With a nail salon seemingly on every corner, finding your niche in the business is imperative to success. Whether you’re starting a new mobile salon business or want to make your current one thrive, look at these tips for making your on-the-go company stand out from the rest.
1) Cater to mommies-to-be. Some soon-to-be-moms are running back and forth between their last weeks of work and baby preparations, others are on bed rest and can’t leave the house even if they wanted a manicure for the “big day.” Either way, a mobile salon can be the ideal option for these ladies. Make your business unique by advertising the use of pregnancy-safe polishes like those from Knocked Up Nails or Safe Nails.
2) Talk to moms. As we all know, moms are notoriously busy. Between work, picking up and dropping off their kids, making dinner, and cleaning up vomit from the carpet, it is a wonder any mothers have ever stepped foot inside a salon. Make their lives easier by promoting specials for moms, mother-daughter manicures, and afternoon mom get-togethers. They won’t even need to find a babysitter.
3) Find women’s events. Whether it’s a party, conference, leadership program, beauty company extravaganza, or just a group of women catching up, it’s a great opportunity for mobile salons. Not only does a booking at one of these events give you a good day’s worth of business, it provides you with the opportunity to connect with many women who could potentially become regular clients. Make your brand memorable by offering nail art pertaining to the company or the occasion.
4) Target beauty media. Start with local newspapers and magazines, online, TV and radio and incrementally work up to more widespread and even national media. Send out press releases every few weeks to make sure your brand is getting out there and staying there. Stay in touch with contacts; they can be incredibly valuable even later on in your career.
5) License your brand and sell it to others. If your mobile salon becomes a success, you can have other manicurists buy in who want to represent your company name in other parts of the state, country, or even the world. This setup allows them to already have a business model and reputation through you, while giving you the opportunity to manage a larger, higher-revenue company. And there’s nothing better than making a decent living doing exactly what you love to do. —Sarah Emick
