Re: New Customers for hairstylist?

Here are a few suggestions (however be aware that this thread might turn out to be a "Bluto is an a-hole" thread because there are a good few handfuls of folks out there that do not like when I give my opinion and suggestions. But here goes nothing)...

1. Flyers on BBs at laundromats

2. Door hangers (like pizza shops do)

3. ValPak.com (I'm sure you get these once a month or so in the mail)

4. Work out some sorta deal with a mom and pop store to give out your wife's coupons to their customers).

5. Don't underestimate the power of a yellow page add for an offline business like this.

6. You say newspaper ads are expensive. I don't your local paper(s) but the one in my town has a section in the back page for block ads. They are like classified, but not really. Only business really use these and thy are not categorized like classifieds are. Just block ads. They are usually a fraction of the cost of newspaper ads.

7. Classifieds might work and can be relatively cheap.

8. I prominent sign outside the place of business is usually a goo thing.

9. T-shirts (not for your customers, but rather for your wife and you to wear when you go out to stores. IOW, a walking billboard).
10. If you are a member of a church, some churches have a weekly bulletin and the last page is a page of block ads for parishioners which are usually very cheap.

11. Here is a unique idea that I used for a restaurant my family used to own that worked well. Go to your local Goodwill and buy up as many good condition used books as you can. then, make up stickers on your computer printer that are basically ads. Something that says "This book brought to you courtesy of "Your business". Mention this that you saw this sticker and get XX% off XXXX". Then, get some boxes. Put about 30 or so book per box and go around to places that have waiting rooms and give them free books to put in their waiting rooms for their customers. You can also maybe just give the books away in small lots on your local freecycle.com group. I never tried that as freecycle was not around when I was in business offline. Another thing you can do is just donate them back to different Goodwills and other thrift shops in your area. WARNING: This is assuming used books at your local Goodwills are still cheap, like 25 or 50 cents. In recent years, some Goodwills have seriously increased the price they charge for used books because they were in high demand for online used book sellers.

12. I ran outta ideas for now.

Make sure you make your ads coupons or otherwise measurable so you can see the return on your advertising dollar. Give them a reason to come in other than just the fact that you are a new business. You need to test your ads. Don;t get discouraged if a certain kind of ad seemed to not work. You can't tell from one application. You have to test it. Tweak the offer, tweak the copy, change the day it is exposed, etc, etc, etc.

I understand you may be on a budget, but you have to spend money on advertising. That's something that absolutely needs to be thought of before you spend a dime on equipment and a location. And speaking of, location. Location, location, location. Location is VERY important, too.