Conni Pataki, Midnight Sun Tanning

Established when Conni Pataki was a teenager, Midnight Sun Tanning has been an integral part of her family and her life. When she took over ownership nine years ago, she brought over a decade of experience as the owner of 24 nail salon and supply locations in Denmark. Now feeling at home in Burlington, Conni shares her favorite marketing methods:

I find that the older generations are on Facebook, which is why we don’t advertise in our local paper anymore. Considering the return on what you paid, it made no sense to continue. A lot of my older clientele know me and my business page on Facebook. I think my customers are like family, and so they follow me on Facebook. If I was just starting out, things would be totally different, but I’m so lucky that because we have been around for so long our number one way to get customers is still word of mouth.

I also do emails once a month, and I use Instagram all the time. For emails, we usually share holiday hours, and include some simple offers. Usually there is one coupon and an announcement of a holiday special. We post on Instagram three times a week, but not usually about sales. We might tweet about a sale – we have given our followers an instant $2 off offer to use if we are having a slow day. Facebook is our number one marketing tool, but I think Instagram is our number two. On Facebook you can put more information, whereas on Instagram I might just take a picture of a new lotion and put that out there. I use Instagram to make Midnight Sun more a part of the community.

To learn more about the salon, visit www.midnightsuntanningburlington.com.