The Challenge
“South Park Stylist” is a great example of a social business built from the ground up by our team. South Park Stylist’s founder and proprietor, Alison, gives a great haircut and even offers to travel to client’s homes, making her an ideal candidate for getting new clients via social media channels.
Key Components
We built this business by collaborating closely with the client to truly understand her vision. We were crucial to ideation and implementation for each key component: naming, branding, pricing restructuring, technology implementation, and promotion.
Brainstorming and Branding
Discovery: South Park Stylist as a business was started with a simple conversation: “Why aren’t you charging more for this?” After a set of three meetings, we had a understanding of how build the client’s hobby into her own business.
Branding: We began by asking the client for a “folder full of stuff you like” to serve as a guideline to her personal taste and style, critical for social media success with a one-person shop. Collaborating in person, over the phone, and via email, we built South Park Stylist’s branding guidelines, colors, fonts, and name.
Tools and Tactics
Square: We connected South Park Stylist with the latest in mobile payment technology. Using Square freed our client to charge credit cards in the field. A double-win, as Square was just launching their service in a similar demo to huge press and accolades.
Twitter and Foursquare: We set up a Twitter account for the client, and recommended Twitter + geolocation with Foursquare to announce locations, thank customers, and build new interest.
Moo Cards: Moo is the fastest, least expensive way to get professionally-branded business cards into the hands of clients who then recommended her services to friends and family.
Facebook: At our recommendation, the client used Facebook consistently to tap into her personal network. We also reommended a light touch when broadcasting via her friends-and-family network to keep credibility with those clients.
TypePad: We built Sopastylist.typepad.com to showcase photos of happy customers. We chose TypePad and completed all of the setup of a “microblog” site, enabling mobile posting from the field.
Word of Mouth: We built a new client base centered by direct outreach to HR managers for South Park technology companies. These HR managers had access to employee’s schedules and internal mailing lists, and we provided managers with easy-to-customize copy to spread the word.
Results
South Park Stylist has built a loyal customer base of more than 50 new clients.
She’s increased her prices by 400% by adopting our recommended pricing tiers. She’s also cut her travel costs by 60% by having more people in one place at a time.
A fitting coda that speaks to the speed of our combined success: she’s now interested in social media management as a part-time job.
Ginevra Kirkland 