On Wednesday 27 June we attended an Evening of Inspiration with our client Alter Ego Italy, hosted at the Leeds academy at the brand’s sole UK distributor, Sweet Squared. More than 50 hairdressers were invited to the exclusive evening which saw three top stylists share their cutting, colouring and styling trends and techniques.

UK creative ambassador Pete Burkill was joined on stage by Gavin McIntyre from GE McIntyres, Northampton and Ross Charles, of the Ross Charles salon in York.

The festival-inspired evening was a celebration of the creative and versatile possibilities when using Alter Ego Italy’s innovative colour and styling products.

Evenings like this are a great way for salons to show clients and prospective clients everything you offer. Like Alter Ego Italy, you could theme your evening event – whether you go for festival hair, wedding hair or a special evening demonstrating how to blow-dry hair at home.

You can make it an intimate event, inviting some of your most loyal clients, and ask them each to bring a friend who isn’t currently a client. This way you can introduce yourself and your team to a new audience – and potential new clients. If you have details of local influencers, including journalists and bloggers, invite them along too.

Get your team involved and have some of your most talented stylists demonstrate just what they can do. You don’t need professional models, team members could step in or you could ask some of your clients to act as models for the night – they’ll probably take it as a huge compliment.

Have some goodie bags ready for guests to take away at the end of the night containing some samples of products and maybe a gift voucher.

Not only will the event create a buzz among your clients and team, it will also attract attention from passers-by, who will be intrigued to see what is going on.

And make sure you take plenty of pictures so you can send a press release to your local press and share on social media.