If you own a salon, you already know that AI can be a great tool for marketing. Yet if you’re reading this, you probably don't use AI technology to its full potential — if at all.
There may be a lot of reasons for that, and a big one is that salon owners are busy. They don't have time to learn new systems, especially if they're not tech-savvy to begin with.
While many salons use AI functions that are incorporated into their software, such as chatbots, inventory management, and automated reminders, that's just the tip of the iceberg as to how AI can help grow a business.
What Even is AI? A Brief Explanation for Technophobes
Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that can take human inputs and create something entirely new such as audio, written copy, video, or images.
This makes it especially helpful to business owners who need marketing content, but are not marketing creatives, and to those who have limited time and money to spend on marketing. (That’s all salon owners, right?)
Every salon is under pressure to produce new, exciting, and consistent content for social media, blog posts, and marketing campaigns — something AI can do in seconds.
Getting Started with AI Marketing Tools
AI for basic content creation can be accessed for free via apps such as ChatGPT, Grammarly, and Jasper AI, and there are also AI builders on existing platforms such as Canva and Hubspot.
You create content on the app by giving it prompts — specific directions that tell it what to generate.
It's all about the prompts! The quality of what you get back from AI is entirely based on the directions you give it.
Though prompts are just normal speech patterns that we humans use in everyday language, it takes trial and error to get the hang of knowing what to say to get the results you want.
When creating prompts, give the app very specific direction on elements like tone and voice, what information to include, and references such as images, videos, or links to key websites.
The 3 Types of Prompts:
- Poor: “Create Instagram posts about keratin treatments.”
- Average: “This is a link to the keratin treatment at my salon. Give me some Instagram posts that promote this service.”
- Good: “Here is a link to the keratin treatment offered at my salon. Give me five fun, eye-catching, benefit-oriented Instagram posts about the service. Use the photos and videos attached in the posts. The target audience is women aged 22-32. Include calls to action to book the service.”
Remember, you are teaching the app. It needs to learn all about your business and how to sound like you. Give it information about your business including your salon culture, brand values, and what sets you apart from the rest.
Tell the app what tone to use by giving it descriptors such as: nurturing, luxury, trendy, eco-friendly, glamorous, funny, uplifting, informative, etc.
You can also use AI to generate original images not limited by copyright. The process is the same: describe the visual you want to see, as clearly and specifically as possible.
(You do need to be careful when using AI images, though — we'll talk about that in a bit.)
Some AI Prompt Ideas for Salon Marketing
Just to get you started! Here are examples of things you can ask AI and ways to phrase it.
- Provide 10 promotional Instagram posts that include current wedding trends and what’s new in bridal beauty. Highlight my salon's bridal services and stylists .
- Suggest 5 blog topics that focus on celebrity style trends and pop culture to promote my salon's beauty services.
- Write a witty and informative blog post on fall color trends that also promotes my salon’s color services and retail products.
- Write a social media advertisement aimed at recruiting stylists to join my salon team. Include info about our salon culture and the benefits of working here. Make it appealing to stylists who value education. The tone should be witty and conversational.
- Suggest color formulas using this brand's professional color line to achieve sun-kissed, lived-in dimension for medium-to-dark brown hair.
- Create short, clever taglines about our skincare services that can fit on mirror clings.
- Give me ideas for retail sales contests that will excite and motivate my salon team to sell products to every client.
- Here is the floor plan of my salon. How can I maximize the front area for best use of space and create enough room for another retail display unit?
It is a good idea to keep track of how AI performs for you. Measure how many hours you save by using it, and how well your AI-generated content performs compared to content created by humans.
Once you get the hang of the basics, here are some next-level AI apps helpful for salon owners:
- Flick: Automates social media marketing campaigns.
- Guidde: Creates step-by-step how-to videos.
- Writesonic: Specifically creates SEO-optimized content.
Not So Fast: Some Caveats to Consider About AI
Remember: AI is helpful, but it’s not perfect. Here are some realities to keep in mind when using it.
1. AI cannot replace human content creators.
Generative AI is still in its early stages, and it has limitations. The content it creates can get close, but often is not perfect. That means humans are still required to make necessary changes and additions. Think of AI always as a first draft.
2. AI does not have your professional expertise.
AI-generated written content is fairly surface-level, so you will have to bring substance to it by adding your specialized knowledge and other in-depth information.
3. AI can mislead people and give them unrealistic expectations.
AI-generated images of hair, skin, and other human characteristics are artificially perfect. On the flip side, AI is notoriously bad at generating hands and other human features. So don’t use AI-generated images of people to promote salon services. Your salon’s best marketing asset is the great work your team does on real people.
4. AI lacks humanity, judgment, and perspective.
AI does not have a conscience, morals, or historical context. Keep that in mind for creating content that is inclusive, non-biased, and sensitive to your audience’s lived experiences.
Using AI is easy, but it’s not effortless. But it’s worth the time and effort to get comfortable with AI. It can save you and your team significant time and money while improving your marketing and social media content (and helping you in other ways).
AI can't replace you or your team — but it can definitely be a great team player. That’s enough reason to give it a try!
Liz McKeon is a salon business coach and founder of The International Salon Business School. She is the author of 30 Days to Beauty Business Success. Liz can be booked for customized, in-salon coaching visits for one, two, or three days by emailing team@lizmckeon.com.