Being a hair stylist isn’t just about cutting and styling people’s hair. One of the challenges you’ll face as a hair stylist is coming up with ways to attract new customers and retain existing ones to keep your business running. Here’s a list of our favourite marketing ideas that’ll help set you up for marketing and business success.
Word-of-mouth marketing is a powerful technique you can utilise to market yourself as hair stylist, and it starts with open communication with current customers.
Communicating in an open way shows your confidence and can help you to start a conversation with your customers. You can ask questions like “What type of curl would you like to see as an end result?” and ask them to show you photos so you understand what they’re after. This discussion shows you know what you’re doing, helping to establish your authority and expertise. As a result you’ll gain satisfaction, respect and trust from your customers, and this can translate into free word-of-mouth marketing as customers tell their family and friends about your great service.
You can also market yourself online by creating a website and social media profiles, including on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. On these platforms, make sure to talk about your hair salon (if you own one) and your hairstyling skills. What makes your hair salon unique and different from other hair salons? Do you specialise in something? Do you love curling a person’s hair to perfection? Whatever you do, you should market yourself to the core.
Additionally, you can post blogs on your website about hair and beauty to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise, as well as post photos on your social media accounts showing the hairstyles you’ve created or the hairstyling process. You could also encourage your existing customers to leave positive comments or feedback on your website and social media accounts to help attract potential customers.
Once you’ve created a name for yourself in the hairstyling trade, you can rise and shine further by working with celebrities. You can use your connection with celebrities to market yourself, build customer trust, and grow your customer base.
But to ensure your future success, you should start off your hairstyling career by undertaking the Diploma or Advanced Diploma in Hairdressing from the International Career Institute. It’ll give you the right balance of theoretical framework coupled with practical knowledge in the industry, and this can help you build your business into a formidable brand that’s trusted by customers and celebrities want to work with.
Teaching hairdressing to a group of students studying a hairdressing course is another way you can market yourself as a hairstylist. You could become a guest teacher with the aim of moulding the next generation of aspiring hairstylists into professionals, and in the process, market yourself to a group of people who could one day recommend you and your business to others.
Moreover, becoming a teacher would allow you to stay up-to-date with the latest changes, practices, and trends in the profession, and grant you access to cutting-edge research in the industry. You can then utilise these in your marketing strategy.
Your marketing as a hairstylist can also be done to current customers as a way to keep them coming back. To promote customer loyalty, make use of your customer service and relationship-building skills. For example, you should identify your customers’ needs so you can give them the specific look they want, as well as have other staff members tend to them when you personally can’t serve them.
You can also promote customer loyalty by offering your customers incentives and discounts. For instance, you can ask your customers for their names and birthdays and then give them personalised coupons or discounts to use at the salon on their birthday. Or you can provide stamp cards where each paid visit to the salon is recorded with a stamp on the card and the fifth or tenth visit is discounted. Your customers will be sure to love these.
Don’t forget to hand out your business card to your customers so they’ll remember you. It also demonstrates your professionalism and will remind your customers to make an appointment with you the next time they need a haircut.
In the end, how this wonderful experience plays out will depend on your personality. The more creative and customer-oriented you are, the better the experience. Your customers may even recommend you and your hair salon to their family and friends.
Pursuing a formal qualification such as the ICI Diploma or ICI Advanced Diploma in Hairdressing can equip you with the skills and knowledge you need to address your customers’ needs, provide services beyond their expectations, and market yourself, so make sure to enrol today.
For more career opportunities check our blog or the list of courses that ICI can offer you.
Gladys Mae serves as the General Manager and Head of Student Services at the International Career Institute. Gladys holds a degree in Mass Communication - Broadcast Media from the University of San Jose-Recoletos. She joined ICI in 2010 and has over the past 12 years been instrumental in providing leadership and guidance to staff and students alike. Prior to joining ICI Gladys led a multifaceted career with key roles in the banking and business process outsourcing industries.
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