3. Understand the Supply
The very first decision you must make is very practical: determining where you plan to provide the service in the future. If it's your hometown, draw a circle around it on Google Maps to locate all the artists operating in this area and beyond. Also, look at those willing to come there or who have mentioned that they get customers from this area. Many seasoned artists agree that the diameter of this circle should not exceed 120 miles (about 200 km) .This gives you an actual idea of the Supply.
Create the Supply
Table Next, make a spreadsheet table of all the artists with the services they offer and fill in the prices. If you are still looking for the prices from websites or booking systems, contact them and ask for them. It pays off to rigorously fill in the table and see their actual price level.
Factual Data from Business Databases
In most countries, you can access databases of actual financial information that artists have filed through their companies. Before spending thousands of dollars on training, spend tens of dollars on inquiries to get the financial data these artists have filed. That gives you a much better idea of what is going on. In public, everyone is doing "magnificently," but often, the financial data, on the other hand, shows quite a few smaller numbers.
Analyze Social Media Accounts and Fake Followers Ratios
We have discussed getting precise data about engagement and social media account fake follower ratios and demographics. There are several free tools that you can use for that. Add a section of Instagram accounts for each artist to your table and, at minimum, write down the follower number, fake follower ratio, engagement, and posting frequency (how many posts, reels, and stories they post per week).
Analyze Facebook Ad Library
Make systematic queries to the Facebook ad library, as discussed in many articles. See which artists are running ads and what keywords they use. Mark down the number of ads each is currently running in your area, and also make sure you analyze lips, eyeliner, and other services offered by these artists.
Check Google Ads
Next, take the time to Google all the artists on your table and see who is running ads on Google. Use the most elementary queries such as "Best powder brows in - your location - ," "The best microblading/hairstrokes artist in..." etc. See what paid ads come up and who ranks in search results. Mark down all who are investing in ads.
Use Tools to Peek into Organic Traffic
In different articles on powderbrows.com, we have discussed what tools to use to get an idea of the organic traffic of the artist's websites. Use those tools to see how much traffic they get from Google and which keywords (if any) they have built their website content around. Mark down the organic keyword traffic of each site for each artist with a website.
Both with Instagram, Facebook and Google data, it pays off to add columns to your table with different dates to see the changes in followers' growth and the advertising activity of your closest competitors. Understanding these trends gives you a very good idea of the changes in the supply in your region and the vectors different artists are on and how their advertising may have influenced follower growth.
You have to understand that there is no objective perspective that the Supply in your area would decrease significantly. On the contrary, if your prospective trainer, for example, is providing services in your area, the odds are that the number of "hungry and starving artists" you will have to compete against will likely increase rather than decrease over time.
This understanding is crucial to recognizing the market dynamics in your area and prepares you to make informed decisions. The idea is not to be dissuaded but to be knowledgeable and strategic in your approach. The more information you have, the better positioned you will be to find your niche and succeed.