Marketing - What does this mean to me?-By Debbie Miller

I know nothing about marketing. My friends went to college, I went to beauty school. Then I began to think about what I do all day long in the salon. Everyday, I market myself to not only my clients, but those who will soon be my clients and all those who don't belong to someone yet. I looked up marketing in the dictionary and their definition is: the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service.

Well, I do that all day long! So what I would like to share is how we market ourselves to clients- whether you are a technician, booth renter, commission or even owner. You don't need a degree, manual or even a bankroll, but what you do need is a vision and a desire to help others experience what you have to offer.

Where to start

What do you want people to associate you with? Color, design, style or all of the above. It all begins with you developing your image or what I call your story. This is what clients will identify you with. Maybe you will be known as a great cutter, or fabulous colorist, or maybe like myself, you'll be known for developing a styled look for clients. One of the first steps to marketing yourself is knowing what you have to offer to your customers. If you can't define who you are and what you do, how are your clients going to?

Once you have defined your story, now we can start to market you. The easiest way to start is through building a Look Book. A Look Book is a book of pictures, cut from magazines, that tells your story. It is a collection of looks that I believe in, that I want to spend my day doing and I have spent my time learning how to do. This is one of the most effective ways to market my craft- through a visual journey of my interpretation of today's trends.

Found inside my Look Book is another great marketing tool. It is a menu of specialty services or add-on services. Each extra value service is given a name and has a visual (picture) that allows me to communicate with my clients. We use this menu as an opportunity to solve our client's challenges. Our menus have so much information for our clients to learn more about what we have to offer, however, one thing they don't have and that's prices. We focus on service, not pricing.

A,B,C's of Marketing Your Business .

A is for attention. Pay attention to what your clients are having challenges with and what their successes are. Pay attention to what they read, where they go and what they like. Pay close attention to what they wear, what they drink, where they have dinner. Pay attention to where the clients that you want go and go there yourself.

B is for building your business with the Look Book . This is one of the most important tools I have. You can take my shears, combs and clips but I cannot work without my Look Book. My name and my story is all over my Look Book and it can communicate far more than my words or even my talent. It is the invitation to my talent and it gives my clients the opportunity to experience many looks.

C is for communication. Use your clients or your friends and family to communicate or market your talents for you. Ask anyone who has spent mega bucks on advertising, or as some say, put your money where your mouth is. If you are interested in being the best colorist in town- tell people. If you are looking to build your business- tell people.

The art of marketing yourself is to communicate what you do for your clients and then let your clients do the work for you. Help them tell your story to others by teaching your clients how to recreate their looks. If your clients look good- then so do you. When you send a thank you card to your clients for sending in a new referral- you are marketing. When you call your clients and confirm their appointments with you- you are marketing. When your clients ask you “what's new”, remember to use this opportunity to market your business.