Hey Reader,
Last week, I taught a business marketing class at a beauty college. It was the first business class some students had ever received from a guest educator.
I designed the class to be hands on. Here's what we did:
Activity 1: Awareness
Prompt: You recently moved to a new city and need a haircut. Using any platform you'd like, find a barber in less than 2 minutes.
Some went to Google in their browser, others Google Maps, others Instagram, others Yelp and others Facebook.
Why does this matter?
They can only choose you...if they are aware of you.
Every business needs a presence on various platforms. If you're not there, they won't know you exist.
Key Stat: Studies show that the first result of a Google search gets around 25-30% of clicks, while results on page 2 get less than 1%.
Activity 2: Consideration
Prompt 2: now that you have a list of options, choose one barber that is your favorite.
Some selected their favorite based on the reviews, others based on their social media posts, others based on 'branding'.
Every buyer is different. They have different criteria that they consider to narrow down the options.
Think about the reasons why your buyer should consider you. From reviews, to branding, to relevant posts, how will you stand out from the competition?
Activity 3: Decision
Prompt 3: Try to book an appointment.
This is where it got very interesting. Some were able to book an appointment directly through Google, others were forced to download an app and create an account before seeing a schedule, others easily booked through the website and others filled out a form to request an appointment.
Some were impressed by how 'easy' it was to book, while others were turned off by some roadblocks.
Click fatigue is a form of user experience frustration and inefficiency that arises when users are forced to perform numerous clicks to accomplish a simple task.
Some don't want to download an app and create an account. Some might end up getting lost trying to figure out how to even book. Others might not want to pick up the phone and call to book. While others might end up being turned away by your service prices.
Make it easy for your buyer to make the final decision.
Final Discussion
The buyer's journey is the process a potential customer goes through when researching and purchasing a service.
Put yourself in your buyer's shoes.
- How and where will they find you?
- Why should they choose over the competition?
- How easy is it to book?
Next Steps
If you're a barber student trying to figure out where to work, do this activity to discover the shops that have your most ideal buyer's journey.
If you're a current barber, audit yourself in addition to asking clients how they found you, why they chose you and how they like the booking experience.
If you're a shop owner, audit your shop. Where does your shop rank in a Google search? How many Google/Yelp reviews do you have? Are you able to track the lead sources of the clients that booked? This will help evaluate your overall marketing strategies and which campaigns are working best/worst.
P.S. If you're a barber or beauty school and interested in having me teach this business marketing class or purchasing the lesson outline for this class, please reply to this email or fill out this interest form. We can coordinate from there.
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Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
- Monthly Income Tracker: a Google Sheets template to help you track your monthly income
- Passing Your Barber Exam: online course that helps you pass your barber exam
- Creating a business strategy: The Barbers' Playbook features 10 essential strategies to help evaluate & grow your business
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Written by: Matthew Mendoza
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