This interview is with Brayden Beavis, Founder at Your Salon Support.

Brayden Beavis, Founder, Your Salon Support

Can you tell us about your background in content creation and how you got started in this field?

Sure! My journey started less with "content" and more with conversations. I've always believed that the best content feels like a conversation you want to be part of. I came from a marketing and tech background, but I saw how most content in the beauty and salon space felt flat, or too same-same. And then on the other hand, the content I was experimenting with was "too polished". So I rented a podcast studio and started creating my own short-form shows, reels, story-driven content that felt fun, and just a bit unexpected. That opened the door to building a brand that's part media, part agency, and content ultimately now sits right at the heart of it.

What inspired you to focus on content creation for businesses, particularly in the salon space?

Honestly, it came from seeing a huge gap. I am constantly surrounded by incredibly talented business owners who are creating magic every day but online, that magic more often than not does not translate. Their work is next-level, but they don't get much visibility, because there's no marketing strategy. And there's also not much appetite to invest or learn tech/marketing.

I knew content could change their minds, more than just "fill a feed". And at the same time, it could build authority, attract dream clients, and shift how YSS is perceived. So I started focusing on content that actually led with entertainment.

The salon industry is built on creativity, connection, and personal expression which, to me, makes it one of the most exciting spaces to create in.

You mentioned treating podcast interviews like a data mine. Can you elaborate on how you developed this content automation pipeline and its impact on your content strategy?

Yes! This was a game-changer for us. I realized early on that most people treat podcast content as a one-and-done moment. Post the episode, maybe clip a highlight or two, and move on. But I saw it differently. I saw each interview as a goldmine of insights, soundbites, and positioning, if we could just systematize how we mined it.

So we built a content automation pipeline using tools like N8N, AI transcription, and custom tagging workflows. Every time an episode drops, the full transcript is pulled in and auto-tagged for themes using Azure Video Indexer. From there, we generate LinkedIn insights, blogs, EDMs, and Reel hooks.

The result? We turned one shoot into 3–4 weeks of drip content across platforms, all rooted in the real voice of the industry. It removed the pressure to "create" from scratch and let us document, repurpose, and amplify in a way that felt effortless but impactful. It's honestly one of the best things we ever built.

How has your approach to Instagram marketing evolved, and what advice would you give to entrepreneurs looking to leverage this platform effectively?

Social media needs to be treated for what it is: a lead magnet. If you're not extracting data, building email lists, or moving people off the platform and into your world, then honestly? You're doing yourself a disservice. That's the biggest shift I made. I stopped obsessing over likes and started treating Instagram like the top of my funnel. My goal isn't just content for content's sake; it's to warm people up, create demand, and move them onto channels I actually own.

The vanity metrics don't bother me so much. I have had a few trolls hop into my comments talking about low engagement, but what they don't see is most of our posts pull DMs and database signups, and that is ultimately the IP I care about. So, my advice? Be clear on what you're building toward. Create content that sparks curiosity, not just engagement. And most importantly, set up the backend so the right people have somewhere to land. Oh, and use a CRM!

You've emphasized the importance of quality in your content. How do you balance producing high-quality content with the need for consistency and volume in content marketing?

Well, this is the million-dollar question, right? This is where what I call "the 80 Gate" comes in. We've just started rolling it out, but I'm already excited by how scalable it is. The idea is simple: get your content to 80% quality using systems, templates, and automation, then hire a human to bring it from 80 to 100%. That way, you're not starting from scratch every time; you're just reviewing and refining.

We use tools to mass-distribute content, whether that's auto-pulled insights from podcast transcripts, repurposed clips, or AI-generated drafts. Once it's all at that 80% mark, someone steps in to polish, stylize, and get it to brand-level quality.

That's how we balance quality with consistency. The bottleneck isn't creation. So we've flipped it: automate the heavy lifting, and focus human energy only where it counts.

It's a content engine, but it still feels personal, and that's the sweet spot.

Can you share more about your experience with the 'CAN WE GO LIVE?' show and how it has contributed to your content marketing success?

Let's get one thing clear: nobody cares about your brand. Period. And that's even more true when you're an SMB with zero reputation, zero authority, and zero reason for anyone to stop scrolling. That's the reality I walked into. Aside from wanting to entertain an industry, I also knew I wanted to accelerate the company's reputation. The show became our way of borrowing trust, building familiarity, and injecting personality into the brand in a way my home videos never could.

It's short-form, fast-paced, and filmed like a talk show, but at its core, it's a content Trojan horse. Every episode lets us put our clients and collaborators in the spotlight. Anchor our brand to smart, funny, culturally relevant conversations. Repurpose weeks' worth of content from a single shoot. And here's the kicker: most people don't even know it's a strategy. They just know they enjoyed watching. That's the point.

Now I get introduced as "The Podcast Guy" (which was never my MO, but I'll take it!). Ultimately, 'Can We Go Live?' made people stop scrolling and take notice, which was the whole game.

You've mentioned moving away from trend-following content. How do you identify and create content that truly resonates with your audience?

Honestly? I battle with this all the time. Some of my peers in the industry have these amazing content strategies that are like brain food for hair & beauty pros. But when you're fundamentally talking about tech and marketing in an industry that didn't grow up speaking that language, the questions I ask are "How do we make this fun? How do we make this light enough that people actually engage, but meaningful enough that it still lands?"

Have you ever been in a room of 10 people and watched every face glaze over the minute you say the word "SEO"? Because I have. And I get it, I'm generalizing, but at large, tech is not the native language of hair and beauty.

So the question I ask myself constantly is:

"How do I wrap something 'hard to sell' in something 'easy to consume'?"

That's why I lean into humor, entertainment, and short-form storytelling. That's why I started a show instead of a webinar series. I don't always get it right. But when I do, you can feel it. You see the DMs, the email signups, the audience actually entertained. That's what I'm chasing. I mean, we literally created "They Said It, We Reddit," where our Industry Famous guests read unhinged gossip from hairdressing Reddit threads and react to it. It's chaotic, fun, and honestly? It goes down an absolute treat.

But underneath the entertainment, there's strategy. We're meeting the industry where it's at, making it laugh, and earning attention, then layering in the message. That's the sweet spot we try to play in.

What's your process for developing and maintaining an 'always-on' marketing funnel, and how has this strategy impacted your business?

My process for an always-on funnel is simple: capture the moment, then systematize the follow-up. Every piece of content we put out, whether it's a reel, a talk show episode, or even a carousel, is designed to feed into something deeper, whether that's a waitlist, a lead magnet, or a soft CTA that pushes people into our CRM. We run about 80% of our content through paid media, because for us, organic alone doesn't cut it. But paid without a funnel is just expensive noise. Since building a backend that captures data and nurtures leads automatically, we've gone from scattered, reactive campaigns to predictable, repeatable lead gen. It's not flashy, but it means the funnel keeps working, even when I'm not.

In a digital-only brand landscape, how do you ensure your content stands out and builds trust with your audience?

Honestly, we just wanted to entertain and teach at the same time. That's always been the brief. We knew that if we could make people laugh and think, even just a little, we'd earn their trust faster than any perfectly curated feed ever could. I would get a marketing newsletter about X topic, then within the week I would see that pop up on Instagram on some coaches' posts, then a week later the same regurgitated tips across 50 other profiles. I never wanted to do that, so we focused on building a brand that felt like a person you'd actually want to hang out with. Like a cool aunt. Or that older cousin that would sneak you a drink at the family BBQ. And when content feels like that - fun, useful, not trying too hard - it cuts through. That's what makes people come back.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise. Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Don't overcomplicate it. Whether you're building a brand, creating content, or trying to grow an audience, just entertain first, educate second, sell third. If people enjoy the way you show up, they'll stick around long enough to trust you. And once they trust you, the rest is just logistics. Oh, and don't be afraid to build the thing you wish existed. That's what I did. And it 100x'd our speed of market entry.