In the UK, it seems that looking good is worth the cost. According to a study by Groupon, women in the UK fork out £70,000 on their appearances — around £1,352 a year. Clearly, there is serious money to be made in the beauty industry, so how do you get ahead of your competitors and make the most of this profit potential?

Nobody’s going to book an appointment at a salon that looks shabby. So, it’s important that you portray your services in an attractive fashion — which is where print marketing comes in. But, which form of print marketing will work best for your beauty brand?

If you haven’t already, consider a well-designed leaflet. This could be the cost-effective, moneymaking opportunity for your business, and here, we’re going to find out all the benefits of leaflet marketing in the beauty industry…

Direct mail and your leaflet campaign

Direct mail is a form of marketing that helps companies send promotional material to a targeted group of current or potential customers. Therefore, you can reduce waste, save on over-ordering at the printer, and increase the chance that your leaflet will reach the right person.

For many, one of the main issues with marketing is getting the material to the right people. Every brand has a target customer — so who is yours and how do you reach them? Apparently, women who are between the ages of 18 and 34 make up the largest part of the cosmetics market, so how do you contact these women specifically? If you adopt your leaflet marketing strategy as a direct mail campaign, you can target your leaflets at the right customers within a particular age bracket in key locations around your business. Not sure how to get going with direct mail? Either conduct your own target audience research — for example, by using social media or surveys — or purchase key data, like ages and addresses, from third-party sites. Then, you can use this information to reach your target audience directly.

Set yourself apart with print

Society today puts a lot of importance on looking good and feeling great about ourselves. As a result, competition for businesses is tough. With new products constantly coming onto the market, fresh trends rising and dropping, and the growing influence of online beauty tutorials, you have a lot to contend with in the sector.

Just look at the money involved with beauty and you’ll soon realise how it attracts new entrepreneurs and start-up companies. The global skincare, beauty and cosmetics industry is anticipated to reach a worth of $675 million by 2020. With a value of around £17 billion in the UK and employing more than one million people, these figures show that beauty is a lucrative and attractive sector for entrepreneurs. So, how do you stand out?

A well designed leaflet will get your logo and key services out there for people to see — if nobody knows about you, nobody will visit. At a time when digital platforms seem to be taking over multiple parts of our lives — from how we pay for goods to how we speak with friends — you need an advertising strategy that sets you apart. So, go against the grain and invest in print. You probably already have a Facebook page and Instagram account to keep in touch with your clients, as well as an email database to send out deals as you wish. Therefore, opting for print marketing campaign will allow you to widen your net and reach an offline audience.

Scientific research also backs up the utilisation of print over digital — a neuromarketing firm reported that direct mail requires approximately 20% less brain effort to process than digital media, indicating that it is simpler to understand and store in our memories. In a recall test, 75% of those taking part were able to recall the business name after viewing it on a direct mail ad, compared to only 44% who were able to after seeing it on a digital ad. Maybe it’s worth skipping digital and promoting your business using print while your competitors stick with online platforms.

Cut costs and boost your marketing ROI

Direct Line for Business sums up running a salon as ‘not cheap’, so doesn’t it make sense to save cash wherever you can? Unlike lookbooks and catalogues, a single-sheet leaflet is one of the more cost-effective print options. Similarly, a one-off bulk purchase of leaflets may work out less in the long run than the cost it takes to maintain and run a digital marketing campaign. Despite common misconceptions that claim digital to be a free-of-charge platform for effective marketing techniques, your print material may actually be more effective than anything you could create digitally. A study that looked at the efficiency of print media compared to digital platforms including online banners conducted by research firm, GfK, showed that print ads provided the highest ROI: 120%. Perhaps digital is not as useful as anticipated.

Making the most of discount offers

You’ve probably already enjoyed success with special offers, but is it possible to maximise your return-on-investment on these by advertising them on a leaflet? 57% of shoppers are encouraged to buy for the first time when they are given the chance to redeem a coupon, according to VoucherCloud, and 80% of consumers claim to use coupons regularly. If you’re looking to advertise new cosmetics or attract new customers for a flagging treatment, a leaflet that acts as a voucher can clearly help.

Not only will your potential customers be encouraged to invest in your company if you give them a discount as an incentive, but they’ll also have a reminder to do so if you present it to them on a leaflet — rather than a pop-up ad or generic email they can get rid of with one click. Try giving a time limit on your offer and highlighting this with a bold, coloured font when designing your leaflet to give your audience an effective, eye-catching reminder to act soon!

Capitalise on tangible products

First impressions are easy to mess up and tough to rectify. In marketing, it’s essential that whatever you use to promote your brand has a positive effect on your audience. According to studies, you have just 50 microseconds to make a good first impression. So, surely, you need promotional material that creates an instant impact, immediately signals your USPs, and is positively and attractively presented. From booklet printing to brochure designing, print is a varied sector and sometimes it’s hard to choose which type to go for to boost your marketing campaign. However, if you’re looking for something cost-effective, a leaflet, unlike a brochure or pamphlet that can feature several pages, allows you to condense the very best of your services and products into one, easy-to-read page for maximum effect — less chance to make any errors, too.

Your customers care about their appearance, so an ideal first impression to make is one that mirrors the idea of beauty and shows an appreciation of aesthetics. In fact, a Consumer Insights 2017 report by Cosmetics Europe found that 71% of consumers believe that cosmetic and personal care are ‘important or very important in their daily lives’, which makes offering your customers a beautifully designed leaflet all the more necessary and effective.

The main points you must remember when creating a leaflet for a beauty brand are the use of colour and imagery. Use complementary colours and opt for an elegant font to create an impression of class. High-quality photos featuring happy customers is also a shrewd tactic and will help catch your audience’s eye. According to 3M, a science-based tech company, humans process images 60,000 times faster than text. Therefore, incorporating two descriptive photos in your leaflet is likely to improve how much about your beauty business the reader takes in — which should mean they’re more likely to consider you.

Boost your marketing materials’ longevity

Not only do you want your leaflet to look good, you want it to last as long as possible so that your audience will have a frequent reminder to ring up and book an appointment with you. According to the Direct Marketing Association, 45% of people keep leaflets on a board or in a drawer. So, while digital ads disappear, you can create an attractive, lightweight leaflet that your potential customer will be inclined to pin on a wall or on their fridge where they’ll have a constant reminder of your services and products.

There are evidently many advantages of using leaflets to market your beauty brand. Research ideas and print companies online to find the ideal leaflet design to enhance and promote your brand.