you will receive “not interest” clicks as those searchers may be interested in a beauty product not hair services. To be avoided at all costs.
Think of a more specialized hair service you offer. Say it is wedding hair, so this is more targeted.
Wedding Doos Campaign:
Example Ad 2: (more targeted it might look like this)
Line 1: Wedding Doos
Line 2: Wedding doos by top stylists, dazzling one of a kind
Destination URL: Check out our doos at www.ABCsalon.ca
In this ad, searchers who are searching for wedding hair, again too broad withing the wedding category, however if you added “doos” and geotargeted to your area, more qualified searchers will most definitely see your ad and therefore a stronger likelihood that they are looking for your services. “Wedding doo” search is more targeted (NOTE keyword “wedding” would be too broad so better to use “wedding doos” which is less broad a keyword and bidding costs for this keyword would be less).
NOTE: Different from traditional advertising when ads were in print publications, your ad cost covered all readers of that publication even if not interested in a hair message. When using online paid advertising, paid search and paying/bidding on keywords, less is better, because if done right, it means the majority of those seeing your ad are your target market. Therefore, you are not wasting your money on advertising to those who have no interest in what you are selling.
11.GOALS OF YOUR AD WITH TARGETED KEYWORDS
a) To get people to click, then persuade them to act.
b) To give the dream client what they want quicker and more obviously than your salon business competition.
c) To obtain all the killer keywords that make you revenue. Revenue = new clients = ROI (return on the advertising investment).
d) To minimally expose the ad to people who will never buy (i.e., the importance drilling down to effective keywords) and maximize the exposure to those who will.
NOTE: There is no way to know who is searching your web site or clicking on your ad unless you have created a process that they volunteer their information i.e., “sign up to register”. What you can see, instead, if you have placed conversion tracking code on your site, are aggregated totals. Track month over month, year over year, or just track during campaign period such as:
- an aggregated visitor count in a geographical location
- an aggregated web page visits count
- an aggregate of age separated into categories, 18-24, 25-35, 35-50 and gender types (analytics isn’t 100% efficient in capturing these demographics)
12.TYPES OF STRONGLY PERFORMING AD THEMES FOR THE DESIRED OUTCOME
a) Ads to build awareness (Action: go to site).
b) Ads to increase your salon business’s database (Action: future emailing but only if contact info is obtained).
c) Ads to convert (Action: call for an appointment or do online).
13.CREATIVE STRATEGY
a) Does the ad intrigue?
b) Does the ad convey a message?
c) Does the ad impose emotion; do you want it too? Happy, sad, confused, disgust, knowledge.
d) Do the ads work in sequence with other ads in your campaign that convert the dream client to being a loyal client?
14. EXPANDING AND LEVERAGING ADS EFFECTIVENESS
NOTE: Elements of an ad: image, heading, copy, offer, call to action, URL/landing page
How to determine effectiveness, we test. Testing helps calibrate the best message, best call to action and to obtain the best audience to yield the greatest impact:
- Test different iterations/versions of ads, or split test by changing out one elements of the ad at a time i.e., keep other elements the same and change the call to action; keep all elements the same and change photo etc.
- Test landing pages, if your call to action is directed to a landing page, test different versions, or looks.
- Test for different calls to action. See Section 20 for examples of calls to action.
- Test for email offers, if ad is asking to provide email address for an offer, test different offers.
- Test the keywords that are being used in the ad copy.
NOTE: A consistently successful tactic is to write multiple ads, make them follow a journey or make each one contributes to an overall story about your business.
Now pay attention to results using a conversion tracking tool. See Section 18 for more.
15.OTHER CONSIDERATIONS TO AD EFFECTIVENESS
a) Affordability of salon business through this pay per click method.
b) Quality of your ads.
c) Frequency of ads.
16.CAMPAIGN MANAGEMENT
Google, Bing and Facebook/Instagram are pretty user friendly when you are creating a campaign. Remember this is not just one campaign, over time you will probably run multiple campaigns, sometimes simultaneously, sometimes you will stop for a period and sometimes your campaigns will pulse in and out if it is a seasonal ad i.e., wedding season, Christmas season, prom season etc.
17.NAMING CAMPAIGNS
With ad software, make sure you separately name campaigns but not just call them Campaign 1, Campaign 2 etc. Using the theme of the campaigns i.e., 2021 Spring Wedding Campaign is a good start and if you are doing a paid mobile campaign, add the term” mobile”. If it is paid search campaign on websites, add “website” instead. So, at a quick glance you can see metrics that are separate i.e., 2021 spring wedding website or 2021 spring wedding mobile. A separate mobile campaign is particularly helpful since we know these users possess different characteristics than the web users and do use different search terms on mobile versus the web.
AT THIS POINT WE ARE DEEPLY APOLOGIZING BUT DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER. WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THE METRICS AND HOW ONGOING TESTING IS THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF MOVING FORWARD AND FEELING LIKE THIS IS ALL WORTH IT. CAUSE IT IS.
18. CONVERSION TRACKING ON BOTH YOUR WEB SITE AND YOUR SOCIAL SITES
There are readily available tools to track both free and paid activity on your web and mobile sites. It’s called conversion tracking. Each web page of our site will need a conversion tracking code.
Usually, with any web design and the backend coding/programming, your Webmaster is already aware and has placed the few lines of tracking code or code snippet on your site to track activity. Ask them, if this is not so, then ask your Webmaster person for help. The code comes from conversion tracking software, like Google Analytics. Set up/sign in the account via Google, and then connect the software with your web site. You do this by just copying the code you see while doing the set-up process and send the code to your Webmaster.
Don’t just randomly place the code. This code must be on all pages of the web site (including subdomains) and in a specific part of the existing web page code in order to track all your web site activity properly. Let your tech people do it, don’t try to do yourself unless you are 100% sure where to place it.
Let use Google Analytics (GA)’s free conversion tracking software as the example. To receive the snippet of code, you will need to open a Google Ads account. This doesn’t mean you HAVE to advertise, the path to open the analytics account is through Google Ads. Once signed in, the activities/metrics information is presented within the Campaign Summary section of the “Campaign Management” tab of your Google Ads account. But more on the analytics/metrics later, just know that tracking is not only a good thing, it is the only thing that tells the salon business what the return is for the optimizing effort being done.
With the social channels like Facebook and Instagram (note Facebook owns Instagram), they offer “do it yourself” tracking which to some degree interfaces with your web site tracking, although not 100% accurate. You, however, be an Administrator of the site. If you are not, you must ask an existing Administrator to add you as an Administrator before you can see.
19. EARLY-STAGE GOOGLE ANALYTICS AD METRICS FOR PAID
NOTE: must have conversion tracking in place on your site:
Google Ads: Your goal is reach and engagement, expecting a direct conversion can be disappointing as there are too many variables to move the dream client through the stages to convert. Therefore, in analytics, if your salon business was running a campaign, we would see how ad campaigns stimulated visits, change % new visitors, see if the bounce rate lowers, sometimes can keywords, and see changes to the number of visits to a web page linked used in the ad. Is it an engagement page (your home page describing who you are) or a conversion page i.e., your online store page)?
Here are some trackable metrics and actionable insights to look to in Google Analytics:
- Signups: number of signups requesting to receive a regular email, register on your site, subscribe to your newsletter, number of contest entries if you were running a contest.
- Web site: number of visitors or specific web page number of visitors, number of visitors in a period time, for example, when your ad was running and see if the number have increased from the normal flow. If so and you’ve done no other promotions, that is an insight that suggests your ad campaign increased those numbers.
- Source visits - which device was used when the ad was clicked.
- Site usage: page views/unique visitors/page hits, avg visit duration, % new visits, bounce rate (how many visitors clicked on your site, stayed on same page and left without going further into site), popular/unpopular pages, analysis of the URL.
- Engagement Behaviour: visit duration and page depth, popular pages, where entered and exited, errors users are making – can we fix?
- Technology: see Brower sources, what browsers do they use.
- Service providers: did they access through Canadian service providers such as Bell, TELUS, Rogers, of if the US, major carriers such as Horizon, Freedom, AT&T etc. And then which ones were used the most.
- Visitor Geography/Flow: Where are they viewing your site, ie region, country, language, city (this is only know through an IP address, which is a 7-15 digit number, no personal identification).
- Traffic Sources: did searcher find your web site by paid search, organically, referral, by direct mail, by e-marketing if you did a campaign etc.
- Mobile (set up through Google Analytics): visits from mobile to your site, devices used.
- Social insights/metrics, from Facebook/Instagram: frequency of post, analyze the success of different posts and themes of posts, total weekly reach, likes, talking about, lifetime likes by gender, source of likes, referrals from social networks, weekly total reach, engaged users.
20.WHAT ELEMENTS ARE NEEDED TO BRING THE AD TO MARKET:
- Photography (video**) production – Because the ad space is so very small, thumbnail size, the photos do not have to be of the highest resolution but ensure that the photo is stylized properly and not just a pic you would take and send to a friend. This is business, representing a salon, not personal. See Module Brief: Photography (currently under construction)
NOTE: Video production is a very simple application through available software and apps such as Apple’s iMovies application.
- Copywriting for an ad – limited to about 125 characters (this includes call to action and display URL). Number of characters vary slightly with each channel, so make sure the writing is short, targeted, keyword rich and succinct.
- Call to action – that is the last line of the ad. Write the words needed to get the user to take action, what do you want them to do i.e., click here, go there, do this.
“Call the number below and make an appointment now”
“Fill out this form and see”
“Attend our seminar”
“Here is a promotional offer exclusively for you”
“Go to home page and book an appointment”
“You are invited to a live chat”
NOTE: If any call to action is directed to web site, ensure clear navigation, which affirm you are a trustworthy professional business who cares about a user’s web experience.
- URL – ensure you have either a proper display or vanity (customized) URL . The vanity URL can also serve as “text” for the ad or carry one of your keyword phrases as we did in this example for MANEreviews targeting hair salons/hairstylists. One of our longtail keywords for search is “grow their salon business”. We have a web page URL’s named: MANEreviews.com/growyourbusiness. Our call to action using this keyword might be something like this: “For more information go to MANEreviews.com/growyourbusiness.” Now see how this serves as “text” in the ad if this call to action was added to an advertisement we did attracting salon business owners.
21.MOBILE ADVERTISING USING FAVORITE APPS AS THE PLATFORM
All of us are aware of the consumer benefits of mobile phones. But mobile phones are also annoyances to the consumer and intrudes on their time, which doesn’t make an advertiser popular should the ad be showing at the wrong time or place.
There are a variety of rules of engagement to follow when advertising:
a) don’t annoy,
b) don’t disrupt,
c) be respectful,
d) attract,
e) engage,
f) interact.
What annoys the consumer is ads that pop up in the middle of your reading or viewing, ads that follow from computer to phone, video game ads of no interest, and text base ads. Consumers want minimal disruption; marketers want relevant messaging.
However, because mobile for local businesses seem to be a strong solution to attract a new customer, it can be a useful tactic as there may be places to advertise that are discrete and non-invasive that can afford the salon business the degree of exposure and clickability that reaches goals of minimal disruption for the consumer and a relevant message from the salon business.
NOTE: for video ads:
a) Ensure video communicates with sound on but allows sound off in environments like public spaces in case other people don’t want to hear.
b) Strategize videos with smart captions and sub-titles only when sound is off to ensure good communication.
c) Enhance creative with text overlay (overlaid on top of the original video such as adding the brand name and a simple message).
Since you will need to brainstorm to determine best app platform to reach but not annoy your target market, one suggestion is to filter your ads, so they are locally displayed only. Popular apps such as Weather app or the Waze app has this targeted feature and probably can filter to refine to your target audience.
22.DEVICE SCREEN AND SCREEN SIZES
Each device has different screen sizes. Each web page (desktop being the largest screen) must be screen responsive so that the content and how your ads “look” are properly displayed. Note: using Google Chrome as an example, for desktop, laptop and iPad application. Using Safari for mobile application. Other browsers might display slightly differently.
In using Chrome, the searcher is using search terms to find hair services in your local. Presuming your ad shows up because it corresponds to the search term, here is where your ads will be on the screen.
Desktop – larger screen viewing, Google browser places your ad on the top of the desktop screen or down the side to the right, along with other ads. Your ad is “competing” for eyeballs.
Laptop - slightly smaller than desktop, Google Ads are located same as desktop.
iPad – book size screen, ads should be on the top, not down the side. Some ads may be below the fold.
Mobile – ads run along the top of the screen, but look at the bottom where there is more that can help you with new key words or show you what your competition is doing. It’s impact and participation in advertising activities is still a relatively new concept and frankly it’s fast becoming a “go to first” when determining the tactic to use for paid advertising. Because of this, Google has developed what they call a “Mobile-first” initiative to help search results.
23.GOOGLE’S MOBILE FIRST FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES
Since salons are local businesses with foot traffic walking by, organic mobile and paid mobile is a focused way of reaching your target market. So, the push to streamline mobile fits right into a salon’s tactics for reaching their local trading area.
Using mobile for campaign purposes also improves your site ranking. Google now uses mobile and web versions of your site (providing the version of mobile and desk are comparable) together for indexing and ranking and to better help your dream client find you. Historically only the web version was used for ranking so a mobile campaign should improve your web ranking and increase traffic.
Although it seems as if mobile advertising has a more aggressive bidding process, it can also be a better tactic to geo-targeted to your local trading area. So, between that and killer ads, the tactic should be helpful to bring new clients to your salon or web site. Make sure the mobile user is clicking to a mobile friendly web page and make sure that this campaign is titled with the word “mobile” on the Google Ads’ campaign management dashboard, so that you can quickly see it when you are checking the metrics on the campaign segment of the analytics tool.
24.GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK TOOLS AND PROGRAMS FOR REGISTERED ADVERTISERS
Google Ads for the Web (and Ad Words Local is a way to locally advertise and so that your campaign more closely your local area trading district)
Google Ad Word Express (developed by Google for use by small business but gives away control and therefore there is no systematic way to improve the campaign.
Google Mobile-First
Google Ad Editor Tool
Google Keyword Tool
Google Display Ad Builder
Google Merchant Centre
Google Analytics
Google Trends
Google Webmaster Tool (can review links to your web site and how they corelate to your campaigns)
Facebook Ads Manager
Facebook Insights (Analytics)
Facebook Ad Library
25.REFERENCE BOOKS FOR HAIR SALON MARKETING
In summary, this module is demonstrating the cockpit without asking you to take the steps that test the actual flight. We explain only the broader rationale of Paid Advertising. It does not go into the details to execute. To take the “test flight”, here are a few books that might help you with those steps:
Winning Results with Google Ad Words, Author: Andrew Goodman, printed 2005 (note things have changed, but this is still good learning)
Google Ad Words for Dummies, Authors: Howie Jacobson, Joel McDonald and Kirstie McDonald
You can also reach out to Google or by contacting us at support@manereviews.com
WHY DO WE DO THIS SINCE IT FEELS LIKE A LOT OF WORK FOR NOTHING?
· To reach a very targeted hair salon dream client (in your geo-targeted area and wants hair services offered)
· Engagement or communication when you find new hair clients
· Convert a dream client to a loyal client, a new “bum in seat”
CLICK HERE to go back to DIY Marketing Modules summary page. Keep checking in, other modules currently under construction.
To see our complete collection
of DIY Marketing Modules
Disclaimer: Details related to search, site features, channel features, analytics, programs, processes etc. in the online world, have a knack of changing at a moment’s notice. Although MANEreviews attempts to keep current with our DIY Marketing material so it continues to be relevant to you, we are not held responsible for discrepancies that may result from unexpected changes by the browsers or the social channels. We encourage you to help us help others by sending us a note to support@manerviews.com and flag the discrepancy.