How Salons Can Use Digital Tools to Boost Business

From apps to review sites, salons share tips and tools that help their businesses grow in a digital era. 

Linda Macchi | Redken-certified colorist and co-owner of Salon 877, Ardsley, NY 
When Linda Macchi was looking to boost brand recognition, she turned to Marketing Nutz, a social media training and consulting agency for small businesses and franchises. “Marketing Nutz helped us figure out who we are and who we want to attract,” Macchi says. “We realized the importance of human connection on media.”

Ashley Hogue | Co-owner of Andreas Hogue Salon, a Matrix affiliate salon, Northbrook, IL 

Creating a marketing strategy that keeps clients updated on promotions can be challenging. Ashley Hogue and her husband Andreas use e-mail marketing company Constant Contact to send monthly e-mails to clients. “The e-mail’s design template reflects our salon signage, so everything is cohesive,” she says. 

Graham Walt | Director of Salon Development and Education at Design 1 Salon Spa, a Redken affiliate salon, Grand Rapids, MI 
Reviews can make or break a business, and also play a huge role in how consumers judge the quality of services. Graham Walt has two team members who monitor his Yelp page and respond to reviews. “If there’s a negative review, we dig deeper to find out what went wrong and attempt to fix it,” Walt says.

Emily Gearhart | Co-owner at Sorella Hair Studio, a Redken Elite salon, Athens, GA 

Google My Business allows businesses to discover where customers are coming from and how they’re interacting with the business online. Emily Gearhart has been using the service in her salon for the past year. “Knowing how clients are finding our salon on the Internet helps us adjust our marketing accordingly,” she says.

Christy Turner | Salon director at Bella Salon and Spa, a Redken Elite salon, Hagerstown, MD 
Christy Turner prefers to keep her options open when it comes to choosing digital tools. “We use Hootsuite and Buffer to schedule posts on our social media and then Canva and Photoshop to make everything aesthetically pleasing,” she adds. “Because we use so many different platforms and tools, we were able to reach a wider variety of guests.”

Many thanks to our program sponsors Matrix & Redken for making this Digital Supplement possible. To view the entire supplement, click here.