Cosmetics Advertising Guide [Strategies & Examples]
The cosmetics industry is booming, with new challenger brands joining the market seemingly every month – making it increasingly difficult to get noticed.
In recent years, U.S. beauty brands spent nearly $400 million on advertising. Ads on social media platforms, the web, and television are an integral piece of any beauty marketing strategy, alerting consumers to a brand’s new beauty products and emerging trends.
In this crowded market, eye-catching advertising isn’t just an advantage – it’s a necessity. Competing in this market demands crisp creative, jaw-dropping visuals, and punchy copy to stand apart from other advertisers.
We’re here today to ensure each of your advertising dollars is wisely spent. Read on to give your beauty ad campaigns and marketing strategies a real glow-up.
What is Cosmetics Advertising?
Beauty ads have come a long way since the introduction of cosmetics. In ancient civilizations like Egypt, Greece, and Rome, beauty products enhanced the wearers’ reputations and elevated religious ceremonies. With zero advanced technology, beauty advertising was limited to word-of-mouth testimonials and the occasional written account of product quality and usefulness.
As communication methods evolved during the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Industrial Revolution, ad campaigns became more sophisticated. These eras saw the increased usage of makeup demonstrations, product descriptions and illustrations in books, and the eventual use of print media (like magazines and newspapers) to communicate beauty products’ advantages.
Source: Vogue Archive
Today, those efforts to build brand awareness have evolved into ad spots on streaming TV, influencer marketing within online beauty communities, and paid campaigns on TikTok and Instagram. Beauty brands are present where their customers spend leisure time, ensuring their messaging reaches and resonates with target audiences.
Cosmetics Advertising Tips and Tactics
Much like the cosmetics they advertise, marketing campaigns have a special formula for success. Here are our top tips to ensure your ad campaigns shine:
Partner with Beauty and Skincare Influencers
In the world of cosmetics, “skinfluencers” hold an immense amount of, well, influence – especially among younger generations. In the last year, 90% of Gen Z beauty shoppers (and two-thirds of shoppers overall) purchased a beauty product based on an influencer’s recommendation. Influencers help your products reach your target audience, building brand awareness for a reasonable cost.
Use High-Quality Images and Professional Videos
Strong visuals capture attention and draw in your customers, setting the tone for your brand. Use attention-grabbing images in your ad campaigns to highlight your best products. Augment that experience with professional videos that showcase your products in action. These mediums together bring your brand to life and help customers make informed purchase decisions. In beauty marketing, seeing isn’t just believing – it’s converting.
Run User-Generated Content Campaigns
In the beauty industry, user-generated content is queen. Produced by customers showcasing their experiences with your products, user-generated content lends your brand an air of authenticity. Content can be varied, taking the form of makeup tutorials, user testimonials, “Get Ready With Me” (GRWM) videos, product reviews, unboxing videos, skincare routines, and more.
Share Testimonial Videos and Case Studies
Like user-generated content, testimonial videos and case studies give customers an authentic look at your brand through real-world experiences with your products. These are some of the most important factors in driving a customer to make a purchase, so give your customers all the info they need to reduce their time spent researching. Use before-and-after transformations, influencer testimonials, expert endorsements from dermatologists, time-lapse testimonials, and product success stories to highlight your products’ quality.
Create Tutorial Videos and How-To Guides
Makeup tutorials demonstrate your products at peak performance. Teach customers the best ways to create unforgettable looks with expert makeup tutorials, skincare routines, and product demonstrations. With your brand controlling the looks, this is a great way to show your products at their best and create shareable content.
Use Live Streaming
Live streaming is an ideal social commerce channel for cosmetics brands. A growing number of consumers peruse products on popular live streaming platforms like TikTok LIVE, Instagram Live, Facebook Live, and YouTube Live. To get in front of them, broadcast live makeup tutorials, product demonstrations, and skincare routines to engage with your audience in real time. Host live Q&A sessions and give customers a chance to ask their questions to facilitate direct interaction. Partner with beauty influencers to leverage their audiences and expand your cosmetic brand’s reach.
Incorporate Email Marketing
Email is one of the most efficient ways to reach your target audience and build long-term brand loyalty. It’s fast, cost-effective, and easily personalized to each segment of your consumers. Well-designed email campaigns will help your brand publicize new products, highlight customer testimonials, share special discounts and promotions, and spread the word about what’s going on with your brand.
Build a Strong Community For Your Skincare Products with Loyalty Programs
Just like their name suggests, loyalty programs are a great way to build brand loyalty. Your customers love having a direct line to your brand – these are a great way to foster conversations and provide community-exclusive content like behind-the-scenes looks and sneak peeks at new products. You can also reward your loyal customers with exclusive discounts, then encourage them to share their experiences, testimonials, and before-and-after photos to build an authentic community. You can also manage an online forum (or subreddit) for your customers to gather, share advice, and discuss their favorite products.
Recycle and Repurpose Content
Make the most out of your quality content. Once enough time has passed, reshare high-engagement posts after the first go-round to double-dip on its reach and effectiveness. If you create something for social media, repurpose it for email campaigns, website banners, and blogs. Refresh testimonials and case studies for use on social media and in ad campaigns. This will maximize reach and ensure customers are being served on every one of your channels.
Optimize Your Listings and Social Media
Keep a close eye on the performance and traffic on your webpages, social media, and ad campaigns. Digital performance is easily checked and tracked, and modern tools make it easy to pivot strategy when you see something isn’t working – or double down if it is. Do some split testing (or A/B testing) to see what creates the biggest buzz.
Use Cosmetics PPC Advertising
One of the best ways to engage new customers is with pay-per-click advertising. Commonly seen on search engines like Google Ads and social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, this marketing strategy allows you to put your brand front-and-center when a user is searching for cosmetics. Even if they’ve never considered your brand before, they’ll see your brand highlighted and potentially make a new purchase decision right then and there – or keep it in mind for the future.
Beauty and Cosmetic Advertising Examples
Beauty and cosmetics ads are integral to capturing your customers’ attention. They are a customer’s first look at what sets you apart from your competitors. Here are 5 examples of effective, visually appealing ad campaigns that built awareness and positioned brands for success:
e.l.f. Cosmetics: #eyeslipsface challenge
e.l.f. nearly broke the internet when it introduced its #eyeslipsface challenge. The most viral TikTok campaign ever perfectly communicated e.l.f.’s values of authenticity and inclusivity while attracting celebrities like Lizzo, Reese Witherspoon, and more. It showcased its edgy brand values on TikTok and further reinforced the messaging using ads on Spotify, YouTube, and Vevo.
Keys Soulcare: Let your inner goddess glow
Key’s Soulcare’s “Let your inner goddess glow” campaign centers on awakening users’ inner goddess energy, celebrating the beauty and power in the divine feminine. The founder, Alicia Keys, wanted to communicate the importance of skincare as a vehicle for taking care of yourself – not just your skin. Their “Let Me Glow” advertisement was a perfect example of this. It showcased the beauty of mature complexions, while highlighting how their serum adds even more radiance.
Hourglass Cosmetics: Unlocked
This attention-grabbing ad campaign spotlights where ethics and action intersect, utilizing star power to build awareness around its vibrant new Red 0 lipstick. The campaign points out that carmine, a widely used red pigment, is derived from crushed female cochineal insects. The whole thing felt like a major whiff on the ‘girl power’ front and posed an animal welfare concern for an increasingly conscientious audience.
The brand partnered with a number of women who have dedicated themselves to diverse social causes, including malaria prevention, ending gun violence, and protecting the LGBTQ+ community. It invites in listeners with a purpose, using the cruelty-free makeup as a jumping point to think about all the big and small ways we can change the world.
Fenty Beauty: Beauty for All
This campaign shook the industry when it put underrepresented, underserved women front and center in a global prestige beauty campaign. It paved the way toward becoming the biggest beauty brand launch in YouTube history, driving huge commercial success and immense brand loyalty from early customers. The creative was edgy, provocative, and attention-grabbing.
Dove: Real Beauty
This industry-leading campaign challenged industry beauty standards, presenting women of different sizes, ethnicities, and backgrounds. Not only did this ad campaign transform the industry with joyful and celebratory creative; it also captured new audiences as often-overlooked demographics finally felt represented in beauty advertising.
Conclusion
By blending these strategies and drawing inspiration from successful campaigns, your brand can capture attention, highlight your products’ unique features, and make a bold statement to cut through the crowded marketplace.
Now that you’re armed with these top tips and examples, you’re ready to give your advertising a serious glow-up and leave your competitors in the dust – no primer needed.
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