Mother’s Day is a key calendar date for salons and spas around the world, and with the average U.S. adult spending $196, totaling a countrywide spend of $25 billion, it’s easy to see why.

Research shows that 63% of modern consumers in the U.S. prefer to gift an experience and 85% see these experiences as a good chance for both parties to enjoy doing something together. Salon and spas are perfectly positioned to fulfill these evolving gifting needs and are one of the first industries that spring to mind when you picture a mother and child experience day.  

With this in mind, we’re here to help you inspire your customers with the perfect gift offerings for every individual looking to spoil their Mom this Mother’s Day.

Discover eight ways to drive success with your salon and spa Mother’s Day marketing:

1. Maximize Gift Cards

Gift cards are perhaps one of the most underrated and profitable service offerings! They drive revenue, increase brand awareness and grow your audience base by introducing new customers to your salon or spa.  

This is especially true for Mother’s Day. A 2019 National Retail Federation (NRF) survey found the expected gift card spend for Mother’s Day to be $2.6 billion with the average purchase sitting at $20. You definitely don’t want to miss out on a piece of that pie!  

Why not boost your Mother’s Day gift card sales by giving the purchaser a free holiday gift card when they buy one of higher value? For example, a free $10 when they buy a $50 gift card. This not only encourages the sale but brings them back to your salon or spa to spend money on an additional occasion.  

Learn why Spas and salons need to sell Mother’s Day experiences, not just gift cards

2. Reward Loyal Customers

How smart are you with your marketing? We all know that today’s customer loves feeling like they have received a personalized message rather than a general one-size-fits-all marketing promotion. Segment your audience based on their appointment history and send out targeted SMS campaigns that offer a buy one, get one free appointment to bring their Mom in to join them for their favorite service.  

This has the effect of making that customer feel recognized and valued while helping them easily wrap up their Mother’s Day gift. They get to share the experience of their favorite treatment with their Mom while also making her feel special – at no extra cost! You have a happy, invested guest and their Mom is a potential new customer who hopefully loves your spa or salon so much they will return time and time again.

Learn more about how to get the most from your SMS marketing.

3. Run a Contest

You must have seen brands on Instagram encouraging followers to tag friends in their post to be in with a chance to win a contest. Well, there’s a reason you’re always seeing it, and that’s because it works! You’ve invested time and energy into growing and nurturing your social media audience and users are following you because they are already advocates of your brand. Reward their loyalty and engagement with a Mother’s Day contest! This not only makes them feel valued but also increases your brand awareness and followers.  

Consider running a promotional contest that offers a free service to a lucky winner and their Mom for Mother’s Day – all the audience has to do is like your post and tag a friend for a chance to win. Simple, yet highly effective!  

4. Collaborate with Your Community

Deepen your community connection by reaching out to local businesses to support each other in a joint promotional initiative. Got a florist around the corner? Great! Utilize each other’s audience base and increase awareness of your salon or spa by offering a percentage discount on a product or service when a customer purchases something from either business. For example, a customer comes into your salon and spots that they can save $10 at the local florist when they have a haircut with you.  

This salon and spa Mother's Day marketing option generates new customers and encourages a sale that may not happen otherwise!

Also read: salon marketing software

5. Inspire the Sons

We’d hazard a guess that the majority of your customers and social media followers are female. But research shows that males actually feel much more obligated than females to buy a Mother’s Day gift – 62% V 36%!  

So, how can you connect with this demographic? Targeted digital ads are always a good strategy if you have the budget. If not, then old school word of mouth marketing will do just fine. Again, think about connecting with those local businesses that appeal to men. Male clothing stores, gyms, breweries and golf clubs would be a good start. Plus, you can offer to return the favor when Father's Day rolls around.  

6. Offer Bounce Back Promotions

This salon and spa Mother’s Day marketing method encourages an immediate purchase and also boosts sales of less popular treatments or revenue on quieter days – win win! It works by providing the incentive of a discounted future service with a full-priced purchase.  

For Mother’s Day, consider offering the purchaser a discounted treatment for themselves when they buy a service or treatment for Mom. Choose the incentive that best works for your brand so if you know that Tuesdays are always really quiet, the offer could be for the guest to return for a 25% off treatment on a Tuesday. Or if your facials aren’t proving very popular, then focus on increasing awareness and sales of these by offering a free 30 minutes when guests purchase a 30-minute facial. What makes this option so great is that guests get to gift Mom while getting a treat in return and you get to fill a slot in your appointment book that might otherwise remain empty!  

Also read: salon gift cards

7. Make Something for the Mom-to-be

With an average of 4 million babies born every year in the United States alone and an estimated 60% of pregnant women expecting to receive a Mother’s Day gift –there’s a huge audience of expectant moms ready and waiting for Mother’s Day. And what Mom-to-be wouldn’t love an hour or two of relaxation and pampering?  

Spas can focus on the relaxation element with offers on a soothing massage treatment and salons can emphasize the feel good/pamper services that bring out that magical pregnancy glow. Sweeten the deal by throwing in a mom-to-be focused product and the sales will be pouring in.

8. Craft Exclusive Mother's Day Packages

Keeping in mind the average spend of $196, why not build the perfect package of solutions that meet your audience at this price point?  

You know your customers better than anyone, so put your knowledge into action and create appealing packages of services designed for Moms. This helps inspire customers and takes the stress away from the purchase decision because you, as the expert, are providing them with ready-made packages that their Moms will love.  

There's a whole array of ways to get creative and boost sales with a salon and spa Mother's Day marketing strategy. We hope the above ideas help to inspire you and most importantly don’t forget to track the results so you can see what works best and do even better next year.  

Zenoti solutions will help you create a smooth and seamless experience with these initiatives and lots more!