Next on the ongoing marketing plan of how to create clientele as a nail technician is research. Research in this marketing plan means two separate things: research and search. Research for customers is to identify customer demographics in a local area and search is to apply the most effective marketing plan. After customer demographics are defined, selecting an appropriate advertising campaign will be more productive because the advertising messages will go directly to the people who likely turn into new customers.
Research for the main type of clientele
Know your customers
You have to know the demographics of the customers in the local area that you want to work as a nail technician or thinking about open a nail salon.
This is important because if you spend a lot of money on advertising for a particular product or service that does not apply to the future customer base, you will not get a high rate of return. For example, If your local target area is a town of retirees, your efforts and advertising dollars will not bring in customers if you try to market how good you are on nail arts.
One more example of this is if the area you want to target has a lot of women who work in an office or in industrial factories, trying to market your long and elaborate acrylic nail creations will not be well received by either type of customers.
One way to determine this is by looking in the national census, local statistics, driving around town or just going grocery shopping.
Whatever you do, you have to have concrete facts to support for your finding. Do not assume and give an estimate because it will give you wrong data and more likely you will waste time and money trying to promote products or services to the wrong type of customers.
After you know the customer base that you are going after, it is time to find an appropriate way to approach them.
Searching for your clientele
Introduce yourself and your services/business early
Before open for business, you must start an advertising campaign. Let as many people as you can know that you will be a new nail technician in the area so they will think of you the next time they ready for any kind of nail service, they can come to you.
All nail services have 2 to 4-week intervals so by doing this early you can be sure they will get to you when they are ready.
Do this initial step at least one month you are open for business or you will start at your new place.
What you need to do is to give them an incentive to come to you, most of the time is a discounted price.
For an older customer base, they are not engaged in social media and online activities. The best way to introduce yourself or your salon is by traditional type of advertisement.
Curbside signage, banner in front of a new salon, passing out fliers or coupon cards, start a conversation with people at the checkout line by complement their nails and insert “by the way, I am also a nail technician.” or I will open a salon near here…” and hand out your advertising materials. Chances are you will gain some customers this way.
For younger types of customers who spend a lot of time online, an online advertising campaign will help you reach this customer base more effectively than a traditional one.
Make yourself and your nail salon visible online as soon as the day you have your business decision. Open accounts on all social media accounts to gain early exposure. They are all free but they are a great way to introduce yourself or your salon online.
Yellow pages in the form of a book are gone and online yellow pages have replaced them. Do register your business on all search engines so when people search for a local nail salon, yours will show up. A lot of salon owners skip this step assuming that their business listing is done without any registration from them but your business listing will only be available online in the appropriate categories if you register and choose them.
A picture is worth a thousand words
Pictures of your nail arts, final manicures, pedicure and artificial nails like acrylics, SNS or gel polish are invaluable content that set you apart from your competitors. If you do not have them, start to accumulate them as many as you can while you are working.
These pictures will also be your collection for your future customers to look at when they are looking for a particular design or shape. By having this photo collection available on early days at your new employment of new salon will instill some confidence about your ability and experience to your new customers.
They are also be posted online so new lookers can see them and might be impressed by the number of nail arts or designs that you have created. This might turn some into your new customers.
Create a blog for yourself or website for your nail salon
If you are working as a nail technician for some salon, having your own blog is beneficial.
You will be able to put down all the information, the arts that you created, all the nail sets that you did for your customers now have a place to be online for anyone to see. A blog is a kind of journal or record book in which you will be able to post all your work as a nail technician. People can come and admire, learn and interact with you. Your online presence will bring you and your work to a much bigger audience. It may be so big that you can make money from it. The proof is plenty. All you have to do is go to youtube and see for yourself.
If you are opening a new salon, creating a website for it has many advantages.
A website is essentially your storefront online, from there people can see all the services that you offer and how your salon looks. You can also emphasize what you do best that will impress these online searchers. They can be how clean your salon is, how rigorous the safety or sanitation procedure you implement, etc.
Do mention all the concerns that your local customers have and how you successfully avoid or prevent them.
Also, do not forget that family and friend is a wonderful source of customers who will come to you to show support on your first day at a new place or on your salon’s grand opening day.
Try to show the best of yourself or your salon online
When you search for new customers, you will need to bring your best foot forward. The online tools will help you to reach a large number of future customers without spending a lot of advertising money so make sure you have the best-looking pages on all social media accounts and your website.
After all, you only have less than one second to make a good impression online.
Using paid advertisements to search for more customers
If you will be working as an employee, the salon will do all paid advertisements.
If you will start your salon, you will be the one who pays for this kind of advertisement. Oppose to all of the free marketing routes mentioned above, paid advertisement has the advantage of being able to bring your message to a group of people that you are interested in.
For example, by using a Facebook advertising campaign, you can target females who own their own homes and have kids. This targeted advertising is great because it only uses the advertising money on a customer group that you attract.
Another paid advertisement that is more traditional is by sending out fliers or coupons through the mail. This type of marketing campaign will send your message to every home in a specified area.
Conclusion: After you identify your main customer base through proper research, knowing all different types of marketing ways that you can use to boost your nail technician status or new salon and apply them early, you will be ably to search for your future customers much quicker and will minimize the idle time of new nail salon syndrome.
After you get customers, what you need to do and say discreetly to let them know that you are the best nail technician so they will come back are explained in part III of this series.
