Marketing Strategy and SWOT Analysis of Fenty Beauty

Famous creatives hold so much influence and power. Some artists establish their brands once they get huge recognition. Among those, makeup brands are more common. The brand that we are going to focus on today is Fenty Beauty. We all love and adore Rihanna. Other than having amazing vocals and engaging performance skills, she is also an inspiration for a lot of people. Thus, she has managed to build a huge trust between herself and her audience. Her brand is incredibly successful. In this blog, we are going to talk about the marketing tactics that Fenty Beauty used to become successful.

To begin with, we are going to take a look at the mission and vision statements of Fenty Beauty.

The mission statement of the company is as follows.

“Fenty Beauty was created for everyone: For women of all shades, personalities, cultures, and races. I wanted everyone

to feel included. That’s the real reason I made this line.”

Now, we have all come across situations where we were unable to find our foundation shade. Matching that color to your skin sometimes feels like the biggest mystery you have to solve.

But some brands fail to come up with enough shades. It feels like they create the ‘standard’ shades and then they are good to go. So Fenty Beauty has appeared to put an end to it.

This brand offers over 50 foundation shades. So an option range that wide for sure leaves you with a solution.

But then there are the less obvious things. Blush colors or lipsticks are other safe options for most makeup brands. They release neutral colors so everyone can have something to pick. However, it is important to realize that makeup is a form of art. Lots of people wear makeup for self-expression. That may mean using vibrant colors, dark ones, or neutral ones. As long as there are options, both the consumers and the buyers will be happy.

Fenty Beauty wanted to make every woman feel comfortable. The broad product range makes everybody feel in their comfort zone, or out of it if they are feeling spicy.

And here is the vision statement of the company.

“Makeup is there for you to have fun with. It should never feel like pressure. It should never feel like a uniform. Feel free to take chances, and take risks, and dare to do something new or different”.

The vision statement makes the vision more understandable. Lots of people feel like they have to put on makeup as soon as they wake up in the morning. Some women do not like leaving the house without makeup. Because it feels like people look at makeup as a habit. They perceive it as something that everyone surrounding them applies. It feels like societal pressure sometimes.

However, the goal behind makeup is for people to express themselves, play with colors, come up with fun looks. And it becomes crystal clear with the vision statement of Fenty Beauty.

Next up, we are going to analyze the following Instagram post to unravel the positioning strategy of Fenty Beauty.

The photo is of a beautiful Instagram beauty blogger, Simona Vaduva. She is wearing a pretty natural yet so different makeup look. We see that she has used her creativity for her eye look. Then of course her blush looks so rose-y. And her lipstick is a nice warm color. But we also see her freckles reflecting through her makeup. So, she did not hide her natural beauty but rather, she enhanced it. When we look at her, we can clearly distinguish her skin regardless of how much or how little makeup she has on.

She has used a Fenty Beauty blush and lip gloss to complete her look. The caption is telling us all about that. Thus, if we like it, making a purchase becomes easier because we already know the shades.

Simona has over 19000 Instagram followers, Fenty Beauty has 10.9 million. This collaboration makes this post pretty beneficial. Both Simona and Fenty Beauty introduce their viewers to one another. As a result, both of them are most probably grow their platforms to some extent.

So, what can we infer from this post?

This post is overcoming stigma. Even though hiding natural beauty is not as intense these days, it is still an ongoing stain. Young girls could sometimes be embarrassed about letting their freckles show. But this post is all about making a change.

This look is not what most people would usually go for. It is something different, fresh, and exciting. So, in a way, Simona stands out. But she also inspires lots of other people to do so.

Those details are enough to understand that the archetype that Fenty Beauty belongs to is The Outlaw.

Desire: revenge or revolution

Aim: to destroy what is not working (for the Outlaw or the society)​

Strategy: disrupt, destroy, or shock

These are the messaging levels of the archetype.

Level One: feeling powerless, angry, mistreated, under siege​

Level Two: identifying as an outsider, the values of the group or society in a way that flies in the face of conventional behaviors and morality​

Level Three: behaving in shocking or disruptive ways​

Level Four: becoming a rebel or revolutionary

The Outlaw may be a good identity for your brand if:​

• customers and employees are feeling very disaffiliated from society or recognize values at odds with those of society at large​
• the use of your product is to destroy something or is genuinely innovative​
• your product is not very good for people so that utilizing it is similar to thumbing your nose at society’s ideas of what establishes health​
• your goods help maintain values that are threatened by prevailing ones or pioneers new and unprecedented attitudes​
• your product’s price is low to moderate

Brand Archetypes. Why do we need them in practice?

Our communication strategy may have multiple messaging approaches. But there is some logic that unifies all these and it is called communication based on the archetypal branding. A company may have many messages, but they do not have something in common. For example “Do everything easily”, “Go ahead and be powerful” or Dig deeper and be experienced”.

These 3 quotes have different goals and bring different subconscious effects. One is about Being a Hero, another is about gaining more experience. These are 2 different directions of messaging and the logics of Brand archetypes bring more uniqueness and clearness here. Just read the book “8 steps to a complete archetypal branding” and you will have more experience in communication based on archetypes.

Moreover, we are going to review the SWOT analysis of Fenty Beauty.

Strengths

Brand name: The fact alone that Rihanna is the founder of the brand is already an advantage. People that look up to her and trust her are more likely to make a purchase. As she has an immense audience, the brand has gained loyal consumers over the years.

Unique products: The products that Fenty Beauty makes are like none other. It makes lots of options for most people to find something fitting their personalities and preferences. Other than that, the packaging is also unique. The products of this brand almost look like gallery items.

Great marketing strategies: Nowadays, young individuals admire influencers. A lot of brands gain more following through sponsorships. Fenty Beauty has numerous YouTuber brand ambassadors. All of them have a huge following. So, aside from trusting Rihanna, viewers also trust those specific influencers. And then, you guessed it! The brand earns more customers.

Cruelty-free and animal-friendly products: You may not clearly distinguish short-term effects after using cruelty-free products. However, they are surely better for your skin. There are lots of chemicals such as parabens and sulfates that are horrible for your skin in the long run. Thus, making the lifestyle choice to switch to healthier products is beneficial for you and the environment. Good thing Fenty Beauty has made a thoughtful choice to utilize better ingredients for its products.

Weaknesses

Not available everywhere: Fenty Beauty is sold is available in a few stores and online. The stores are Sephora, Kohl’s, Harvey Nichols, and Boots. Thus, this brand’s products are pretty much sold wherever those stores are located. As a result, the brand loses a great number of potential consumers.

Expensive for some customers: Some people are just not open to spending 36$ on a foundation. These products tend to run out quickly. It is not like one investment is going to get you through a long way. So some people choose to simply go for less expensive brands.

Brand similarity: People who are not that informed about makeup will not see the benefits of this brand instantly. They are highly likely to pass on it since the pricing is not the best for everyone. If two companies both sell a similar-looking bronzer stick, people will most probably go for the cheaper one.

Opportunities

Use of other celebrities: Collaborating with influencers is great and all, and it has gotten Fenty Beauty a long way. But one thing this brand can benefit from is the potential collaboration with other celebrities. Just take a second to imagine how big of an audience could be introduced to the brand.

Product launches at big events: There are annual events for beauty brands to promote their products. Among those is The Makeup Show. This is a great opportunity for any brand. As it is such a big convention, it could definitely be advantageous for Fenty Beauty in case the latter participated.

International expansion: As we already mentioned, Fenty Beauty lacks a wide distribution range. So, opening up more locations could be one of the smartest investments of this company.

Threats

Change in tastes of consumers: Fenty Beauty is sort of safe with the products it launches. It is safe to say that it has a specific style it has stuck to. However, this could possibly be dangerous in the quickly shifting world that we live in. New trends arise all the time, and many people follow them religiously.

Intense competition: Rare Beauty is considered to be one of the biggest competitors of Fenty Beauty as of now. Rare Beauty is the brand of Selena Gomez. For a while, she was the most followed person on Instagram. So you can guess how large of a platform she has.

Substitute products: Just like butter and margarine, there are similar products to what Fenty Beauty offers. That pretty much applies to more affordable products.

Last but not least, we are going to cover the segment that Fenty Beauty has chosen to target.

The video shows women from different cultures and races. We see lots of unique individuals, and in the end, we also see Rihanna herself. The advertisement is for a lip gloss of Fenty Beauty. Thus, all of the women that are shown are wearing it. Someone even gracefully applies it at some point in the video.

It is safe to say that all of those women put themselves out there confidently. That is because they enjoy standing out.

Although all of them are leaders, at least from the outsiders’ perspective, they still ultimately come together as a powerful team.

At some point, somebody had the lip gloss flipping in her hand. That shows the brand orientation of these people and how committed they are to it.

The points we just touched upon make it obvious that the segment Fenty Beauty has chosen to target is the Breakouts.

Lifestyle and values:

Being successful is one of the most important goals of Breakouts. They need to earn a great amount of money and recognition. The urge for it is so deep that they are even willing to sacrifice quality time with loved ones.

Breakouts are natural leaders. That, however, does not take away from their amazing cooperation skills.

This segment enjoys owning expensive and luxury items. The main point of their job is to earn money. Even if the job is not pleasurable but the earnings are high, Breakouts are all for it.

However, the constant obsession with purchasing expensive stuff does not allow Breakouts to save up enough money.

A nice way of standing out is having an exceptional appearance. Breakouts constantly purchase luxury goods to contribute to their awesome looks.

Breakouts love taking risks and going on adventures as long as they are having fun.

Still, there are lots of things that Breakouts are naive about. For example, they are not concerned with environmental issues, their physical health, or gender equality.

Attitude towards shopping:

Shopping is something that Breakouts enjoy doing for fun. They are on the run to making a purchase right after a new product launch. Sometimes they will wait for those items to lose the hype. Because as we all know, a phone is less expensive a few months after coming out.

Once in a while, this segment will buy stuff just for the sake of it. Good thing those are less expensive items, so not a lot of money is wasted there.

One aspect that Breakouts spend a lot of money on is clothing. They typically go for mainstream brands, or whatever is trendy. Hence why clothing is not an area of brand loyalty.

Other interesting facts:

Breakouts

• Spend most of their free time with family and friends
• Prefer pubs and clubs when going out, somewhere they can consume alcohol, and have fun
• They are not really involved in cultural events and activities​
• Do not typically pick up on any sports
• Aren’t that informed on technology, hence their limited computer use
• Favor passive holidays near home rather than traveling abroad
• Consume media mainly for entertainment​, and source of information
• Are average press consumers​, and above-average radio listeners

And there you have the Marketing Strategy and SWOT Analysis of the Fenty Beauty blog. It is the brand of Rihanna, a creative enthusiast we all love and support. In this blog, we talked about some marketing tips and tricks that went inside this company. Do make sure to check out our main website if this got you interested. There, we constantly come up with something new about more companies.

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