BUSINESS TUTORIAL: 4 Digital Tactics for Better Business.

In five-to-ten years, the website landscape will evolve again. Thoughtful predicts brands will operate business-to-consumer direct. So what does this mean for salons? A heightened focus on the experience piece and a fresh, subscription-based retail approach.

Prav De Silva, Managing Director of The Thoughtful Agency

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We speak with Founder and Managing Director of performance marketing agency The Thoughtful Agency, Prav De Silva, on best digital practice for today’s brands. 

“The key is for brands to consider every digital platform as an ongoing source of communication. No longer are websites simply a source of validity. From your website to Facebook and Instagram, every platform is a crucial touch-point for your audience. Importantly, how do you keep these fresh, current and host to relevant content – how do you keep the consumer loyal and the conversation ongoing? Brands need to ask themselves how they’re adding value to their customer base, daily – what is the consumers’ incentive to return?” Prav De Silva, The Thoughtful Agency.

The Website:

We all know that, as a brand, if you don’t have a website you don’t exist. But now as opposed to 12 years ago a website is so much more than a source of legitimacy. It is a real platform to engage and ultimately win over the customer. A decade ago no one looked at analytics; a website was a host to brand imagery, current collections and recent press. Today, we expect constant updates, interactivity and e-commerce.

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In five-to-ten years, the website landscape will evolve again. Thoughtful predicts brands will operate business-to-consumer direct. So what does this mean for salons? A heightened focus on the experience piece and a fresh, subscription-based retail approach.

The Email Database:

We all want a healthy database, but it is more difficult than ever to convince the consumer to sign-up. Their inbox is flooded with mail and they’d prefer to browse your site/product at leisure. So how do brands drive acquisition?

Thoughtful suggests salons and respective brand partner’s work together across value-driven promotions. For example, ‘Win $100 of (brand) product and a cut and colour with Salon A’s Senior Stylist.’ The consumer enters their email address to win and the ‘warm leads’ are shared post-promotion. For those serious about big results, Thoughtful recommends targeting a particular audience with a custom performance marketing strategy (including social targeting). This will ensure leads are sourced from within a close radius to the salon.

Or perhaps it’s a Mother’s Day promotion. ‘Win one of five vouchers at Salon A valued at $5000.’ The product partner funds the overall package/media spend and both brands benefit from database acquisition. The salon acts as the community touch-point and the brand facilitates the activity.

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These executions can be done very easily. The industry is so caught up in the current impact of disruption that there is great hesitation surrounding new activity and what’s next. Don’t wait for everyone else, get a head start – be innovative.

The Social Targeting: 

It’s safe to say all salons are active on Instagram and Facebook. But what are you sharing? Again, how is this adding value to your consumer? Salons are more and more active in capturing real client transformations via a dedicated salon wall/space. This is great news. However non-visual communication is lacking. Every brand – from product companies to salons – needs a consistent authority on social. And this should run across daily tips, techniques, Instagram stories and feed captions. You are creating content as experts for your direct community, take that seriously, provide your audience value – give them something back.

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Instagram TV (IGTV) has launched, so what’s the difference between IGTV and Stories? Instagram stories are used for candid moments where IGTV is the platform for authoritative, well thought out content. IGTV is more concept driven – prefers an editorial approach. For example, ‘5 tips to textbook beach waves this summer.’  Thoughtful suggest collaborating with a local, upcoming videographer who can shoot and edit branded content for your brand’s IGTV. Make it timeless and repurpose for Facebook and for your website.

The Ad Group:

Every brand wants to do digital well, so make sure you budget for it. As a salon owner or marketing manager planning your annual marketing/PR budget, among Hair Expo, consumer and trade activity, don’t forget to put your social advertising investment aside. What’s the point of engaging the channel and publishing content if you’re going to bypass the final step? Brands are on social media for reach, if you don’t drive content with spend you’re reaching the same 500 people every week – 500 people who become less-and-less relevant to the brand based on algorithms.

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Social media platforms are now designed by Facebook to reward brands that spend. The good news?  It’s not so much about big spend as it is allocating your investment in a tactical way. Facebook want people to share content – the more eyeballs the better. Thoughtful suggests boosting posts that are interesting and promote a unique experience (such as competition/value based posts) rather than regular image focused content. The more people that see your post the greater chance of Facebook taking it to the top. Ten points.

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So how much should you be spending? Brands reaching a national audience should be investing a minimum of $1,000 to $2,000 a month. For smaller brands speaking to a specific region, Thoughtful prescribes a budget of $150 per week.

Prav de Silva is the Founder / Managing Director of The Thoughtful Agency, a digital brand strategy agency thethoughtfulagency.com