Humor. Beauty. Health. These aren’t typically three words used in the same sentence, let alone the same blog post title, but then again this isn’t about being typical. Instead, let’s push the envelope a little bit to delve into an industry whose goal is certainly not to get people to laugh at you, but rather to make you feel beautiful.
Humor In The Beauty Industry
From terrible puns, such as “you’re making me blush” to sell (you guessed it) blush, to the classic nail polish favorite, “you nailed it,” the beauty industry has been one of those slow burners. In other words, they have taken their sweet time trying to figure out how to use humor to create more engaging marketing messages, rather than those groan inducing puns that might elicit a cracked smile or two.
After all, the inherent challenge and strength of the beauty industry is that it can only sell its products if people want or need them, and in order for people to want or need beauty products, then they must believe that they need to change something about themselves. This fine line must be carefully walked on a daily basis–after all, how can you make someone feel beautiful when you are quite literally selling them a product called “concealer”?
Sephora: A Modern Example Of “How To Do It Right”
Love or hate the brand, Sephora does one thing right: humor. In fact, the company tagline, “Let’s beauty together,” is a testament to its ability to create a conversation that stems from sharing a few laughs. Their entire marketing strategy is based around honest, open, and two-way conversations that feature a witty and relatable voice. This voice, is especially prevalent on social media, where Sephora has capitalized on tried-and-true meme humor to create humorous and relatable messages.
Sephora’s humor-filled marketing shows that any industry, beauty included, can use humor to bring a heightened level of value to its marketing messages and inevitably its customers. Plus, it helps…:
- Brand Differentiation – Why stand out from the crowd when you can instead stand by yourself and let the crowd form around you? Nail polish brands, like Esse and OPI, started the trend for pun-tastic product names. However, this “standout from the crowd by one-upping the competition” mentality is rapidly becoming outdated. Instead, brands are embracing what makes them entirely unique. Whether it is Fenty Beauty creating all-inclusive products, or Sephora’s focus on two-way conversations with customers, one thing is certain — humor is a great way to establish brand differentiation and in doing so create a following of loyal brand ambassadors.
- Create Personalization – The beauty industry is all about “creating your own look,” so why should their marketing messages focus on similarities? In other words, the beauty industry is using humor to move away from the classic 90s perfume ads where one bottle of perfume held by a beautiful woman was simply replaced with another bottle and the woman was given a different outfit to wear.
Using Humor in Beauty Industry Marketing Content
Without humor, the beauty industry would be stuck in the past, rocking a perm long after the fashion had gone out of style. Instead, like many industries, the beauty industry has turned to humor as the marketing tool needed to reconnect with customers in a more honest and memorable fashion. Through humor, the beauty industry has successfully improved its marketing health.
Now, thanks to the efforts of companies like Sephora, customers are readily embracing their perfect imperfections by choosing beauty brands that make them feel confident, that elicit a smile, and use humor to become just a little bit more relatable. After all, as anyone who has attempted to put on mascara while sitting in traffic will tell you, beauty can be–and should be–a humorous venture.
Laura P has written 4,000+ articles, blog posts, product reviews, press releases, and website content for a multitude of clients. In the past 7 years, she has developed written, marketing, video, and web content for clients in the real estate, information technology, restaurant, auto, retail, equine sales, oil and gas, and public relations industries. Laura is highly proficient in SEO optimization, particularly in real estate and retail industries. She ghost wrote IT white papers, government contract task orders, RFIs, and RFPs that resulted in millions of dollars won. She has 7-years of experience working with and interviewing olympic athletes, small-business owners, CEOs, SMEs, and entrepreneurs on complex topics. As a professional writer, Laura strives to create content that is both meaningful and relatable to her readers.
