Within the beauty industry there is strong competition, with make-up and skincare brands constantly evolving tact and marketing plans to keep favour with modern buyers. In this article we present some of the main trends of beauty marketing in 2021 followed by ideas and inspiration for beauty marketing to help beauty brands garner success and sales.
Beauty Marketing Trends 2021
There are many trends for beauty marketing in 2021, the online revolution and influencers, following on from 2020 beauty and cosmetics industry trends.
The beauty industry has long been taking the online world by storm, none more so than in 2021, doubtlessly spurred on by the pandemic and removal of in-store purchasing options. The nature of beauty purchases is, traditionally, an experience of swatches and comparing products in person. Now, beauty purchases and marketing are predominantly done online, relying on paid ads, social media accounts and ecommerce to drive traffic and revenue. In a 2018 survey, 35% of makeup shoppers discovered new products online (Facebook Business survey), a percentage that will have soared in recent times due to increased screen time.
Influencers have been the face of beauty brands for many years now, with 2021 seeing more influencers than ever posting sponsored content and advertising beauty products. As a marketing tool, influencers are critical, with an expansive range catering to anyone and everyone. Influencers are a direct way to capture the attention of an entire target audience, simply by posting a picture on social media.
Beauty Marketing Ideas and Inspiration
With the above trends in mind, here are some beauty marketing ideas and inspiration to attract the modern beauty buyer.
Video content
Video marketing has boomed in the past few years with the emergence and popularity of TikTok and Instagram Reels allowing brands to make short, engaging content. Video content, unlike static photos, can demonstrate how to use products, what it looks like, how it appears on various people and more. How-to videos and sped-up makeup routine clips may appear as helpful tutorials but can also act as effective marketing for beauty products.
Sustainable packaging
Consumers in 2021 are actively looking for environmentally friendly brands. In the beauty industry, sustainability may be reflected through the use of ‘clean’ ingredients, recyclable product packaging and company environmental ethos. Ensuring product packaging is recyclable is just one thing beauty brands can do to become more sustainable. Any sustainable philosophy and activity should be included in marketing messages to attract consumers.
Augmented reality
Augmented reality filters have taken the beauty world by storm, allowing consumers to ‘try on’ makeup, hair dye, nail polish and more. This technology gives brands the opportunity to market their products, including giving consumers the in-store experience without leaving the house. As beauty products are traditionally sampled in-store before purchase, brands that use augmented reality filters give consumer peace of mind about their potential purchases, leading to actual purchases.
Influencers
A huge portion of consumers – 67% – search for information about beauty products from social media influencers before purchasing (Harvard Business School), with less using third party reviews (59%) and beauty professionals (55%). Clearly, the namesake ‘influence’ of social media influencers is critical to the success of marketing in the beauty industry. From reviewing products, to full on endorsements, having a product on the platform of an influencer is sure to get it in front of more viewers.
As influencers usually align with certain sectors, brands can target their ideal audience, even specific subsets, by finding the right influencer, i.e. sustainable beauty, skincare, luxury beauty, indie brands. Beauty brand marketing work with influencers could include paying for a sponsored post, sending items for free with hopes of exposure, giving unique discount codes to followers, supplying giveaways and more – essentially finding a solution that works within the marketing budget and provides desired return on investment.
Streamline shopping
Having a functional website with relevant capabilities (buy online, user accounts, past orders, product recommendation etc.) is critical to the success of a beauty brand in 2021 and beyond. Beauty websites should be able to guide the user from seeing the product, to purchasing the product while advertising others, in a simple streamlined manner. Beauty brands should make sure shipping info, prices, product photos and reviews are all easily accessible to users should they have any hesitation about purchasing.
Need help building and scaling your beauty ecommerce website? Check out our helpful guide.
With social media ‘buy now’ integrations, accessible ecommerce plug ins, affiliations with Paypal and other payment systems, beauty brands in 2021 have little excuse for not having a streamlined online purchasing system.
Product samples
Consumers feel reassured and confident in purchases when they’ve had the chance to ‘try before they buy’ – especially with beauty products! In order to see what the product colour, consistency and qualities are, consumers have had to be in-store, but not anymore.
Product samples are a great way for beauty brands to get their product out in front of their target audience and increase the likelihood of repurchasing full-size products or trying something new, important for disrupting previous loyalty to a brand. Beauty brands can partner with other associated brands or beauty platforms with similar target markets to ensure free sample sachets end up in customer orders shipped across the world.
Find out more about cosmetics sampling solutions and how you can use cosmetics samples to grow your beauty business.
Brand social media
Of the makeup shoppers in the UK in 2018, 41% use the Facebook family of apps to discover new makeup products, rising up to 54% for younger shoppers (Facebook Business Survey). Beauty shoppers predominantly use Instagram daily (82%), followed by Facebook (77%) and YouTube (59%). Beauty brands who do not have active accounts across the most popular social media platforms are likely missing out on huge chunks of their target market.
Social media can be a critical part of a beauty brand’s marketing technique, reflecting the brand voice, engaging with consumers and subtly promoting products. It’s important to not just post on social media, but also to engage with comments and tagged posts from consumers, encouraging positive customer relations and the production of organic content that consumers’ followers see.
Get Started with Fillcon
Fillcon specialise in cosmetic sampling solutions, as well as filling a range of products across various industries. Whether you are a cosmetics brand in need of the perfect sampling sachet solution, an entrepreneur seeking tissue sachets, or a business requiring expert filling services, we can help! Our experienced team are on hand to help from initial enquiry right through to order completion, able to advise on a range of product packaging, shipping and labelling requirements.
