Ask Me Anything: We're Talking About Taking Better Pictures of Your Henna, Attracting New Henna Clients, and Pricing
Ask Me Anything!
You’ve got questions, I’ve got answers!
In today’s Ask Me Anything!, we’re tackling the following questions submitted from hennapreneurs like you:
[00:03] How can I take better pictures of my henna work with my camera phone?
[02:58] How can I attract more clients to my business?
[04:35] What do I do when I've moved to a new area and the henna artist where I live now charge way less than me?
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+ Read the transcript here
Chelsea: All right, so, as far as taking pictures of your henna work using your mobile phone, I use my mobile phone to take pictures of all of my work. I don't have a DSLR, so I'm limited to my camera phone.
So what I recommend is making sure that you have really good lighting. That's- honestly, lighting is the biggest thing! Like, if you can make sure that you have good lighting for your pictures, that will make the like the most impact on your pictures, hands down. So what I recommend is that you take- if you don't already carry a light with you to your appointments, then do that. There are very small lights that you can purchase, and those lights, um, like, they'll fit into your bag. They're easy. You can plug them in anywhere. And it will give you just a little bit of extra light so that when you take pictures of your henna on your clients, then it looks really bright, illuminated, and you can see all of the detail. The worst thing is when you are taking pictures of henna designs and the lighting is dim and then you really- you can't see the detail on the design. It doesn't- like, you're not able to really appreciate the work that's done.
So if you, you know, as far as if you're wanting to improve your pictures of your work, then definitely take a light with you. Now, if you're not in a position to put- to bring a light with you in your go bag, then I recommend making sure that when you get to your event or whatever location it is that you're serving your clients in, that you sit somewhere that's well lit, ideally next to a window. I love, love, love choosing a working space that's next to the window. If you can be next to the window you'll have much better lighting. Much better lighting means much better photos, okay?
Also, just as far as positioning is concerned, I like to have my clients put their hand kind of- I just have them place their hand on a backdrop that I use. And then I like to take pictures from- like, I do this thing with my camera- with my phone, this thing right here. Um, so that I get them at like an angle so that the design is- their hand is coming in kind of diagonal across the screen because I like- I prefer to take my pictures square so that I can use those pictures on both Facebook and Instagram. And so that really works well.
You don't have to have, like, a super new phone. You can use any camera phone to get good shots, but lighting is a big thing and then that positioning as well. If your camera does have a little bit more capacity to catch the small detail then you might even do closeup shots, so that you can get those macro shots. There are small lenses that you can attach to your camera phone as well, a macro lens so that you can get really close detail shots and they're super cheap, actually, to get. You can purchase them at any big box store or even just off of Amazon. But as far as improving your photos, that would be the way to do it.
How can we attract more clients? So that is- that's a big one. That's a big question. As far as attracting clients for me, the first thing, hands down, that you have to do is make sure that you've identified your ideal client. You don't want to just like be throwing out like stuff to the internet and hoping that it sticks. If you are wanting to attract more clients, you need to know exactly who it is that you're attracting so that you can speak to them in their language. So that you can address them in a way that benefits them. And so that when you reach out, they're like, "Oh, this message is for me." Like, you want to have that sort of connection with your audience. So, um, that's honestly- that's like the foundation of business. Like, that's the foundation of marketing. The foundation of all sales, is you have to know who you're selling to.
So if you want to attract clients, make sure that you're creating content, make sure that, you know, in your captions, in your web copy, in the photos that you're putting out there, that it's all directed to the specific type of person who you're trying to reach and who you're trying to serve. That, 100 percent, is what you need to do. And then, you know, moving forward, you can use different marketing techniques. There's both inbound and our outbound marketing. Ideally, you'll lean mostly into inbound marketing, but outbound marketing definitely is a thing as well. But my key recommendation for anybody who wants to attract more clients is to make sure that you put the work in to identify your ideal client so that you can then make decisions about marketing more strategically in the future.
The next question was, "I moved to an area recently where there are many henna artists and they're charging much, much less than I do. Think like starting at $5 for a hand only and $20-ish for up the arm. I have taken a break from henna during the move and I will start again. I'm not sure if I should lower my prices and gain customers or try to use my same pay structure in this new area." So this is a question that I feel really confident about and I'll tell you why. I have taken my business across three different states. I started in Nebraska, moved to Texas, then moved back to the Maryland-Baltimore-DC area. And even here I've moved within two cities. So I'll tell you, moving? It can be stressful for a business owner as you're trying to, like, shift into this new market.
But I don't want you to feel like you, because you're in a new place and people are operating in a little bit of a different way, that that means that you have to change everything in your own business. On the contrary, when you come into that market, it is going to take some work on your part because you're going to have to research what's going on within the market. So you need to make sure - Hey! - you need to make sure that you take the time to investigate and research those other henna artists. It's good that you know the pricing that they're, like typically doing, but you also need to- you need to know their pricing, you need to know how long they've been doing those things, meaning how long they've been working with a client- with clients within your market. You need to know who their ideal clients are, which you can tell more or less who they're trying to reach by the things that they're saying, okay? You are going to look at what is included within their price and what's going to set you apart. So are they using natural henna? Are they providing really clean, crisp designs? Are they just copying everything that they see on Pinterest? Do they have a signature style? Do they have- like, you're going to want to research your competitors because that's going to motivate you. One, it will motivate you to do better. And two, it's going to tell you exactly how. So whatever, like, whatever holes you see in the market, whatever things you're seeing people are missing, then that's where you kind of sweep in and you fill that gap. Second, when you've moved to a new area and you're restarting your business in that new area, you really do have the opportunity to start from scratch. So now is the time also for you to redefine, perhaps, and you may not change your ideal client, but you still need to take the time to really identify who that person is in that new market. Sometimes when you move, and I say this very much from experience, is when you move, you may move into a market where the demographic that you're trying to reach simply isn't that, um, it's no longer that appealing - or maybe 'appealing' is not the best word - is not the most beneficial for your business. So you may have the- um, you may be placed in a position where it's like, "Hmm, I may need to change some things. Tweak some things and see if I can address a different demographic. See if I can address a different target market." And that's okay.
So what I would recommend is that you don't feel pressure to change your pay structure. At first, research your competitors. Research your local competitors so that you can get a better understanding of what's going on within your market. After you have that understanding of what's going on in your market, then you can come back and look at your own business and say, "Okay, what gap am I going to fill here and how am I going to do it?" And when you make that sort of definition, then you can make sure, "Okay, if I fill this gap in this way, who am I hoping to fill this gap for?" And you really clarify who it is that you're trying to serve in this new place. And then see what that looks like, um, and then, and then go for it, right? And then go for it. Uh, but no, don't feel pressure to follow the crowd. If you follow the crowd, you'll be like everyone else. You don't want to be like everyone else. You want to have something that's going to set your business apart from everybody else in the market. So find what your angle is and then go for it, like, for the jugular, okay.