For beauty businesses, nailing the build-up to a product launch can be a tricky balancing act:
Start too early, and there is always a high risk that many potential customers won’t remember your product by the time it’s fully available.
But there are plenty of options for brands that want to run an inexpensive—but impactful—beauty marketing campaign that will hype up their products in the weeks before the official drop.
As a general rule, leaning into the power of social media tools is often the way to go:
Social media platforms are now major marketing channels for e-commerce, especially for the beauty industry. Companies should be sure to take advantage of in-app tools as they prepare for their product launches.
On Instagram, for instance, they can promote products on the app through the Instagram Drops tab. It highlights the product—along with images and a product description—before it’s even out.
Similarly, other in-app tools let brands schedule online events to promote the launch of their products.
Many brands are currently experimenting with Twitter Spaces, the app’s audio-only chat area. Brands can schedule events on Twitter Spaces in advance, and set up notifications to remind their followers to tune in when the event starts.
If you feel unsure about what you're doing, or if you want to get an extra boost from an audience that's very different from your own, then it might be worth reaching out to companies that stage product drops on a regular basis.
The livestream shopping network NTWRK, for instance, recreates the feel of a shopping TV show. It regularly hosts exclusive product drops for a wide range of demographics.
In 2020, it said that most of its streams saw around 100,000 live viewers, and those numbers have almost certainly increased since.
If NTWRK isn’t a fit, beauty and skincare brands can also try to work in partnership with similar platforms that livestream product drops, including the beauty-focused livestream network NEWNESS.
Identifying a few important influencers and bloggers to post testimonials about your product in the weeks leading up to the official launch can be a great way to build buzz.
To locate influencers, beauty and cosmetics brands should look to online databases like Upfluence or to in-app tools like the TikTok Creator Marketplace.
Of course, you should approach influencer marketing before your product is out with some caution. If you send giveaways to too many influencers, you might spend a large portion of your marketing money too early.
If you're after niche target audiences, working in collaboration with micro-influencers instead of bigger names may be better. Picking a few key people to promote your skincare product, for instance, can create an aura of intrigue and illusion without strapping your entire budget.
It’s easy to forget that your pre-existing followers and loyal customers are primed to become brand ambassadors in their own right.
When L’Oreal Paris was launching its new hydrating shampoo, Elseve, it decided to turn its hair care product launch into a meme on TikTok:
In this case, the company’s use of paid advertising on TikTok helped optimize their marketing efforts, but it’s also possible to run a similar campaign without spending as much money.
For instance, consider turning your hashtag challenge into a contest.
Set it up so that your followers who post the best pieces of user-generated content (UGC) are given free products before the launch. That way, you can organically boost brand awareness without breaking the bank.
When promoting an upcoming launch, you should be attentive to the customer questions that will inevitably pop up.
To drive people's purchase decisions and conversations surrounding your product as soon as it hits the digital shelves, brands need to address any questions and concerns that might come up. The best strategy is to stay active in the comments on social media.
If you don’t have time to respond to all your comments on social, Chatdesk can do it for you starting at $99/month. We recruit and train fans of your brand to actively respond to questions or concerns in the comments on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter. Brands who work with us see a 15% higher conversion rate on social media. Schedule a demo with us to learn more about how we can help you maximize your product launch.
