10 Ways Microblading Artists Can Build A Cult Like Following (& Why It's Good For Business)
Imagine if every single time you had a spot on your calendar open up, there were people who'd sleep outside your microblading or permanent makeup salon just to to be the first walk-in appointment.
Or imagine every time you told people about your new product and put it online, it sold out in minutes.
This is the product of having a cult-like brand following. And these scenarios aren't unheard of either for some of these brands.
You hear the word "cult" and immediately negative images come to mind - & for good reason. It's worth noting that of course this isn't an endorsement to join a cult.
But it's not clickbait, either.
If you focus on achieving that kind of brand loyalty for your business, you'll start to notice that your followers end up doing a lot of the work for you - being your biggest advocates and sales staff. There's a reason why so many brands make it their top priority to develop a "cult-like" following.
But it's not just me saying this - check out Hubspots article on brands with a cult following where they go into detail naming some of the top brands who focus on this.
SO many brands have a top priority to build "a cult-like following". And what they mean by that is having a truly devoted audience who support, protect, advocate for, and are invested in a brand. From that perspective, it's pretty obvious why you'd want this type of following for your business.
For your convenience, I am including the video content to this topic below. But read on under the video as I will be including a lot more details that can help you throughout this post!
Today we're going to answer to major questions:
How do you actually build this kind of network of support?
What steps can permanent makeup artists take to make this a reality?
Here are the top 10 ways to build a strong audience that can help skyrocket your microblading or permanent makeup business:
1. Differentiate
In order to develop a following, you must have a message that is unique to you.
Here are some example of messaging that can be unique to you and be a magnetic value proposition for your business:
Microblading as a dramatic, bold message. Your business's messaging could be all about transformation.
Maybe your business is based on female empowerment. One of the things that makes Brow Envy popular to our audience is our throughout the brand, female empowerment at at the core.
Natural looking microblading could be your core message. It's powerful to want to give your clients a natural look. It's also unique in that not many are focused on that. Usually the makeup scene has a bent of beauty and luxury - that doesn't necessarily ooze "natural". And many clients in my experience prefer a beautiful aesthetic without the "work done" look.
2. Find Your Connectors
There are just those people who are your advocates. The bigger the personality and the more social this person is, the better. But I want to stress this doesn't mean social media big. They can just be people that like talking about things they are passionate about. The key here is finding ways to partner with some of your most vocal, loving clients and work with them to spread your message. The more your message comes from other people, the more genuine it's going to seem and ultimately the better it will be received.
3. Exclusivity
People want what they don't have.
Even more, people want what they can not have.
In order to build clout around your brand, it's important to focus on making your brand seem desirable to a client. And I'm not talking "fake it til you make it". Do not fake this. It's a waste of time and will hurt you in the long run. Instead, work on this fundamentally. You could do things like only make certain days available for booking for frequent customers or making the first 24 hours of your booking available only to those who are referred at least one customer. However you do it, test out setting up a structure where parts of your business are closed off.
Your main objective here is to prove to the potential client that they made the right decision. The best way to do that is to show them the amount of people who have booked or interacted or chose you. Below is an example of a newsletter sign up
4. Solidarity
Give your consumers a place they belong. There's no better place they should belong than with your brand.
A good way to enable this is to provide some sort of community whether it be through your website, your facebook, or some other means like a group webinar - but whatever you decide, the more clear your brand and message, the better you will form a group of advocates around you who can help spread your brand and grow your impact.