grow your salon, Marketing Tip, salon tips

7 Excellent Esthetician Marketing Ideas to Drive More Clients to your Salon

An esthetician applying a face mask for a client

As an esthetician, your top priorities include beautifying clients’ skin and performing treatments to rectify any skin issues. And you are pretty good at that because you’ve been trained to do that well! 

Just earning a good name for your brand/ business isn’t what being an esthetician is all about. You need to book more – what is called the driving factor for any business – clients!

But you are a beautician, not a marketeer, right? So, what you need to get in more clients is an effective marketing strategy. 

Having a well-thought-out marketing campaign in place can help you keep a check on the direction you are moving in, the effectiveness of the entire marketing plan, and the setbacks you are facing.

To help you achieve this, we have put together an exhaustive set of 7 esthetician marketing ideas that will yield positive results. So, without any further delay, let’s jump right in!


1. Show off your branding – the impressive way

An esthetic salon interior with the business's brand color consistent throughout the room

Branding is important in any business. And this can be your fundamental answer to the overwhelmingly lingering question – “How to get clients as an esthetician?”

It helps elevate your brand outlook and how it is perceived by both your prospects and existing clients. 

But branding isn’t all about having a well-crafted website and service menu. As much as these are also important, your esthetic salon needs to speak for itself too!

What I am talking about is – visual branding

First off, decide on a theme for your business. Setting a brand image is about telling the story of your beauty salon through various elements like decor, colors, logo, etc. What sets you apart from your competitors? Tap into that and don’t refrain from showing that off. 

Setting that serene environment is just as important. Set the mood at your salon with soft music and scented candles too. Got a subtle color for your salon in mind? Flaunt it, but don’t forget to stick to it ? 

Have business cards ready for your beauty salon? Make sure you use your set brand color on those cards. 

This might not sound like a marketing idea, but pleasing clients is important when it comes to keeping them coming back for more and attracting new ones too!

Tip: To help you build an effective branding stratgey for your esthetic salon, we have put together an informative blog with plenty of creative ideas! Click here to jump to it right away!


2. Maximize your community outreach

The biggest asset of working in a service-based business like the esthetic business is the ability to attract clients locally. And marketing for estheticians gets easier when partnering up with local businesses in the neighborhood comes into the picture!

Partnering up can help you make use of many conventional and unconventional marketing tactics. 

Before you begin with searching for a potential business to partner with, research the local businesses that are present in your area. Being an esthetician, you can partner with businesses like spas, salons, massage centers, wellness centers, etc. 

Make a casual visit to their business and propose the idea of partnering up with them. You can utilize a small space in their shop and tend to their client’s needs by promoting your facial/ skin care services. 

Now, this is beneficial not only for you but also for your partner. Your clients can become the partnering business’s new clients. A mutually beneficial partnership can help you accelerate your business growth multifold.

You can announce the partnering up on your social media, along with an exciting deal/ discount to encourage clients to visit you. Stick posters at public places like parks, supermarkets, etc., and consider the door-to-door distribution of flyers too.


3. Ask for referrals

This is one of the best esthetician promotion ideas, simply because it is easy to execute, and once executed, it can help in driving more foot traffic to your business. 

You can reward the clients who refer your business to a friend or family member, thereby helping you gain a new client. Rewards can be in the form of engaging discounts on services, free gift certificates, or even discounts on any membership. 

What’s more? Hook your new clients to your business as well by giving them discounts on their first visit! 

I know going all the way with discounts can harm your business profits, but hey, as has been stated earlier, your clientele is what builds your business. So, keep them happy and help your business thrive!


4. Reward clients with loyalty cards

If you are rewarding your new clients, don’t you think your loyal clients (the ones who have actually helped your business grow by sticking around!) deserve a reward too?

Well, what better way to make them happy than offering loyalty cards? Utilize loyalty cards to provide a pleasing discount on a service (discount on their birthday/ anniversary/ any special occasion would also sound DAMN tempting!), or maybe even an entirely free facial service.

The essence of having such a program in place is to encourage your clients to visit you when they feel like getting a facial done and keep them coming back for more. It is more like – you put in dollars to keep this program running, but you reap the benefits by getting back more in return! 

Loyalty goes a long way, and if your clients have been maintaining that, reward them! They deserve it! 


5. Get listed on Google and other popular directories

This is a no-brainer. Getting listed on Google My Business and esthetic-specific online directories can help your prospects find you online and even book your services right away (wondering how? Keep reading to know!).

To end up on the Google search result page of your potential clients, get listed on GMB (Google My Business). From here on, clients can go through your key business information like location, contact details, open hours, reviews, directions to your esthetic salon, website, etc. 

Check this out to see how your business with a GMB listing will look on the organic search results page:

Google search results for estheticians near me

That’s not it! You can even prompt clients to book your services right from Google Search, Maps, or the RwG website using Reserve with Google (RwG). 

To get listed on RwG, you will need to choose an esthetician scheduling software that easily facilitates bookings through Google! Sign-up for one and maximize your booked hours! 

Next, get listed on the next-in-line popular directories like Yelp, esthetician-specific online directories like Fairy Glow Mother, The Solo Esthetician, The Esthetician Association, etc. This way you can show up on your client’s search page when they look for an esthetician in your area’s local directory.


6. Run your own social media marketing campaign

It doesn’t need to be stated that social media has gained astounding popularity over the last decade. And not utilizing it for your marketing means you are missing out on the easiest way of driving more clients to your business! 

Here are some smart esthetician advertising ideas in which you can drive more clients to your salon:


A. Facebook and Instagram

Leveraging these popular social media platforms cannot get easier than this:

  • First things first, set up your profile. Add key info like contact details, location, open hours, website, etc. to the bio itself. Personalization of the page can help in elevating your brand image, so add your business logo and maintain a consistent brand color throughout the page (and even in the ‘Highlights’ section!).
  • Add photos, photos, and photos! They can be before-after photos of clients, your esthetic salon’s interior, or your products. You need to add them because photos are proof of what your business is and how you do things that can attract new clients. 
  • Make reels! Want to show up on the Explore page of your prospects? Utilize this trend. 
  • Post informative content to keep clients engaged and at the same time, educate them on certain topics too. You can share skincare tips, skin-related facts, etc. You can use Google or Pinterest to find some esthetician post ideas for Instagram and Facebook.
  • Add client reviews to maximize your credibility. Short videos of happy clients can also help lighten up your profile and take that monotony away from posting just static pictures! 
  • Announce events like business partnering up, deals, discounts, special occasion/ holiday offers, etc. on your social media. Add them to your highlights until they are valid so that clients can go through them any time. 
  • Use popular esthetician hashtags like #esthetician, #estheticianlife, #facial, #beauty, #skincare, etc. 
  • The easiest but not-free way of reaching your target audience is running paid ads on Facebook and Instagram. You can run targeted ads based on your business’s location, target demographics (age, gender, etc.), and more.
  • Add a ‘Book Now’ button to your social media business pages. This ensures that clients are able to book your services right from these channels, without even having to go to your website! An intuitive esthetician booking system can help you add a book button to your Facebook and Instagram pages, and your booking link to other platforms as well.

B. YouTube

Youtube is also an amazing platform to showcase your services. Make a weekly schedule of what content you want to post and stick to it. Choose an appropriate time to post them too. 

Make sure you make an announcement about your upcoming post on Facebook and Instagram to keep your clients intrigued. 

You can also utilize YouTube Shorts to make short videos of your services, or maybe even your skincare routine!


C. LinkedIn

A professional platform it sure is, but LinkedIn can be utilized to share informative content related to skincare and other areas of expertise

You can build a wide network with the number of beauticians and beauty professionals that you can find on LinkedIn. You can also find potential businesses to partner with and interact with them before taking a call.


D. Email list building 

When you run a service-based business, having and utilizing an email list is extremely necessary. Here are some quick ways in which you can make use of that email list you have built:

  • Send out a sweet welcome email to every new client.
  • Send appointment reminders at preset times. Appointy’s esthetician booking software lets you send automated email and text reminders to clients so that you encourage timely arrivals.
  • You can also send deals, discounts, upcoming events, etc. to clients.

7. Build a professional (a)esthetic website

This is yet again a no-brainer. A website acts as a mini store for you. You can showcase your services, business hours, location, and also, establish your brand image. 

  • Use tools like Weebly and Wix to build a customizable esthetic website. Take advantage of the amazing features that they have and have a well-rounded website. 
  • Set a specific brand logo and brand color. Create a professional experience for clients by making sure you use a consistent brand color throughout your website. 
  • Fill in all the key details like contact info, location, open hours, services offered, price menu, reviews, gallery, social media channel links (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn), blogs (if you write any), events/ updates, etc. Keep updating these from time to time. 
  • Don’t forget to ensure that your website is mobile-friendly.
  • You can also add a booking widget to your website to prompt your clients to seamlessly schedule an appointment right from the website.

Final Thoughts

Marketing your esthetics business can get frustrating if you aren’t able to get in as much as you are spending on the entire campaign itself. But, it can be a game-changer at the same time!

Set an effective marketing campaign, stick to it, keep going back to it to keep a check on your progress, and track the results from time to time. To make this task simpler, you can refer to our set of esthetician marketing ideas, while spending more time perfecting your craft and delivering exceptional services. 

Have an amazing marketing year ahead! ?


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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