Marketing Basics Every Beauty Professional Should Have In Place

Let’s be honest. Marketing can feel like a heavy subject with many different avenues and options to explore.

Simplifying a few basic marketing components that EVERYONE should have can make it more manageable and digestible for someone new to the marketing world.

And you may be thinking, “Why do I need to know marketing? I just want to grow a clientele.”

If potential clients do not know you and your business exists, how will they know to book with you?

This is why marketing is important. Marketing simply means that you are marketing your business to make others aware and desire to book or buy from you. Whether you are new to the industry or have been in the beauty industry for years, marketing yourself is one component of how you keep your business operating. Natural attrition happens with every clientele, meaning each year clients fall off. It could be because they move away, they pass away, your schedule doesn’t align with theirs anymore, your prices are out of budget for them, etc. None of these are bad; they are just life, and that is what happens. If you stop marketing yourself, you have no way to fill those people in, and then your books begin to slow, and you don’t understand why.

You can see now why marketing is so important at any stage of your career. This is also one component of earning price increases.  The higher your demand for new clients, the more frequently you can increase your prices.

So let’s get started on the basics.

1. What type of clients do you want to attract, and what type of services do they want to receive? Marketing

   
   

Narrowing this down is very important, because the more you know about your “ideal” client, the easier it will be to attract more of them! When we talk about the type of client, what we mean is think about where they live, what they do for work, what restaurants they like to eat at, how they spend their free time, what hobbies they have, etc.  The deeper you go with this, the better!

2. Set up the Basic social accounts you need.

Facebook, Instagram, Nextdoor app, Yelp, and most importantly, Google.

Do not skip making a Google My Business Account. Out of all of these platforms, Google is by far the most important!

3. Build your reviews.

Now this can be slightly tricky depending on the platform; however, if you are not yet building reviews, you ARE MISSING OUT! In today’s consumer market, reviews are NOT an option; they ARE a requirement if you want longevity in your career. A common mistake that beauty professionals make is collecting reviews on booking sites. For example: Vagaro, Booksy, Square, Gloss Genius, etc.

Collecting reviews here is a WASTE of time. Clients do not go to those platforms to look for service providers. They go to GOOGLE or YELP.

Concentrate your review-collecting efforts on building your Google reviews first, then Yelp next.

The easiest way to do this is by creating an automated text that will go out to your clients 24 hours after their appointment with you. In the message, you will want to say something like “It was so great to see you at your appointment. I am confident you are feeling great after your (list service). It would be very impactful for my business if you would leave me a review on Google. Thank you for your support, and I look forward to seeing you next time.” DO NOT forget to include the link directly to your Google business account. If you send it without the link, the majority of them will not follow through.

4. Post photos of your work.  

While you are working on collecting reviews, you should be collecting photos of your work and posting them to Google, Yelp, Instagram, and Facebook.

5. Networking

Networking is a bit more time-consuming, and that is why it is recommended last. Unless you are someone who likes to socialize and is busy around the community, networking can be challenging. The most effective ways to network are with nearby businesses or businesses that you know your “ideal” client would be frequenting. That way, when they send you referrals, you know that they will most likely be the clients you desire.  An example of this could be a local coffee shop that your ideal clients love to visit. Make an acquaintance with a few of the workers at the coffee shop and ask them if you can leave cards as well as give them a discount for each person they refer. Then, when they come to visit you, they get a discounted service after having referred 4+ people. Choose the number that makes sense, but also be sure to give them a juicy discount, or they may view it as not being worth their effort.

This method is a bit old school but effective nonetheless.

You can see how easily we could spend hours and hours on this subject. The reality is that many local businesses are not even doing these basic marketing steps. Many beauty professionals put most of their efforts into Instagram or TikTok marketing, and that really isn’t necessary. Also, depending on your ideal client, they may not be using Instagram that way.

If your ideal client is 55-60, I guarantee they are not looking for service providers on social media. They are asking Google or ChatGPT. And ChatGPT is pulling from Google. This is why it is so important to know who you are trying to attract and how they use the internet.

Hopefully this gave you actionable steps to set up your marketing basics and increase your demand and awareness! Happy Marketing.

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