Sandy was sick of being yet another hairdresser in a street with six salons. (Not a long street, either.)
She said, “To hell with this, I’m going to be different.” But how? Just painting the salon a different colour wouldn’t do it. A sign that said, “I’m a totally different kind of hairdresser, really, I promise” probably wouldn’t either. (In fact, the hairdresser down the road had something remarkably similar to that up already.)
Eventually, Sandy said, “To hell with it, I’m bringing my hobby to work.”
Now Sandy’s hobby was more of… an obsession. Sandy loved to waterski. Sandy had brought on an extra third-year apprentice not because the business demanded it – it clearly didn’t – but because that allowed her to always have Saturdays off to go waterskiing at the lake. When thinking of “things that are interesting”, waterskiing would be the first thing to pop into her head.
But the more she thought about it, the more it sounded like a pretty good idea. “I’ve given people in the club advice about cuts that don’t look ridiculous when towel-dried. I know which dyes will stay when you go in chlorinated water and which will make your hair green. I know how to give the illusion of a fringe but not the get-in-your-face-at-60-kilometres-an-hour reality of one. This could really work!”
So Sandy changed her marketing. A big sign out the front was painted: SKIIERS DIVERS AND SWIMMERS! WE KNOW YOUR HAIR! She brought in some of her posters and trophies for the walls and started playing videos of deep-sea diving (and waterskiing, of course). Sandy assembled a custom style book called Saltwater Haircuts. She started advertising on bulletin boards for triathalon clubs and surfing magazines.
Her marketing changes had an effect straight away. Clients started coming from across town to get their hair cut before the championship. A local newspaper came to interview her. The third-year apprentice started coming in very useful as as she became known as the water-sports hairdresser.
This is not the end of the story.
Sandy was chatting with Loh, a new client who had spent forty-five minutes travelling to get here, and as usual asked, “So, what sports are you into?”
“None,” answered Loh. “I play laser tag sometimes, that’s about it.”
Sandy was confused. “Don’t mind me asking, darl, but why did you come all this way if you aren’t a sportsman?”
“Well, I hate styling my hair. And I figured you’d know how to cut mine so it didn’t need blow-drying and products and such.”
This wasn’t the first surprise Sandy had. Sandy found there were many many more people interested in what she was offering than she had anticipated. The abseiling crowd made sense, and so did the other outdoorsy groups. (Who wants a fringe in their face when they’re climbing K2?)
But there was one girl studying computer science at university who recommended her and created quite a few regulars from her class. Sandy was confused by them. She could understand why they liked getting practical, easy-care cuts. But they seemed to really enjoy the videos and asking her about waterskiing, too.
She was explaining the pleasure of waterskiing to Julie, one of the computer students: “…then you feel everything thrumming under your hands but there’s no pulling any more. Everything just comes into place and just feels right. It’s the best feeling in the world.” and Julie replied, “That’s exactly what coding is like! When you see the problem laid out before you and the most elegant answer, you just know it, and the code just springs out of your fingers and then you blink and it’s 3am. My brother says it’s called a flow state.”
Ohhh, thought Sandy, and went to the library. She read the long scientific books about flow states and nodded frantically as she read the descriptions. Water-skiing was a flow activity. So was rock-climbing, and software writing. And she had brought that to her salon.
Two levels of marketing
Sandy thought her Bestest People were water-sport players. But her brand went deeper, speaking to people who valued flow, who wanted more of it in their lives (and their haircuts).
Sandy had found the headline of her business: Sandy knows how to make your hair look great when you leave the water.
But she also found the heartline: If you love to be immersed in what you do, you’re going to enjoy your time in Sandy’s chair.
The first is factual branding. It’s an effective and simple way to separate Sandy from the ten thousand other hairdressers in town.
The second is emotional branding. It’s why we care about what she has to offer. Sandy could take this value and open a completely unrelated business: it would still be effective. Speaking to your clients at the emotional level (this is what we value, this is what we care about, this is what we feel) is the most powerful and ethical way to sell, ever.
Do you want to find the headline and the heartline of your business? Goddamn Radiant is here to help.
photo credit:
