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7 Last-Minute Thanksgiving Marketing Ideas for Salons & Spas

Thanksgiving marketing ideas for salons and spas

Think it’s too late for Thanksgiving marketing at your salon or spa? 

Don’t worry! We’ve got just what you need to fill up your appointment book this holiday season – a list of Thanksgiving marketing ideas that you can implement in under a day, without a lot of back work.  

These ideas are easy, practical, and perfect for some eleventh-hour marketing for your salon and spa. As an added bonus, we have also included ready-to-use email templates to help you get the word out about your promotions in a matter of minutes. 

Plus, you can continue using these Thanksgiving marketing ideas in the upcoming few weeks as well to get traction up until Christmas and New Years’ eve. 

So, let’s jump right into it! 


Thanksgiving promotion ideas for salons and spas

Wondering whether it’s too late to launch a campaign? Don’t give up yet because it isn’t.

Step 0: Simply start by decorating your salon or spa to get into the spirit. Last year was extremely tough for everyone and all your customers and staff will appreciate the festive setting and feel more excited to come in during the “new normal”. A few fairy lights, balloons, and colorful decorations will get the festive vibes going right away!

Next, get started on these Thanksgiving marketing ideas for your salon/ spa to attract more customers and thank the ones who have stayed by your side:


1. Give customers what they love – discounts and free services! 

Thank your customers for staying with you by giving them special Thanksgiving discounts. However, you don’t need to go overboard with the discounts – offer small, last-minute discounts (like 10-20% off). Even small discounts on their favorite services can appeal greatly to your customers, and make them feel special! 

Don’t be afraid to bundle small services along with big ones so that your customers would feel like they are receiving a free service while keeping your profit margin relatively the same. For example, offering a free hair wash along with a haircut, or free threading along with facial services.

Providing discounts might not be enough unless more people come to avail them! A great way to do this is to provide online or offline coupons to your customers – either during your campaign or post-service. They love your services, and with a discount coupon, they’d be excited and talk about your services with their friends, family, and colleagues. A discount coupon will make it more likely that new people pay you a visit, and try out your services! 

Here are a few discount ideas to get started:

  • Give referral discounts, for example, when a customer refers you to one friend, they get a 25% off on their next visit. 
  • Some discounts can ensure customer loyalty. If a customer visits you 5 times within a given period, they get 30% off on their 6th visit. 
  • Use discounts to boost your December and January sales. Offer limited-period discounts on December and January bookings, say a 20% off. 
  • Help your new additions gain customers with Thanksgiving offers. Announce a 20% or $10 discount to people who let the new professional show off their skills! 
  • Attract new customers to your salon or spa with special 15% discounts valid only during the Thanksgiving weekend!
  • Promote your online booking channel by offering a discount, say 20%, exclusively for customers who booked an appointment online. 

Many salon scheduling software, like Appointy, let you create discount coupons that can be applied at the time of booking, and the service charges are altered accordingly while taking online payments!  You can use these to create discounts with a click and simplify their management and tracking.


2. Introduce Thanksgiving special happy hours at your salon or spa

I mean come on, everybody loves the happy hours at their favorite bar!

There’s something exciting about getting your favorite things at a special discount for a limited period – an adrenaline rush! You can use it in your favor to attract and tempt more people to come to your salon or spa. Offer 2-3 hours of special discounts to customers who come in during happy hours. 

Pro tip: Turn your not-so-busy hours into busy hours by offering these discounts at the same time. For example, if you usually have scanty sales during the noontime, turn them into happy hours during Thanksgiving and see how the tables turn!  

This method can also help eliminate overcrowding which might prevent some of your customers from coming in due to safety concerns.


3. Offer discounts for bringing their partner or friends along

Most people love to visit a salon or spa because they get to relax and feel amazing. This experience can feel even better when they get to bring their partner, best friend, or the whole gang along to avail special Thanksgiving discounts! Plus, the holiday season is all about spending time with friends and family – so make sure to use that while pitching this to customers.  

This kind of discount will benefit your business too as you’ll get more sales at once. Plus, you’ll get a new set of people to impress and turn into regulars. This is basically you getting quality referrals to your salon or spa, without having to do a lot of effort! It can bring long-term benefits to your business.

You can choose to offer deals to couples, friends, family members, etc. 

Best friends happily using Thanksgiving salon offers

4. Provide irresistible service bundles or packages 

A lot of people want to try out the various services you offer at your salon or spa, but they refrain from spending too much on it. You can tackle this by offering service bundles or packages that would go along well together. You can package your less popular services along with your most loved ones! This will encourage more people to try the services they’ve been wanting to try. 

For example, you can create a package that involves all the basic services, like waxing, threading, and pedicure, together at special prices. If you own a combined salon and spa, you can offer a relaxing back massage along with back waxing, at lower combined prices, or any other similar deals. 


5. Sell gift cards to customers 

Thanksgiving is the time to be grateful. You want to express your gratitude towards your valuable customers, and it’s almost certain that they would want to do as well, to their family, friends, boss, or anyone else! Gift cards are a great way for them to do so. And it’s an excellent opportunity for your business too. 

Customize gift cards for your customers this holiday season. You can even combine it with other offers. You could do something like a free $10 gift card free with a service package. Or a small 10% discount to a customer who buys expensive gift cards, say above $100. 

If you use a booking software, it might have the option to create digital gift cards that are quick to make and easy to handle. Using Appointy’s spa booking software, you can choose from our ready-to-use free templates, or customize them for this Thanksgiving. 


6. Boost retail sales with exciting deals

Use the holiday crowd to ramp up retail sales and clear out your old stock. 

Create tempting packages for retail products. Combine the less popular products with the most favorite ones. This will give your customers a chance to experience the products, and once they like the less popular products, it could boost sales! 

Another way to increase retail sales is to offer discounts on products, along with certain services or packages. For example, you can offer discounts on essential oils to a customer who buys your massage service bundle. Or a discount on hair color or shampoo, for a customer who gets a haircut! 

Offer discount on retail items for Thanksgiving

7. Run engaging contests on social media 

Your customers love to scroll Instagram and Facebook, and they do it a lot. Why not leverage this to bring them to your doorstep?

Thanksgiving can be a great time to:

  1. Improve your social media engagements and reach, and
  2. Bring those followers to your spa or salon! 

Over the next few days, you can run exciting and simple contests through your posts and stories. Here are a few examples:

  • Special discounts for people who follow your Instagram handle, and comment the name of 3 of their contacts, who in turn should follow you! You can announce your winners just the day before they can avail the discounts!
  • Run a contest on Facebook or Instagram, where people post a picture after getting your services, and tag your salon or spa with hashtags relevant to Thanksgiving. The post with the maximum likes and shares gets an exclusive offer. 
  • Run Thanksgiving special polls through Instagram and Facebook stories, and choose a lucky winner who gets a service bundle at a special discount! 

This will help you increase your engagement and followers, and also help you get more customers!


How to implement these marketing ideas to bring in more customers to your salon/ spa?

Now that you have so many choices to offer discounts and promotions, you must be excited to plan it out! But that’s not enough. For people to actually come to you to utilize all the deals, they first need to hear about it. 

And with little time left to plan and spread the word about your Thanksgiving offers, you might feel stressed out. But with these quick and easy ideas to get the word out, you don’t need to. 

Here’s what all you can do to tell the right people about your Thanksgiving deals:


1. Announce your promotions using social media

One of the best and fastest ways to make a public announcement about your Thanksgiving offers is to post about it on your salon or spa’s social media pages. Post pictures and add them to your Facebook and Instagram stories. 

Customers who follow your pages will take a mental note of it, and might even tell about the exciting deals to their friends and family. To reach new and interested audiences, add relevant, trending hashtags to each of your Thanksgiving social media posts and stories. 

If you’re considering offering different types of promotional deals, post about each of them separately, so that your target audience doesn’t miss out on any! Add eye-catching pictures that explain your offer, and consider adding the details in the caption. 

Prompt people to book an appointment with you ASAP right through your Facebook or Instagram account. You can even offer special offers to people who schedule appointments with you within a specific time period. 

Appointy lets you add a Book Now button to your Instagram and Facebook profiles. So that you can conveniently convert profile visitors into paying customers, not just during the Thanksgiving marketing campaign, but throughout the year!


2. Personalize the message with emails and SMS

While public announcements are necessary to get new customers and reach a greater section of your target audience, your loyal, regular clients deserve some special attention on your part. They’re the ones who you should be grateful to. 

One of the best ways to express your gratitude to your regulars is to send personalized, well-crafted Thanksgiving emails and text messages to them a day before you launch the deals. Thank each of them personally for not leaving your side, and trusting in you and your services. You can even offer special deals and discounts to your loyal and long-term customers. 

To save you time and effort, we’ve created ready-to-use email templates for your salon or spa’s Thanksgiving campaign. You can download them for FREE! Just leave your email address below:

If you can make a few extra hours, it can be a good idea to give a call to your oldest, most loyal customers. Or inform them about the holiday offers on-call, and send the details over email or text. 


3. Put up catchy displays in your salon and spa

With all the themed decorations in your salon or spa, your customers will feel the Thanksgiving vibes. You can grab your customers’ attention with eye-catching displays about the Thanksgiving offers on your salon or spa doors, reception, mirrors, and any other places where you think people might look. 

A good thing about putting up these posters on display is that, in case of any doubt, customers can ask you and your professionals and you can elaborate on the offer in person right away. 


4. Add pop-ups or banners on your booking page and website

Your website and booking page are where most of your customers will land to make an appointment. And that’s not it, new and potential customers looking out for a salon or spa online may also find and visit your website or booking page

That’s exactly why adding a banner or pop-up about your special offers for Thanksgiving is a good, in fact, a great idea! It’ll grab the attention of visitors and increase their chances of visiting you.  


5. Slip it into conversations

Lastly, one of the best ways to let your customers and shop visitors know about holiday offers is to tell them about it in person. When they come to your salon or spa and are enjoying your services, you usually chit-chat with them. 

In the last few days before the D-day, while talking, you and your staff can just mention the offers, and in most cases, they themselves will ask you about it in detail. If that doesn’t happen, inform them again at the time of billing. 

Salon stylist telling customer about Thanksgiving discounts

Conclusion: All set to make the most of Thanksgiving 2022?

The festive weekend is almost here, and not much time is left for you to plan a lot. 

However, these marketing ideas for your salon and spa would not require you to invest a lot of time and effort, and you can make your Thanksgiving a blast! 

If you are looking for a tool to implement all these tips seamlessly and manage them from a single interface, Appointy’s salon and spa scheduling software can help you promote your business and get more customers – Not just during Thanksgiving and the holiday season, but throughout the year.  

Do let us know if these ideas helped your business during this holiday season in the comments below. 

Happy Thanksgiving! 🙂 


About Appointy

We at Appointy, help business owners grow and run their businesses with our online scheduling software. This blog was a part of our ‘Manage your Business’ category, where we provide expert tips, and resources, or simply talk about the challenges that small and medium businesses face every day. 

If you have any thoughts on this blog or would like to chat about your business struggles and achievements, let us know in the comments below. 

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