The 9 submitted:
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My favorite is 8576, I'm very happy with how that one turned out. 8560 is IMO a nice profile shot, too -- showing the owners of the salon. 8518 seems to me to be a near-miss, where I got close to the effect I was going for, but it falls short. I could probably work in PS to help this image, but don't think it quite made the cut. What do you think?
Reprinted from Inside Tucson Business:
Partners strive to keep salon on cutting edge of competitive industry
By Christy Krueger
Inside Tucson Business
Published on Saturday, March 15, 2008
Eight years ago when business partners Danette Lawless and Georgia Curtin opened Spirit Salon & Day Spa, they had endless ideas on how to make it Tucson’s premier salon. Since then, their innovative business practices have helped move them forward and it includes some approaches that may be applied to other businesses, as well.
To start, both women had business backgrounds and were friends for more than 20 years before they partnered. As a stylist, Lawless runs the hair salon segment and is strong in the marketing arena. Curtin handles the skin care department, medical spa and customer service.
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"I’m more with the front desk. That’s the most key place in a salon," Curtin notes. "It’s the first and last contact clients have with us."
Lawless says that since opening the salon they always wanted to be first. "I try to figure out different trends and I see what we’re good at."
What they’re good at turned out to be numerous marketing and management practices. In 2001, one year after opening, Spirit Salon was featured on The Learning Channel’s "Make-Over Story." The cable network says the TV show, "Tucson’s Tomboys," ended up being one of its most watched episodes.
Taking it a notch further, the salon entered a national online make-over contest, sponsored by hair products manufacturer Joico, and won an all-expenses paid trip to New York. One of the most impressive aspects of the prize, Lawless claims, was the invitation to sit in on a professional photo shoot for hair salon trade magazine Modern Salon. The rewards grew from there, as the national magazine featured Spirit Salon in its February, 2007 anniversary issue.
Themed promotions turned out to be winners for the salon, as well. Margarita Manicures attracted clients in to enjoy lime or strawberry scented manicures and pedicures while sipping on the real deal. A short clip appeared in Vogue magazine featuring a photograph of two margarita glasses with the title "Tucson Has the Spirit."
Sometimes the best rewards come by way of appreciation.
One weekend, not long after the start of the Iraq war, the salon offered free hair and nail services to military wives at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. They were later honored with a thank-you dinner at the base’s Officers Club.
"It was very touching. It was a big award for us," Lawless recalls.
Staying focused on maintaining a cutting-edge attitude earned the salon exclusive and introductory rights to many new products.
According to Lawless, Spirit was the first in Tucson to carry Bio Ionic hair straightener, Great Lengths hair extensions, Nanokeratizing hair conditioning treatment that presses keratin and protein into the hair, and Gehwal nail treatment products.
"We’re the only salon/day spa in town with a medical spa. Other medical spas are stand-alone. Medi-Morphosis by Spirit, Inc.is a one-stop shop for hair removal, Botox, Restylane," she says.
Being a leader can have its downsides Lawless concedes. "It’s very hard financially to let people know. The fact of being first takes getting out there and you have to set up a big blow-out."
A large part of the salon’s success comes from staying educated and keeping up with trends. Curtin and Lawless send their employees to in-depth seminars and workshops. Especially valuable, Lawless points out, are those at the Bumble and bumble Academy in New York and Fred Segal Beauty in Santa Monica, Calif.
Lawless feels it’s important to learn the styles of both coasts. "They’re two different worlds, the East and West. East is more conservative, darker hair colors. The West is more trendy, campy, cutting-edge, celebrity. We also have frequent in-salon training to keep the same culture, so they’re all on the same wavelength."
Also vital to the success of a business is its name, Lawless believes. Part of the owners’ objective in choosing the name Spirit was the ability to brand it. "We have ‘In the Spirit of Loving’ for Valentine’s Day, ‘In the Spirit of Giving’ for gift cards and ‘A Mother’s Spirit’ for Mother’s Day. And the word Spirit means different things to different people."
Effective marketing in the community, Lawless suggests, starts by identifying the customers and going to them. "We have an older group, who are more polished, plus the young and trendy," including the large college crowd down the street where opportunities for face-to-face marketing abound. And, according to Lawless, Tucson is very big for weddings, so the salon gets involved with bridal fairs and area resorts. Bridal parties can come to the salon or stylists will go to the resorts for hair and make-up services.
"One of the most successful marketing tactics over and over has been in-person, on-foot marketing, putting yourself out there," she stresses.
One last and very important fundamental of advertising that has helped Spirit tremendously is finding the right photographer, one who fits the company’s style and shares its visions. Lawless credits photographer Maria Cecilia Boyd for giving the salon’s advertising a trendy look.
"Our ads are very edgy – not your basic. They always say something real artistic and they’re different and bright – like pink and lime green. Our ads are really eye-catching."
