Image by: Olivier Placet

You pour your heart and soul into creating products that people absolutely looooove. You work hard to make sure you deliver amazing quality and efficacy through every batch.

Texture? Spot on.

Fragrance (or lack thereof if that’s your jam)? Perfection.

Ingredients? Only the best!

Well did you know these are three components of your actual product formula that you can use to tell your brand story? You might be thinking, “Ash, what the fiddlesticks are you on, girl?!”

But hear me out.

Conveying your brand story through your packaging/copy/website/social media/marketing materials/merchandising/etc is a given. We know the power of visual! Continuing that brand experience through your product itself amplifies it even further. Those are the kind of details that elevates your brand and sets you apart from the rest of the pack!

Whether you’re whippin’ up batches in your kitchen or working with a third-party manufacturer, here are 3 ways you can communicate what your brand is all about through your product formulas!

TEXTURE

Creamy, glossy, metallic, thick, gel, cooling, soft…the list goes on of all the wonderful sensorial things we love about our fave products. The way something glides onto skin or applies with our brush or feels to the touch…texture is a wonderful thing and a key element that influences a customer’s product purchase. Seriously, some of my everyday beauty essentials that I buy on repeat is because I love love looooove the texture!

So what does texture got to do with branding? Take Milk Makeup as an example. Their brand philosophy is all about self-expression and experimentation through their multi-use products for an on-the-go lifestyle. Products like their Jumbo Face Gloss or Cooling Water gel stick convey their brand story of easy beauty on-the-go right down to their formulas through their sleek, lightweight textures and hydrating, cool sensation.

Let’s say you have a cosmetics line that’s all about everyday luxury and prestige. You can share that message through the mega-rich pigment and creamy texture of your products that glide effortlessly onto skin. Your customer gets the luxe experience every time she applies her lipstick, echoing your brand story of everyday luxury and prestige right down to her using the product. Sha-ZAM!

FRAGRANCE

Ahhh, fragrance…how it can take us to faraway places with just one sniff! Scent is another element that affects why we love certain products. When I find a product that smells heavenly, best believe I’m coming back for more! And for folks who go fragrance-free, products that are totally sniff-proof can become everyday faves.

Sahajan is an example of a brand that uses fragrance exceptionally well to echo their brand story. Every time I use their glorious Ritual Body Oil, the wonderfully mesmerizing fragrance instantly transports me to ancient India, part of the brand’s origin story which is based on the mind-body science of Ayurveda. Founder Lisa Mattam infuses the rich heritage of the Ayurvedic traditions she was raised on into the brand story and conveys that message really well when using her products.

Maybe you create your organic skin care line using botanicals, where the natural fragrance of these ingredients really comes through in each product. Or your candy-scented lip balms echo the fun, happy-go-lucky vibe of your brand. Scent (I’m all for natural fragrances of course!) can be a wonderful sensorial tool to play with when developing your products to continue to tell your brand story to your customer!

INGREDIENTS

If beauty is an inside-out approach, then what you’re putting into your products says a LOT! Customers are super-savvy when it comes to learning what’s in the stuff their buying. The “you-are-what-you-eat” philosophy has trickled into the beauty industry and peeps don’t want to be putting shit onto their bods. So ingredients are one of the major things that drive a customer purchase, especially a beauty one!

The great news is that this component is one of the easiest ways to tell your brand story through your products. Luxurious lip line? Rich vitamins and nourishing essential oils all the way. Tropical bath and body products? Sea salts and exotic pure plant extracts for the win. Candyland-inspired cosmetics? Sugary vanilla, zesty citrus oils, cocoa butters – yeah, baby!

Get creative with the ingredients you use to really walk the walk when it comes to showcasing what you’re brand is all about!

Are there other ways you’re using your product formulas to tell your brand story? Are you inspired to experiment with the texture, fragrance and ingredients of your products to further convey your brand? Leave a comment below, I’d love to hear from you!

Positive vibes and high-fives,

Ashley