Huda beauty: the world’s most in-demand cosmetic brand

Huda didn’t choose the traditional way of marketing and advertising. She instead used social media channels to promote her cosmetic brand and products. She also reached mega to nano influencers. Went to celebrities to proper customers and developed her product quality on basis of their feedback. Let’s scrutinize her way to marketing:

1. Recognize the market Gap

The biggest aspect of Huda beauty is its products. Yes, she developed her products in such a way that it would be very difficult to make a substitute for them. She identified an unmet consumer demand: ‘Fake eyelashes.’ At that time the fake eyelashes market was an opportunity as these were not readily available and the application was the biggest challenge. So, she leveraged the gap in the market and came up with high-quality and easy-to-apply products. Her ‘Fake eyelashes’ were praised by macro-influencers and celebrities like Kim Kardashians.

And next thing she knows in 2013 the well-known cosmetic retail line Sephora sold her product in Dubai first and then worldwide and Huda beauty’s sales skyrocketed as 7000 units were sold in a week and reached 10 million dollars in just 2 years. Today, the latest figure reveals by the ‘cosmetify index’ that out of 1710 beauty brands Huda beauty is the most searched-for purchase.

2. Let your product do the talking

Huda studied the market gap and developed her product which cannot be substituted with other same products available in the market. She monitored the product quality by analyzing the following:

• Does it solve a problem?

No products will exist if it is not the solution to the problem statement. Her market situation at that time was the lack of easy-to-use fake eyelashes. She is a beauty blogger so she was known to struggle with those eyelashes. Thus, she fills that gap with the product.

• Is it efficient?

It means a product not only should get the job done but it should be efficient. It should check the boxes such as minimal effort, should give an aesthetic feel, and easy application.

• Is tailored to customers?

In the cosmetic industry specifying customer demand is the most important aspect. The product should be tailored to the customer’s need to show that the brand understands the customer.

By focusing on these elements Huda Kattan gave a voice to her products and was able to get the benefit of word-of-mouth marketing and repeat purchases by customers. Huda once scrapped all her concealers worth $1.5 million because the product was substandard. This shows her integrity towards the customers. So can trust her brand blindly.

3. The wave of social media

The primary marketing strategy adopted by Huda was social media marketing. The brand regularly posted content on social media such as Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, etc., and has its website where customers can get all the compiled content in one go. The website consists of all the fashion tips and make-up tutorials for men and women filmed by Huda Kattan herself.

By the mid of 2020, Huda beauty has 45.7 million Instagram followers and 4.14 million subscribers on Youtube currently. She also posts her TikTok video tutorials and writes up blogs every day. Content marketing is not a new subject. But Huda took it seriously and followed religiously to post at least three pieces of content daily without fail. Video posts create more engagement than pictures do which is why the brand focuses on posting video tutorials than pictures. She primarily used Instagram because that’s where her target customers reside. She observed the analytics and saw where the customers were spending most of their time on her page and accordingly improved the content.

4. Connect With Content

Content is king. Everyone knows it. But Huda owns it. Content marketing is not new but still, it is the most effective way of marketing for any brand. Some big cosmetic giants have lost the touch to connect with people. In marketing language, they diverted by focusing just on the product which can eventually lead to marketing myopia. While Huda beauty connected to its customer at a personal level by just going live on Instagram or answering comments from the comment section or just making video tutorials on followers’ requests. These are the current efficient way of Instagram marketing. This kind of content reveals the level of authenticity and it helps the brand to connect with its customer at a more human level. They post makeup video bloopers and funny memes and arrange giveaways to their religious followers.

Where big cosmetic brands generalize the product with every customer category Huda Beauty went niche. By first focusing on fake eyelashes then eyeshadow palettes and so on.

5. Create a brand personality

Do you know what’s so unique about Huda’s marketing strategy?

Well, Huda kattan herself. Yes, she became the face of her brand. And this gave a sense of reliability to a customer that if she is using her products there might be some truth to it. Her audiences watch her that she is trying and experimenting with her products and get influenced by her. This helps in positioning the product in the customer’s mind. When you take time to engage with your customer it gives a personal touch to the brand and creates a brand personality.

6. Collaborates with every type of influencer.

Do not underestimate the power of nano and micro-influencers. Yes, Huda Kattan builds a community of her own. She took help from as big as the Kardashians to as small as nano influencers (1k-10k). Huda beauty’s approach was to cover every story of the common public to celebrity. But her focus was on micro-influencers (10k- 50k) because they are at the peer level and far more relatable. To the average social media user, micro-influencer look like just another friend they have, 82% are highly likely to follow the recommendations given by micro-influencer. Their target audience is not from all over the world but just the local or state public. These give them an upper hand to connect with the customer. Through micro-influencers, Huda beauty started getting organic leads and reaching new highs.

• Trends setting the fire:

Remember the trend during the COVID-19 pandemic set by Huda called “Cover Your Mouth, But Embellish Your Eyes” which is the significance of eye makeup since people’s mouths are covered when wearing face masks in public due to the pandemic’s mandate. As the concealed lower part of the face won’t show your lipstick so makeup users are focusing on the upper half of their faces, especially their eyes. How beautifully and swiftly the trendsetters focused on eye makeup and started propagating the idea of Huda beauty’s eye makeup to try hands-on creativity. This is how brilliantly the lack of lipstick sales was settled with the boom in the use of eye makeup. Hence, this is how they took the opportunity to turn shortcomings into a profitable business.

• Tutorials always help to build faith:

As mentioned earlier, videos are more powerful than image posts. People will watch reels, YouTube shorts, and anything which will show them the real face of the product. People are still living with the mindset of “trial and error by others”. Tutorial videos not only literate the audience about the use of the product but also builds an image and curiosity to buy the product and try it.

7. Hype marketing does not disappoint

It is the marketing strategy that uses extreme publicity of the product.

Creating hype around the product is one of the extreme ways to sell a product in a short duration. She used this tactic for her eyeshadow palette Huda beauty rose gold edition. She addressed in one of the videos that this eyeshadow palette is going to be discontinued. And her religious followers were hassled to buy the product. Some of the customers even stock the product. But after 9 months of discontinuation Huda beauty bought the same product with a newer edition.

8. “Foundation” lies in inclusivity

Huda beauty does it so well when it comes to skin tones. All skin tones are beautiful so there should be an inclusive and wide range of skin tones in the foundation. According to Quid Pro search of Huda Beauty, you can scan some relevant or interesting focus on “New Foundation Range” which spotlights the shade-inclusive foundation launched in 2017. The bestselling #FauxFilter foundation launched in 30 shades, with an inclusive range of skin tones starting from ultra-fair to ultra-dark. Huda Kattan stated that non-inclusive brands will “not be around for long” as customers from today’s world are expecting more from a brand instead of “fair skin-centric” makeup. She took things to the next level in 2020 when she released a foundation in stick form which satisfies even more range with a total of 39 shades. For more such empowering content click here

9. Don’t forget Email marketing:

E-mail marketing has become a common mandated marketing strategy for every business on the digital platform. Starting from Nykaa to Myntra, everyone does Email marketing as they ask for e-mail and contact details while signing in. This can be nagging sometimes but it can also come as a blessing without any effort. Huda has a good email marketing strategy. A unique feature in their emails being they’re using emojis in 41.67% of their emails – the main ones they use are .

10. Huda herself is Instagram savvy:

If we have to point out one thing through which Huda beauty promotes its business is Instagram. Where Gen-Zs lie around, where the world watches and goes viral. Instagram is like that happening street where there are umpteen sellers, ample of customers but on the best will be “famous”. Huda uses Instagram intelligently and attracts more eyeballs. Using Instagram is important but using Instagram consistently is more important. Huda is nothing if not consistent.

She posts between nearly 3 to 5 posts per day. Her constant posting strategy of works as people are liking her posts more rather than getting rid of her. That means her posts are engaging.

-She posts shoppable stories to convert followers.

-She creates captions that prompt action.

-Speaks her personal life fluently.

So, there you have it cosmetic brand marketing tips of Huda Beauty that turned a beauty influencer-owned makeup into a conglomerate. With deep ties to her roots and by staying true to the brand she managed to take Huda beauty to a whole new fraternity.