What can we learn from modern beauty brands? How a product is discovered, enjoyed, shared, talked about and purchased is almost more important than the product itself. As long as you have a good enough product, brands should focus on distribution as a brand-building strategy.
And I don’t mean just your sales channel, but really every experience that will help the product and brand message spread.
Beauty brands nowadays carefully curate an end-to-end experience that customers - and then advocates - repeatedly want to relive and that they keep sharing with others:
👉 packaging that is Insta-worthy
👉 feedback-inspiring content
👉 active and inclusive community of fans - the squad
👉 a beautifully photographable point of sale or - even better - pop-up activation (possibly including an experience that engages and takes them back online)
👉 (and last but NOT LEAST) a comprehensive social advertising strategy that channels ALL this to reach and convert similar customers and more like-minded advocates, generating a calculated ripple effect.
And there you have it: inclusive Facebook Groups that empower women to share their intimate stories even before the official product launch (ex. The Pleasurey by Bare), Slack channels to gather product insight from frequent customers and advocates (ex. Glossier), destination trips for content creation and influencer activation (ex. Wellsurfness).
The global beauty market is estimated to grow to $750 billion by 2024. Why? Because we care so much about how we look? Maybe. But it's not just that. You'll see, in fact, that the formula is replicable in many other industries: fitness brands, supplements, feminine care products, subscription boxes. Virtually any B2C.
It's because modern beauty brands managed to go deeper: they created an audience-focused, feedback-driven communities that embody a diverse, inclusive and empowered space; where people are at the epicenter, and products are tools to create their stories.
Brands like @glossier, @birchbox, @dermae, @lola, @diffeyewear (see? not just beauty!) and many more are reaping the benefits while providing value in highly engaged communities.
And yes, the formula is replicable. At Remotely, we've worked - and still do - with several beauty companies; it doesn't matter if their annual revenue is $1M, $3M or $50M, the results when building engaged communities are the same:
- Real time feedback that can help adjust a product and experience to the actual customers needs and desires.
- Plug and play, scalable demand (and yes - more cost effective marketing and higher revenue on the long term).
- Meaningful provided value that ultimately reinforces the brand. Because, you know...brand is everything.