We’ve got a magical feeling about this year, this is the first time in a long time that we have started the year feeling excited. With so much in the pipeline, we can hardly wait for the year to unfold. We are also very clear that things don’t happen on their own, that to progress we need to act and to put the wheels into motion. Each year we choose a word that is our overarching message for the year. This year it is FOCUS.
As business owners we all know that working on our businesses is something we should prioritize, finding the time, space and inspiration however to make this happen can often be difficult. That’s where the Bespoke Advantage Beauty Workshops really come into their own. This is your opportunity to surround yourself with creativity, to be inspired and to take your brand up a notch or three! Time to step away from everything that distracts you and to focus on your ideas, your vision and your strategy to move forward. We will be running a lot more workshops, events, masterclasses to train, to guide and to inspire you.
Our brand positioning statement is ‘bringing beauty to life’ and our brand promise is ‘we exist to help you to bring your brand to life’, so we are going to do be doing our utmost to deliver this, in every way possible. If you are looking for motivation, inspiration or expertise, we will be providing this to you in the bucket load for free across our website and on all our social media channels. To ensure that you make the most of this, just follow us on Instagram and Facebook.
A lot of what we have in store for you, is still under wraps so we can’t share the full details with you now, but we will be sharing a sneak preview with you very soon!
What we will leave you with for now are our top ten tips for making this a truly spectacular year:
* FOLLOW A PLAN – ‘If you Fail to Plan, you are Planning to Fail’ Benjamin Franklin. Ensure you have a plan that you and your team can clearly follow, don’t start the year thinking you can make it up as you go along. Equally don’t have such a rigid plan, that you don’t provide room for unexpected opportunities. The idea of a plan is to provide you and your team with clarity, focus, structure. A good plan saves you time so that when unexpected opportunities come along, you have the time to respond wisely to the right opportunities.
* CUSTOMER IS KING – without a customer, you don’t have a business. Listen to your customers, know exactly what they want and ensure that they understand why you are the right person to help them. Allow yourself to be guided by their needs, develop your products and your services to deliver this.
* BE DISTINCTIVE – To stand out in a crowded marketplace, be personal, be relevant and share your passion. People buy into what is most relevant to them.
* BE AUTHENTIC – ‘Be yourself, everyone else is already taken’. Authenticity is very refreshing, show up as your true self and don’t copy others. The benefit of being yourself, is you will automatically stand out as a distinctive brand, after all your competitors can’t copy you if they don’t know what you are going to do next. Through sharing your unique strengths you automatically stand out as different. It is far easier being yourself, and it elevates you and your business in a positive light.
* BUILD A SOLID BRAND IDENTITY – ensure that you have developed a strong brand identity. Work with a designer to create your brand pack – logo, tagline, colour palette, patterns, typography. Craft a strong brand story, know exactly what you stand for.
* CREATE LASTING VALUE – provide your customers with a product or service that makes a difference to their lives. Leave them feeling happy to have worked with you, an end result that provides them with a feel-good factor.
* IMPLEMENT SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES – it is far easier to run your business when you have clear systems and processes, and it saves you and your team considerable time, so plan, plan and then plan again.
* DELEGATE – trust in people, collaborate with like-minded businesses, delegate work to your team to free up your time to really FOCUS on your vision for your business.
* SHARE, SHARE AND THEN SHARE SOME MORE – be open, be honest, share stories, products, behind the scenes videos and inspiration with your customers across your website, social media, videos, podcasts and webinars. Really put yourself out there and build a real relationship with your customers.
* HAVE FUN – “A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts.” – Richard Branson. If you are not having fun, what is the point of building your business. You can’t show up every day and deliver, if you are not doing something that makes you truly happy.
Good luck, enjoy and make this a year that you will truly remember!
Welcome! We hope our blog is a source of inspiration for you, providing you with insight, knowledge and a vision for creating your brand. Think big, plan carefully and follow your creative ideas.
We love partnering up with visionary entrepreneurs and organisations to develop new brands in this industry. Our team are passionate and insightful professionals with years of experience – in strategy, branding, product development, buying, category management, global marketing, contract manufacturing – to help you to create, develop and grow your business.
Straightforward, positive, creative pragmatic thinkers, we believe in telling things the way they are. We work with you to develop a comprehensive strategy for your business by looking at the ‘big picture’ and then delving down into the details to create order and structure, neatly packaged up to deliver you commercial results.
Our founder Janet Milner-Walker has worked with leading brands and companies across the beauty, retail, travel retail and luxury goods sectors in the UK, Dubai and South Africa. She founded Bespoke Advantage as a beauty brand management company…
‘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 is one of the best people I have ever worked with in my career. She fully understands the whole process of product development, supply chain and marketing. Janet has in-depth experience of toiletries and international retailing. I would recommend her to any company or client.’
‘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.’
‘I highly recommend Bespoke Advantage to business owners across the beauty, spa and wellness industry. Janet has been a fantastic support to my business. Through her in-depth knowledge of the beauty industry she has provided me with strategies specifically tailored to my business needs, to help me to grow my business across the marketplace’.
‘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.’
‘Janet is extremely professional, knowledgeable and thorough, an expert of her field. This shone through from our first conversation, which instinctively led me to want to work with Bespoke Advantage. As a new skincare brand the expertise of Bespoke Advantage has been invaluable.’
‘Janet, absolutely fantastic to meet you today. Thoroughly enjoyed The Beauty Workshop. You definitely excel in your area and beyond.’
‘We have been really pleased to work with Janet. Through her 6-Month online coaching program she showed us exactly what we needed to do each step of the way. Really look forward to having future opportunities to work together.’
‘Many thanks again for all the help, support and words of encouragement, as I said before, best and most sensible thing I’ve done in developing my beauty ideas is to engage with you!’
‘It’s been inspirational working with Janet. We are in the process of launching a skincare brand however have received conflicting opinions from so many people we were really confused. I am so impressed by Janet’s knowledge and experience in product development, marketing and retail and the way she explains everything so clearly. She is very motivating and positive, and so much fun to work with. I have much more clarity and confidence in how to move things forward.’
‘Bespoke Advantage helped us to bring our brand to life creatively and strategically. We have a clear strategy in place, with a distinctive brand message that enables us to articulate our brand to retailers and to journalists.’