362 The New Rules of Salon Marketing in the Age of AI with Phil Evans

When it comes to marketing, many salon owners pour their time into Instagram, hoping it brings new clients through the door.

My returning guest Phil Evans, founder of Salon Guru, has analysed over four and a half million visits to salon websites, and the results show that social media is not driving potential clients to your website in the numbers that you might expect.

So here's a question worth reflecting on: if your marketing time is going to the wrong place, what is that actually costing your salon?

In this conversation, Phil breaks down exactly where new clients are really coming from, what Google's EEAT framework means for your website, and why most reviews fall short of what Google and AI are looking for. By the end of this episode, you'll know where to put your marketing time so it actually brings in bookings, not just likes.

IN THIS EPISODE:

Why only 1.5% of website visits come directly from social media, and where the rest actually come fromThe four-part framework Google and AI use to decide which salon to recommendHow to structure your Google reviews so they build real trust and authority, not just star ratingsWhat to search on your own phone to check whether your salon is visible on Google and AI

TIMESTAMPS:

[00:00] Introduction

[00:51] Introducing returning guest Phil Evans from Salon Guru

[01:44] Inside the new Salon Guru trends report and why it exists

[03:42] Google versus social media, the surprising split in the data

[05:26] Why social media rarely closes the booking on its own