More often than not, stylists have a hard time nailing down what their brand is and because of this, they struggle to get their dream clients in their chair. While there is a lot that goes into a brand, possibly one of the most important and fundamental aspects is knowing your brand’s mission. When you have your mission in mind, you can speak more clearly to your customer, you can sit back and see what actions you are taking are working toward that mission and where you might be wasting energy.
Creating your brand mission doesn’t have to be a daunting task and doesn’t require a week of soul searching or a trip to Thailand to find it. The fundamental questions you should ask of your brand to find out where your mission and brand story begin, start with four simple pieces: Who, Why, What, & How
- Who does your brand serve?
- Why do you serve them?
- What do you do for them?
- How is what you do different from another stylist or brand?
Consider this a purge session, write down as much as you can think of and don’t sweat writing in full sentences just yet. Once you’ve gotten as specific as possible, reflect on how each question and answer relates to the next. Challenge yourself to not be too literal though, yes- you offer a killer mane, but what feeling do you offer your clients? What about the experience in your chair sets you apart?
Once you’ve got it all out on paper, begin to connect the dots. Here’s an example of how this applies to The Business of Balayage brand:
- Who does your brand serve?
- We serve the everyday hairstylist
- Talent doesn’t need to be editorial to be remarkable...
- Why do you serve them?
- We believe in the power of empowering stylists to build and better their careers
- What do you do for them?
- We believe that in arming them with technique based education that they can pair with their best tools to cultivate happier clients and more profitable businesses.
- How is what you do different from another stylist or brand?
- Technique based education is founded in understanding the learner, with intimate hands on classes we get to create an environment for learning and empowerment unlike any other.
- Our classes are for stylists, by stylists
Here is our completed brand mission:
We are committed to providing our students with an unparalleled independent education experience. We achieve this by working with some of the most talented and passionate stylists & artists in our industry; those looking to grow their own brand and offer the highest quality techniques to their clientele. Since its fruition, The Business of Balayage has successfully built a reputation on talent, with a team of instructors so knowledgeable and dedicated to our industry that we guarantee you will leave inspired and armed with expertise for a more fruitful and profitable career behind the chair.
A big piece of what makes our mission so passionate is that we have integrated our brand guarantee, this promise not only helps us communicate the passion we have for what we do, but also our passion for our students. If you love what you do, this will come more naturally so make sure that the market you are devoting your brand to is one that will never grow old for you.