Representation Matters
If you have been asking yourself “How do I/we attract more tight curly + natural hair clients?”
The short and the long answer is, REPRESENTATION MATTERS!
Just like your prospective clients, we do a bit of internet stalking of our current and prospective students Online Real Estate. This means your websites, social media, and any special interest articles or features. Often what we find during the research excursion is the answer to why tight curl clients may be passing you by.
If all they are seeing throughout your online real estate is (pick one or more) straight hair, swavy-wavy, braids, weaves, blondes, 2-D Curls, Bottecelli, or "mixed" curls, they are not seeing themselves reflected in your brand story. The tight curl client tends to be the most skeptical client of them all because they have likely experienced some degree of hurt from a salon professional in relation to how thick/tight/difficult/dry their hair is assumed to be. A tight curly client must see your behind the chair work on curls that look like theirs.
Please keep in mind, you aren’t just selling them a cut or a style. You are offering ease, transformation, and understanding in the form of a salon appointment.. Making the proclamation that you do tight curls isn’t enough. It's a red flag to tight curly + natural hair clients to say you do their hair, but have scant receipts to show for it. They have to trust and believe through social proof that you have an abiding love and passion for curls like theirs.
So how do you attract tight curly + natural hair clients?
1. Make sure you are in the spaces they are in.
If these clients are on Instagram you've got to be on instagram. #yourcitynaturalhair #naturalhairyourcity. If they are at the natural hair meet ups, you need to be at the natural hair meet ups as a platform speaker or vendor. Connect with micro-influencers in your area who have natural hair. These aren't necessary bloggers/content creators. They are the doctors, lawyers, teachers, and others who are public facing daily.
2. Get your imaging weight up
Your visual imagery must match the clientele you’r wanting to build, but how do you do this if you aren’t already serving tight curl clients. You reserve time in your schedule to take models. Hosting model calls to capture video and photos of great transformations specifically for tight curls + natural hair is a great way to build your portfolio.. Be as generous with adding tight curls images to your Online Real Estate as you are with your other clients, even more if this is a demographic you want to focus on.
3. Speak their language and know their products
Can you identify a mass market natural hair product by just a description of a label or bottle? Do you know what a TWA or BAA is? APL or BSL? Did you know that Mielle Organics is the fastest growing natural hair product company or that Courtney Adeleye of The Mane Choice sold over $25,000,000 in 4 years?
Understanding the culture of the curls is just as important as understanding the curls themselves.