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If youre a company in the indie beauty scene, you need to think about what strategies are available to aid your success.
And while that may sound like a daunting task, with these easy-to-apply tips you dont have to sacrifice the fun stuff like deciding between Punchy Olive or Olive Punch for your next breakout lip color.
Is Your Brand Beautiful Inside and Out? Make Sure Everyone Knows with These Tips!
Consider Influencer Marketing and User-Generated Content
In the beauty world, user-generated content is an important facet of viral marketing. Lime Crime makeup, an indie brand for unicorns and mermaids, does a great job of showing off user-generated looks shared to their hashtag on Instagram. They have a section at the bottom of each product page dedicated to How You Wear It.
This strategy creates a good experience for the buyer who wants to see how the product wears, and for the users who are excited to share their photos with Lime Crime.
If youre a new company and havent found your footing in the social world yet, it may be wise to consider influencer marketing to show your beauty brands some love.
A little hashtag research can point you to the direction of your social influencers if you dont already know who they are. Then you just need to reach out and ask if theyre willing to affiliate with you.
Affiliate programs often include some kind of compensation, often in the form of product freebies or discounts. But could also include the exchange of money for promotion.
Create a Virtual Experience
Part of the magic in sharing user-generated content is that it helps to create a virtual experience for the buyer. Providing ways to interact with products by specific beauty brands is one way to create an unforgettable experience for customers.
Take Urban Decay, who created an app that launched with their Vice lipsticks a couple of years ago. The app allows users to upload a photo and try on all 100 Vice lipstick shades before purchasing. Sephora offers a similar experience with their Virtual Artist studio.
Another idea is to create a quiz that resonates with your audience. There are many ways for beauty brands to tailor questions to the specific needs of their audience. Take, Reflect Personalized Skincare, for instance. The brand stays true to its promise of a personalized experience by offering a quiz to determine which products are tailored to your skin type.
And when all else fails to resonate with your brand, make sure to include plenty of avenues for social interaction within your target market.
Be Authentic
At the core of all indie beauty brands are personality and passion. One example is the brand Too Faced. Their marketing reflects delicious glamour that aligns their products with the natural fruit oils used in them to create a tasty scent.
But being authentic is more than smart branding. It also means engaging your audience, being transparent about your products and what they are made of, putting thought into the timing of product launches and keeping a small brand appeal that resonates directly with a specific audience.
In the complex business of beauty brands, its as important that your audience know who you are and where you stand in the beauty community, as it is that you know who they are.
Beauty Brands in the Digital Age
With many different personalities behind the biggest brands in indie beauty, there are options for every type of makeup artist, professional or hobbyist, from mermaid to foodie. That makes it more important than ever that brands compete with one another at the same level if they want to get attention from consumers.
There are three ways beauty brands can effectively market:
With influencer marketing and user-generated content
With a solid virtual experience
And with authenticity
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