The Basics Of Cosmetics Branding: Building A Beauty Brand

The key to helping your cosmetics business stand out from the fierce competition, beauty branding helps you cut through the clutter, appeal to your ideal audience, and elevate your brand to the next level. 

When it comes to building your beauty brand, there are a few key elements to address first. Before you can decide on colors, logo designs, website branding, and imagery, you need to understand your business at its core. 

All of the visual elements will be decided by your brand identity, which is built up of things like who you are, your mission, and your audience. To help you get started on the basics of building a beauty brand, we’ve put together this guide. 

What Is A Brand Identity?

Your brand identity works to shape your unique brand and bring it to life. It is made up of things such as what your brand says, the values you communicate to the world, and how your audience perceives and interacts with your business.

Essentially, it is the personality of your business that you portray to the world and the impression that your customers have left of you long after their interaction. 

If you don’t have your brand identity set before you start marketing your products or services, you may not be able to effectively communicate your message using design and voice.

How To Build A Beauty Brand Identity

When you are excited to get your products or services out into the world, it can be tempting to jump right into the cosmetics branding process. After all, who doesn’t like seeing their vision come to life with logos, colors, and designs?

But if you bypass building the foundations of what your brand really means, then you won’t have a brand that satisfies your customers, stands out from the competition, or conveys your unique standpoint. 

To get started, here are a few questions your brand should be asking in order to build your identity:

1. Who are you and why are you different?

Do you embrace diversity or have 100% sustainable practices?  If you could describe your brand in one statement, what would it be? How are you doing something different from your competitors? Maybe there’s a specific niche that you cater to that has traditionally been left out. Or maybe it’s your feminine, fun, and forward-thinking voice. Or perhaps, it’s your stance of ethical choices, environmentally friendly advantages, or other progressive initiatives. Try to boil down who you are to just a few adjectives.

2. What is your mission?

There’s a reason you wanted to build this business, and now is the time to define that. Why were you led to start this business, and how can you see it affecting the world? It doesn’t have to be as big as world peace, but can be as simple as accessibility, healthier choices than what is already out on the market, or connection. Your mission statement defines the “why” behind your business and will be the sentiment that your customers will resonate with.

3. Who is your audience?

It can be tempting to say your audience is anyone and everyone who will buy your product or service, but in reality, that is not how it works. You’ve probably heard this before, but it stands true: if you’re trying to reach everybody, you’re going to end up with nobody. It is essential to define your ideal customer and be able to answer questions like what they are looking for in a cosmetics brand and what challenges they are currently facing so that you can position your brand as the solution. 

Once you have answered these core questions, then it’s time to move on to the fun part of visual design! If you have any questions about building your beauty brand identity, contact us. We’d love to chat.