Here’s where self-funded brands often go wrong when it comes to increasing sales…they think in order to scale they need to reach more people (go wider) and build volume. Have you ever thought this was the case with your business? You’re not alone. The “secret,” however, lies in going deeper and increasing your average order value for your one thousand true fans.
When it comes to sales, what matters more than size is the responsiveness of your community and the quality of your relationships.
Buying expensive traffic to your beauty brand’s Facebook page won’t give you as much momentum as dedicated email subscribers or a close community of engaged Instagram followers will. Legacy brand growth comes from 1,000 diehard fans spreading the word, not from 100,000 one-time buyers.
Here’s the mindset shift…[drumroll please]: You’re in the business of building relationships, not selling product.
A novice founder sells product; an experienced entrepreneur knows that the sale is just the cherry on top and the gold is in the relationships you maintain. A transaction is only good in that moment, a nurtured relationship means long-term returns.
So, what can you do to build better and more relationships in your business in order to scale?
How Self-Funded Beauty Brands Can Increase Sales
Build relationships with customers—surprise and delight your repeat customers with deluxe samples, birthday gifts, special offers and personalized emails/DMs.
Refocus on Community
There are several ways you can invest your time in giving free value:
- Podcast interviews
- Facebook Group tips
- Trainings
- YouTube tutorials
- Instagram Lives
Build Relationships with Buyers
The first PO with a retailer is a great milestone for emerging brands. For scaling brands, we need to move beyond the transactional PO and make the effort to connect with buyers on a human level. We need to invest time in nurturing their sales teams to improve sell through.
Here are some little touches that can help keep your brand top of mind:
- Support their store by offering interactive events, samples, and exclusives.
- Send gifts for their store’s yearly anniversary.
- Check-in weekly or bi-weekly to start.
Partner with Complimentary Brands
Keyword: complimentary, never competing. This can be a Valentine’s Day exclusive, a themed sweepstakes, a conference with panelists that discuss a topic of interest to your mutual audiences. Leverage the audiences of those who’ve walked the path before you. Why try to build an audience from scratch one-by-one when you can partner with a business that caters to the same audience as yours and helps lift your credibility?
Read more about building systems into your beauty brand here.
The Bottom Line
At this level, you’re putting in the effort to fortify established relationships and build new ones.
Because you know that a good relationship can open doors to that big box retailer you’ve been dying to get into and the cold pitches just haven’t made a dent. A good relationship can help connect you with a business grant or an angel investor.
A good relationship can mean a customer who shares your brand with five of her best friends (which would have cost you $100+ in ad spend btw) who ALL buy your product just because you sent a personalized email to your customer checking in on their experience.
At this level you’re leaning into your niche further, not spreading yourself thin or too wide.
What do all these things require? Time.
P.S. Are you a beauty brand founder making six figures or more per year and who’s looking for a group of like-minded entrepreneurs to learn, grow, and scale with? We’d like to invite you to apply to our mastermind. Check it out and apply today.
P.P.S. If you don’t yet meet the six-figure criteria then consider getting on our waitlist for Conventional to Cult Status, it is our LIVE signature group program that helps early-stage founders build the foundations, visibility, positioning and brand awareness to reach six-figures.