12 Best Marketing Ideas for Makeup Artists

In this article, I’m covering the most useful marketing ideas for makeup artists who’d like to take their business to the next level. You’ll learn about how to promote your makeup business and how to promote yourself as a makeup artist.

Here’s what you need to do to promote yourself as a makeup artist.

1. Build an eye-catching makeup artist website

When it comes to the best makeup artist promotion ideas, it all starts with existing online as a business. For that, you need an attractive website for your makeup business marketing. It helps you showcase your portfolio and present your skills to potential clients.

If you don’t have a website, you can actually build one yourself. It’s quite easy actually, and you don’t need any technical or design skills. I actually created a simple makeup website on wix.com in a matter of minutes, while working on this article, to show you how easy it is.

I chose to create a website instead of giving you examples of the most famous makeup artists’ websites. You probably follow some famous makeup artists already, and even if you don’t, Wix has stunning website templates for makeup artists.

The pages you could included in your makeup artist website:

• Home page – for which you can choose spectacular pictures targeted at your primary audience and clients
• Online booking – because you want to be relevant and very professional.
• Portfolio – one tip for building a professional online portfolio is to work with a photographer.
• Services – this is where you should include the services you offer and mention your pricing.

• Blog – a great way to inform and instruct your clients while showcasing your skills. Blogging can help you get to be recognized as an authority in your field, and it’s a great makeup artist promotion idea for your business.
• About me – especially if you’re a freelance makeup artist, but if you’re working in a salon too, this section of your website gives your potential clients the chance to find out more about you both as a business owner and a person as well. It’s your bridge for building trust and demonstrating your passion for your job.
• Weddings – if weddings are the largest part of your work, you might want to have a page, especially for wedding makeup. It’s there where you’ll include all the details of your work, providing full info for wedding services, and showing some spectacular brides wearing your work of art on their happy faces.

Remember that makeup is very visual. Therefore good photography can enhance your work and emphasize your skills and talent online. Create a “take my breath away” website with that in mind.

2. Create a great makeup portfolio (Online & Printed)

Your makeup artist portfolio displays your best work, and you need a stellar portfolio as part of your makeup artist marketing.

A collection of the absolute best pictures of your work on yourself, or others, is what you want to include in your portfolio.

While an online portfolio on your website is fundamental in your makeup artist marketing strategy, consider having a printed portfolio with photos of your best work as well. You can use it for displaying it at the salon or other in-person events.

If you’re just starting as a makeup artist and you’re wondering how to build your portfolio, start working for free on your friends and family. This will give you a great way to build your portfolio to show to potential clients.

Just make sure, that your friends, family, or the models you’re using give you permission to post their pictures on social media and other advertising materials. And remember that you must have the best lighting for taking the photos of your models.

The focus of the picture is on your makeup. Eliminate any other background elements or clothing that might distract from the person’s face, and just have the face and your work featured in the pictures. And also, as much as possible, you’ll want to work with a professional photographer.

3. Create your own makeup face charts catalogue

There’s no better way to show people how talented you are than by creating a face charts album. When you have a before-and-after photo album, your gorgeous clients might be amazed about how beautiful the makeup you created looks on a client of yours. The trap is that the same makeup doesn’t look the same on two different persons. Never. Therefore, a better option to market your makeup artist business is by creating a makeup looks catalogue with face charts.

You can find them on the Mac Cosmetics website or everywhere else on Google, or, why not, you can draw them yourself.

First of all, create or download multiple makeup face charts. Then, create different types of makeup on each of them, just so you can reach an interesting and harmonious makeup album. Don’t worry if you fail one or two: the advantage of creating a makeup look on paper is that you can throw it away and start again at any time.

So, are you ready to inspire your clients with some makeup looks in your new face chart catalogue? We’ve created a tutorial on this subject that you can check out right here.

4. Get an online booking system

This is my favorite makeup artist marketing idea. It’s not that popular, and that’s why it’s perfect. It’s also free.

Every professional makeup artist should have a convenient booking method posted on their website and social media channels. If you don’t already use one, I promise you; it will change your life. You’ll get more appointments with less effort.

While there are many tools out there, my favorite is the Goldie app. It’s easy to use and free, so give it a go and see how it works for you. This is how your Goldie online booking page could look:

It makes it easy for potential clients to book appointments with you via your “Book Now” button and see your availability online. So it’s a win-win situation both for the makeup artist and the client. Here’s a guide on integrating your Goldie online booking page with Facebook and Instagram.

To install the Goldie app, download it from the App Store if you’re using an Apple phone or from the Play Store if you’re using Android.

5. Reduce your no-show rate

At any point, you might find yourself in your makeup artist career, one thing is most frustrating for everyone: clients forgetting about their appointments.

A no-show rate of 20% is not uncommon among businesses that work on appointments. Goldie, the app I mentioned earlier, also sends automated text message reminders to your clients. It can reduce your no-show rate to almost 0%.

You’ll be surprised at how grateful your clients will be. Plus, you’ll get so much peace of mind, knowing that your clients will be reminded of their appointments. You can also ask them for deposits or full payments, so you can make sure they show up. secure your income and don’t have to deal with cash anymore.

Even the best marketing ideas for makeup artists won’t help if your clients forget to show up.

6. Use Social Media channels for your makeup business

Many people think that being on social media is a great idea, mainly because it’s an inexpensive way of promoting your makeup business.

While it’s true that it doesn’t cost much money to be on social media, the real cost lies in your time and consistent work to build the right makeup artist marketing channels and update them regularly.

Social media is so vast and important in marketing for makeup artists, that we’ve created a whole article about it. Read more about social media marketing for makeup artists.

7. List your makeup business on Google Maps.

When potential clients look for a makeup artist on google, the search engine immediately shows them the results on “makeup artists around them” from Google Maps. Is your business registered on Google Maps?

One of the best makeup artist promotion ideas, which too many people ignore, is to be where their clients are. And everyone in this day and age uses Google for any of their services needs, including makeup artist services. In order to be found quickly and interact with more potential clients, your makeup business must be registered in Google Maps.

All you have to do is to go to Google My Business and list your makeup business. It’s a free service from Google that allows you to promote your business profile on Google Maps. Google will send you a letter by mail to confirm the exact location, so pay attention when filling in the info to include the right address.

8. Sell gift certificates

What more special can a woman get than a makeup gift card? She can use it to get pampered before a special social event or a holiday, and you, the makeup artist, will make her feel like a million bucks.

This makeup artist marketing idea can be used successfully to expand your client base. When one of your clients buys a gift card for a friend, you get to win another appointment and possibly another long-time client. So make sure you always have gift cards to sell to your clients.

You can order printed makeup artist gift certificates from Zazzle.

9. Offer loyalty cards with discounts for your clients

The best makeup artist advertising ideas make your clients feel appreciated. So reward their loyalty using loyalty cards. Zazzle also has great printable loyalty cards for makeup artists.

For example, for every 5th makeup service with you, your clients get a freebie or 30%-50% off. It can even be in the form of a free makeup session, or if this would be too much of a stretch for you, think about offering a considerable discount.

10. Ask for client referrals using personalized cards

Having a referral system is part of a great marketing strategy for makeup artists. This idea goes with the loyalty card tip. And again, Zazzle also has printable makeup artists referral cards.

Your client has the incentive to recommend your services to a friend. And as you get a new client, it’s only fair for the client who made the referral to get a little bonus. It can be 20% off their next visit or another freebie you can provide.

11. Partner with photographers

Partnering with another professional can bring you both more business. An important tip here is to contact and partner with photographers who are at a similar level in their career as you are.

The next video covers some of the situations you might run into when working with photographers. It’s a useful resource discussing what you can expect at different levels in your career. Check it out to find out how good partnerships are part of makeup artist marketing. It will also give you some ideas about creating your portfolio, which we discussed above.

12. Be present at local fashion and bridal shows.

Participate in local fashion shows and bridal shows in your area to advertise your work. How is this a makeup artist marketing idea? Get a booth and do some makeup magic on the attending brides-to-be and models at the event.

Interact with other professionals from the artistic field. Event organizers, hairstylists, wedding planners, etc., are always in contact with clients who might need makeup artists.

Being present at these networking events will transform you into a great networker, very important for your makeup artist marketing.

Conclusion

That’s how you promote yourself as a makeup artist. Can’t wait to hear how implementing these makeup artist promotion ideas works for you. Feel free to share your feedback in the comments section below!