Marketing is a salon’s way of telling its story in order to attract new clients and encourage existing ones to try different services from the menu. The ways salons leverage marketing to tell those stories is expanding every year, as owners sample newer vehicles like community videos, influencer programs and social media, along with more traditional methods.

Here is the winner of the best Branding Strategy in SALON TODAY's STAMP competition.

STL
Ginger Bay Salon & Spa
Kirkwood, Missouri
Owner: Laura Ortmann

Ginger Bay is proud of its 27-year history within the St. Louis community and wanted its brand to reflect its longtime presence. To promote the rebrand, Imaginal Marketing incorporated the St. Louis Arch and local scenery into an illustration, using the tagline Share The Love—STL is the nickname for St. Louis as well as its airport code.

“We occasionally have a special promotion that uses a different tag line but have been able to use the same acronym,” Laura Ortmann says. “For example our fundraising event benefits a children’s foundations, and we used Save Tiny Lives, our Mother’s Day tagline was She’s The Loveliest and for Guest Appreciation Day we used Show The Love.”

Ginger Bay launched its rebrand in time for the 2017 holiday season and incorporated a shop local message. During the holiday season, service sales increased by 9%, retail sales by 4.7% and gift card sales by 2%.
“The branding captured the essence and beauty of the St. Louis community and gave us a more personal and small-town-within-a-big-city feel,” Ortmann says.

This is one of only one of 31 marketing ideas featured in Salon Today's September/October S.T.A.M.P. issue. See the others here. (Coming Soon!)

More about STAMP:

SALON TODAY’s Annual Marketing Program, (STAMP), puts the spotlight on fabulous marketing—ideas that have been tried in the salon environment and proven successful. By entering this competition, these winning marketing teams are willing to share those entrepreneurial ideas with you, to encourage your team to put your own STAMP on it.