LULA Magnificence on Influencer Advertising Methods for Indie Manufacturers I Traackr

LULA Magnificence is a female-founded model that makes clear and cruelty-free skincare merchandise with a less-is-more practicality. Inside its first 12 months of enterprise, the model has constructed a loyal buyer base, gained recognition from trade publications like WWD, Attract, and Properly + Good, and launched in massive retail shops like Anthropologie and Saks fifth Avenue.

The shocking half? LULA’s advertising workforce is simply two individuals, and influencer advertising is their solely technique for reaching shoppers on-line. Within the article beneath, we element the three influencer advertising ideas which have made this small model mighty.  

Increase your influencer community to seek out key companions

“When vetting potential influencer companions, ask your self in case you can see your model working with them in the long term. At LULA we make this evaluation simpler through the use of Traackr to investigate whether or not they’re aligned with our model, hitting the suitable demographics, and assembly desired efficiency benchmarks.” — Giovanna Rienzi, influencer advertising supervisor at LULA Magnificence

In relation to influencer discovery, entrepreneurs are often coping with two competing priorities: discovering the proper influencers, and discovering sufficient influencers. You want a baseline of loyal companions that you’ve deep relationships with, however, you additionally want sufficient quantity of mentions to interrupt by way of the noise (i.e. a large enough influencer community).

LULA Magnificence overcame these challenges through the use of Traackr to guage 4 key components in each influencer profile:

• Viewers demographics. Is the influencer’s viewers in the suitable age vary, location, and earnings vary? There’s nothing worse than sending out a bunch of merchandise to an influencer, after which discovering later that almost all of their viewers is in a non-relevant market! 
• Viewers authenticity. Is the influencer’s viewers made up of precise individuals? Or have they got a excessive share of bots and mass followers spiking their numbers?
• Model alignment. Does the influencer’s pursuits, values, and previous content material align? Rienzi usually appears for influencers which have talked about substances or scents which can be current in LULA Magnificence merchandise.
• Efficiency benchmarks. Does the influencer create content material that really captures viewers consideration and evokes interplay? Rienzi appears for influencers which have attention-grabbing feedback on their posts, in addition to excessive engagement and video view charges. 

This method has helped Rienzi decrease the time it takes for her to seek out and vet new influencers (she is simply a workforce of 1!). It additionally helped her discover a host of latest influencers who weren’t initially on LULA’s radar, and determine high quality companions who drive web site visitors, e-newsletter subscriptions, and even gross sales. 

Tip: If you’re a model that receives inbound requests from potential companions, chances are you’ll want a method to manage your course of. Traackr has a characteristic known as Studios that generates branded touchdown pages for campaigns. Influencers who obtain this touchdown web page will have the ability to choose in to campaigns, learn artistic briefs, and share their product preferences.

Hone your technique with an influencer advertising platform

“My primary tip is to spend money on an influencer advertising platform that you just belief. Utilizing Traackr has taken out lots of the guesswork and made our lives simpler. Generally individuals are scared to spend money on a software program as a result of it seems like an enormous dedication, however I promise it is going to repay on your model.” — Sarah Uslan, superstar make-up artist and founding father of LULA Magnificence

When LULA launched in 2021, its objective was to make an enormous splash with an influencer advertising marketing campaign. Though these companions had been nice for model consciousness, the marketing campaign didn’t have the specified affect on gross sales. In keeping with Rienzi, issues might need turned out in another way if that they had a device like Traackr to vet their influencers primarily based on overarching objectives. Though investing in an influencer advertising platform takes assets (each money and time), it could possibly in the end save your model from inefficient spending.

Since then, Rienzi and Uslan have shifted their technique away from conventional paid partnerships. Not solely can these one-off paid partnerships be costly (making it tough for small manufacturers), they will usually lack a sure model affinity/alignment and even come throughout as inauthentic.

Since bringing on Traackr as their influencer advertising platform, Rienzi and Uslan have been in a position to determine what methods and companions are working for their model. A few of these embody:

• Seeding campaigns. Much like different manufacturers, LULA found that influencer gifting campaigns are an environment friendly method to construct model consciousness. In contrast to sponsored posts, the one price that the model wants to soak up is the worth of delivery the merchandise.
• Associates. Whereas seeding campaigns are nice, they don’t at all times assure that an influencer will put up, a lot much less drive gross sales. LULA found {that a} extra inexpensive method to drive gross sales with influencer advertising is thru associates. Each the model and the influencer get a lower of the sale, making it a superb deal for everybody!
• Particular influencer sorts. Whereas LULA is regularly increasing its influencer community, it has additionally managed to outline sure varieties of influencers that make nice companions. After conducting analysis and efficiency evaluation on Traackr, Uslan and Rienzi discovered that nice companions for LULA are usually: magnificence obsessed, development setters, wellness gurus, lifestyle-focused (residence and inside designers), up-and-coming make-up artists, and multitaskers with busy lives (e.g. mothers).

Tip: Combating a concern of lacking out (fomo) on nice influencer companions? Learn this text on tips on how to discover excessive performing influencers on your model.

Maintain model values on the heart of partnerships, merchandise, and influencer collaborations

“Keep in mind why you’re on this area and keep true to your values. This can be a very oversaturated trade! You ‘make it’ by understanding what makes you distinctive and sticking to it. There’s an enormous distinction between staying related and promoting out the center of your model for a second of virality.” — Sarah Uslan, superstar make-up artist and founding father of LULA Magnificence

When Uslan based LULA Magnificence, she needed to create a model that was impressed by worldwide good. She named the model after her daughter, Tallulah, as a dedication to creating the planet higher for future generations. This mission is what guides the model in all issues, together with:

• Influencer technique. There are numerous over-the-top influencer gifting campaigns which have extravagant unboxing experiences and extreme waste. Uslan and Rienzi attempt to consciously keep away from this downside by taking a “much less is extra” method. As a substitute of sending customized mailers to mass influencer lists they go for evergreen mailers that make the most of common delivery packing containers. If personalization is required, they merely add in a small customized be aware or reward aspect that may be saved by the recipient. 
• Product. LULA’s merchandise are clear and Leaping Bunny licensed as cruelty-free. Additionally they search to scale back environmental affect by way of water aware product formulations. Two out of three of LULA’s inaugural merchandise include .02% water or much less, one in every of which (their Past Balm) is totally anhydrous or water-free. The model’s dedication to sustainability has additionally led them to packaging their merchandise in recyclable supplies, and utilizing Terracycle’s Zero Waste Field platform to maintain empty jars and bottles out of landfills.
• Model initiatives and partnerships. This notion of intergenerational good has additionally impressed LULA to develop their focus to incorporate water conservation and cleanliness. They work in the direction of this objective by way of a partnership with nonprofit NEU World, whose mission is to supply clear water supply infrastructure to communities in Rwanda. 

If you wish to keep updated on the unbelievable work that the LULA Magnificence workforce is doing, comply with them on Instagram or TikTok at @wearelula! Should you’re curious to study extra about influencer advertising finest practices from different trade consultants, subscribe to our e-newsletter.