How to cut through the digital noise + reach your ideal customer
As a young journalist, I once had to interview Elle MacPherson. It was one of my very first major assignments, and as someone who hadn’t had much experience interviewing celebrities, I was very nervous. (My editor was supposed to be the one doing the interview, but had been called away at the last minute.) But along I went. Elle had just been giving a presentation at Selfridges about a new health supplement she was launching and afterwards she wandered over to me, with her long swishy hair and graceful, statuesque frame towering over me, as I nervously searched for my list of questions. There were other journalists milling around waiting to speak to her, but I had been allotted a special time slot due to the publication I was writing for. The interview started off well, Elle was really sweet and could tell I was new to the game (in the way the most popular girl in school takes pity on the shy new girl) but just as the chat was beginning to warm up, another journalist from Spain hijacked our chat and basically cut in front of me, shoving a microphone in Elle’s face and started yabbering away with the vocal pugnacity of Sofia Vergara, as if I wasn’t even there. The PR saw this and immediately jumped in, checking if there was anything else I wanted to ask Elle. Elle turned away from the other journalist and looked at me. “Erm. No, that’s fine!” I mumbled, before shuffling off, with half an interview (and a ticking off from my editor when I got back to the office).
Why am I telling you this?
Because I assumed I had a captive audience, I got complacent. I didn’t have a strong voice, or much conviction in what I was saying, so I accidentally let someone else cut in front of me and lost a very valuable celebrity interview. Journalists are ruthless and so are rival brands. Now, imagine instead of Elle MacPherson, this was your ideal customer. And while they’re super interested in your products, a competitor brand suddenly jumps in front of you without waiting their turn, and hijacks their attention. As a result, your customer can be easily led away, unless you have a strong and confident brand voice, which is what I can help you with.
As anyone who’s ever set foot in a branch of SpaceNK or Sephora will tell you, the beauty industry is saturated with newness. When I first started out as a journalist it felt like there was a new skincare or haircare brand popping up on a weekly basis and it felt like a game of whack-a-mole trying to keep up with all of it. From the rise of celebrity and influencer-led beauty brands, to the explosion of niche beauty and even magazine editors pivoting careers to launch a product line, consumers are faced with an overwhelming choice of products – on the shelves and on social media – all jostling for their attention. So how do you retain said attention and stop a competitor from jumping in front of you? A lot of this boils down to trust – and how you, as a brand, talk to your audience.
Some brands go for quirky and offbeat, others high-end and aspirational. While a select few tend to be direct in their wording, focusing on ingredients and efficacy rather than cutesy wording and flowery adjectives. Tone of voice matters because it’s the first point of contact with your online customers, and will determine whether they decide to engage with your brand.
With the lack of a sales representative at a beauty counter,
your brand’s tone of voice takes its place.
It’s a virtual beauty advisor to take the customer’s hand and help convince them that buying your products – out of the hundreds that are available to them – will be the right choice. From product descriptions, to your newsletters and blogs, to social media and even customer service, your tone of voice is their reassuring presence throughout. So your customer should find it relatable, straight-forward and trustworthy – and above all, confident and consistent.
Buying anything online is a gamble – a customer is never going to be sure if it’s money well spent until they’ve actually got your product in their hands and used it (and for something like skincare, they may not see results for several weeks). So it’s mainly a relationship of trust.
If a customer relates to your tone of voice,
then they’re more likely to buy into you – and buy from you.
This is why hitting the right notes with your brand language is crucial and it shouldn’t be left to chance. It’s not about who can shout the loudest, or bombard the customer with the most Facebook ads. Once you decide who your customers are, their lifestyles, views and priorities, then you can adapt your tone of voice accordingly, so that when they do come across your brand, it will instantly click –they’ll feel like this is a company who “gets” them. They will see themselves (or who they aspire to be) in your brand language and they won’t need to think twice about purchasing from y ou. So to avoid competitors swooping in and poaching your customers, you need to ensure your brand tone of voice is pitch perfect.
If you'd like to learn more, feel free to send me a DM “beauty” or email hello@smartbeautycreative.com, and we can start the conversation.