Many artists believe Facebook is the #1 place to find clients. It can be, and there are experts who can make this happen, but there are many ways to grow your business. Here are some things you could be focusing on.
Note: you are better off choosing your battles. Hit one or two of these, master them, then expand. Otherwise you’ll probably do a half-arsed job of all of them. Just my opinion.
I know artists who are super busy because of Instagram alone. It takes time to master and a lot of people don’t understand how to use IG to their advantage. Sheila Bella has a great course here that I’ll be publishing a full review on very soon:
https://prettyrich.mykajabi.com/growyourgram
Yeah I know, most people understand Pinterest even less than they understand Instagram, and Pinterest might have a smaller audience, but consider this. The competition for your clients attention is MUCH smaller, and if you have a lot of women as clients, you should DEFINITELY be using Pinterest. Why not set aside some time to learn the platform? Here’s a great article to get you started:
https://adespresso.com/blog/pinterest-vs-instagram/
Think LinkedIn is boring and the realm of recruitment consultants? Think again. The modern LinkedIn is a bit like how Facebook was a few years ago. People use it for social purposes a lot more now, and the platform is a great way to reach people who have a reasonable income and are image conscious. In fact, business guru Gary Vaynerchuk believes LinkedIn is hot property right now and everyone should be looking at LinkedIn with fresh perspective.
TikTok
Yes it’s mostly for teenagers, but TikTok is BIG. I don’t know the best way to approach the platform yet, but it cannot be ignored. Any ideas, share them below!
YouTube
YouTube is the worlds second largest search engine. You don’t need to be a pro-videographer to use the platform to your advantage. Instead of just plugging the usual testimonials, think about how you can add VALUE. What do your potential customers really want to see? Take them behind the scenes and show them what you’re all about by giving advice and answering some of the most common questions you receive. Those videos could rank on Google as well as YouTube, and in marketing it’s always a good idea to add value first, then ask for business later.
Email and SMS
How many customers have you served? How many people have contacted you but didn’t convert? Did you remember to get their emails and phone numbers?
Email marketing isn’t about SELL, SELL, SELL. It’s about nurturing. Give value. Then give some more. When your recipients are ready, then you can ask for business.
SMS marketing is much the same, only more expensive but more effective. Just be sure you check local laws and that you have the customers permission to contact them via SMS.
Referrals
Good old fashioned recommendations. Ask the king of referrals, Craig Bottomley-High, how many clients he treats because he proactively pursues referrals. The secret is simple. Referrals do just happen on their own, but there are many ways to nurture and accelerate the process. Most of our website design clients are referred to us by someone we already worked with. Think about how you can encourage more referrals in your business.
Posters and flyers
Many people have tried this, and a number of them say it doesn’t work. But here’s the thing…. if you’re going to do it, you’ve got to go in hard. Let’s say a poster in a local barbershop generates just one client per year.
Not much right? But what happens when you have posters, backed by a solid referral deal, in 30 barbershops? Now it starts to get interesting. Take some time to devise a proper strategy and incentive program, then smash down some doors.
Street signage
I remember a few years ago visiting a clinic in the centre of Manchester, on a busy thoroughfare with a ton of footfall. They had a big A-board inside the clinic, but they didn’t use it. I asked why and they said ‘they didnt want to be disturbed while they had clients inside’. Like, WTF ?
I get the argument but what is the point in being in business if you’re not attracting customers? Why squander a great resource like heavy footfall, while spending a ton of money on rent for a central location, and worse, making up for it by spending even more on paid marketing to attract the same people? Doesn’t make any sense.
Local media
Your local newspapers, news websites and (yes) local Facebook groups should be your best friends. Get to know the people who work there or manage the platforms. Tell them what you offer. Ask about promotional opportunities. Give them a story they will actually want to publish. Serve their needs first, not your own, and the coverage and subsequent payback will follow.
As SEO experts, it would be wrong to neglect to mention the biggest opportunity of all. Whilst Facebook users are browsing, Google users are actively searching for information, services and products. Ask Charlotte Drinkwater how she’s doing since we got her ranked properly on Google. In fact, Google is so powerful, if you get it right, you can afford to neglect most other forms of marketing if you really wanted to.
SEO is the process of getting ranked in the natural, organic (non-paid) search results. Focus on your ranking position when people in your area search for SMP, PMU etc, then grow from there.
Google Business gets you into Google Maps listings. Improve your position by filling out your Google Business profile to the max, getting verified by Google and getting a ton of Google reviews.
Google Ads is paid-for positioning. It’s expensive but effective. Maybe do this until you are ranked naturally through SEO.
The crux is this…..
Facebook is getting harder. Ads are ultimately based on an auction format, so the more SMP artists use Facebook ads, the harder it gets. We can’t promote before and after photos, and without expert help, results on Facebook can be hard to achieve, expensive and inconsistent. Facebook works, but just boosting posts is a sure way to lose money. If you’re going to do it, get some help.
There are many ways to find customers, and a well-rounded marketing plan should be diversified so you’re not totally reliant on one channel. Maybe it’s time to expand horizons and try something you haven’t tried before.
Want some more reading? This is a great article, check it out:
https://blog.hubspot.com/…/small-business-marketing-guide
