Smart Ways to Market Art

OK, you’ve got your nail art techniques down and you have an array of design ideas stored up in memory, but how do you put the word out about your talent and sell the service to clients? Nail artists share their approaches:

Tanis Darling, (Perfect Ten, Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada): I opened my salon a year ago and at the time there was no nail art to be seen in town. Knowing that I had to create a demand and then fill it, I would whip out my striper brush after polishing each new client’s nails and paint some very simple stripes or feathering in gold or silver. Each client asked, “What are you doing?” I’d tell her I was customizing her nails with a little nail art and although I usually charged for the service, since she was new, I would treat her. Nail art turned out to be a great source of income for my salon.

Terri Taricco, (R.G. Shakour, Westboro, Mass.): At my former salon, we applied Velcro to nail art tips and put them on everything — our business card holders, literature holder, and cash register. We replaced the tips with new designs as the season- changed. If we liked a particular nail art photo of our artwork, we’d blow it up into a poster and hang it on the wall. We also made some of the nail tips into tie tacks or pins and wore them on our lab coat or lapel. This always got customers talking.

Elaine Raymond, (Nail Envy, Biddeford, Maine): Because I love nail art so much, my husband built the most fabulous table with a sunken center and glass top to display my nail art. My clients can sit and overlay on one nail so that the art lasts longer. In return, the client usually requests the new system on all of her nails.

DeEdra Carter, (Fortune 500, Rogers, Ark.): I display my nail art tips that can be worn year-round in an 8- by 10-inch shadow box. The shadow box has a black velvet background, so I use contrasting colors to paint the designs, then glue each tip to the velvet. For seasonal nail art, I display my tips in a 5- by 7-inch shadow I box and match the back-ground to the season. The displays keep my nail art clean, and are a professional way to show off my work.

Cathy Reynolds, (Impressions Beauty Salon, I Summerville, S.C.): I have found the best way to market my nail art is to wear it. It attracts a lot of attention and you can hand out a I business card when you accept the compliment. I ah o keep nail art display boards near my workstation as well as a scrapbook.

Rima Kitsko, (Spoiled Rotten Nail Studio, Indianapolis, Ind.): I have a three-ring binder in the reception area that’s filled with nail-related items of interest to clients. Inside my “Nail Book” are plastic sheet covers containing magazine and newspaper articles, trends in polish and nail shapes, nail art photos, and nail jewelry catalogs. I also have a client who is my nail art model (and guinea pig). I do her art for free and in return she passes out special cards that entitle the bearer to free nail art with any paid service and gives them the option of becoming one of my models. I also have black and white business cards with an outline of a large fingernail on the front, which I fill in with nail art.