Android, iOS, Samsung, Nokia, iPhone HTC

Yes it’s all about phones in the salon. As much as they are an annoyance to have staff on their phones, or the constant taking of “selfies”. And those clients who are always answering theirs while you’re trying to cut their hair. Mobile phones can play a very important role within the salon business. You can record client testimonials and upload them directly to Youtube or Facebook. They provide a great tool for capturing your amazing work and transformations on clients. You can have clients check-in on foursquare or facebook and increase the exposure of the salon to their friends. You can use your phone to keep track of your appointment book and there are even apps available to use as consultation tools.

Recording testimonials is relatively easy to do, most mobile devices have a built in video camera app that will provide good quality video for your needs. Audio can be a bit more tricky. I would recommend the following extras to boost the quality of your audio and make your video that much easier.

• Microphone extention cable  Allows you to clip a lapel microphone to whom ever you are recording, whether it is a client testimonial or a how-to or hair tips video you might use to promote the salon.
• For a high quality lavelier microphone I cannot recommend highly enoughEdutige EIM-001   For only a few bucks this provides outstanding audio for your videos.
• If you want to get really fancy, or you just suffer from shaky hands you could consider a monopole – theiStabilizer ISTMP01 Smartphone Monopod is less than $30 and will adapt to any phone size now or down the road.

  

Photos are worth a 1,000 words. And when it comes to makeovers maybe 10,000 words. What could be more enticing for a potential customer than to view before and after photos of your work?  Excuses are out the window why you’re not producing befores and afters, or even just afters. We all have phones and I am yet to see a phone without a camera and most have very decent cameras too. Even your editing can be done right there on the phone. You can have someones before and after edited and posted before they leave the salon carpark. Just remember to ask permission if you’re using a front on shot, I haven’t had anyone say no!

There are so many apps for taking photo’s and editing them and I won’t go into them all here, but my favorites include Hipstamatic, Snapseed and Camera+.  

If you really want to improve your photo-taking skills I can highly recommend the iPhone Photography course run byDean Holland. For less than $100 you can attend a face to face workshop or purchase the course in a box for around $40 insanely incredible value either way!

The pictures I have used throughout this post were all taken and edited using my iPhone.

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