The Year of Perspective for The Salon Industry: Adapting to New Salon Realities
In this episode, Nina revisits the January 2024 episode on perspective for the salon industry and reflects on significant global and consumer trends impacting the salon industry from 2023 to 2024, emphasizing the importance of providing care, building trust, and creating value for salon clients. We dive into topics ranging from customer psychology and economic factors to specific salon industry trends such as the skinification of hair. Nina highlights the need for businesses to adapt to consumer behaviors, improve salon client experiences, and stay focused on the fundamentals of growing your salon business, focusing on lifetime client value and the importance of clear communication and consistent experiences, online and off, and strategies to retain clients, manage prices, and realign business practices, concluding with advice on focusing on fundamental values and avoiding the distraction of online discourse. You can find Passion Squared on the socials here and here, and Creating Your Awesome Brand, a complete course for beauty professionals here. Thank you so much for listening!
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Trademarks and Your Salon Brand Name
It’s all in a name
From Module 2 of Creating Your Awesome Brand, A Complete Course for Beauty Professionals
Your salon brand name helps communicate your salon brand story and helps connect you to the clients, teams, and tenants you wish to serve. And part of naming your salon brand is knowing if it is available to use and hasn’t been trademarked by another salon.
A trademark is part of your salon brand’s intellectual property, which holds immense value and is worthy of protection.
Trademarks protect the investment you made in creating your salon brand name, including your signage, website address, social and digital page names, printed materials, etc.
Last week I had three conversations with salon owners on trademarks, and it has been a highly misunderstood part of brand development in the salon industry, so I want to bring attention to trademarks and your salon brand name. This is what we share with our clients in One On Ones, in A School and also in Creating Your Awesome Brand, a complete course for beauty professionals.
In one conversation, the salon was told by ‘experts’ that they did not need to trademark their salon brand name. It took me less than one minute doing a search on the USPTO website (the US patent and trademark database) to learn someone already has the name trademarked in Class 44, the trademark class for salons. UGH.
While I am not a trademark attorney and am not, and will never give you legal advice, I have three decades of trademark experience, being responsible for some of the most valuable trademarks in the professional salon product space, including receiving a gazillion cease and desist letters from conglomerates with way more attorneys on staff than I had, along with helping our clients the last twelve years at Passion Squared.
Things To Consider When Creating Your Salon Brand Name
- Is the name aligned with your salon brand story?
- Is the name already trademarked in the Class you want to use it for? (Hair salons are Class 44)
- Is the name available as a web address and site?
- Is the name available to use as your brand email address?
- Is the name available on social pages?
- Is the name available on digital pages?
Trademark Investment
- USPTO Directly $250 + (I don’t usually recommend this as it can be overwhelming for some)
- Legal Zoom $649 +
- Attorney $2000 + est It takes anywhere from six months to one year to secure a registered trademark, depending on the USPTO and the complexity of the mark.
Cost of Creating A New Salon Brand Name If Your Current Name Is Trademarked by Another Salon
- New website address
- New email addresses
- New social page names
- New digital page names
- New signage
- New printed materials
- TIME ENERGY MONEY ++++++++
This is just one of many tools and strategies inside the Creating Your Awesome Brand, a complete course for beauty professionals. Because when you have clarity around your salon brand, you have a strong foundation to make more aligned decisions, save a ton of time, money, and energy, and feel more confidence, courage, and joy. Click here to learn more.
Much love, in service to you-
Nina
Five Questions To Help Create Your Salon Brand Promise
Trust is built on promises kept
From Module 1 of Creating Your Awesome Brand, A Complete Course for Beauty Professionals
What is a brand promise?
• How you solve the problems of the clients you serve
• The experience you deliver
• The expectations you set
• How you want your clients to feel
Different Audiences, Different Promises
When crafting your salon brand story, you likely have more than one audience unless you are a solo independent.
• Employment-based salons
Clients and team members
• Lease based salons
Clients and tenants
Example Brand promise for clients
Your clients may value relaxing experiences because previous salons they’ve been at feel chaotic.
Brand promise for teams
Your team may value working in an environment that is grounded and relaxing because their previous salon was toxic and chaotic.
Five Questions To Help Create Your Salon Brand Promise
1. What does your salon brand experience look and feel like?
2. How does your salon brand solve the problems of your people?
3. What is the expectation you are setting for the experience of your salon brand?
4. How do you want your people to feel?
5. What do you want your people to say about your salon experience?
Having clarity of your salon brand story, which includes your salon brand promise, helps you simplify your decision-making process, make more aligned decisions for your salon business, set clear expectations, and connect with the people you wish to serve, whether it be salon clients, salon teams or salon tenants.
With that clarity, you will save a ton of time you waste not making decisions, or making ones that are not aligned with your visions and goals, have more confidence, and courage, and feel so much more joy.
This is just one of many tools and strategies inside the Creating Your Awesome Brand, a complete course for beauty professionals. Because when you have clarity around your salon brand, you have a strong foundation to make more aligned decisions, save a ton of time, money, and energy, and feel more confidence, courage, and joy. Click here to learn more.
Much love, in service to you-
Nina
