Whether you have just trained in microblading, qualified as an aesthetician, or gone freelance as a hairstylist – as an aspiring beauty boss one of your top priorities should be to build a loyal clientele that loves what you do. However, with a saturated market and fierce competition, it’s crucial to establish a strong brand presence to stand out from the crowd. Effective branding not only sets you apart from your competition but also helps you connect with your target audience and attract your first clients. In this blog post, we will explore the ways in which investing in getting your branding just right can get your beauty business off to the best start. By starting to take action on the things we’re going to mention you’ll be able to leverage branding and successfully acquire your initial customer base.

Build trust

Here’s some figures for you – 81% of customers are more likely to continue doing business with a brand they trust and 86% were willing to pay more for a service from that brand (Source: Edelman). When your clients decide to book with you they are trusting you to provide the results and experience that they hope for in a safe and professional way. If their first experience of your business is seeing a messy, unprofessional brand then they get the impression that you’re: not serious about your business and therefore not serious about the service you’re providing to them. You’ll appear that you don’t know what you’re doing or even worse, that you’re not insured or qualified (scary!)

And it’s not only your potential clients that will feel this way but also potential collaborators, teaming up with other business owners, brands and publications is a great way to spread the word about your business and get your first clients. Many of my branding clients have secured features in big magazines like Vogue and Elle, as well as collaborations with brands like Remi Cachet, Navy Pro Tools, Gel Bottle Inc etc. The truth is, these big brands wouldn’t have looked twice at them if their visuals were a mess.

When clients trust you they are far more likely to book with you and also recommend people to you so having a consistent and well thought out brand is essential to getting your first clients and future growth.

Showcase your unique selling point

Even if you offer the same basic service as someone else, your unique selling point and added value that you bring to what you do is unique to your business and this unique selling point is something that clients will pay more for and connect with on a personal level. Whether it’s the fact that you use organic and natural products, work from a really chic and beautiful salon, or specialize in really glam volume lashes – it’s so important that you use branding to communicate your area of specialty so that you easily connect with people that love what you do.

Branding is an amazing communication tool, the logo, colours, fonts, imagery and tone of voice that we use all say something about who we are as a business and what people can expect from us. So use it to your advantage and start creating a brand that is magnetic to your ideal client.

Easily show up on social media

In today’s digital age, having a strong online presence is crucial. From Instagram to TikTok to our websites, we need to optimize this space and make sure that we show up in a consistent way. By having an intentional and repeatable brand strategy it makes it so easy for us to show up on social media and beyond in the most effective way. When you know what colours and fonts to use and have this written down in a brand guide you’ll save so much time when creating content because you know exactly what your designs need to look like. As a brand strategist, I really cringe when I see social media pages that have no consistent brand in place and it’s not just because it looks messy but also because I KNOW that that poor business owner is wasting so much precious time deciding what their posts should look like every time they show up.

In Brand Creator, my DIY branding club we also look at tone of voice and content pillars so that you have loads of engaging content ideas that are on-brand and really get potential clients excited to book with you and only you.

When your social media looks on point because you have a beautiful brand, clients and your audience are much more likely to want to share your content because they are proud to be connected with you. This is exactly what we want! A viral-worthy brand. Organic word of mouth is so impactful when getting your first clients and growing your business, 92% of customers trust recommendations from individuals, even if they don’t know them personally, over brand advertisements (Source: Nielsen) which is huge!

Be memorable & live in your clients’ heads rent free.

There’s a reason why big brands invest huge amounts of money in branding. That’s because your mind and memories are hot retail space! With consistent and impactful branding, we as consumers can easily remember a business which is great for sales because when we need something we can easily recall where to get it. This is the effect we need to create for your new business. This is especially important when you don’t yet have the traction of a wide client base that is spreading the word for you.

Did you know that even the use of intentional color can increase brand recognition by up to 80%. (Source: University of Loyola, Maryland). Do not overlook your colour palettes people! This is so important and as a new business owner you can’t afford to not take advantage of this.

In Summary

Building trust and establishing a strong brand presence are crucial for beauty businesses. When it comes to running a beauty business, you want people to trust you and keep coming back for more. By investing in your brand, you can create a professional image that makes people feel confident in choosing you. This means they’ll be more likely to stick around and even pay more for your services. You’ll also be able to set yourself apart from the competition, build trust, and attract your first clients. And from there, the sky’s the limit.

If you’re ready to start implementing branding in your business but don’t yet have the budget to hire us to do the work for you, I’d love for you to join us in Brand Creator our DIY branding club. It’s a fun and high vibes monthly membership where you can receive personalized feedback from myself to help you avoid the mistakes that most businesses make when they try to DIY their brand.

Take a look at what others have said about the club here: https://www.sugarbranded.com/brandcreator

and also always, my DM’s are always open – follow us on Instagram @sugarbranded or drop me an email: rebecca@sugarbranded.com