It can be a jungle out there for barbershops. The grooming industry is incredibly competitive, with many barbershops vying for the attention of the same customer base. You can keep your chairs consistently full, however, with the right barbershop marketing strategy. Good marketing should highlight your expertise, personalized services, and the vibe you create in your shop. It should help you reach new clients while engaging regularly with the ones you have, with ample time to promote deals and events. The 11 barbershop marketing ideas below cover all that and more. Best of all, they don’t cost much, and can be executed with a smartphone and the right barber booking software.
1. Own Your Google Business Profile
Online business listings matter because they make you appear more trustworthy in the eyes of customers, increase your visibility and boost your local SEO (Search Engine Optimization). They also enable you to convert searches into bookings. Barbershops on Vagaro can place booking widgets that let them accept bookings directly from their Google Business Profiles, as well as Apple Maps and Yelp.
These booking buttons can also be embedded on your shop’s Facebook page and Instagram profile. That’s a great segue into our next tip...
2. Social Media Marketing
There are many ways to highlight your barbershop on social media.
Here are just a few:
Upload Photos & Videos
Post high-resolution photos and videos of your best cuts and grooming services. Before-and-after pictures are particularly impactful as they prove the quality of your work.
Ask for Client Testimonials
Encourage satisfied customers to share their experiences and testimonials on your social media pages. User-generated content adds authenticity to your brand.
Show Behind-the-Scenes Content
Offer glimpses of your shop's atmosphere, your team in action, and any special events you host. This helps define your brand and creates a connection with your audience. Let them get to know each of your barbers individually by doing a background post on each of them.
Be Consistent
Maintain a consistent posting schedule to keep your followers engaged, but avoid overwhelming your audience. Try for 3–7 posts/week for Instagram, 1–2 posts/day for Facebook, 1–5 Tweets/day for Twitter, 1–4 posts/day for Tik-Tok and 1–5 posts/day for LinkedIn.
Use Engaging Captions
Write compelling captions that tell a story about each haircut or share grooming tips and tricks. Encourage interaction with your audience by asking questions or using call-to-action statements (CTAs).
Engage with Your Followers
Respond promptly to comments, messages, and mentions of you and your shop on your social media accounts. Interacting with your audience shows that you value their input and helps build that trust & rapport.
Use Hashtags (Wisely)
Use relevant and trending hashtags to expand your reach and attract potential customers. Some people enjoy adding ye olde hashtag (#) to anything and everything (#FadeInFadeOut; #barBARIC). Is this you? Hey, no judgement—they can definitely come in handy with your marketing efforts. Let’s hash this one out a bit more below.
3. Use Specialized Hashtags
Social media hashtags categorize content and help people find relevant posts. By effectively using specialized hashtags, you can target your ideal client demographic, reach a broader audience and gain more visibility within the barbering community.
Here are a few #HashtagTips:
Popular Barbering Hashtags
Look for hashtags that are commonly used by barbers and grooming enthusiasts. Examples include #barberlife, #barberlove, #freshfade, etc.
Local Hashtags
Incorporate location-based hashtags to attract potential clients in your area. Examples might include #YourCityBarber, or #YourCityGrooming.
Branded Hashtags
Develop a catchy hashtag for your shop that clients can use when posting about their experiences. This can help generate user-generated content and strengthen your brand's identity.
Trending Hashtags
Look out for trending hashtags that align with your barbershop's theme or any ongoing events. Leveraging popular trends like this can boost your shop’s visibility.
Avoid Hashtag Overload
Use a balanced mix of general and specialized hashtags, typically ranging from 5 to 15 per post.
4. Video Marketing
People love short videos that are funny and informative. They get high engagement and can significantly increase conversion rates. Best of all, they can be shot on a smartphone and are free to upload.
Here are a few video ideas for barbers:
Educational Videos
Grooming tips, like beard maintenance do’s & don'ts, are popular with online audiences. Quick tips are digestible & they stick.
Popular Hairstyle Tutorials
Show your audience how the cut is created and how to style it afterwards.
Client Before-and-After Videos
Coming in a mess, going out in style—thanks to you.
Behind-the-Scenes Videos
These help you appear authentic & relatable, highlight your shop’s vibe and provide an inside peak into the shop experience.
Product Reviews
Reviews position you as an industry expert and enable you to promote products you sell in your shop.
The best platform you use, be it Facebook, Instagram, Threads, YouTube or Tik-Tok, depends on length and what you’re trying to achieve. Embedding a strong video on your website’s landing page also increases the amount of time people spend there.
You’ve got one of those, right?
5. Get a Professional Website
...and you’ve lost them because you don’t have a website where they can find this information.
Your website is your primary lead-generation tool and should be the hub of your online presence that everything else links to. While it’s true that social media profiles are indexed by Google, they should not be used as a website stand-in. A proper website makes your business credible and trustworthy in the eyes of customers.
Search engines particularly like websites because there are more ways to enhance them for SEO. For example, tools like Google Keyword Planner can help you find the right keywords to use on your website, increasing the chance that potential clients will find you and not a competitor.
Your website should be easy to navigate, mobile-friendly and contain as much relevant information as possible. At a minimum, it should feature:
- Your services
- Your schedules, pricing & staff
- Before-and-after photos
- Customer reviews & testimonials
- An online booking system
- Links to your social media pages
Your booking page can be a highly effective website alternative. Vagaro enables barbers to customize their booking pages—searchable to millions of people on the Vagaro Marketplace—with their brand aesthetic.
6. Ask for Reviews & Testimonials
Remember that how you respond to reviews—both good and bad ones—is almost as important as getting them in the first place. Responding promptly and authentically to reviews shows everyone who reads them that you are appreciative of clients’ kind words and committed to fixing any problems they may have had.
Additionally, if you respond to reviews with a balanced mix of humanity and SEO lingo, it can improve your shop’s visibility. Be sure to include your shop’s name, your location and the specific service(s) being reviewed. Review responses that are loaded with local SEO keywords can increase your shop’s chances of popping up higher in local search results.
Keep that tip in your pocket, then check out these additional 7 tips for responding to customer reviews.
7. Start A Referral Program
The incentives in your referral program should be worthwhile and structured so that both the referrer and the new client benefit. This could be in the form of a 20% discount on a signature haircut for one, and a 15% discount on hair or beard-care products for the other. Find the balance between products and services that are attractive but also cost the least.
You can also structure your referral program with your loyalty program, which is equally easy to set up— with the right software. How many loyalty points should a referral be worth? That’s up to you, but a successful referral may net you a high-cost service and a new regular client, all in one day.
8. Host Events
Planning, execution and follow-up don't have to be hard.
Before:
- Promote on your social media platforms with strong graphics, videos & captions
- Send out newsletters to existing clients via email (more on this below)
- Cross-promote with local businesses
- Offer discounts and highlight event-specific packages to get people interested
During:
- Take photos & videos to share on social media afterward
- Offer free grooming product samples or branded merchandise to event attendees
After:
- Thank everyone who attended in person, in a social media post, and in follow-up emails
- Share the highlights on your social media platforms
- Collect feedback to find areas for improvement in future events
Above all, be creative, stay true to your brand, and make each event a memorable experience.
9. Co-Marketing
There are many businesses you can collaborate with, including:
- Men’s clothing stores
- Men’s grooming product retailers
- Women’s hair salons
- Tattoo studios
- Hotels
The easiest way to start this relationship is to promote one another’s services and products on social media. Beyond that, you can collaborate on giveaways, contests or product launches, to name a few. Just remember that each of you must have something that the other will benefit from.
In exchange for being allowed to market inside your partner’s business, you may agree to offer free haircuts as a prize for a promotion they’re running. Reverse that paradigm and replace the free signature cut with a basket of premium hair and beard products. Get creative and work together to find what works best for both of you.
10. Use Email & Text Marketing
This is especially useful with birthday emails, in which you’ll attach a nice deal on a service or product. You can also target people who have signed up for events or competitions, or provide them with a link to the latest videos you’ve made on social media. Emails and texts are also great for reaching out to a client you haven’t seen in the shop in a while.
Sending regular emails can help build trust and loyalty over time, especially useful if you have something of value to share, like deals & promos, or important shop information. Make sure your emails are visually appealing and have a clearly highlighted CTA. On the other hand, make sure your text messages are brief and have a link to your website or booking page.
11. Create Branded Signage
Your sign should illustrate your brand, with your colors, logo and any catchy phrasing you use. Whether its minimalism meets class and sophistication, or maximal flash, make your something that clients would want to snap a selfie in front of and post to their social media pages later.
Rebranding can be a fun, creative and collaborative exercise, but sometimes it’s best to leave it to the pros. Vagaro’s Design Services Team has helped hundreds of businesses design logos and branding for gift cards, business cards, websites & more.
Your barbershop’s marketing strategy is one of the main pillars of your overall business plan. While marketing never really stops, it doesn’t have to be more than you can handle. Vagaro’s barber booking software and app already provides you with many of the tools you’ll need to put these barbershop marketing tips into practice. In fact, Vagaro makes booking, payment, client management, payroll, and just generally running your shop so much easier. Don’t take our word for it. Start your 30-Day FREE trial and experience it for yourself.
Sources
www.wyzowl.com/increasing-conversion-rates-with-video
ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner
www.blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-posting-schedule
https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/7-statistics-that-prove-email-marketing-isnt-dead
www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey
