My Love Affair with Flower Beauty

(and how content marketing ruined it)

Originally posted at kps3.com.

I’ll admit it, when I first started hearing the term “content marketing” (and, I know, we hear it everywhere these days) what it meant wasn’t so obvious to me. It seemed like this nebulous, catch-all buzzword, and it was hard for me to define it in a way that was practically useful. So, of course, I hit the books (or, more accurately, Google).

Now, there is a ton of information out there about content marketing, but it can be hard to sift through the clutter to get to the good stuff. Over the next couple of months, I’ll be doing a series of blogs about what I’ve found are the most important and helpful things to keep in mind when working through a content marketing plan. And I’m going to start with the basics.

Let’s start with the obvious: What is content marketing?

The Content Marketing Institute has a great definition (in fact, it has several, but this is my favorite):

“Content marketing is non-interruption marketing … it is the belief that if we, as businesses, deliver consistent, ongoing valuable information to buyers, they ultimately reward us with their business and loyalty.”

As much as I love that definition, and I really do love it, it’s more about the principle behind content marketing. It doesn’t help so much with the “what and how” of it all. What really elucidated the concept for me was my interaction with the company Flower Beauty.

How content marketing works

Content marketing can play a huge role in introducing your product to people, making those people take action, and then, finally, in endearing your brand to those people, making them long-term (read: extremely valuable) customers.

Content marketing is a way to get closer to consumers, to interact with them in a manner that will gain their affections and loyalty. It is an essential marketing tactic in a P2P world where consumers have more access to information, have more choices, and are in direct contact with companies more than ever before. And, one of the greatest things about content marketing, is that it can be done in-house or on a small budget.

So, with that in mind, here is how I fell in and out of love with Flower Beauty, all thanks to content marketing.

Flower Beauty is a makeup company started by Drew Barrymore. (Yes, I can see your eyes rolling, but hear me out.) The purpose of the company, like many makeup companies, is to provide high-quality makeup at a low cost. Their schtick is to take whatever money a typical company might spend on advertising and put it into their product instead, thus creating a higher quality product at a lower price point. You can read more about their philosophy here.

So, no paid advertising. Of course it helps that their founder is a celebrity who can get articles published in Vogue without paying for it, but that’s beside the point. (Remember, content marketing is perfect for companies with small budgets and no celebrities.)

Content marketing in action

1) Sponsored Content/PR: This is how I first heard about Flower Beauty. I read an article about the company on one of the websites I frequent (probably HelloGiggles.com). They likely got this article published in one of 2 ways:

• Good Ol’ Fashion PR: The mere fact that their founder is Drew Barrymore undoubtedly helps them get press like this, but with a good team and solid relationships anyone can (and should) use PR to get their company in front of consumers.
• Soliciting Reviews: They sent a box of their product to the publication or author, asking them to try it and, if they believed the product was worthy, to write about it. (More on this tactic later.)

Although Flower Beauty doesn’t pay for marketing (and, for this post, I’ll take them at their word), it is important to note that one facet of content marketing is paid sponsored content: You pay a media outlet (one that caters to your audience) to create content that is somehow connected to your company/product/service but feels natural to their readers. You can see it in action on nearly any major media outlet. Check it out here or here.

2) Website: After I read the article about Flower Beauty, I checked out their website, which, as far as makeup sites go, is pretty good. (And, for a young professional, a good website translates into “legitimate company worthy of my time and business.”)

3) Reviews: I still wasn’t willing to shell out money for new makeup products that, let’s be honest, I probably didn’t need. And I was not about to be duped by yet another makeup company promising Clinique products at Maybelline prices. So I went searching for product reviews. Again, Flower Beauty was all over it. Before they launched the product, they made sure to send packs of try-out goodies to many of the major beauty bloggers in the U.S.

This is a risk: sure you’re sending people something for free, but they review beauty products for a living (or at least for a really time-consuming hobby), these people could easily write bad reviews. And yes, there were a few mediocre and even a couple bad reviews about Flower Beauty products, but there were far more great than bad and good than mediocre.

In order to do this, and do it right, Flower Beauty had to be confident in their product. If you are not 100% confident in your product or service, content marketing is not for you. Spend the time fixing your product, then market it. The principle behind this is simple, and applies to most forms of marketing and advertising: If your marketing efforts lead people to try your product or service and they don’t like it, it is extraordinarily hard to get those customers back.

4) Tutorials: I went back to FlowerBeauty.com to plot which products I’d pick up that weekend, and I noticed they had some makeup tutorials. This is what really sealed the deal for me. They had a bunch of videos showing me how to use makeup better. (That may sound silly, but someone out there has to know what I’m talking about. Applying foundation is an ongoing struggle, I can never pick a lipstick that doesn’t make me look like a clown, and I had NO IDEA eyebrow pencils were for anything except drawing on fake eyebrows!) In addition to giving me useful information, these videos allowed me to see the products in action, increasing my confidence in buying them.

The Magic of Content Marketing

Now #1 and #2 are essential, they’re why I heard about this company in the first place and why I didn’t forget it immediately. But #3 and #4 are where the magic truly is. This company gave me, directly and indirectly, information that helped me, that made my life easier in some small way, and that endeared me to them more than any ad (or celebrity spokesperson) ever could. That is what got Flower Beauty my business.

Our Definition

And this is how we landed on the following definition of content marketing at KPS3:
content marketing n. Ultimately, content marketing is another arrow in your marketing quiver, which means it has the same goal as all of your marketing: move people to action. Here’s what distinguishes content marketing from “traditional” advertising: Content marketing is the practice of continually developing and providing your audience with valuable information, thereby building a meaningful and trustworthy relationship with them.

The Cliffs Notes

When Flower Beauty creates a tutorial video on how to apply liquid foundation and shares that information with consumers (through media outlets, their website, social channels, etc.), they are practicing content marketing. When they buy an ad in Vogue that touts how long-lasting their liquid foundation is, they are practicing traditional advertising. Content marketing is made up of a variety of different marketing tactics, all of which we’ll talk about later on in this series. Flower Beauty got my business using the following tactics:

• PR
• Soliciting Reviews (sending try-out products to major beauty bloggers)
• A good website with helpful information
• Tutorial videos

The Pitfalls of Content Marketing

Here’s how I fell out of love with Flower Beauty (well, not out of love, but it’s one of those sad friendships where we don’t really talk anymore and just say ‘hi’ at social events):

When I discovered Flower Beauty, they had just launched and were giving me beauty tips left and right. (For the record, this one is my fave.) Never one to turn down good advice, I liked them on Facebook so I could keep up with all of their tips and tricks. But, for the past several months, nearly all I see from Flower Beauty are promotions and ads. These days maybe one in 10 of their posts is a tip, the rest, is advertising: “We’re having another contest!” “Look how much better our foundation is than this one!” “We put all of our products in the purple color family in this pretty graphic! Pin it!”

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m not on Facebook to look at ads and enter contests. So being bombarded by this type of messaging on Facebook is much more aggravating to me than when I see an ads in a magazine or on TV. To top it off, Flower Beauty hasn’t released a tutorial in months. (Flower Beauty Marketing Folks: I’m sure Drew is a very busy woman, but I would happily accept written tips and tutorial videos with one of your “regular” employees.)

Flower Beauty had trained me to expect helpful information from them, and then all of the sudden it stopped. Nearly completely. This is maddening. Now, the important question: Do I still buy their product? Yes, every once in a while, but not nearly as much as I used to. And, when I’m in the market for a new product, I’m much more likely to just pick up something else.

The point of this? Content marketing requires constant attention. It’s all about TLC: Tender, Loving (constant) Care. Before you implement a content marketing plan, be sure you have the resources dedicated to it and the buy-in from your team to make it work.

Finally

So, that’s the story of how, for me, content marketing was transformed from a vague buzzword to a meaningful and impactful marketing tool. My next post in this series will talk about building a content marketing plan and incorporating it in your marketing mix. In the meantime, share your questions, thoughts, or content marketing know-how.