Wondering how to build a marketing strategy? The ingredients to building a beauty brand include a mix of great product, packaging, ingredients, formulations, and a very successfully planned and executed omni-channel marketing strategy. Many a start-up brand has underestimated just how much money they need to spend on marketing. Having a great product that delivers upon its promise is of little consequence if as a brand you don’t have the finances in place to market it. It’s like the best kept secret that nobody has heard about.
Brand awareness takes time to build, and without brand awareness, products are left on shelf. The momentum of your brand’s success is important, especially for large retailers. You should think about how to build your brand awareness from the moment you start creating your brand.
Building brand awareness begins as soon as you have decided upon your brand name and domain name. Start building your email list by creating a landing page to collect emails. Building your social media following can also begin early on – even without a product to sell. Instagram is a great way to showcase your brand personality and begin building brand awareness. You can start nurturing relationships with your target consumers without spending much money or exposing your IP. Over time these marketing assets will build a following for you from which you can then establish a solid foundation for your marketing strategy.
When starting out it seems tempting to outsource your marketing, after all it takes time and there is so much more you should be getting on with. Marketing is central to everything you are building as a beauty brand and the best way to understand your market is to start out doing this yourself. Your overall marketing strategy needs to come from you, you are your brand custodian and the personality of your brand.
A lot of this starts in the very beginning before you have even launched your brand. Start with creating your marketing and product strategy, then your brand identity, packaging and tone of voice, your social media, website, your marketing strategy, plan and budget and then move onto developing your marketing collateral. This will evolve over time as you build your brand and your marketing assets. Test it first and then once you understand who your customers are, build on this.
Retailers will expect you to have a solid marketing strategy, plan and budget in place. One that will build your brand, drive brand awareness and dovetail and complement their plan. One that is omni-channel and consistent across all touch points.
Your online marketing strategy may include advertising, social media, video marketing, augmented reality, webinars, bloggers, vloggers, influencers whereas above the line your strategy may include more traditional methods of print advertising, TV, PR, events and sampling campaigns. Break your campaigns down into months so that you can see at any one time what your marketing looks like week to week, with measures applied to your marketing spend, your sales targets and your ROI.
You should also have a budget in place for sampling campaigns, GWP’s, promotional funding, in-store merchandising, fixtures and fittings, events and shopper marketing campaigns.
Now that you know what your marketing strategy and plan should include, think about whether you have the time to create and deliver this yourself or whether you would be better off outsourcing this.
This is very much dependent on your time and your expertise. If you decide to outsource it, think about the expertise of the people you are outsourcing this to. Marketing covers different sectors – from marketing strategy and promotional campaigns, to digital, advertising, PR, design and product development. Before making a decision as to whether to outsource this or to bring in support and expertise, think about whether the people you are looking to outsource this to are beauty experts and retail experts who understand the industry well.
Are you looking for help with creating your marketing strategy and campaigns? Get in touch to discuss how we can help you.
We love partnering up with award-winning beauty and wellness brands, well-established companies, retailers, investors, trade bodies to bring your ideas to life. With over 60 years combined experience in building brands we know what it takes.
As a beauty brand consultancy, we support you in taking your business to the next level through strategy, brand management, product development. Introducing our 3 C’s – we draw upon years of Clarity, Creativity, Commerciality to deliver your results. We design brand identities and visual elements, create products, develop go-to-market strategies to help you to engage with your ideal customers. We work with you to develop a comprehensive strategy for your business by understanding your vision (and the marketplace) and then delving into the details to create order and structure, neatly packaged up to deliver you commercial results.
We work with clients based in different corners of the world – from the UK, to Africa, Sri Lanka, Australia, the Middle East and across Europe. Over the years we have worked with a diverse portfolio of businesses – here’s a snapshot. If you would like to discuss your ideas with us, get in touch, we would love to hear from you.
‘As a Queensland-based company, we were determined to tap into the European market and establish a strong presence. From the very beginning, Bespoke Advantage demonstrated a deep understanding of our export goals and objectives. Their comprehensive knowledge of the European market, coupled with their extensive network of contacts, enabled them to connect us with key decision-makers and influential stakeholders in our target countries. Their strategic guidance and insights were invaluable in shaping our export strategy and positioning us for long-term success.’
‘With the assistance of TIQ, we engaged Bespoke Advantage to help us enter the highly competitive but lucrative UK market. During the last few months Janet and her team have worked diligently to introduce and expose Perfect Potion to buyers and retailers we would never have been able to reach being based in Australia.’
‘Janet has a wealth of experience across retail, buying and marketing. She conducted a full strategic review of our cross functional business and the travel retail market to develop a comprehensive buying and quality control strategy that was signed off at board level. I highly recommend her as an asset to any business.’
‘Through Janet’s management skills, expertise and proven track record on the job she successfully managed the purchasing of our retail operations and ensured the integrity of our brands in-stores. Her enthusiasm and total dedication, delivered results in any project she was involved in.’
‘Janet has excellent beauty market knowledge. Level headed with clear vision, direction and the ability to drive business forward, Janet led the teams through a complete product design change advising on what the key marketing messages should be, incorporating her technical knowledge and beauty expertise.’
‘Absolutely fantastic course. Condensed learning from Janet, an expert in developing beauty brands. Also, valuable introductions to expert professionals, in the Masterclass sessions. In 12 weeks, you will learn from Janet, what would take years to learn by yourself. A very worthwhile investment’