Many entrepreneurs who are passionate about fashion and beauty fantasise about creating their very own beauty business and brand. It’s an attractive industry (literally) and to start your own beauty business is to become part of a vibrant and potentially very lucrative business world.
There are some pretty major challenges along the way, however, mostly that competition is incredibly stiff and it’s very hard to stand out in such a crowded marketplace. Below are some tips on how to make your own beauty business and brand stand out from the crowd.
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1. Offer and Demonstrate Concrete Results
Lots of brands make claims to deliver amazing results in beauty and skincare. They promise no glowing skin with no dryness, no pimples, no blemishes; they promise people will look younger; they promise control of wrinkles…and so on. Only those products that can talk about and demonstrate concrete results, however, will be the ones that can truly stand out from the crowd.
In your marketing efforts, an example of something engaging you could do with your followers is offer some kind of time-limited challenge. You could entice them to complete a 7-day or 14-day challenge where they use your product as instructed over that period and you guarantee certain things to happen.
They can document their progress which you can then use in promotional material. Such practical and demonstrable results will serve better than any scientific word-salad where brands explain why a miracle ingredient in their formula will make people look 20 years younger with no explanation and no evidence.
2. Engage Genuinely in Social Initiatives
Find social causes and issues that you are genuinely passionate about and try to engage with them in a meaningful way. Consumers are increasingly moved by businesses and brands who are active in doing good for the community, the country and the wider world. They are also sensitive to those corporate charity and community initiatives that they more cynically view as mere publicity stunts.
Therefore, find issues that you care about, support them and work to raise awareness of them. It provides the social marketing that you need to stand out as an ethical and caring enterprise, but also won’t be seen as a publicity-seeking move on your part.
3. Create an Active and Engaged Instagram Account
While it’s true that about 95 percent of beauty brands are already using Instagram, you have to find ways to use the platform that defines your niche. It starts with engaging and regular content, and a beautiful landing page for people to scroll through. Your Instagram should tell your brand story, as well as offer an easy connection to an ecommerce shop where your products can be purchased quickly and easily. Encourage comments, likes and shares, and try to collaborate with your social causes to promote their interests on your account, too.
On the more practical side, take the time to study and get to grips with hashtags that are popular in your niche so you can use them to make your posts more visible to the people who follow those tags.
4. Build Your Fan Community
One way to keep fans of your business loyal is to ask them for their feedback and advice and then act on it. If you build a community within your business made up of fans and users of your beauty products, you can democratise the brand and inspire fierce loyalty, even if and when some things go wrong. It’s a strategy used by global beauty brand MAC who frequently asks their customers to choose their favourite shades of things like lipstick to determine special editions, as well as reflect on future product development.
