I’d like to market my services. I’d like to have a plan in place. But how the heck do I make a marketing plan?

A Marketing Plan is an ever-evolving list of ways that succeeded (and some that failed) to bring new clients into your lash business. My epic failures included a Living Social (think Groupon) deal I did for a waxing service that I created out of desperation early on in my biz owner days… but then quickly deleted after the first purchase. Was she high? Was she recently in a car accident by the looks of the bruises covering her neck and shoulders? Did she show up 45 minutes before her 15 minute brow wax appointment and sit in my room talking on her phone while I finished up with my regular lash client? You bet she did. This was nowhere near the type of clientele I wanted to fill my books with. Lesson learned!

I also made the “boo-boo” of committing a lot of money to a local news station who promised me 600 views a month of my ad and at least 50 leads to my website by placing an ad on their local news page. It was a 6-month contract at $180/month (which I didn’t have at that time) and I religiously watched their analytics. The ad looked amazing, but two things went horribly wrong where I ended up with ZERO clients from that ad. 1- their ad was not targeted to my ideal audience (so anybody in the zip code was seeing my ad, whether they were men, children or those who couldn’t afford me) and 2- I didn’t have the know how to capture the audience that did visit (like getting them to take an action on my website to learn more or book an appointment) or make it easy for them to get their questions answered.

So where do you start when creating a marketing plan?

STEP 1:

The first step to creating a marketing plan is to write down any and everything that is bringing  you in clients (or that you think might bring you in clients). Some examples are:

• Word of mouth referrals

• Service Trades with other beauty pros

• Signage outside your salon

• Social media (list all of your social media platforms)

• Website

• Google Ads

• Online Reviews

• Newspaper

• Local Magazines

• Smoke Signals/Carrier Pigeon (just checking to see if you’re reading this far)

STEP 2:

The second step in creating a marketing plan for your lash biz is looking at a calendar (just start with next month and not a whole year…baby steps first). Mark any upcoming holidays or local events that might be relevant to your target audience. Think Mother’s Day, School starting or ending, holidays, typical vacation times, etc.

BONUS TIP: If you really want to amp up your marketing game, plan out a day to create ALL of your marketing for the month (both social media posts and other marketing ideas) so the work is done ahead of time and you don’t have to worry about trying to create an extra 30 minutes in your already busy day… every day, cause we all know that ain’t going to happen.

STEP 3:

This next step is key to focusing your marketing efforts and not looking like a chicken with your head cut off. Pick just 2-3 marketing areas you want to focus on for next month’s plan. For example, choose a digital and an in-person plan for next month. You can choose to focus on getting more reviews on your Yelp or Facebook page and set up 3 coffee dates with other beauty pros to network and cross refer each other’s work. By narrowing down the amount of marketing you’re doing at one time, you’ll have a better idea of what is working to draw your target client in and what is not the best use of your marketing energy.

STEP 4: 

The final step of creating a marketing plan is to keep track of what is working and what is not. This info will be the basis of all future marketing for years to come and will give your future Lashpreneur self a sigh of relief that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every year. A huge part of any business owner life is understanding that what doesn’t work in your business can be just as important to what does work. Just because you blew a ton of money on one ad sponsor who promised “dozens of new clients a week” to only find it was a big fat waste of time and money does not mean it didn’t have some value to you.

LASHPRENEUR LIGHTBULB

Just because a marketing idea didn’t work, doesn’t mean you failed. It means you learned.

This is an example of a very basic marketing plan that should be enough to give you some direction and a game plan to consistently market your lash business so that you have a constant flow of new clients interested in learning more about the services you offer.

If you’re ready to dive deeper into a marketing plan and ramp up your lash biz game, Lash Biz Coaching might be a great next step! Group Coaching option is available if you’re interested.

Have a Good One!

Tara Walsh
The Lashpreneur