We are living in great times of enterprise. An increasing number of people you meet introduce themselves as entrepreneurs—in person and on social media. It’s a cool title to claim these days, however the execution as a productive and profitable entrepreneur takes careful planning and awareness in everyday tasks; did you know these tasks don’t necessarily need to be business-driven?
Those who succeed at being an entrepreneur are positioned to do things when, how, and where they want; it goes beyond the buzzwords listed in a social media bio. The ones who win are prepared with a 24/7 marketing mentality. Don’t get me wrong; I am an advocate for work/life balance. I’m not suggesting you become a workaholic or take further time away from your loved ones.
Naja, aka The Nail Guru is an award-winning nail artist, international educator and seasoned salon owner.
I want you to consider this: What if you could be completely present with your loved ones, out and about living life with them, while planting seeds of marketing and promotion for yourself?
How-to Market Yourself, 24/7
Don’t Just Use Social Media…Actually BE Social
This is what every business owner wants and needs: warm bodies to introduce their products and services to. As an entrepreneur, there is no guaranteed paycheck coming your way, so it’s on your shoulders to bring in the sales. This means you must always be dressed and ready to interact. But rather than just dress for success, dress for interactions. This is about dressing for your internal feeling, not necessarily wearing a $5K suit. It’s about dressing presentably for every single activity in your life—from doctor appointments, to your nephew Joey’s little league game, to funerals, and even to beach trips.
My practical and simple strategy is this: Comprise your uniform system and always have it ready in your closet. Have a lounge outfit, a relaxed and fun day-off outfit, an errand-running outfit, and a snazzy, formal interview outfit. If properly attired, prepared and ready, everyday interactions can quickly turn into transactions.
Create an Elevator Pitch
This is one of the most important tools that works wonders when applied effectively. The best part? It’s free. Create a 5 to 15 second pitch about your business, product or service. Practice it, over and over again, until you memorize it. You will know you have a dynamic pitch if after delivering it, the person’s eyes light up or you see some factor of intrigue in their response. If you can recite it, anytime and any place with confidence, you have the best piece of marketing equipment that money doesn’t have to buy. That is priceless.
Develop Advocates From Clients
This is a simple sales strategy of developing a customer into a client, and then developing that client into an advocate for your business. An advocate means they are out and about conducting the routines of their own life while advocating and marketing your business—all the while you are busy maintaining everyday work tasks.
Advocates are developed through consistent and stellar service; the under-promise and over-deliver method works well here. Serve and treat every single transaction as if it were your beloved grandmother, and you will have an army of advocates out there telling all their friends about you. The coolest part? They are your clients, so in essence, you are being paid by them to market your business.
Market Outside the Box
If you spend your days working from the couch in your robe and bunny slippers, sipping a latte, while waiting on a video chat meeting, why approach your business with the same stale and conventional marketing tactics? Of course you should still employ the tried-and-true methods of classic strategies, but also incorporate some road-less-traveled methods. Stretch yourself and your community outreach. Think of all the places in your local community like car dealerships, law firms, banks, or even children’s sports games.
If you show up during lunch breaks to an office building full of people, offering mini samples of your service or product, they could potentially be enthralled with you and grateful for your time. This approach is a strong start to planting the seeds with customers who will likely become an advocate in time.
Also consider large companies and corporations. Many of them have a health and wellness department that hosts events for the employees. If you offer a product or service in that arena, contact them for exposure to people in your area—especially if your beauty business offers something that helps productivity and brings about stress relief for their employees. Do your research and use helpful stats in your proposal. The fun thing about this is if you wow even one or two employees at that event and they are ripe to be an advocate, they may tell their whole department about you.
You understand your business better than anyone, so it’s best practice to be a walking billboard in all of your life’s activities. So make sure to be well-groomed and a representative of the beauty industry at all times! With a plan in place, you’ll see that any situation is a potential opportunity to grow your brand and market your services all while living your life and having fun.
About the Author
Naja, aka The Nail Guru is an award-winning nail artist, international educator and seasoned salon owner. A key-note speaker and published writer, her nail work has been seen on Lady Gaga, Mary J Blige, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, Kanye West, LL Cool J and many more. She holds a Guinness World Record for the most polish changes in an 8-hour period. (with 69 polish changes). Her passion is helping young entrepreneurs in the beauty field make consistent CASH from their CRAFT. She offers online classes, monthly workshops & coaching for professionals on the business side of the beauty industry Find out more: @the_naja or www.najanailguru.com
For reprint and licensing requests for this article, Click here.
Originally posted on NAILS Magazine