Salon Top Tips

Help your customers find you – Do more online
Customers are looking for your business online, if your business isn’t there they can’t find you. A recent Government study showed that more than half of the public (55%) find it difficult to support local firms because they aren’t online. Figures show that as many as 2 million small companies are missing out on business because they have no online presence. 

But doing more online doesn’t have to cost money or need digital expertise and can be much easier than you think. Here are some tips to help you Do More Online.

Build a website
Customers are trying to find you online and your website is likely to be the first place they look. Building a website doesn’t have to be expensive and you don’t need to have specialist skills. You can do it yourself for free using online website builders or, if that’s out of your comfort zone, you can pay a web designer to build your website or talk to your local college or university who may be offering free tuition and support to small businesses. The Department for Business Innovation and Skills has included these hints for building a website here www.greatbusiness.gov.uk/building-your-website

Be visible
As the saying goes if you haven’t heard of it, ’Google it’. Google is so important as it puts your business on Google search, Maps and Google+ so your customers can find you. To get your business on to Google visit www.google.co.uk/business/ where you’ll find a step by step guide to getting listed.

Get social with your customers
Using social media for your business is an invaluable free way of finding customers and keeping them up to date with what’s going on in your business. Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Instagram are all free and represent a huge opportunity to promote your business to customers. Visit http://www.greatbusiness.gov.uk/engaging-through-social-media/ to find out how to set up your feeds. Once you are up and running try to make posts and content engaging by using images, videos, news, questions, competitions, jokes and anecdotes.

Being efficient with online finance
It wasn’t a million years ago that paying suppliers for a small business meant 20 different cheques with 20 different envelopes and trips back and forth from the bank or post office. You can do all that today just by getting your small business connected using the Internet. For more advice on being efficient with your business’s finances visit www.greatbusiness.gov.uk/online-finance

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Tiffnne Williams, Watford

Tiffanne Williams, 30 from Watford, has been a hairdresser for 11 years, always working in salons. This year she started her own freelance mobile hairdressing service travelling all over London going to clients, providing all the joys of a salon in the comfort of their homes.

The move from working for somebody else to working for herself was a big change for Tiffanne, but she quickly realised that doing things digitally was going to help her to keep on top of all the administration element of her business, as well as providing new marketing channels for her.

Tiffanne said:
“Digital banking has been invaluable for me – helping me to keep track of all my spending and payments. Customers love it too – especially when I am doing a big job like a wedding – because it means they don’t have to carry around lots of cash.

Tiffanne has also looked to social media to build relationships with her customers. She regularly uses Twitter to update customers on what styles are in fashion, to showcase her work and to provide customers with tips and ideas that they can try at home.

She says: “The way the world is today, it is all about social media. If I wasn’t online, I’d be missing out on opportunities.”

3/11/2015