Anne-Marie Kline shares 5 tips for building a competitive indie brand

By Deanna Utroske

- Last updated on GMT

Anne-Marie Kline shares 5 tips for building a competitive indie brand

Related tags Independent beauty brands Indie beauty Marketing

Speaking at the Indie Beauty Innovators Awards event, hosted by ICMAD, in Las Vegas, Nevada, Monday evening, the former CMO of Living Proof gave founders in the room her best advice for leading a brand to success in today’s rather crowded cosmetics and personal care marketplace.

Anne-Marie Kline spent some 4 years leading the global marketing team at Living Proof, a tenure that spanned the brand’s acquisition by Unilever in 2016. And she has extensive marketing experience outside the beauty industry as well, on the agency side with firms such as Digitas.

Here, is the guidance Kline shared, at this week’s ICMAD event, for indie beauty brands:

“Know your why.”
Kline believes that having a very clear reason for being and using that as compass for making decisions is key to building a brand that will stand out and stand up in the current beauty marketplace  

“Lean into your iconic product.”
This may not initially be the brand’s best-seller but it should be a distinctly “buzzy product,”​ says Kline. It’s the product that will come to embody the brand and be immediately recognizable to consumers.

“Have a content strategy.”
Be deliberate about the content you produce and where you’re distributing branded media.  

“Experimentation is important.”
This is the fail-fast-and-fail-often piece of advice. Kline suggests that brands “test [new ideas with] 50 cents of every dollar, have clear metrics [to measure the results by], and invest accordingly.”

“Authentic communication and community management is a must.”
Here Kline points to brand leaders like Vicky Tsai of Tatcha and Tiffany Masterson of Drunk Elephant as good models of how brand leaders should engage with their current and prospective consumers. She notes that this sort of communication strategy is very much “an advantage for founder-led brands.”

---

DeannaUtroske_Editor_CosmeticsDesign

Deanna Utroske, CosmeticsDesign.com Editor, covers beauty business news in the Americas region and publishes the weekly Indie Beauty Profile column, showcasing the inspiring work of entrepreneurs and innovative brands.

 

Related news

Show more

Related products

show more

Exosomes: Passing Trend or Transformative Reality?

Exosomes: Passing Trend or Transformative Reality?

Content provided by Naolys | 26-Mar-2024 | White Paper

Exosomes, microscopic vesicles naturally present in abundance within Plant Cells, have garnered significant attention within the scientific and cosmetic...

How Nutricosmetics Can Enhance Skin Beauty

How Nutricosmetics Can Enhance Skin Beauty

Content provided by Activ'Inside | 11-Dec-2023 | White Paper

In the ever-evolving realm of nutricosmetics, where inner wellness meets outer beauty, few natural ingredients have captured the spotlight quite like grapes.

Ultimate Antimicrobial Solution for BPC

Ultimate Antimicrobial Solution for BPC

Content provided by Acme-Hardesty Company | 11-Oct-2023 | White Paper

Sharomix™ EG10, a versatile broad-spectrum antimicrobial liquid blend for preserving personal care products, ensures safety at usage levels ranging from...

Acme-Hardesty Expands Product Line into Canada

Acme-Hardesty Expands Product Line into Canada

Content provided by Acme-Hardesty Company | 07-Jul-2023 | Product Brochure

Acme-Hardesty’s latest expansion into Canada includes Resplanta®, Botaneco®, and BYK from our partners Sharon Personal Care and Eckart Effect Pigments...

Related suppliers