You know how in real estate it’s all about location, location, location? Well, if you’re looking to become a pro-MUA, it’s all about knowing who your clients are. What does this mean? For starters, it’s not about knowing all of your clients’ life stories, if that’s what you’re thinking. No, it’s about identifying potential clients based on your personal experience and professional skill set. We all have our strong points and weaknesses when it comes to our personal lives, right? Well, the same goes for your professional one. You may be amazing at doing natural makeup and bridal looks, but still struggle with gold leaf application. It’s important that you focus on providing and promoting services that match your skill set.  Now, why is this important, you may ask? For the simple reason that once you figure out who may be interested in paying for your services based on your strong suits, it will be a lot easier to tailor your marketing scheme to their specific needs, and gain a lot more clients that way. This group of potential clients is what us in marketing call: target group.

Let’s clarify this with a real-life example:

Petra Jameson is an amazing bridal MUA. Having taken both our 4 Week Intensive Makeup Artistry and 3 Week Hairstyling courses, Petra is a double MUA graduate. As such, she’s great with natural makeup looks, a wizard at airbrush, and a total expert with both strip and individual lashes. On top of that, she’s up-to-date with all the latest braids and bridal up do’s to turn her client into a blushing bride on her special day. 

So who should Petra’s “target audience” be? Clearly, she’s specialized in beauty enhancement techniques. This includes brides, proms, VIP events and other special occasions (for example, personal photoshoots). So her marketing strategy should be tailored specifically to these type of services. So how does one do that? Here are some marketing examples:

Appealing to your key demographic

We’ll say it time and time again, luck is preparation meets opportunity, so make sure the materials you present to potential clients are both professional and relevant to the services provided. And we mean everything! A Website, blog, social media, business cards, portfolio – you name it, it should all be tailored to what your clients are looking for! In marketing terms, your materials should appeal to your target demographic. Take Petra’s case for example, since she’s focusing on beauty enhancement services, a soft color palette and clean aesthetic on her website, portfolio and social media will be much more appealing to her target group then an edgy over-the-top website with high fashion looks (which, in turn, would be a great aesthetic for someone who, let’s say, specializes in runway and editorial makeup.)

Advertise your services in all the right places

A great place to start sharing your services is on beauty oriented service apps. These include JOP and Priv (to name a few), through which you’ll be able to connect with a wide range of clients on the lookout for different types of freelance services. Other websites, including theknot.com, are also a great place to advertise bridal services especially, with thousands of prospective brides visiting the site every day to prepare for the big day! Already have some experience under your belt and have a great bridal/beauty portfolio? There are many agencies throughout the city you could apply for as well. Not that experienced yet? Not to worry, you can always apply for assisting jobs! That way you’ll get valuable hands-on experience, build your portfolio, and get agencies to notice your skill set! Also, never forget that the MUA business is a word of mouth one, so don’t be afraid to ask your satisfied clients to leave you a nice review on social media or your websites, or to refer you to any friends or family members!