How Vidal Sassoon turned his name into an International Brand

On May 9th, hair legend Vidal Sassoon lost his battle against leukemia at age 84. Sassoon’s cutting techniques made him an industry leader, but his sharp business understanding took him from owning one salon in London to becoming an international brand. Like most industry giants, Sassoon knew the marketing formulas to create an empire. 

Innovation. Innovation can be in many forms and is the key to a successful business. Sassoon’s take on innovation, “If I haven’t changed things in five years, I’ll quit.”  He didn’t just “change” the industry, he revolutionized the way women styled their hair. His “wash and wear cuts” - most notably his five-point haircut, freed women from being a slave to the salon ritual. As Sassoon model Grace Coddington says it best, "The cut gave you a certain freedom. You weren’t chained to the salon and you certainly didn’t have to go and have it set with big rollers under a hair dryer for a couple of hours. He did it with a hand-held hair dryer so it wasn’t quite drip-dry, but it was remarkable."

Branding. When you hear the name Vidal Sassoon the first thing that comes to mind is hair products. Sassoon mastered creating his name into an international brand. He was able to use his name on products, beauty salons and hair academies. Having his name as his business, Sassoon took his branding seriously. In 2003, Vidal sued Proctor & Gamble for not promoting his products to his standards.

Diversifying. Sassoon started out as a hair stylist and turned into a ingenious businessman. Being an innovative stylist made him famous - famous enough that he could branch out and start building a portfolio of hair products and services. Sassoon also wrote a number of books including: Sorry I Kept You Waiting, Madam, A Year of Beauty and Health and Cutting Hair the Vidal Sassoon Way.

Iconic Slogan. Who doesn’t remember, “If you don’t look good, we don’t look good.” The slogan was catchy and brilliant; Sassoon was telling you that how you looked mattered to him and his brand image. His slogan was his bond and promise to his customers. Image mattered to Vidal and he wanted the world to know.

Philanthropy. Sassoon was no stranger to giving back, before he was a stylist he served in the Arab-Israeli War and later in his life founded The Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism and the Vidal Sassoon Foundation.

In Sassoon’s world image was everything, and it was Sassoon’s image and insight that built one of the most iconic brands in the hair industry. Thank you for Vidal, rest in peace.

How to create conversations with your customers.

Have you ever had a conversation with someone who is having a conversation at you and not with you? You know, the conversation were all you hear is about their job, their family, their pets, them, them, them, them, them. Here you are sitting there looking attentive while wondering ‘when they will shut the hell up?’  Well consider your advertising, are you only talking about you, you, you? If so, please realize that your customers and leads can and will tune this out. Here are some pointers on breaking out of the monologue and developing a dialogue with your audience.

Realize it’s all about them not about you. You’ve got to face it – no one cares about your products or services. Sounds odd I know, but what I’m saying is people will care about what your product or service is going to do for them. With that being said, try to make sure your all copy has the word “you” more than it has the words “I” or “we”.

Refrain from spamming other people’s social media. This goes along with tip #1 but needs to be pointed out separately. Once in a while, when you have a great achievement sure it’s fine to point it out. Placing your business all over your friends and your business pages you follow however is just plain tacky and annoying. Taking a picture
of your product and then tagging everyone you can think of will easily get you defriended!

Use your social media to ask questions. Questions are great conversation starters. Boston television show Phantom Gourmet does an excellent job using their Facebook page to ask their ‘Phans’ fun, yet relevant questions to create conversation. Bonus: When you ask relevant questions to your fans you get valuable marketing information.

Use your Internet marketing to show your customers love. If you’re a B2B company, using your customers as case studies is a great way to showcase how your product/service made their company more efficient and also it allows you to cross promote your customer and who doesn’t love a little free promotion! If you’re a B2C company, social media is a great place to run contests and thank your loyal customers.

Negative feedback is a great way to show your customer service skills. As hard as it is to see a bad review, view it as an opportunity. In fact, use it to your advantage! How you respond to a bad review can really speak volumes about your company. For example, if you’re a restaurant that received a bad review on Yelp or Google, post a reply apologizing for the reason behind a bad review and offer a solution. First off your acknowledging and taking responsibility for what happened publicly and secondly you didn’t just say “So sorry, too bad.” - you offered a solution. It shows you care about your customers and your public image. Yelp’s Support Center offers further reading.

When it comes to lead nurturing, building relationships with your customers will be the key to a successful long lasting relationship is to show you care by creating an open dialogue.