Know-How Exchange : Strategy

I worked out a plan like this for a friend in your situation. There are three colleges in our city. Her target market was 18-25 year olds who had come to town to go to college and had not yet established a relationship with a local stylist.

We used myspace as a promotion tool. She offered cool little give aways for first time appointments and free product for haircuts within a couple of days of a person's birthday.

She invested about 15 minutes a day working her myspace page - selecting friends, joining groups, and doing an occassional blog with hair advice.

This was definitely the low-end guerilla marketing approach, but it paid off in new clients. Our goal was one new client per week for a year.

Try partnering with people that provide other services, pedicures, health spas, etc.

Offer deals to clubs, etc. Think about the kinds of clients you have and where they frequent or belong.

In your industry the best publicity is word of mouth. Make it easy for your current customers to refer you. Perhaps even give them a perk, free service if someone they refer comes in. Most of all make sure that your service is excellent so that people tell their friends.

Mike