Beauty businesses have had a difficult time during COVID-19. Let’s face it, the beauty business is one of the most vulnerable when it comes to lockdowns and restrictions, due to the intimate nature of the treatments we perform on our clients. Whether you are a sole trader beautician or work for an established salon, you’ll surely agree that the past year hasn’t been the smoothest of your career so far!
So now that beauty salons are back up and running, many beauticians are searching for ways to make up for lost time. There’s never been a better time to gain new clients who are dying to have their nails and hair done now that UK restrictions have been totally lifted.
One constant struggle for beauticians is building upon their existing clientele. In today’s post, you’ll learn five key tips and tricks for marketing and growing your beauty business and taking it to new heights!
Marketing: who is your target audience, and how can you get across to them?
As a beautician, you will know that your audience predominantly consists of women searching for pampering and glam. Although more and more men are indulging in beauty treatments nowadays, women are still the primary target for your marketing efforts. So how do you get through to women and make them aware of the awesome services you provide?
In order to target the demographic of women who will like your business the most, it’s time to start asking yourself some key questions. Let’s take a look at questions to ask yourself if you are looking to better target potential clients of your beauty business.
Who do I have in mind when I design my treatment packages?
When you design your treatments – be it nail art, massages, facials, eyebrow threading or makeup artist services – who do you have in mind? Is it somebody who is a similar age to you, or an older demographic? Perhaps you are even designing your services for young women who are just getting into beauty. Whatever the demographic, you need to have a clear image in your head in order to tailor your marketing efforts effectively.
How would I describe my treatment packages in three words?
If you’re struggling to decide who you are pushing for with your marketing, it can be helpful to describe your business as if you were seeing it from the outside. If you stumbled across your own social media page, website or shop front, how would you describe what you see? As a customer, what would you be searching for?
Asking yourself these questions can help you designate a clearer path when it comes to targeting the right clientele.
What kind of marketing do these age groups and demographics respond to?
When you have answered the above two questions, now you can ask yourself: how do these demographics operate? Do they use social media, such as TikTok and Instagram, or are they more attuned to word-of-mouth and physical advertising? By nailing down these key marketing questions you can begin to shape your future marketing strategy for your beauty business.
How can I get across to my target audience more effectively?
Finally, it’s time to start shaping your marketing plan. You can invest in marketing advice from a consultant or use online tools to help you, such as MailChimp, YouTube tutorials for social media and advice from other beauticians. ULtimately, your goal is to reach more people who are interested in what you sell. How you go about it, however, depends on how you have answered the questions in this list so far.
One thing’s for sure, though: no matter who you are advertising to, online presence is an absolute must. In this next section, you will discover some important criteria for creating a successful online presence with your beauty business.
Invest in your online presence
Your online existence as a business is one of the pillars of your success. Gone are the days of existing “off the grid” if you want to grow your beauty company. We live in the online world now, and your beauty business can thrive in this environment if given the right tools.
Firstly, as we mentioned earlier, you need to figure out what type of online activity your target audience indulges in. For clients aged 30 and under, it’s all in Instagram and TikTok: Reels, photo dumps and stories are the name of the game. The more accurately you can replicate the customer’s experience through your social media pages, the better you will do with younger audiences.
Some beauticians post sped-up videos of them completing beauty treatments on willing clients, while others rely on the good old before-and-after posts to win future clients’ attention. Social media is all about consistency (i.e daily posting) and attention to detail; if you nail these two things down, you will start gaining followers in no time.
If your clientele is slightly older than the GenZ or Millennial generations, that doesn’t mean using online marketing isn’t worth your while. The older generations use Facebook more frequently than younger people; similarly, having a simple, user friendly website on which they can book appointments and browse photographs is essential.
When it comes to creating the perfect website, ensure that your contact details are easily findable by any internet user, even someone who isn’t much of a tech head! You could even install a live chat website feature using click4assistance.co.uk, so your clients are never without advice.
By investing time and money into your online presence, you will be able to point potential new clients in the right direction. For example, if you are treating a current client who tells you that their sister or mother is looking for a beautician, you can direct them to your Instagram page or website to browse and book in.
Think local and use your community
For beauticians, word of mouth is a powerful thing. If a client enjoys their experience with you, they are bound to recommend you to friends and family. Especially if your beauty treatments are visible ones, such as hair styling and nail art, your clients will get lots of “Oooh, I love your nails!” from friends and colleagues, providing them with the perfect segue to rave about your amazing beauty services.
By thinking locally and using your community to spread the word in this way, you can expand your network of clients simply through word of mouth. Many successful beauticians use a “refer a friend” model to encourage their clients to bring their friends in; this could be £5 off their first treatment, and £5 off the next treatment for the friend who referred them!
Creating this network will solidify your clientele because, as we all know, most people are creatures of habit. Once they start coming to your place for their treatments and having joint treatments with their pals, they are unlikely to stray from that path! Word of mouth is a powerful thing – don’t underestimate it!
Invest in relationships, not just advertising
With the power of word of mouth in mind, it is important, as a beautician, to build relationships with all your clients. You aren’t just providing a service to a customer, you are actively participating in their lives, emotionally and physically. You will spend time chatting with them, learning about their lives and telling them about yours while you work. That’s one of the best things about being a beautician: earning the trust of your clients.
Beauty treatments are intimate, and are tied intrinsically to a person’s self confidence. People come to you to look and feel more beautiful as they go about their work, social and romantic lives – so by investing emotionally in these relationships, you will make friends, not just more clients. Even if it’s a client you have never met before, take the time to get to know them and treat them like an old friend. They’ll feel comfortable in your presence, adding to the whole experience of the beauty treatment they are receiving. Remember: investing time and energy is just as valuable as investing money in your beauty business.
Visuals are everything!
You are a beautician, so of course, visuals are everything! When you are trying to get more clients to notice your business, whether it’s through social media, your website or physical leaflets/business cards, attention to detail in your visuals is key.
Grabbing your customers’ attention enough for them to stop scrolling can be done through posting striking images of current clients’ transformations; putting together videos with popular music attached (by using the Reels section on Instagram or by using TIkTok); or by having a local artist design a logo for your brand.
Wrapping up…
By investing time in your marketing strategy; building trusted relationships with your clients; building a striking social media portfolio and having a community-minded approach to your brand, you are bound for beauty business success!
If you are new to all this, don’t be afraid! You can find plenty more business advice and beauty tips on the blog today!
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