If you’ve been in the professional tanning game for a while, you’ll know that like many businesses, tanning salons have seasonal peaks. Whilst you’re no doubt celebrating another incredible Summer season, spray tanning your heart out over the Christmas and New Year period, it’s important to acknowledge that things may slow down as the weather shifts.

Whether this is your first quiet period as a tanning salon owner or you’re a tanning veteran looking for some fresh inspiration, this blog is for you. Today we’re exploring 4 different ways you can inject some love into your business during this trading period to welcome more clients through your door and have you prepped and more ready than ever for the next peak to arrive.

Plan your content for the year

When salons are bustling with back-to-back appointments day in and day out, posting on social media is one of those tasks that gets left to the last-minute, or completely forgotten about.

With the help of tools such as Canva and a social media scheduling app, you can create your content months in advance and have it post automatically for you! This is a business gamechanger, especially during those times when you feel as if you “don’t have time to post”.

The same goes for your blog posts and email marketing. Sit down and look at the months ahead and plan out your marketing calendar. Take note of seasonal events, special dates, and well-known seasons for our industry, like wedding season, and create content around these. Your content should be designed to welcome new bookings, start conversations, and entertain your audience so that when it’s time for them to get their tan on, your business is the first that they think of.

Collaborate with likeminded businesses

Have you ever considered partnering with another business in your area? Collaborating with likeminded, non-competing businesses is a powerful move you can make as a business owner because not only are you developing strong professional relationships within your community (aka referrals galore) but you’re able to welcome new demographics of clientele that need your services in their life.

For a tanning-focused business, this could include local makeup artists or hairdressers that offer special event services, particularly weddings and formals. This collaboration is seamless and is a win for every business owner involved as each of you only enhance the result for the happy client!

Stepping outside of the beauty space for a moment, another collaboration that has worked well for tanning businesses is those with gyms and fitness studios. A strategy as simple as flyers in change rooms or communal areas can increase members’ knowledge of your offerings because think of it this way: people are working out to look and feel a certain way, right? Your services take this to the next level.

Clear your to-do list

Are you like many salon owners and have a growing to-do list on your desk right now? This is the perfect time to tick off those jobs on your list that you’ve continually described as, “I’ll do this later” jobs. We’ve all got one and yes, they can be time consuming but ticking them off your list will be a huge weight off your shoulders.

This could be behind the scenes tasks such as refreshing your space, admin tasks like business accounts or finding new suppliers or even time-consuming jobs such as switching over to a new booking system.

Enhance your expertise

The quieter periods in business should be maximised to set you up for success in every possible way, including your own professional knowledge and expertise!

Use these times of the year to expand your knowledge in different areas of business ownership including tanning application itself, marketing and promotions, team development, technology such as social media and retail selling, just to name a few.

This goes for your team as well! With many of our industry’s expos taking place around this time of the year, make it a team effort to get involved in these events and reap the benefits. You never know; your latest retail product, tanning technique or even a brand-new service could be waiting for you!

Like so many parts of our lives, education has taken a huge shift to the online world and our Bella Bronze Tan Academy is no exception. Learning from anywhere at any time, we have a range of courses perfect for this time of the year just waiting for you. From tanning refreshers to social media marketing, visit our website to explore how we’re here to ensure your business glows as gloriously as your clients.