The beauty sector is worth 30.4 billion euros. It is therefore a highly competitive market, in which new players (such as DNVB brands – Digital Native Vertical Brands – or companies focusing on organic, reusable products, etc.) have to contend with giants such as L’Oréal or Garnier.
To attract increasingly demanding consumers, but also to understand and address an increasingly diverse audience, beauty marketing needs to reinvent itself.
The challenge for companies is to :
- gain visibility with consumers who are inundated with advertising,
- collect customer data to better understand the expectations of new buyers and offer a personalised experience and products (which are more likely to convert);
- build loyalty among a more volatile audience by multiplying the number of post-purchase contact points and providing more relational value.
One of the best ways of achieving all these strategic objectives is through marketing gamification.By offering interactive, fun experiences to customers and prospects alike, beauty brands can boost their brand awareness and generate more sales.
This article looks at beauty marketing competitions. Why organise marketing competitions and how to maximise their impact? We also share some
concrete ideas for boosting your campaigns.
The challenges of beauty marketing
Companies in the beauty sector face a number of specific challenges:
- Inclusivity : Make-up, and more broadly beauty products, are no longer limited to a strictly female audience. Brands therefore need to create more inclusive campaigns, which means developing their customer knowledge in new buyer segments.
- Lack of representation and authenticity. New consumers are increasingly eager for authenticity. They prefer brands that create a real bond of proximity with their customers. This means choosing muses who look like them and communicating in a more accessible way (via influencer marketing or sharing content generated directly by consumers, or UGC). ;
- The importance of eco-responsibility. Global warming is a key concern for new generations of buyers. They therefore prefer companies that are actively working to reduce their carbon footprint. These include the example of Lush, an activist brand has considerably reduced its plastic packaging and communicates effectively about its environmental and social impact. The brand has even decided to close its social network accounts to protest against the use of user data.
Why organise competitions for your beauty brand?
To meet the challenges facing beauty marketing, brands can rely on gamification. This marketing strategy involves communicate using fun, interactive formats that encourage prospects and customers to interact with the company by taking part in a quiz or spinning a wheel of fortune, for example.
The marketing competition format offers a number of advantages to cosmetics brands:
- Refine their customer knowledge by facilitating the collection of first-party data;
- Stand out from their competitors by engaging their audience in an original way;
- Boosting customer education and effectively communicating the brand’s commitments through edutainment;
- Promote your products and services in a fun way and boost sales by distributing discount coupons;
- Promote your products and services in a fun way and boost sales by distributing discount coupons;
Build loyalty and increase repeat purchases by sharing exclusive benefits with the brand’s most committed customers.
4 ideas for games to boost your beauty marketing campaigns
Now let’s get down to some practical ideas for organising competitions to meet the challenges of beauty marketing. For each of the benefits of this format, we share an idea for a campaign that can be adapted to the specific characteristics of your brand and your audience.
1. A PsychoQuiz to collect customer data
Interactive quizzes are an excellent way of finding out more about your audience and collecting first-party data.In this case, beauty brands can share a Psycho Quiz, or Personality Test, which will give them a better understanding of their audience’s buying preferences.
This is the format chosen by the Institute to gather customer preference and redirect users to its care centres. By asking simple questions about its audience’s favourite holiday destinations, the brand was able to better identify their expectations and create a personalised drive-to-store ultra campaign.
2. A photo competition to generate UGC
As we have seen, consumers prefer brands that communicate authentically and choose muses who are like them. What better way to boost brand awareness and convert new prospects than to rely on UGC?
This user-generated content is far more effective than traditional marketing campaigns in capturing the attention of consumers and encouraging them to make a purchase.
Brands can challenge their community to a creative challenge: sharing the best summer look with cosmetics from their new collection, for example. This photo contest will not only engage their audience effectively, but also boost visibility and sales.
3. Instant win to distribute e-coupons
Instant Win formats (such as the Wheel of Fortune or Jackpot) are also very effective for distributing virtual coupons and generating sales. As participants know instantly whether or not they have won (or what they have won for a 100% winning game).
Depending on its objectives, the company can distribute coupons to be used online (to boost traffic on its e-commerce site) or in-store (to boost its physical points of sale).
4. A Tap Tap to help you discover your offer in a fun way
To meet the specific challenges of beauty marketing, brands can rely on gamification. By organising a competition, your company can better understand its customers, boost awareness and increase sales. Discover our interactive mechanics and energise your future online or in-store campaigns!
