Your Guide To Starting A Beauty Brand

Starting a beauty or cosmetic brand can be incredibly intimidating at first — but only if you don’t know where to start or who to talk to. The truth is, the beauty industry is a tight-knit industry that is always evolving because customers are constantly seeking new and improved products. For instance, customers today are becoming more conscious of sustainable choices, and pushing towards eliminating harmful ingredients and replacing them with more natural, sustainable components. This demand has left untapped opportunities for many new businesses to enter the beauty marketplace. 

What’s even more appealing is that creating a beauty or care product means you can benefit from working from home, have a flexible lifestyle, and be your own boss. Essentially, you can spend more time doing what you love and bringing your business dream to life. So, what are you waiting for? Turn your beauty idea into action and start thinking about a brand of your own with our 7 start-up tips below.

 

7 STEPS TO STARTING YOUR VERY OWN BEAUTY BRAND BUSINESS

1. Decide On A Purpose: Start With The Who & Why!

The first step to starting your own cosmetic business is understanding what inspired the decision. This insight will be what sets you apart from other brands and will help you resonate with loyal and supportive customers. It will also help you identify your niche and your appropriate target market.

Research shows that 71% of people prefer to buy goods and services from companies that reflect their personal values. For example, suppose you want to start a beauty brand because you genuinely value the importance of organic makeup. In that case, your niche could be ‘makeup made organically’, and your target market could consist of shoppers interested in organic products when making a purchasing decision.  

2. Business Registration, Domains & Trademarks

Before publicising your product name ideas and other details, you want to make sure you get your business registered and trademarked. This ensures that no one else can take your innovative ideas and use them for themselves. A website domain is also essential for business owners who intend to bring their products and brand online. Be sure to search domain and trademark names to ensure they’re available before registration, so you’re fully prepared. You can start by searching for Domain names through online domain providers such as GoDaddy.com.au.

3. Determine Your budget and Identify Your Funding Source

Know ahead of time how much money you can spare to avoid overspending. This includes evaluating your funding source and where you plan to retrieve your finances. If you have saved up funds, or friends and family who are willing to invest, that’s great! However, you may also need to go to a bank and receive a business loan to fund your business.

To prepare for a personal or business loan, there are a few additional steps to consider:

• Have a record of your income, predicted net profit, expenses, and future projections.
• Have a business plan prepared.
• Know your borrowing limits and how much you can pay back.
• Consider different loan types.
• Review application processes, requirements and equity claims.

4. Get Educated By Partnering With A Formulations Expert

While you don’t have to have a degree or certification to be a beauty brand owner, it is beneficial to have a thorough understanding of your product and its benefits. For instance, if your beauty product is a Sculpting Brow Kit, you’ll want to know as much as you can about the ingredients, different applications and any potential reactions. Even taking the time to speak with experts, getting to know your market, or attending our beauty ingredient workshops can help better establish your business for success in the marketplace. 

5. Develop A Brand That Will Stand Out

A lot goes into developing a brand that stands out, from your messaging and foundations to the colours you choose, the logo you create, and a unique brand name. People remember these details about brands far more than the product itself, especially if they see your ads or social posts pop up. Consider working with a talented production team or graphic designer to develop something unique and that will stand out from others in the marketplace. 

6. Form A Strategic Marketing Plan

A good marketing plan consists of market research on the type of beauty product you want to sell and the competition established in your niche. It also includes:

• Data on your target audience – What do they want?
• The pricing and positioning of your brand – How will the value of your products be perceived?
• Mission statement, brand identity, values etc. – What do you stand for? 
• Your budget — What can you afford to spend on marketing?
• The promotional strategies and plan to market that will get your product out there — i.e., social media, blogging, email, website, advertising, etc. 

7. The Test Drive – Formulate, Batch Test, Review, and Perfect

Big beauty brands never undervalue the importance of starting small or “dipping your toe in” with small batch production, so why would you? It allows you to test the market’s waters and gain priceless feedback on your products performance, appeal and usage. A lot can go wrong fast in product production, so using small batching can help minimise the expense of mistakes and errors that can come from diving into bulk manufacturing too early. 

Aside from offering you the ability to explore sample markets cost-effectively, the additional benefit to small batch production is the traceability and accountability in identifying specific batches. If something were to go wrong and you were required to recall your products, it would be contained to smaller customer groups and prevent further liability for any damages.

 

3 BIG MISTAKES TO AVOID

There are many start-up rookie mistakes to avoid, and working with a team of experienced industry professionals will help guide you away from making costly decisions. Here are pH Factors top 3 mistakes we see a lot of beauty brand owners make:  

1. No niche/point of difference — you don’t stand out

It can be tempting to create a cosmetic business that appeals to everyone, everywhere. However, it is not possible. You will only end up making something that only partially makes a statement of appeal to each group, which will, in turn, never fully appeal to anyone. 

Consider the beauty markets focused on anti-aging beauty. You have two groups that consider anti-aging creams, aged skin vs. younger aging skin. Those twenty-something-year-olds will not need the same skincare products as the fifty-something-year-olds. As a new company, you may wish to target both generations, but in doing so, you will only confuse both generations. On the other hand, strictly targeting one group very well will allow you to get enough notice that you could expand your beauty range and target different age demographics in the future.  

2. Starting out too big, not sampling your product in a test market

Instead of getting excited about a $3 per product saving and choosing to go straight into bulk production with large quantities, consider the benefits of small-batch production. Launching with a smaller run allows you to test product packaging with your niche and helps you receive feedback on the performance, quality, style, and design of your products. You also get to see the product’s usability and test out who is actually interested in buying it.

Committing to small batches instead of large quantities will also allow you to easily make changes, especially since committing to large quantities means that if something isn’t right — it could derail the success of your brand and profits. 

3. Not pricing correctly–too low or too high

Finding your product’s correct value and price positioning could be the difference between selling out or being stuck with expired stock. The cost value of your products will also help customers understand the quality and appeal of your beauty brand. 

Starting at the wrong price can deter established loyal customers when you have to increase your pricing to create higher profit margins or replace ingredients after launching. Instead, utilise a cost-value analysis to set your pricing in line with your competitors and the value of your product. 

 

BRING YOUR IDEA TO LIFE — WITH EXPERT GUIDANCE!

Every beauty brand success story begins with big potential and a small idea. The key to tapping into that potential is having the right expert guidance to direct you from the early concepts, to the final stages of formulating your product and preparing it for the marketplace. 

The beauty and care industry is worth more than $500 billion US dollars worldwide, and it’s growing every year. But, creating and launching your own cosmetic company doesn’t have to be challenging, and you don’t have to start alone. Partnering with pH Factor for guidance and support will ensure you launch with a sustainable and innovative product, ready for success. Because at pH Factor We Create The Different, Together. 

Resources:

1. Small Business Trends: Statistic used to convey the importance of having a purpose that adds value to your cosmetic brand.
2. Australian Government Site: Adds authority to content and gives the reader access to business loan information if needed.