ACADEMY: 5 tricks to make your hair and makeup business unique

The professional makeup industry can be intimidating and competitive, especially with the rise of makeup artists on social media. Make sure you stand out with a makeup artistry portfolio that highlights your unique skill set and approach to beauty, giving you the boost you need to grow your career successfully.

So where do you even start, when you look around and see there are so many doing a similar thing to you? How do you even begin to compete?

Here’s what I’ve learned throughout my experience to help you…

Find Your Niche

While it’s amazing to be an all-rounder (props if you are!), often clients are looking for something specific. This will factor into their search terms and what they’re willing to pay. It’s a great idea to drill down into what you’re really comfortable in or good at and then create your business around this. That’s not to say that you can’t include elements of the other things you love and want to work on, but a niche is definitely your strong suit and if it’s a very specific niche, even better – it’ll help you stand out from the competition!

Work On Your Communication

How long does it take you to respond to enquiries? An hour? A day? A week? In this game, the quicker the better. If you’re taking too long to respond to potential customers, they will quickly move on to someone else. Make life a little easier on yourself and make it so that your client enquiries are easy to pick up and be responded to quickly. A good way to do this is to set aside an hour in the morning to check, or respond on the go by having them come through to your phone! If you’re a fast responder, you’ll stand out from those who aren’t.

A Great Portfolio

You can read our blog post on creating a great professional portfolio here. This is your gateway to bringing in several new clients, because it shows off your work. If you don’t have this, you’re just a person saying you can do hair and makeup. You need a good portfolio to prove this, and having a professional one which covers your niche  is the best way to stand out from the crowd.

Keep Learning

You’re never done with learning. Even if you feel like you’ve learned every technique there is to learn and have found your way of doing things, there are lots of little things you could do to hone your skill set further. Take a look at my training page if you’d like to take your skills to another level! The more you learn, the more you know as an artist – you’ll stand head and shoulders above those who don’t.

Network

There’s no substitution for making connections in this industry. While making friends and helping to support one another, you can also get the lay of the land in terms of how much work other people are getting and what’s working for them – as well as figuring out what NOT to do. Making sure you’re not just being insular with your work and not looking closely at the industry as it develops will help you to make yourself more unique.

For more in-depth help with getting to grips with becoming a brand new hair and makeup artist professionally, get in touch today!