Ask the Expert: How to sell your skill sets online – Makeup Academy

May 14, 2018 Web Developer Ask the Expert 0

Kiera Louise runs one of Manchester’s top makeup academies KLMA Makeup Academy. She’s been kind enough to provide us with an insight into how to market skills like these online to the modern consumer. What follows is a treasure trove of advice from a business leader in her field:

YouTube vs Face to Face Learning

A debate hot on people’s lips at the moment is what kind of makeup training is going to get me the best results?… and who should I be learning from?

It could seem like anyone and everyone these days can teach makeup. All you have to do is log onto YouTube and follow the steps right?…

Social media has seen the rise in beauty influencers at an all time high, some of which have no previous experience other than a love of cosmetics and are now in fact inundated with people wanting to learn their trade secrets based purely on the number of likes per post as opposed to the year’s experience and education behind them.

But is it right that because of this, the value of real education is being undercut and emasculated in all industry’s but in particular with makeup artistry.

We look at the comparisons to help makeup wannabes reach a worthwhile conclusion as to which side of the court is best when it comes to making a decision on training…

Self Taught Artists Vs Qualified Artists

It’s a sensitive subject. Now this isn’t to say that the artists on YouTube aren’t fully qualified, but a lot are self-taught and aren’t by any stretch of the imagination creating these videos from an educational point of view. In modest terms, they are simply showing you how they create a look (usually on yourself) and hoping you pick something up along the way.

However, your qualified artists that you will find in a private academy, college, or any type of face to face learning scenario, will not only show you how to create a look (usually broken down into step by step easy to follow sequences) but also explain to you the reason why, all about the products you are using and also how to transmute the look onto any eye shape, face shape or skin colour. This is a result of their experience not only as a makeup artist, but also as a qualified educator.

Being told what to do vs being shown what do

As fabulous as the quality of makeup artistry may be and the high level of skill that is possessed by said YouTube artist, at the end of the of the day it is just a person talking at you rather than to you. Face to face learning is not only having a tutor tell you how to do something, and gradually show you, but also most importantly face to face learning allows a tutor to constructively help you improve and fix mistakes. Explaining and showing you how to learn from your mistake and prevent it happening again – which someone on the other side of the screen cannot.

Free vs Payment

So of course YouTube is free. Yes, there is a tremendous amount of valuable free content online (majority, not all) and well face to face learning unfortunately in most cases is not. The old expression “you get what you pay for” stands true in this situation, so you have to ask yourself if you’re not paying what are you actually going to get? … just a thought.

Recreation vs guided practice

Recreating a look from YouTube is all well and good, however the only way you are going to get to the same level of skill is practice practice practice! With nobody telling you where you are going wrong or why yours doesn’t look like the original straight away, things may get a little frustrating. Whereas face to face, a tutor can assess how easily or not you are carrying out a certain look… If you are struggling with an individual aspect then we can see where you are going wrong and guide you in the right direction by going over it again, and again, as many times as needed until you become a master!

Set look vs tailored learning

Obviously the videos you want and are learning from are most of the time pre-recorded with not much influence from the viewers. Very often, unless you want to spend what feels like a lifetime scrolling through hundreds of channels for the exact look you have in your head that you want to learn you’re going to find it pretty difficult. With the majority of face to face learning, 1-2-1 lessons are tailored to your individual needs as a learner. At KLMA Makeup Academy, our 121 sessions are custom designed to meet your goals, ensuring we cover all that you want to learn, what products and tools you want to use, and which colours and textures you are yet to master.

Time Scale & Pacing

So on YouTube obviously you can re watch the same video over and over. You can keep replaying the last 30 seconds for 10 minutes if you need to, the pace is very much in your control. Generally speaking, YouTube videos don’t have much of a progression plan. You could have recreated a soft subtle smoky eye from a video then feeling super confident click to the next and realise it is a super defined, colourful sparkly cut crease and you’re completely out of your depth. However with a 121 or even during group lessons tutors can subtly assess you throughout recognising what level you’re at and won’t push you on to something that you’re currently incapable of creating!