All business lessons are incomplete without reference to real world case studies! But some of them are literally a snooze fest! Hey! No offence, but often business case studies are outdated, boring, using same age old tactics and not to forget many of them sound too good to be true. After reading at least a dozen marketing focused books, the zest to know more about real world marketing strategies took me on the course of observing new and old brands. And then I came across this really interesting brand, Nish Hair!
Disclaimer: This is NOT a paid promotion at all! Rather it’s my observation on practical and logical application of marketing strategies that any business can apply!
Brief Story of the Nish Hair Brand
Pic Source: Mint
In a nutshell Nish Hair was founded in 2017 by Parul Gulati (also famously known as Malkin!) with the aim of making people with hair loss feel more confident about their appearance and normalising this extremely common issue. Parul along with her mother recognised this market gap and a huge demand for affordable yet quality human hair extensions.
Their main USP was their commitment to high quality as their products which encompasses all things hair like hair extensions, hair toppers, wigs etc., are made of 100% real human hair. The journey that began a few years back was built brick by brick and today the brand has a solid presence in both online and offline markets.
Having seen Nish Hair on Shark Tank India Season 2, I already knew that Nish Hair’s owner Parul Gulati was nothing short of a magical marketing wiz. But after observing her overall marketing strategies, a few of them literally made me go ‘Wow’! So, here’s how she turns her wand and literally sells her Nish Hair products by not being salesy at all!
Marketing Strategies of Nish Hair That Are a Masterclass
1. Converting Occasions to Opportunities
Video Source: Nish Hair Youtube
Attending a wedding? Why not turn it into your latest marketing gimmick! That’s what Parul did in one of her social media reels with her ingenious idea of ordering her product from Blinkit while attending a wedding and casually mentioning that she forgot to add her favourite addition to her hair. It served three purposes:
a. Highlighted the ease of use of her product.
b. Showcased how it transformed her appearance.
c. Spread the word that Nish Hair was available on Blinkit and you could get it delivered anywhere in 10 minutes!
Now, who says you can’t convert one reel into a full fledged marketing video?
Learning Takeaway: If you are running a product based business, all you need to do is observe and the most unique marketing video that can go viral may be just around you!
2. Catering to Multiple Audience
Pic Source: Nish Hair Website
Selecting the correct target audience is essential but if you want to grow, sometimes you need to expand the reach of your product. When it comes to hair extensions, mostly you think the target audience is young or middle aged women but Nish Hair redefined it by bringing in interesting products that cater to not only elderly women and men of all age groups but also little kids too.
Parul’s Instagram reels include everything from real women putting on the hairdos with ease to elderly ladies loving their fresh look after putting on a hair topper to even cute little girls getting party ready with those colourful hair extensions!
Learning Takeaway: Simple message, show don’t tell! Audience will relate with the product automatically when they see the transformation.
3. The Purpose is the King
Alopecia is a huge problem and not to forget multiple reasons including aftereffects of medical procedures that lead to hair loss. Also, increased stress has made hair loss the new normal. Nish Hair smartly yet responsibly addressed this huge issue balancing their business goal with the social responsibility.
Learning Takeaway: If your business has a purpose, always highlight and own it!
4. Platforms Matter
Pic Source: Nish Hair Website
How did I come to know about Nish hair? I saw it first on Shark Tank! Parul definitely converted that opportunity into a full fledged marketing campaign. When she appeared on the show, her sales skyrocketed and even post that she never shied to tell about her journey. You can still see the Shark Tank reel pinned on her Instagram page.
Learning Takeaway: When it comes to new businesses especially, finding the correct platform may help in taking that leap to take the business to the next level.
5. Community Building is Essential
The latest buzzword in the digital marketing world? It’s community building. When you successfully build your community, you not only gain an audience but they can turn into your loyal customers too. Nish Hair followed the same principle by putting in tutorials, relatable videos etc. that helped in building a strong follower base on social media and then turned followers to customers.
Learning Takeaway: Focus on building a solid community base. That not only increases brand awareness but also helps in growth of the business.
6. Power of Quality Valuable Content
Video Source: Nish Hair Youtube
Content creation no longer works. Heard this myth? That’s what it is…a myth. Nish Hair created a valuable repository of educational videos like their recent one was about a very common problem, ‘how to set a hair topper if it’s shabby after unboxing’. There was also one on ‘how to restore hair extensions or protect them from getting tangled’. Quite relatable! Now surely if your audience is searching for the solution, it’s a win from the SEO perspective.
Learning Takeaway: Creating quality content that’s original, relatable, valuable and highly searched surely helps in supporting your marketing strategy as without quality content, it’s impossible to highlight your brand’s true value to the audience.
7. Riding the Trend
Trends change faster than the speed of light nowadays but that means you have even more business opportunities. Taking the example of Nish Hair, they always stayed ahead on this, like the GenZ loves coloured hair bangs but then permanent hair colour might not be fascinating because how long can one enjoy bright red or pink hair? It can go out of fashion trend anytime! No wonder the brand’s color hair extensions took an instant liking by everyone. There was also this interesting video on Nish Hair’s Instagram on recreating viral braids with extension.
Learning Takeaway: Keep an eye on trends related to your business. Timely business decisions can ensure your brand becomes an instant favourite.
8. Relatability Works in Marketing
Pic Source: Nish Hair Website
Best way to convince someone? Show don’t tell. That’s what the majority of this brand’s transformation videos show. Like when you see the difference a product makes the chances of your audience buying it just increases proportionally.
Also a human connection matters a lot. Parul doesn’t shy away from showing her own thinning hairline while displaying the difference her hair extensions can make in bald patches or temple hair thinning. In simple words when you see these videos, you find comfort and trust in the brand.
Learning Takeaway: Create content that’s relatable and build your marketing strategy around building that trust and comfort in the minds of your audience.
9. Reach Your Audience Where They Are
Nowadays the only way for the brands to prosper is to extend their reach to where their audience is located! When it comes to hair extensions, how often would you buy it online? Like you need to match your natural hair colour to the extension, right? But Nish Hair found a work around and successfully built a system that helped in building trust with their online audience. Following it up, they slowly grew their offline presence in the form of brand stores too.
Learning Takeaway: You need to understand where your audience is based and reach them. They will only trust the brand if they can connect with it from their comfort zone.
10. Dream Turned Into Opportunity: Fashion Statement at Cannes
Pic Source: India Today
Who says something special like a dream appearance at an event can’t help you promote your business? Parul Gulati set an example by wearing a dress made of hair braids at her dream Cannes debut appearance! Yes, you read that right. The unique idea was not only off the charts but also made her Cannes debut good enough to become the talk of the town. Designed by Mohit Rai and Riddhi Bansal, the complete outfit was actually made of real human hair! It got mixed reviews but we need to accept, love it or hate it, her outfit did grab the eyeballs. Two achievements unlocked: a unique fashion statement and also putting across the word that she owns a human ‘hair’ extension brand.
Learning Takeaway: Every opportunity counts! You just need to think out of the box to find how you can balance the requirement along with exploring ways to spread a word about your business.
Whew! That was a long business case study but definitely when the businesses breaks norms with their marketing strategy, it’s like a full practical business masterclass on their own. Nish Hair’s marketing strategy is surely worth taking business lessons and notes from and I tried to cover all the points which I observed along with the learning takeaways.
Hope you enjoyed reading this case study and my observations! Which brand would you like to suggest that I can write my next case study on? Do tell me in the comments section below.
(Last updated on 18th May 2025)