Browsing through the beauty blogosphere one is often struck by the sheer number of new products that seem to hit the marketplace everyday. Recently I found a post on high end beauty blog Hello Dollface about Product Beauty yet another line of all natural beauty products.
While the line seems good it struck me just how many times a day I come across a new line of products desperately working to outshine their competitors by working a "niche." A particularly popular niche is of course the all natural element with lines like Juice Beauty and Product Body popping up all over the beauty blogosphere. But of course just saying you are one thing or another often isn't enough to capture a target market. How do you differentiate between band-wagon opportunists and the products that started because of a need. In essence brands that have a soul. Like industry firsts Jane Iredale mineral cosmetics, or Zia.
A product line like Zia is much more likely to capture a given market because of their ownership by a large health care line like Celetial Hain and their long standing presence in the natural healthcare arena. They have done their market research, they know their customers, and they serve them with targeted products. (Full disclosure: Pierce Mattie is a brand advocate for Zia Natural Skincare)
Thus if you are a new line of beauty products you have to really understand what marketplace you are working to capture. Just idly targeting a market like natural skinscare or mature beauty isn't enough. You have to live, breathe, and think like your target market if you are going to serve them. With beauty being dominated by heavy hitters in the mass markets knowing your customer and serving her becomes of the essence. Otherwise you run the risk of being just another beauty start-up trying to make it and neither top notch public relations representation nor good editorial placement can help you.
