I Can't See You

I had a heated discussion with a good friend of mine who was expressing her deep frustration about not being able to find a quality loctician* in New Orleans. My definition of a good stylist is one who is precise, professional, attentive, reasonably priced and respectful of my time. Frankly, these ‘good stylists’ are hard to come by for reasons my friend and I tried to get to the bottom of.

Good stylists are Virtually Invisible.

The ‘heat’ in the discussion came about when I rationalized the lack of online visibility of some business owners. 1.) Some business owners can’t afford it. 2.) Some don’t know any better. 3.) Some can’t handle the extra business that an online presence might bring. 4.) Some just don't have the time to even think about it.**

My friend said something like, “But still, there is no excuse for this!!” Doing a Google search, she had to go through somebody that knew somebody that kind of knew somebody else just to get a few dead end responses on her quest to find someone who could cut, color, twist and style her dreadlocks while her regular loctician is on maternity leave.

I had to do some investigation of my own. I rave about my stylist Deedie. (She gets me right.) However, the only proof that I have of her work is my own hair. I did a search for her and her salon online and found nothing. How did I find out about her in the first place? You guessed it: Word of Mouth.

These days, word of mouth should not be a business owner’s only source of advertising. The truth of the matter is that these days, everybody wants to see what you have to offer before they put their hair in your care. We want to see pictures of past work. We, at the least, want to be able to find you in a Google or Facebook search!

My friend's (and now my) issue is not just about not being able to find a stylist. Her delimma cracked the surface of a more deeply rooted problem. When it comes to Black owned businesses (in general), we tend to overlook certain necessary investments because we don’t see the value in them off hand. We rely on antiquated tactics such as word of mouth, flyers and business cards because they are practical and cheap inexpensive. I’m not knocking any of these marketing tools because they still work. However, there are so many ‘free’ online resources that can be utilized to increase the virtual visibility of small Black-owned businesses.

There are ways of getting around paying web hosting fees. Google allows people to build their own website FOR FREE. Most people use Facebook for personal reasons but it can be used for business reasons as well (and it’s FREE).

They say that word of mouth is the best advertising. Well, people don’t talk so much anymore—they text. They check your Facebook. They look for you on Twitter. They browse recommended websites. If you own a business and you want to ‘make this money’ but you’re virtually invisible, you may soon find yourself only maintaining and not growing your business. There’s another saying that goes, “Anything that's not growing is dead.” Let's do better, people.

*A loctician is one who specializes in the care of dreadlocks.

**If you need a marketing consultant, I know some people. And, they have websites. And Twitter accounts. And LinkedIn Profiles.