When starting any kind of business, you’re always told to find your target market. This is because you need to know who to attract and how to brand yourself. During the early stages of your beauty business, it can be common you’d feel inclined to open your bookings to anyone possible. It’s understandable because you need clients to get your business going.
Practicing on friends and family is normal during the early stages as you will need the hours to perfect your craft. However as your business starts to grow, you will need to find your ideal client. Your ideal client is someone who will receive the perfect solution to their needs through your services. This person will love what you do, continue to book with you, and will refer your services to their friends and family and will come back every time for any other service.
While it’s tempting to think that everyone needs and will benefit from your services, it will be difficult to manage without a clear direction. By trying to serve everyone, you could be wasting your time and money on attracting the wrong clients. When you find an ideal client, you will:
Know how to position and market in the beauty industry
Attract clients quicker and easier
Get paid what you deserve
First, you will need to find your niche, a focused portion of a larger market. Is it microblading? Is it Lip Blushing? Is it Lash Services? Nearly every market can be further divided based on the price clients are willing to pay, age, income level, values, interests, and where they live. Marketing to a niche is much easier than trying to attract a wide audience since a niche has much more in common in terms of needs, wants, and preferences.
As a beauty business owner, you need to ask yourself which area of expertise you will focus on. This will allow you to understand the needs of your clients and how you can better serve them. Before you can think of the exact person you’re trying to target, let’s work backward. Start with yourself and the services you offer. Think about your area of expertise–what you’re good at and enjoy doing. Don’t think of what will attract the most people or bring in the most amount of money.
Defining Who Your Ideal Clients Are
Now you will need to determine who your ideal clients are, specific to your beauty business and area of expertise. Ask yourself–what type of client would I love to help over and over again? Start by looking at your current client list and picking out your favorite clients. From this list, look for similarities between them.
What problem of theirs are you solving?
What type of personality do they have?
How do they define value?
Which services do they lean towards?
How much do they spend?
How did they hear about you?
These are just a few of the questions you should ask yourself to find the type of client you want to attract. Once you have a better idea of who your ideal clients are, you can create a detailed profile. By thinking of someone you already know, you won’t be creating a persona of someone that may not even exist. Your ideal client will need to be someone that is within reach and attainable.
We recommend implementing a question on your intake forms asking how they heard about your business. This will allow you to see where your clients are coming from, particularly the ones you enjoy serving. Knowing this information will be very helpful in creating your marketing strategies.
Attracting Ideal Clients to Your Beauty Business
With a better picture of your ideal clients, you can start tailoring your marketing message. Think about the problem you’re trying to solve and how your services provide the solution. Your solution will be the way to attract your ideal clients.
First, if you have extra capital I would start by using Instagram ads to get 100’s of leads at a cheap cost ranging from 1-3 dollars per potential client. If you need help with that please let us know and we will guide you.
Second I would try referrals and contact anyone that you did work with previously and ask them for their help. You could tell them that you are giving away a 25 gift card for any referral provided this can grow your business very quickly!