Update from 2017.
Sometime ago a client told me she wanted a redesign of her website. A redesign because she was not having any sales of the hair. I analyzed the performance of her current website and learned:

• she had 150 visitors a month, most of the only visiting the home page.
• You could subscribe to a newsletter, but without receiving any newsletter in your inbox after signing up.
• But the most eye-catching observation was, it was not clear whose hair needs she wanted to solve. Who was her ideal client

?

Website to generate hair sales between 5,000 and 10,000 dollars

She wanted a redesign of her website, that would allow her a monthly hair sale between 5,000 and 10,000 US dollars. And she wanted it as soon as possible.

I recommended her to invest time in the ideal client she wanted to support solving her hair needs. She needed to know what kind of hair her ideal client was looking for. And also what tone of voice to use, what social media did she use and how about her lifestyle?
All parts to make a clear persona to aim your marketing effort. Selling hair is more than showing pictures of hair bundles. You need to connect and engage with your ideal client.

Selling hair to College Girls

A few days later we had a chat. It was good to hear she knew the kind of clients she wanted to service. She was thinking of college girls.
She happened to work at a college and had the possibility to interact with these girls very well. That was the basis for the analysis of her ideal client. I prepared a general marketing survey about the Millennials. This is the marketing generation of people born between 1980 and early 2000s.

The young people who for marketing purpose are segmented as millennials have the following in common about online communication:

• They are very active on social media, for example they have an average of 250 FB friends
• They are more likely to listen to their friends than marketing messages from companies
• Only 1 out of 5 feels you can trust the other person
• They are good at self-promotion (selfies) and fostering connections through online media
• Millennial’s text 50 messages a day

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• If they are happy, they give free and convincing PR! They will tell the world about you and your hair!

The ideal client

This information formed the basis to hone the image of the ideal client. Now the actual findings and feedback from the College Girls would help to color in the first sketch of the ideal client plus the new mission statement of the company.

You can only sell the hair your client is looking for

If you want to sell hair, too many times start-ups begin the wrong way. They want to sell hair and start to search for the best hair they like. Too often they forget they must find a place on the hair market with clients in need of certain products and requirements first. This is your basis, your ideal client and not the hair you are selling. That will only work for companies like Apple, but if you want to grow your hair sales, or have any sales at all, you need to be ready to change.

The story of Mercy from Nigeria

Today, I spoke a very nice girl from Nigeria, named “Mercy”. She was looking for the funding for her hair business but did not want to wait until the finance part was settled. Mercy showed me some wigs she had made, and she told me about the love she had for hair. My recommendation was to start engaging with people that will need her wigs and weavons. She will open an Instagram account to post, follow and engage with others. In this time, she will create more wigs and post this. This way she can start to talk hair and to create a community of hair loving people. She will step by step understand her Ideal Client better and when the financing is ready, she will be able to sell her wigs because she knows her market very well. Nigeria will hear more about Mercy and her wigs!

Connect with your client for more hair sales

Not only mention you want to sell to a certain group in society. Also be willing to understand their needs, how they communicate, where they go for their information and of course what kind of hair they want. Define a corporate mission and look and feel that fits with your ideal client. Social media helps you a lot as people give insight in their journey through life for free. See who they follow, what they like and unlike and you are much closer in closing a deal, than when using only your own ideas.

How would a hair sales generating website for College Girls look like?

It makes sense to have website/shop and social media aligned, in style but also with topics these college girls feel attracted to. It would be very interesting to use WhatsApp or other text medium as a corporate communication tool.

This audience is perfect for sharing information about your brand, but make sure they find stuff valuable enough for them to share. Obtain images of happy clients using their confidence in taking and sharing images of themselves, instead of a dedicated page with happy clients, images of and testimonials from clients will be available all over the website.

This group of potential clients is also concerned about social justice and the environment. Promote “green” and get involved in a community activity. Good example “Everybody Dance now” from Jackie Rotman. Perhaps there are initiatives in your own town or area.

What about you?

Are you ready, like Mercy, to invest time in knowing your client to use this as the basis to get more hair sales, or do you prefer not to change your concept because the right client will eventually show up one day? I would love to read your comment below this post