Filters are great, But Great Skin is better and beautiful skin begins with exceptional skin care. The most popular skincare and beauty products no longer rely on synthetic ingredients.

Ironically, these products neither do any good to our skin nor our bodies. Their extensive use disrupts our hormonal balance, according to HT. Predominantly, the younger generation is suffering from this disorder due to its overexposure to these products. 

Social activists and social media have been instrumental in highlighting this issue and making people aware of the harmful chemicals. Consumers are switching from chemically laden skin care products to 100% organic/ natural skincare products.

Now, there is a massive demand for organic products. According to Grand View Research’s 2015 report, the global organic beauty market was estimated to be around $15.98 billion by 2020 and $48.04 billion by 2025.

This demand has opened business opportunities for people who want to focus on producing skincare, hair care products from natural ingredients.

Measure Your Success And Set Goals

Creating a digital marketing strategy for a start-up, small or medium business aiming to produce or sell natural skin care products is extremely important to set direction where you want to see it in future.

Mostly all companies’ main aim is to generate leads. But before making any strategies, it is always a good idea to do a SWOT analysis. 

With the help of SWOT analysis, any company can be fully aware of its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, which will help it make any decision.

Every company has different challenges due to its different competitive environment, market size, company size, etc.  

“SWOT analysis helps in discovering recommendations and strategies, with a focus on leveraging strengths and opportunities to overcome weaknesses and threats,” says Businessnewsdaily.

After analysing its SWOT, the company can make its short-term and long-term goals.

Goals give a company direction, clarity, focus, and motivation.

A SMART goal that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely, increases the possibility of achieving a goal.

Short-term goals can be ranging in between (0-6 months)  and long-term goals should be 6 months and above.

Digital FootPrint

For start-up or small companies with little funds, it is crucial to use digital platforms to create awareness about their product and company. This can help to maximise your customer reach. But you are not the only one in the game.

There will be more players like you in the same business so to increase your customer base , having a web page is a necessity especially now when due to COVID-19, most of your consumers can’t reach your store in person. No matter what product you are selling.

If you want to achieve your goals, it is essential to have a professional webpage for your E-Commerce business then having just a page on Facebook and Instagram.

You can get it done either from GoDaddy.com or can register it yourself on GoogleMyBusiness .

This is the easiest way to make your footprint on Google And Google Maps just with a few clicks. Here you can ask your existing customers to write reviews which will bring you on top of the local search .

Highlight Unique Selling Proposition

A unique selling proposition is an important marketing activity for any business that helps to make a relevant business strategy and to achieve it. 

The statistics below show how the global market value for natural cosmetics may behave in the coming future by evaluating previous market trends.

It is going to riseup many folds and hence you have to plan your strategy such that you can outperform in the crowd.

Following points can be helpful to identify USP:

• Focus on the ingredients used in your product that are unique to your product.
• It has to be desirable. I.e. The target customer should be really interested.
• It has to be memorable. i.e. just like the ingredients used should be unique, the logo and packaging is equally important.

Your Competitors

Yes, your competitors most certainly have a place in your skincare business strategy. You, the founder, might bring a unique perspective to your brand so in one sense you have uniqueness built into the foundations of your beauty business.

That said, you need to keep a close eye on the movers and shakers in your niche and in particular at your product range’s price point. 

Knowing your competitors keeps you on your toes and is information any investor will ask for, up front and early on.

Competitor research can help you identify areas where your brand can thrive and can show you more effective ways to grow customer loyalty – and build your business. 

See what they are doing so that you know what’s working for them and what isn’t. 

Write a list of their strengths and weaknesses to see where you can do better. You also need to know where to position yourself in comparison to your competitors.

Unleash the Potential of Content Marketing

Content marketing is one of the most powerful strategies when it comes to brand promotion.

It’s all about distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire and engage your target audience. 

This strategy and mindset should be inscribed in your brand DNA. You have to be creative with your content  and active in interacting with your customers. Better to be consistent while scheduling and posting your content.

The Glitter – Social Media

Social media are interactive technologies that allow the creation or sharing/exchange of information, ideas, career interests, and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks.

• Use trending hashtags : Hashtags will help you to get more visibility on social media channels. You can find trending hashtags on Instagram and use it with your product you are sharing.
• Add Emotions to the content: Humans are emotion driven. And adding this element with your content can help prospective consumers to get attached with your product and brand.

A good SEO is your friend to drive organic traffic to webpage

1. Having your own blog helps you to improve SEO and it is totally free.
2. Improve your webpage loading speed.
3. Optimize your URLs.
4. Make sure your website is well optimized for mobile phone users.

Implementing The Strategy 

Above was the brief synopsis about world market evaluation, ground realities and a simple guideline on how you can plan strategies for skincare business. Also what points are important to keep in consideration while making it.

Here I will explain how you can implement the points mentioned above while setting your start-up or already existing business to achieve your goals.

Identify Target

Wish to have healthy and beautiful skin is not a gender specific thing now.

So once you are determined to start your own business of natural skin products, the first thing to consider is what kinds of skin care products you would like to offer your consumers and who your target group of users would be.

The target consumers of the organic products are as varied as the products themselves.

In order to choose the right customer, it is important to understand customer interests, demographics, gender and behaviour. 

The point is, you need to narrow down your product niche so you could have a focused beauty brand strategy.

The skincare products can be classified into three broad categories, haircare, skincare and makeup essentials.

Create Community

Invest in building communities of customers and fans, via social media and other online forums.  As a beauty marketer, it’s critical that you find your brand voice and stick to the main focus of your brand. 

Inspire customers to share their feedback, beauty inspiration and tips within the groups. 

Share special promotions as an exclusive members-only offer, and collaborate with beauty experts to help people solve their beauty problems.

You can start your business with a minimum profit margin to penetrate the market and build a brand. This will help you gain some market share and recognition.

After that you can change the price based on competition and demand of your product.

Remember that your main goal is to retain customers and strengthen their connection to your brand by building lasting relationships.

Create A Webpage

To get your set goals, have a web page as a basis for future success. This will be the center where we can direct online traffic to generate maximum sales.

It is easy and cheap to get domain names by your brand name.

Branding

In the budding organic/natural skin care market , it’s critical that you find your brand voice and stick to the main focus of your brand.

Inspire customers to share their feedback, beauty inspiration and tips within the groups. Share special promotions as an exclusive members-only offer, and collaborate with beauty experts to help people solve their beauty problems.

Remember that your main goal is to retain customers and strengthen their connection to your brand by building lasting relationships.

We talked about Google My Business

This will help you to mark your digital footprint in a similar way to a webpage. It will help to drive potential local customers and get reviews on google which helps to get your brand credibility and reviews about your products. Not to forget, this is totally free.

Press and Blog the Difference

Your website or online store reflects who you are as a brand, so make sure they include all the information that both your customers and the media need.  Build a press page where you can publish all company news and brand mentions, such as interviews, press articles, bloggers reviews, awards, etc. 

This seemingly obvious step will make a huge difference in leveraging social proof of your brand value. 

You can also create a folder with company assets such as your logo, graphics, or beautiful photos of your products. This way, the media can easily access what they need – and what you want them to see – about your company’s story.

Blog

Whereas, having a Blog is again a free tool. This will help you to optimise SEO of your webpage.

Attract your customers with solutions to their skin problems!

Brands that educate their customers on their daily skincare routine build trust much quicker than those that ignore content creation. 

Your beauty brand strategy should be to post consistently, not excessively. And, with your keywords list, you already know what your potential customers want to know. Write about it! 

Make sure to create informational content that is not overly salesy. Give genuine advice on skin care. Include guest posts from influencers in your niche to stay relevant and up-to-date. If people trust your content, they will trust your new products, too!

Most importantly, remember that each blog needs to lead your customers somewhere. Don’t forget to include powerful call to action phrases in each piece! Beauty is limitless and so is the industry.

Social Listening And Micro- Influencers

Social listening is the practice of monitoring your brand’s online presence, by searching and analyzing online conversations about your company, its products, competitors, and more.

There are SOftwares which can help you do this.

You just have to choose the correct keywords like “organic skincare” ,” tea-tree oil” , “YourBrandName”.

Micro-Influencers on the other hand have become much more popular recently. Customers want to interact with real life people facing real problems and not the edited advertisements. 

Here comes the role of Micro-Influencers who can build a community based on trust and loyalty and authenticity will win the attention of customers.

Competitors

It can be frustrating at times to research your competitors as their websites might be PR speak and not give much away.

Look for interviews with the founders and follow them on all their social media to glean more.

Content Marketing And Social Media

Skincare customers are picky consumers. They tend to take their time to do their research before making a purchase, especially if they have some skin issues they want to fix.

Point here is, you should talk about ingredients used in your product

So, if your skincare products have quality ingredients (and, ultimately, they should), make sure to stress that in your content.

• Polish your product descriptions. Highlight the best ingredients and their effect on the skin. A great product description doesn’t just promise great results. You need to explain why and how a particular product can help customers cleanse the skin or smooth fine lines.
• Create a quiz. It should let your customers find the best products for their skincare routine. In the answers, explain how certain ingredients can bring the wanted results.
• Make a glossary. List and explain the skincare ingredients used in the products you sell. Make sure to highlight ingredients that are natural or hypoallergenic, people love to see those!

Social Media

Social Media is another great tool which you can use to educate  prospective customers about your products and the ingredients and market your brand.

Here is an example of how you may use social media to educate people about the products they are using which may trigger their thought about giving a trial to organic/natural lifestyle.

You can publish visually appealing and “Instagramable” content. But If you don’t have a huge budget, consider collaborating with talented amateur photographers.

Also publish “before and after” stories to prove the effectiveness of your cosmetics.

Tell your brand stories through native ad platforms, YouTube and social media storytelling platforms. Present tutorials, tips and tricks on how to apply cosmetics, product benefits and more. Share your customers’ stories and other user-generated content on your website, social media and other ad platforms – there’s no better strategy to show true love for your products!

Stay proactive and customer-centric; respond quickly and in a friendly way to customer feedback.

Place your audience, their needs, and desires at the center of all your ideas and marketing initiatives.

Collaboration with Hotels and Spa

Partnership with other brands in related industries opens more opportunities for your business. You can collaborate with Hotels, Spas or fashion companies. 

These strategic partnerships would help build brand trust and credibility, increase your reach and bring more profitability.

Testimonials 

One of the most important components on your website is consumer testimonials. It is the most powerful influencer, which helps companies show credibility and consumers gain trust in the company. It prompts consumers to make a purchasing decision by shortening the research process. Positive reviews on your website are advantageous for your business. They can attract numerous customers. 

Key Takeaways

Highlights of your Marketing Strategy

1. Segmenting the market is more important than targeting the entire market. Segmentation helps in targeting them according to the needs of each segment group. 

2. It is important to do proper keyword research before doing content marketing as it helps in understanding your potential customers’ requirements.

3. Write educational/informational blogs so that your customer can develop trust in your company.

4. It is important to create your own photo library of your creation. Remember that pictures with viral elements in it are the most liked by your customers. They engage customers more than your  promotionals posts. 

5. Small influencers on Instagram would increase your reach and help you find your niche audiences.

6. User Generated Content is another way to influence your customers and bring more credibility to your brand. New customers do not take much time in their purchase decision after reading UGC (User Generated Content).

By implementing these useful strategies you will be able to take a big leap towards profitability.