What to learn from Glossier, the marketing machine?
- Julia Hong
- 26 nov. 2019
- 4 min de lecture
Dernière mise à jour : 30 nov. 2019
Created in 2014 by Emily Weiss, Glossier, American digital cosmetics brand, truly redefines the marketing codes of the beauty industry. “Direct-to-consumer” and “category-agnostic”, the brand now experiments a huge success. Nevertheless, the packaging is not especially eco-friendly, nor the ingredients particularly organic. So how can we explain this success? In this article, I will analyze what Glossier does differently from its competitors, and how its innovative strategy allows the brand to thrive.
From a blog to a beauty brand
Former Vogue staffer, Emily Weiss launched in 2010 her beauty blog “Into The Gloss” where she writes about celebrities beauty routine. Her blog reunites 2 million visitors per month, among them, 50% lives out of the USA. The column “Top Shelf” gives the readers a glimpse into the celebrities’ bathroom and their favorite beauty products through interviews. From Kim Kardashian to Karlie Kloss and Bobbie Brown, the readers feel like they are sharing beauty tips with their friends. The main message spread is about self-acceptance and the democratization of the beauty. One observation is raised from all the learnings Emily got from her blog: Millennials are looking for a personalized experience, they trust the reviews they read on YouTube and beauty blogs, and want to have a close relationship with brands.
First learning: involve the community
Glossier doesn’t fake to involve its community for each step of the creation of a new product. For instance, the first formula of the hydrating cream ‘Priming Moisturizer Rich” was sent for testing to some consumers. Beforehand, Glossier team has identified the expectations and the needs of potential customers thanks to the comments written on the blog. The final version of the cream was then sent in preview to one thousand most active and influential brand’s fans. Even before the launching of the cream, those fans were allowed to give their feedbacks online, creating excitement and the desire to buy among the community.
Second learning: branding at its best
Glossier excels at branding. They use a special shade of pink on their packaging, on their website, in store, in their Instagram feed. This pink is really recognizable, so recognizable that the community dedicate it a hashtag: #GlossierPink. By associating this color with everyday objects, Glossier secure a total presence.
Another part of branding is the message shared which promotes diversity and celebrates uniqueness.
Third learning: the crucial role of social media
As a DNVB, the role of social media is central. DNVB are Digitally Native Vertical Brands, born with the digital revolution and focusing on the virtual shopping experience and the delivery of quality product with a fair and transparent price. Those new brands set a direct and trust-based relationship between the customer and their product through social media for instance.
With an Instagram posting frequency of about once or twice per day, Glossier promotes its products but also shares quotes from celebrities’ interviews made for Into The Gloss blog, or just posts a cute puppy photo wishing everyone a good day. The followers share those posts online to their community or talk about the brand directly to their friends. Emily Weiss estimates that 90% of the brand growth is generated by world-of-mouth from the loyal consumers.
The packaging itself is worth to be taken in photo and shared on Instagram. For instance, on the masks’ packaging stands a beautiful illustration. The strategy used here is to leverage UGC (User-Generated Content), from regular consumers to celebrities.
Fourth learning: a brand incredibly close to its customers
To differentiate from their competitors, brands have to build long-term and deeper relationships with their customers. To achieve that, brands can use personalization, special offers, and remember the taste and previous purchases of their customers.
Glossier has successfully set a strong relationship with its community thanks to “down-top” exchange, from consumer to business. To design its services and products, the brand gets its inspiration from its community. The customer-focus brand is always seeking to answer the community needs the best way possible, and you can spot it only by scrolling the comments section under an Instagram post. Each member of Glossier team from marketing to customer service has access to the Glossier Instagram account to answer the customers comments and private messages.
Authenticity is key: Glossier creates tutorial videos on Facebook Live staring its own employees directly from the New York office. The customers have also the possibility to reach a Glossier staff member through “FaceTime”, or Slack. The Slack display more than 2600 messages per week!
The brand even uses profitably its community. Indeed, 17% of its revenue comes from affiliation. Glossier hires influencers on Instagram and YouTube to create content promoting their products. Those influencers then get a commission according to the sales.
Fifth learning: from digital to physical touchpoint
Glossier is now even closer to its community thanks to its brick and mortar showrooms in Soho, New-York, and in Los Angeles. I will detail the customer experience in store in another article. To be continued!
Fun fact
Since its launch, Glossier has France in mind. The names of the products and their instructions for use have always been translated in French. In October 2018, the website extended the delivery to France. Their moto to conquer our beloved country? Liberté Egalité Glossier…
Sources:
RATANJEE V., TSCHIDA T., “3 strategies for humanizing the digital customer-experience” Gallup.com (2019)
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