When doing business as a face painter, it is important to establish where you fit in. Chances are that you provide a whole range of services for all kinds of events including birthday parties, private sessions, corporate events, and festivals. It is great to provide your service at all of these types of events, but when you have to make the big decision of deciding how to invest of your money (supplies, marketing material, etc.),  you will want to know what kind of events you would like to focus on most.  In other words, you will want to establish your niche as you grow more successful. Read over these categories and decide which niche is best for you!

How to Find Your Face Painting Niche

Festivals

For most festivals, you will pay for a space and sell your service to the individuals attending the festival. This can be a very profitable way to make money as a face painter, but it is also more expensive. Not only do you have to pay for the space, but you will also have to pay for an awning if one is not provided, travel, and marketing materials to attract people to your booth. For example, you will probably want a large printed banner and a well designed and well built menu display. If you have a bigger budget to spend on upfront costs and if you live in an area with a lot of festivals, then this may be the area you want to focus on as a face painter.

Birthday Parties

This is probably one of the most popular areas of face painting. It does not cost nearly as much as festival painting. All you need is your supplies and some simple advertising. However, most of your work will probably come through word of mouth. If you have a large network, love working with kids, and have a low budget, then you may want to focus your business on birthday parties.

Corporate Events

Events where the venue pays you directly are great because it is essentially a combination of  birthday parties and  festivals. Some venues will even allow you to put out a tip jar so that you’ll make extra money. If you want to get into these types of events, you will probably need to worry about advertising more than you would with birthday parties. I would suggest investing in a good website and an online presence in general. When these venues go to look up “face painter” in a search engine, you want to be one of the first and best ones that they see. If you don’t mind investing some time and money in advertising and if you like dealing with businesses rather than stressed out moms on their kid’s birthday, then this may be the type of painting you want to focus on.

Private Sessions

This will also be primarily through word of mouth. Private sessions are great because you can be more creative and really show off your artistic skill. Private sessions include anything from Halloween makeup to maternity belly painting. Supplies will cost more because you have to have a good selection of high quality items which may include: liquid latex, setting sprays, powders, fake blood, gems, glitter, etc. If you want to focus on private sessions, I recommend aiming your marketing materials toward adults. Don’t put a princess design on your business card if you love to do custom Halloween makeup. If you like working with adults more than kids, if you have a lot of supplies, and if you are very artistic, then I would consider filling this niche.