Passion Squared email

You’ve Got Mail

February 4, 2013Nina KovnerENGAGE, GROW

“In a way, the Web is like your Hollywood agent: It speaks for you whenever you are not around to comment.”

Chris Brogan & Julien Smith, authors of Trust Agents

 

Passion Squared email

If your business is up 50% over last year, you clearly are doing something awesome and may not need to read this post. If it’s not, I encourage you to stay with me and hear me out on the topic of email marketing or what I like to call inbox marketing.

Yes, It’s Still A Powerful Tool
While you may hear that email is falling by the wayside with the rise of social platforms, that is simply not true. Email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to engage your clients and actually make sales happen. How you ask?

How Inbox Marketing Drives Sales
1. It keeps clients connected to your salon, shows them you care, and reminds them you are around.

2. It allows you to share salon news, say thank you, introduce promotions, launch new products and services and reminders to make reservations.

3. It drives traffic to your website which in turn can drive sales.

How Do I Know This? (besides researching the topic at length)
The #1 referral traffic source for Passion Squared is from our weekly emails. More people visit our site from the emails we send then from any other referral platform.

My clients and friends Nigel Sampson and Daria Di Benedetto, owners of Whole Body Method in Los Angeles sold over $5000 in packages from ONE single email campaign. Their business is up over 50% from last year, and while there are several factors as to why they have experienced this awesome growth, focused and consistent email marketing is one of them.

I had a chance to chat with Benjamin Jay, co-owner of the Hair Loft ltd in Chicago. He was awesome enough to share his most recent success story using email to engage clients and generate revenue.  Check it out.

“So this holiday we really wanted to have a great season. One of the things we did was send out a note to our guests that hadn’t been in in 6 weeks and did not have a future reservation on the schedule letting them know what our upcoming holiday hours were going to be and giving them a link to make their reservation online. No discounts, because there was no need! Holidays are already our (and most people’s) best times of the year so we didn’t need to discount what was in high demand. Through these marketing emails, we booked an additional $1600 into our last 3 weeks of the Holidays.”

Benjamin Jay

These are the email campaigns that generated that additional $1600 in revenue over the Holidays for the Hair Loft ltd. Beautiful and on point.

So this holiday we really wanted to have a great season. One of the things we did was send out a note to our guests that hadn't been in in 6 weeks and did not have a future reservation on the schedule letting them know what our upcoming holiday hours were going to be and giving them a link to make their reservation online. No discounts, because there was no need! Holidays are already our (and most people's) best times of the year so we didn't need to discount what was in high demand. Through these marketing emails, we booked an additional $1600 into our last 3 weeks of the Holidays.

the hair loft ltd email two

Now think about yourself as a customer.  How many times have you been driven to purchase something from your favorite store or made a reservation because of an email they sent you? Come on, be honest.

Ok Nina, This Is Awesome, But Now What Do I Do?
1. Be sure your website allows clients to actually take action such as making a reservation, purchasing a gift card, a package or series of services. Many salon software programs have online booking as a feature or option. Use it.

2. Be sure to choose the right email platform for you, preferably one that is super easy to use, provides reports on your campaign performance, etc. I LOVE MailChimp, it’s FREE (up to 2000 subscribers), super easy to use, and highly social, meaning its easy to share on your social sites, etc. Many salon software programs also offer integrated email platforms, be sure to check with your provider to see what is available.

3. Be sure you have a place on your website for clients to “opt in” to receive emails from you. Also be sure they can subscribe on your Facebook page with a tab provided by your email platform. MailChimp has a super cool Facebook tab that is easy to use.

This is what a subscribe Facebook Tab looks like from MailChimp. Passion Squared inbox lovePassion Squared Subscribe Facebook Tab

This is what Passion Squared email opt in looks like on the home page of our website. Feel free to subscribe to get weekly inspiration and education from me :) Passion Squared email opt in

Do you have a success story to share about inbox marketing for your business? Please feel free to share it in the comments if you feel compelled or click here to share your story with me or to learn more about the power of inbox marketing.

(shared with LOVE from Nina)

Seth Godin

Showing Up Is Overrrated

February 1, 2013Nina KovnerENGAGE, GROW

“Your job is to surprise and delight and to change the agenda.”

Seth Godin

 

Seth Godin

I am a huge fan of Seth Godin, as many of you know by how many times his message and books are discussed on my blog. He is not only super smart, but I love how simply he presents meaningful and important business concepts which apply both to small and big business.  His post earlier this week really resonated with me, then while sitting with a dear friend at dinner the other night, she brought up the exact same post he wrote, which to me was a sign I needed to blog about it and share it.

Here is Seth’s post from January 28th in case you missed it.

Beyond showing up
“You’ve probably got that part nailed. Butt in seat, smile on your face. We often run into people who understand their job to be showing up on time to do the work that’s assigned.

We’ve moved way beyond that now. Showing up and taking notes isn’t your job. Your job is to surprise and delight and to change the agenda. Your job is to escalate, reset expectations and make us delighted that you are part of the team.

Showing up is overrated. Necessary but not nearly sufficient.”

Wow. Awesome message, right? Now here is my take-away from his post, something for all of us to consider as team members and leaders.

Are You Just Showing Up?
As a team member, you have a responsibility to your leaders, teammates and customers to do more than just show up. If you have an idea, an aha or a breakthrough, it needs to be shared. If you have a way of making a service, product or system better, it needs to be shared. If you have a skill, a talent, or a way to make the customer experience better, it needs to be shared. Your job is to escalate, as Seth says.

Now, this is different than bitching and complaining. That is not the message here at all. This is about being an active participant in your world, and to help make it better.

Have You Created A Just Show Up Culture?
Now on the flip side, if you are a leader, manager or owner, have you created an environment where your team members can participate in the business and be part of delighting your customers or one that shoots down anyone who offers ideas, solutions and better or different ways of doing things?  Be really honest with yourself on this one. You see, what happens when you stop listening as a leader, or brush off your teams ideas and suggestions time and time again, they naturally will become spectators, not participants. Wouldn’t you? Think about it.

What do you really want? Butts in seats that just show up ready to take notes or passionate participants wanting and needing to make a difference?

To get more daily wisdom from the awesome Seth Godin, I highly recommend subscribing to his blog.

(shared with LOVE from Nina)

Word of Mouth

The Multiplier Effect

January 28, 2013Nina KovnerENGAGE, GROW

“Learn to make customers really, really happy. It doesn’t take much more than that.”

 Andy Sernovitz

Word of mouth.  The foundation of every successful business and most definitely the foundation of a salons success.  It’s almost such a common phrase and concept that we forget the power of it.

Check out our fave biz guru Gary Vaynerchuk on what he calls The Multiplier Effect of the social web, in other words, the POWER of the social + digital web to ignite word of mouth.  It’s short, so press play and we will review after.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY1skOtCSBs

Simple concept? Yes. Easy to execute and make happen? Not so much.

Here is what it takes:
1. Caring
2. Listening
3. Engaging

If you only did those 3 things, there is no doubt in our minds that you will begin to see how the social + digital web can super charge your word of mouth and in turn, your business.

Give it a try.

If you are serious about super charging your word of mouth both online and off, we offer one-on-one mentoring to help you craft the ultimate plan.  To learn more about Passion Squared Mentoring, click here.  We look forward to helping you ignite your passion and live your dream.

(shared with LOVE from your passionistas Nina + Gordon)

Are You There Salon?

Facebook Graph Search Explained

January 23, 2013Nina KovnerENGAGE

“To understand the mindset of the connected consumer, one must realize that everything begins with search and intent.”

Brian Solis

 

Are You There Salon?

Many of us have heard the news about Facebook Graph Search, a new search and discovery tool. While it is still in beta testing with a select group of people, I found a few things that might be helpful in understanding what it may mean for all of us.

I love this video from Facebook explaining why they created Graph Search. This is a good place to begin understanding this new tool.

Lets first understand that there are two ways to look at this new feature. Personal and Business. I am going to focus on the business side for this post. The best way I can wrap my mind around Graph Search is to think of it as a super social, highly targeted and personalized Google.

Are You A Discoverable Business?
One of the most important things to understand about the social and digital Web for business is becoming more discoverable. As my hero and mentor Brian Solis says so well in the opening quote, everything begins with search and intent. People are looking for your business. Your job is to be sure they can find it. This is done by being highly engaged on social platforms such as Facebook, referral platforms such as YELP, and of course, having a good website that clearly communicates your why, what and how to engage with your business.

To learn more about becoming a more discoverable business on the Web, check out our Webinar.

What You Can Do Right Now on Facebook

  • Consistency engage on your business page

  • Post relevant content at least one time per day

  • Be sure your About section and contact information is strong and clear

  • Claim Your Page Name (URL) (Here is a post I did on that in case you do not know how)

  • Be sure your business is categorized correctly (Click here to learn more about Business Page Categories)

Here is another video from Slacktory on Facebook Graph Search, with a hilarious spin. It’s awesome.

PS: To learn more about Facebook Graph Search, click here.

(shared with LOVE from Nina)