Beauty and salons marketing
What a salon
should spend.
Set a salon marketing budget from the hours you can't sell, not a percentage of turnover. Margins are thin: the ATO's 2023-24 benchmarks put total expenses for hairdressers turning over more than $300,000 at 75% to 86% of turnover, averaging 80%, and for beauty businesses over $400,000 at 77% to 88%, averaging 82%. So spend where it fills chairs you're already paying rent on, for services clients come back for, and count marketplace fees as marketing.
Written by Dan Picken, a marketer who checks the sources. Last checked 6 November 2026.Why a percentage
doesn't work.
The usual advice is to spend some fixed share of revenue on marketing. It sounds tidy and tells you nothing. A salon in Kotara with every chair booked three weeks out doesn't need ads at all. A new studio in Wyong with half its hours empty can't afford a percentage of a turnover it doesn't have yet.
The question that matters is narrower: how many hours a week are you paying for and not selling, and what would it cost to fill some of them with people who come back? That gives a number you can test, and a reason to stop when the chairs are full.
What the ATO
numbers say.
The ATO publishes small business benchmarks from tax returns, so it can spot businesses that look out of line. They're also the best public picture of salon costs in Australia. These are the 2023-24 figures, as a share of turnover:
| Business | Turnover | Total expenses | Rent | Labour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hairdressers | $50,000 to $150,000 | 40% to 57% | 14% to 21% | 23% to 36% |
| Hairdressers | $150,001 to $300,000 | 58% to 75% | 11% to 17% | 25% to 37% |
| Hairdressers | Over $300,000 | 75% to 86% | 8% to 13% | 32% to 44% |
| Beauty services | $65,000 to $200,000 | 48% to 69% | 13% to 21% | 23% to 35% |
| Beauty services | $200,001 to $400,000 | 69% to 83% | 12% to 19% | 25% to 37% |
| Beauty services | Over $400,000 | 77% to 88% | 9% to 16% | 27% to 39% |
What that
means for spend.
Two things jump out. First, the gap between turnover and total expenses is thin once a salon has staff, so a marketing line that doesn't bring paying regulars comes straight out of what's left. Figures from the ATO's hairdresser benchmarks and beauty services benchmarks.
Second, rent is a big fixed share, especially for smaller salons. An empty hour still pays rent. That's why filling quiet hours is worth more than the average margin suggests: the rent on that hour is already gone, so most of what a new client spends in it is extra. It's also why marketing a Saturday that's already full is money wasted.
Budget from
the empty chairs.
Put in your chairs or rooms, open hours and how booked you are, then the service details. The calculator does the rest.
Empty chair budget
Budget from
the empty chairs.
Start with the hours you can't sell, not a percentage of turnover. It works out how many regulars would fill them, how many new clients you need to find those regulars, and what that costs a month. 'What you keep' starts at 20%, from the ATO's average for hairdressers turning over more than $300,000. Every other starting number is made up.
Monthly ad budget, first three months
-
- Empty hours a week now-
- Regulars needed to fill your target-
- New clients needed over three months-
- Google Ads daily budget (monthly ÷ 30.4)-
- Extra takings a month once filled-
- What you keep of that a month-
Assumes regulars keep coming at the gap you set and that the work fits the empty hours. Tuesday mornings rarely fill like Saturdays. On spare capacity you may keep more than the average, because rent is already paid.
Where the
money goes first.
The order I'd follow for most salons, typical rather than a rule. Free things first: an exact Google profile, reviews asked of every client, and rebooking at the till. They cost time, not money, and they make every paid dollar work harder.
Then search ads for the one or two services with spare time, aimed at the days that need filling. People searching 'brow lamination near me' already want the service, so you're paying to be found rather than paying to persuade. The salon Google Ads page covers the set-up.
Then Instagram and Facebook ads for moments: a new stylist with an empty book, a new service, a second location. Those need people to see you before they search.
Monthly budget,
daily setting.
Ad platforms work in daily budgets, but salon cash works in months. Google's rule makes the translation simple: a campaign won't spend more than 30.4 times its average daily budget in a month, though any single day can run up to double. So decide the monthly number first, divide by 30.4, and expect lumpy days.
Review it monthly against new clients and keepers, not daily against clicks. The Spend Curve method is how I'd find the point where extra budget stops bringing extra regulars.
Fees are
marketing too.
A booking marketplace fee is a cost of winning a client, so it belongs in the marketing budget, not buried in 'software'. Fresha, for example, lists a 20% one-time commission on brand new marketplace clients, with a $6 minimum. On a $140 first colour that's $28. Cheap if she comes back every eight weeks, dear if she doesn't.
Add up ad spend, marketplace fees, referral credits and any agency or freelancer cost, and divide by new clients who rebooked. That's your real cost per regular. The new clients and rebookings page splits it by source.
When to
spend less.
Spend less if your books are full: raise prices or add a chair before you buy more demand. Spend less if most new clients don't come back: more ads just find more people to disappoint. And spend less in the weeks your best people are on leave, because the ads will keep sending clients who wanted them.
What I see most often
What I'd check first
on a salon's budget.
- 1
Marketplace fees hidden
Booking marketplace commissions sitting in a software or merchant fees line, so nobody counts them as the cost of new clients.
- 2
Ads on full days
Ads running at the same level on fully booked Saturdays as on empty Tuesdays.
- 3
A budget with no capacity behind it
A monthly figure set as a share of turnover, with no link to how many hours are empty or which services have room.
The honest bit. A calculator can't tell you whether your Tuesday clients exist. Some quiet hours stay quiet because the people who'd book them are at work. Test with a small budget for a month, count who came and who came back, and be willing to hear that the answer is fewer hours, not more ads.
Questions
people ask.
How much should a hair salon spend on marketing?
Work it out from empty chair hours: how many regulars would fill them, how many new clients you need to find those regulars, and what each new client costs. A fixed percentage of turnover ignores whether you have room.
What are the ATO benchmarks for hairdressers?
For 2023-24, total expenses for hairdressers turning over more than $300,000 were 75% to 86% of turnover, with an average of 80%. Smaller salons have lower total expenses but higher rent as a share.
How much should a salon spend on Google Ads a day?
Decide a monthly amount, then divide it by 30.4. Google says a campaign won't spend more than 30.4 times its average daily budget in a month, though one day can reach double.
Are booking app fees a marketing cost?
Yes. A fee for a new client, like Fresha's 20% one-time commission on brand new marketplace clients, is a cost of winning that client. Count it with ad spend.
Related
Keep
going.
Get a free
Google Ads audit.
Takes a minute. Audits come back within 1 to 2 business days. For anything else, I'll get back to you as soon as possible.
What happens next
- 1I'll ask for read-only access, or just your website for a search audit.
- 2I go through it and write up the 3 biggest fixes.
- 3A 20-minute call to walk you through it. No pitch unless you ask.