Beauty Marketing: Creating A Win-Win Brand Portfolio
Optimizing Brand Portfolio For Beauty Marketing
We wake up in the morning viewing the world through the lens of a consumer. But then we get to work and our focus changes to that of a marketing professional responsible for building a brand and growing a business. The blinders come on and our line of sight is focused on our industry sector, key competitors and maximizing our business.
Beauty Marketing In A Crowded Category
Beauty is an incredibly crowded category. There are hundreds of competitors, hundreds of thousands of items. Add to this the new segments that continue to emerge – from natural and organic to fashion brands edging their way into cosmetics, nutri-cosmetics, at-home devices, ethnic-targeted brands, beauty for men, tweens, etc.
Some choice is good. But piling on more and more is a recipe for complexity, confusion and frustration (both for beauty consumers and inevitably for your business). So, how can beauty marketers create the ideal brand portfolios?
Start by considering these indicators that take into account your brand’s current standing and future potential. In the absence of this, you lack the ability to make objective decisions and determine the right course of specific actions.
Think Business, Brand & Customer
Consider your brand portfolio and your brand portfolio strategy from the inter-related elements of Business, Brand and Consumer.
Business
- Does the brand portfolio fit with your business strategy and support strategic priorities?
- Does our branding maximize current opportunities?
- Are you creating a portfolio that accommodates new beauty markets and customers?
- Do you have the resources to appropriately support all of your current brands?
- Can you execute with a high degree of success?
- Does historical and current financial performance warrant all of the products in the portfolio?
Brand
- Do individual offerings contribute to building your brand value?
- Do they fit with your story and positioning?
- Are you creating desired new associations?
- Is there a clear relationship between new and existing brands?
- Does a new brand contribute to growing overall portfolio value?
Customer
- Does your brand portfolio strategy address current customer needs?
- Does it reflect where the market is going; and where customers are going?
- Are there any gaps that need to be filled?
While these are only some strategic indicators for managing your brand portfolio, they’ll at least begin to help you take a holistic view of your portfolio and glean insights into relative performance of, and relative potential across, your brands. Remember, more might not necessarily be better.