It’s no secret, the beauty business has changed significantly over the years.
Beyond companies leveraging influencer-marketing campaigns to promote their brands and drive sales, consumers are demanding more multicultural product lines. This new landscape has caused much debate about how to launch a successful brand–especially in a digital age.
Thankfully, former corporate executive, Phylencia Taylor, a beauty culturalist and author of Evolving Beauty — The Business of Beauty in a New Age, is here to help beauty pros navigate unchartered waters.
“This book is a game changer,” said Lisa Price, founder of Carols’ Daughter, who also wrote the books’ forward. BlackEnterprise.com caught up with Taylor for a few tips for pro’s working in the business.
BlackEnterprise.com: What can readers expect from the book?
Taylor: Readers can expect tips for working with beauty influencers, modern tactics for longevity, proven insider tactics, and branding and product innovation tips for success. It’s also important for beauty influencers (e.g., bloggers and vloggers) to understand that they are “brands†too–service brands that have created new enterprising frontiers for women in the last 10 years.
I also wrote this book to alert brands that the diversity and inclusion struggle is not over. Though we have moved the needle forward, the struggle continues, but differently. African American (followed by Hispanic and Asian) women spend more on beauty and personal care products than their counterparts (Nielsen, 2015). Two to three times more, yet we’re still searching for the “right†products. How is that possible? Instead of launching more “Me-Too†products in a soft attempt to compete in the marketplace, brands should partner and invest in product innovation and advancement.
The sweet spot in beauty is digital, smartphone researching, shopping and purchasing integration with product innovation. Products that meet the needs of the ever-evolving multicultural consumer. Products with innovation to cater to diversity in hair textures and skin composition wants and needs.
When it comes to launching a successful beauty business, can you share a few tips?
- Know Thy Self — Brand essence–who you are, who your brand is, who you wish to become, what makes your brand special and the parameters you set for where and how your brand should live, breathe, and play in the marketplace. Knowing your brand helps define if you plan to chase the consumer or if it’s possible to shift the consumer mindset to chase your brand. Are you reactive to competitors or proactive? This is a fundamental marketing tactic that creates brand longevity.
- iSynergize & Measure — Covers the importance of creating a synergized (360°) campaign that includes traditional and non-traditional marketing, digital and the new age of beauty integration: online cultural inclusion and intelligent decision making (Beauty Breakthrough Theoremâ„¢). Also, measurement. Understanding campaign objectives and defining how the campaign will be measured in advance for success–critical to growth–Key Performance Indicators or KPIs.
- Budgeting and creating an annual P&L statement, a critical tactic that may be the most important part of the book.