Once you’ve signed up for cosmetology school, you’ve taken the first step to starting a new career. Even at that point, it’s not too early to organize your marketing efforts. Even if you’ve been a working cosmetologist for a few years, marketing is a crucial part of the business. Promoting your beauty services in a way that seems natural and welcoming, and drawing new clients towards you is just as big a part of your success as your hairdressing and beauty talents. These are some of the most effective methods for spreading awareness of your cosmetology business.
Use Instagram for Your Cosmetology Business
It cannot be overstated, your Instagram is one of the most important marketing tools you have as a hairstylist or cosmetologist. Clients in your local area look for inspiration by scrolling Instagram, and they search hashtags to find a local hairstylist who can create the look they have envisioned in their mind. The more you can show off your best work on Instagram, the more potential clients you can reach.
It's never too early to start building your portfolio of work on Instagram. You can start collecting photos of your work before you even go professional. Curate your best work and show it off, make sure the lighting is good. Use hashtags on your posts that match the keywords people would be searching (names of the hairstyles, your city and “cosmetologist” or “hairstylist”, etc.) One last tip, put your city in your Instagram bio so that it will come up in search.
Create Business Cards with a QR Code to Your Instagram
You can order cards from a professional business card company like Moo.com, or you use Canva to design and print business cards. Add a QR code that takes people directly to your Instagram account.
A nice business card makes a good impression, so when you meet people who are looking for a cosmetologist, you can hand them your card. Better yet, hand them to your professional clients so they can refer you to their friends.
Create a Website for Your Cosmetology Services
Buying a domain name is inexpensive, and you can always forward this to your Instagram. But you can also build a dedicated website to showcase your brand, your services, your portfolio, and include a form for people to contact you or schedule service. Be sure to link all your social media accounts from the website. You can also write off the associated costs as a business expense.
Join Free Facebook Groups
What you are looking for are Facebook groups that are specifically made for your local community or city. This is important – you are not there to spam! Your mission is to research what people in the area are looking for in hairdressers and cosmetologists. Observe what people say in the group discussions and take notes. When there is an opportunity to introduce what you do for a living, then you can talk about your work as a cosmetologist and share links to your cosmetology Instagram so they can see your work. You can also offer a new client discount for your social media friends. Just be sure to add value to the group before announcing your services, otherwise it seems like upselling and spam.
And it should go without saying, be sure to set up a Facebook Page for your cosmetology business. Create photo albums of your best work and display it to potential customers. Add your business location and phone number to the Page profile so people can contact you.
Plan Ahead Before You Launch or If You’re Moving
Whether you are first starting your professional cosmetology career or if you are moving to a brand-new city, the challenge is the same – you need to attract new clients.
If you’re graduation cosmetology school, you should already be setting up your social media pages, using the appropriate hashtags. But if you’re an established hairdresser and you are planning to move to a new city, the same process applies. It’s in your best interest to start sharing social media posts with city+hairstyles hashtags for the city you are moving to. Even if you can’t take people as clients right away, you can get their contact information and send them a text when you do finalize your move and set up new salon space. If you have a website, add the new city to the content, so it begins to show up in search results. You can book these clients for future appointments when you finish moving. It’s okay to have a waitlist for new clients once you move.
Also set up a Google My Business and Yelp page for your services if appropriate. If you will be setting up a new salon, be sure to set up a new GMB listing – which shows up in Google Maps – and also set up a Yelp page, if you are operating as an independent business with a Doing Business As (DBA).
Set up a Google My Business (if applicable)
If you have a business in a commercial space, like a salon, then set up a Google My Business profile. Be sure to have the same business name, address and phone number that’s on your website. One thing clients want to see is your professional photo – add this to your GMB/ Google Maps listing.
Google My Business listings are what shows up in Google Maps. One thing that will help you show up higher is getting customer reviews on a regular basis. Follow up with new clients and send them a link to review you on Google, if they have had a good experience. You can also copy-paste the best 5-star reviews from Google Maps and add them to your website for social proof.
Use Email Marketing
Creating an email marketing list is a way to keep in touch and send marketing to previous clients, or new ones that sign up for your list. Companies like MailChimp make it easy to set up an email list with different segments.
In your email marketing you can send special offers to clients you haven’t seen in a while. Past clients can receive resources on hairstyles and hair care, and a reminder to come back in for a new appointment. Some booking apps will allow you to collect email addresses from clients who schedule an appointment. These emails can be put into an email marketing segment specifically for new clients. You might set up a sequence of emails to be sent to new clients a certain number of days after opting into email marketing.
If you feel comfortable asking current clients for their birthday, you can send a special coupon for a discount on beauty services during their birthday month via email automation.
Video Marketing
YouTube, TikTok and Instagram reels are all effective ways to promote your business. Remember that if you’re filming with your phone, the portrait mode is for TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts (only). Note: If you plan on making longer YouTube videos, use a regular video camera or hold your phone in landscape position – otherwise your videos will look cropped.
TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram all have over a billion daily users – your local customers are there!
Create a highlight reel video of some of your best work and hairstyles, and then continue to make videos that surface in users recommended videos. Use your main videos for promotion on your website and other marketing sites.
If you use Google Ads to promote your cosmetology services and send people to your website, they will prompt you to use a YouTube video (regular resolution) for use on their ad partner sites.
Paid Ads on Google and Meta
If you have extra money set aside, you can use Google Ads or Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram). You might want to use these only if you’re having a slow period, or if you’re moving to a new location and you want to build awareness. Paid ads can bring in clients, but organic search is often better for customer acquisition as those leads come to your scheduling form after seeing your work on your website or Instagram.
Blogging for Business
If you have a website, blogging is a good way to attract clients in your local market. Adding photos and keywords for the city and hairstyle/beauty treatment is a good strategy. Talk to clients and listen to what questions they have most often. This will give you some good ideas for blog topics. You can also talk about current hairstyles and show appropriate examples of your work in the body of the blog post.
Referral Programs
You can create referral programs for clients who send new clients to you. With a coupon code, the referrer can get a discount on their next haircut and the new client can get a discount on their first appointment. This encourages clients to send new customers your way.
Pre-booking Clients
When you are finishing cutting and styling your client’s hair, you can encourage them to set their next hair appointment. Pro-booking ensures that clients keep coming back which will help you build a stable cosmetology business.
Learn Cosmetology at a World-Class Program in Sacramento
If you’ve been dreaming about working in cosmetology, you can become a licensed cosmetologist in about 30 weeks with our elite training program. Paul Mitchell the School at Campus Sacramento has a Cosmetology program that teaches you the skills you need to start your career as a hairstylist or cosmetologist. You’ll also learn skin care, nail care, and the business of cosmetology. For more information on class schedules, start dates, or financial aid, contact our Admissions team or call 888-675-2460.