What I am about to say will upset some salon owners….get ready for it……contrary to common belief, not all advertising is good advertising!

When times are tough and let’s face it, they are still pretty tough, it’s more important than ever to make your advertising dollars work harder for you.

Shotgun marketing, as the name implies, relies on shooting out as many pellets of advertising material as you can afford, in as many directions as possible to try and reach the maximum number of prospects.

This approach might be useful for a start-up business that needs to make its local market aware of its existence, but after that it’s just too scattered to make the kind of impact that’s needed to build up an existing business.

Here’s something you really need to know and embrace….not everyone wants to be your client.

Savvy salon owners appreciate this and spend their precious advertising dollars only in ways that will reach the kind of people who are likely to come in and make purchases.  In most cases, that’s to their own database or to people who are very much like the ones who are already purchasing from them.

Do you know who these people are, and more importantly, are you making them the target of your marketing efforts?

Next time you are approached by people asking you to advertise in their magazine, newsletter, internet listing, and so on, ask yourself some important questions first before you sign on the dotted line.

  • Am I getting this message to my target market (my clients or those people just like them), or am I spending a lot of money advertising to people who just aren’t interested in what I’m selling?
  • Is the money I’m about to spend going to be a good investment and achieve the desired outcome?  Will I see a substantial return on my investment and how can I measure the results?
  • How could I refine my marketing, spend less money and still reach the people who are most likely to buy my product?

Perhaps it’s time to re-focus your approach to marketing to ensure that every dollar you spend from this point forward creates maximum impact with your target market.

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