We came across a great post on effective marketing with almost no money featuring the Ryan Montbleau Band.

The rock star analogy works so well for the salon industry (Robert Cromeans, anyone?) and the how-to is so on point, we thought we’d adapt it for stylists.

Love what you do – passion is never a problem for stylists. Name another job that allows you to immediately affect someone’s self-esteem.

Listen to your customers – Lois Kelly, the author of the post and partner at the social marketing firm Beeline Labs, talks about the band hanging out with fans after a performance. The lesson for us is to listen to all our clients. Loyalty is driven in part by relationships. Find a way to connect with each of your clients on a personal level to strengthen that relationship.

Make it easy for people to help you – Ryan Montbleau has a street team that helps to promote their local shows. Your existing clients are your street team. Make it easy for them to get the word out about you by providing them with a few genuine words of appreciation for their business, a request for referrals and couple extra business cards to make it easy for them to send new clients your way.

Go where your fans are online – our own early research into social media to help market stylistPRO suggests more salon professionals are on MySpace. Your clients may more likely be at FaceBook if they’re the college crowd or LinkedIn if they’re business professionals. Ask your clients if they’re at any of the social media sites. stylistPRO software will make it easy for you to capture the information they give you so you can add them to your online network.

Reveal your points of view and personal stories – you want people to connect with you as an expert in your field, so comment on hair and fashion trends, and feel free to give a little advice. Your network should also connect with you on a more personal level, so give a little personal detail, too. Talk about your passions outside of work. We all love the 2008 Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings, and Erin, one of our founders, fights boys for fun as an amateur boxer.

Keep “old” marketing tactics that work – hey, there’s nothing wrong with postcards. Clients love getting one with a handwritten note on a birthday, and it doesn’t hurt to send a note out saying that you miss a client that hasn’t been in to see you in a while.

Say thank you – we’ve always liked rewarding existing clients for referrals with some type of incentive: products, or a free or reduced service. A genuine thank you works well, too. Just like us, clients like to be appreciated.

Be distinctive – being different can be a key advantage when it comes to marketing. What do you have or do that your competitors don’t? Talk about it.

Give away “free” products – there’s nothing like a free trial. Make it easy for someone to come in to see you by offering the first hair cut for free. It helps to put this in the context of opportunity cost. You’re only losing money by giving a free hair cut to a new client if you could have put someone else in that time slot. Schedule your new clients during your slower periods.

Make it easy to buy – how easy is it for your clients to book appointments? If you’re technology-oriented, there are a number of salon software providers who make it possible for client to book over the phone. For booth-renters and other independent stylists, the ability to access your book from anywhere is one of the key features of stylistPRO.

Follow two or three of these tips, and you’ll soon be marketing like a rock star.