11 Festive Salon Holiday Special Ideas

As we enter into the holiday season, you may be feeling excited as the holidays are a time of joy and opportunity. For salons, the holiday season can be the busiest time of year as people get ready to attend events and return home for the holidays. However, there are also slower times of the holiday season that can turn salons into ghost towns. 

One way you can ensure that your salon stays busy throughout the holiday season is by offering salon promotions that work to help draw in clientele. Not only are holiday promotions great for expanding your business and keeping cash flow steady during slower times of the year, but creating holiday promotions can also be fun. 

Why Holiday Promotions Are Important for Salons

Creating and hosting promotions can be a lot of work. Finding and implementing the right promotion for your salon takes time, creativity and staff participation, which can be hard to come by when you are so busy. However, taking the time to narrow in on a promotion that works best for your business and appeals to your clients is well worth your while. Whether you offer one, stand-alone holiday promotion from November through the New Year or you turn the next three months into a promotion palooza, you’re going to be happy your salon participated in these holiday promotions. This is why holiday promotions are critical for salons and why you should implement them this season. 

• Boost Client Retention – Offering promotions for your existing clients will keep them coming back. Your clients have so many choices today and it’s important to make sure that you are still providing value to your clients by offering regular promotions to them — especially during the holiday season when everyone would like to save a little money. 
• Cash in on Convenience – Is there a more convenient time to get your hair or nails done than during the holidays? It’s critical for your clients to look their best during this season, because they are participating in special occasions, parties, family dinners and vacations. You can draw in even more business during the holidays by offering eye-catching promotions that bring in existing and new clients. 
• Keep Cash Flow Steady Through the End of the Holiday Season – While the holidays may be one of the busiest times for salons, the fall-off toward the end of the season can hinder cash flow. However, if you continue to offer promotions toward the end of the season, you will be able to sustain steady business. 
• Stand Out Among Competing Salons – One way to differentiate your salon from others in your area and appeal to clients is by offering promotions. While many salons may be offering promotions during the holidays, you can ensure yours stand out by centering in on the services and quality salon equipment your salon offers. Make your promotions unique to what makes your business thrive. 
• Promotions Make Clients Happy – During a time where your clients are probably spending a lot of money on gifts or putting together parties and vacations, you can give their wallet a break by offering a promotion. Not only does this ensure that your clients don’t skip out on their routine appointments with you to save money, but it also makes your salon look good!

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11 Festive Salon Holiday Special Ideas

There are so many ways to turn your salon into a festive place with promotions that get your staff and clients into the holiday season. We have compiled a list of holiday specials that will boost business and keep your clients happy. Whether you use one idea or you sprinkle a few promotions throughout your holiday schedule, you’ll find success with these specials. 

1. Holiday Cards From Your Salon

How do you communicate with your existing clientele base? Do you often send emails or actual physical cards to their home address? Either way, sending a holiday card that is designed beautifully and includes a special promotion is a thoughtful touch that translates well through both physical mail and email. You can even include a photo of you and your staff on the card, similar to the traditional holiday cards for a personal touch that’s also festive. On these cards, include information about your upcoming holiday specials and how your clients can take advantage of them. If you love the idea of sending a physical card to your clients, but you don’t have their address, you can send out an email asking clients who would like to receive a special promotion and holiday card to fill out a Google form with their address. You can also print these cards and leave them at your salon’s reception desk for clients to take on their way out. 

2. Holiday Social Media Giveaways

For the holiday season, you can engage your digital clients on social media by hosting giveaways. Whether you are giving away discounted services or free products, hosting giveaways is a great way to turn your digital audience and followers into actual clients. While many of your followers may be existing clients, a portion of them may be people who are interested in your services but haven’t visited yet. Not only will you draw these potential clients in by hosting several giveaways, but you can also boost your following and social media presence through these giveaways. Create a few rules to enter the giveaway — like sharing your giveaway post and having clients tag their friends in the comment section to maximize your reach. When it comes to creating fun graphics for these giveaways, you want to make sure your designs are festive and engaging. You can also have your stylists share information about the giveaway on their platforms, too. 

3. Book Now and Save Emails

Do you want to engage your salon’s email lists this holiday season? If so, create a craze by sending out an email that offers a “book now and save” promotion for the holidays to your clients. To make sure they follow through on the promotion, include a timeliness element to it like, “first 50 people to respond or book their appointment get the discount/free product.” You can send out these emails and offer promotions like this multiple times through the holiday season. 

4. Highlight and Offer Promotions on Winter Services 

If your salon has services for hair, nails and skin that are more helpful during the winter season, like deep conditioning and moisturizing, highlight those services and offer promotions around them. This is a great way to make your clients feel pampered during the cold winter months, and it’s easy to create festive promotions around services that are timely and needed. 

5. Two-for-One Services 

Your clients are looking for deals and steals during the holiday season, which is why you should also be providing them with a deal, too! During the holiday season, you can bundle services like manicures and pedicures or a cut, color and blowout for one special price. This will make your clients feel like they are getting the most for their money. 

 6. Buy One, Get One 

Buy one, get one sales are appealing to your customers, but it’s also a great way for your salon to boost client retention. Around the holidays, your clients want to make sure they are maximizing their savings so that they can shop for gifts and other holiday occasions. For the holidays, you can offer this special in two different ways. You could offer something like a buy one, get one blowout where your client can book the service for them and a friend or loved one. You could also offer this special as a buy one service for now and get another service for later. This model is very smart for your business, because it keeps your clients coming back during the slower times of the year. 

7. Gift Card Specials 

It wouldn’t be the holidays without gifts, and you can help your clients come up with creative and helpful gifts for their loved ones — or for themselves — by offering gift cards. Anyone would love an all-expenses-paid trip to the salon, but this may not be a gift that’s top of mind when people think about holiday shopping for loved ones. Let your clients know that you are offering gift cards by creating signage throughout your salon and enlisting your stylists to talk about your gift card promotion. You can also create a special promotion like a buy-one-get-one gift card so that your clients can treat their loved ones and themselves. Selling gift cards during the busy holiday season can also make sure your salon gets steady business and funds through the slower times, too. 

8. Throw a Holiday Party 

If you want to boost the holiday cheer at your salon, you could throw a party for your stylists and clients that includes giveaway prizes (check out our holiday gift guide for inspiration!) and treats your clients to services that don’t take a lot of time or resources like chair massages, blowouts and others. This is a great way to get clients through your door and kick off the holiday season. 

9. Holiday Gifts with Purchase 

How can your salon go the extra mile this holiday season? If you are looking to spread more holiday cheer, you could always include a gift with every purchase or service. Whether it’s a free hair care product like a deep conditioning mask, dry shampoo, lotion or styling cream, your clients will feel so special. If you would like to create your own customized gift for clients, you can always have custom ornaments made with your salon name on them. Package them in a cute box with a coupon for your client’s next visit. 

10. Scratch Cards with Surprise Discounts 

Entice your clients to stop by your salon with discount scratch cards. How this works is that when a client comes into your salon, you hand them a festive scratch card that has a special discount inside. These discounts can range from 10-40 percent off a service or include a free product. You can have these scratch cards made to fit your salon’s branding and aesthetic. You can promote this special across your email lists and social media accounts to create buzz around the promotion. Some messaging you can use around this promotion includes: “From November through December, stop by our salon and get a scratch card that includes a special discount off our salon’s products or services that you receive that day!”

11. New Year, New You Makeover Promotion

Capitalize on New Year’s resolutions by offering a promotion that gives discounts on hair transformations. These services can cost clients a lot, but you can offer a special price on these makeovers to keep business coming in during the slowest time of the year, while also making your clients feel great about themselves. 

How to Prepare Your Salon for the Holidays 

Paired with the naturally busy holiday season and the new business you will be drawing in with your salon promotions, you will need to make sure you stock up on salon essentials you will need to handle busy days. Salon owners and managers should also make sure every aspect of their salon is prepared to accommodate an influx of clients — from purchasing new salon chairs to ensuring equipment is clean and functioning. 

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Since we know how busy and chaotic this time can become for you, we have created a comprehensive checklist to make sure you’re ready to offer the best business during the busiest time of the year.

• Host a kick-off meeting to ensure staff feels supported and is aware of holiday goals and promotions. 
• Create marketing materials to promote your holiday promotions.
• Come up with a social media strategy to highlight promotions and your salon.
• Invest in new styling stations if you need to accommodate more clients.
• Restock retail products on your retail display in an organized, eye-catching fashion. 
• Invest in a color processor and assistants to speed up services. 
• Ensure color, products and salon supplies are stocked for stylists.
• Plan for end-of-year gifts for stylists, like shopping for new styling chairs.

You’re officially ready to handle the holiday season — and more. The key to having a festive holiday season is making sure you’re appealing to your clients with the services and promotions they love most while also turning your salon into a place that has holiday cheer around every corner. We wish you the happiest – and busiest — holiday season! 

 

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