Sit down and let me tell you a story

The part of my job that I enjoy the most has to be the listening and helping bit. The part where I get to find out what made a once sane and successful  individual give up the day job in order to pursue a dream of brand ownership.  I totally get why people do it,  I mean get it right and you have all of the fame, fortune and jet-setting that you can stomach but not many people get it right and that’s why getting your story straight is so important.

You have just seconds to leave an  impression on your public whether it be via social media, an in-store display or a magazine advertisement so it is of vital importance that you know EXACTLY what your ideal customer is looking. This step insures that you and your customer are talking the same language and when you talk to them nicely it’s a whole lot easier to get them to part with their cashola.

My top tips to brand success are as follows:

• Know your story.   What is your genre – lifestyle, nutrient, cosmaceutical, budget, practical, luxury, mainstream, specialised (baby)
• Know your customer.  What do they buy, how much money do they have to spend, where do they live, what do they aspire to?
• Know your formulation.   What ingredients will tick your claim and customer boxes and is what you are doing safe and legal?
• Know your retail environment.  How much space / time do you have vs others?  What else is going on?
• Know your competitors. YES even the most unusual and brilliant of an idea will either being hatched in someone elses brain as we speak or will already be out there.  Work out how you can squeeze your brand in on top!

Finally and most importantly you have to make sure it all marries up and makes sense – your story won’t make an impact unless there is some continuity between chapters.   So, we encourage you to make ‘keep it tight’ your motto and refer every decision back to your ideal customer. Would he/ she/ they buy this?

The beauty business is a whole lot of headache but also a whole lot of fun.  Keep it tight and you’ll do all right and DON”T do anything just because somebody else did.   Oh, and if you need someone to talk to give us a call.

Helping to turn your story into a successful brand