Top 3 Benefits of Affiliate Marketing: A Comprehensive Guide for a Thriving Cosmetic Brand

Are you a makeup lover whose interests revolve around the trendiest cosmetic brand out there? Then you’ve probably heard of beauty influencers and indie cosmetic brands taking the cosmetics business industry by a storm.

Before purchasing a new lipstick, isn't it our habit to try out the color by swiping the tester tube onto our wrist? Despite the ease of online shopping, we can’t immediately see if the new lipstick being shipped out to us will be a color match fitting our unique skin tones and fashion looks. Beauty influencers have helped to solve this issue by demonstrating the use of different products such as trying on that lipstick you’ve been eyeing on the screen for awhile. These beauty influences have become so “influential” that even small businesses with DIY projects or cosmetic brands now heavily rely on them as part of their marketing plans.

Take a look at social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok where beauty influencers review different kinds of make-up and skincare brands. “Beauty Hauls” are a typical genre where they show viewers their purchases or PR boxes, and then test out the products. 

So, how exactly can your cosmetic business benefit from micro-influencers and affiliate marketing? Check out this comprehensive list of small business tips and find out how your cosmetic brand can thrive with affiliate marketing.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

If you’re a small business owner — or, let’s say, your indie beauty cosmetic brand started as a DIY project — then you’re probably looking into different marketing techniques to put your brand out there. With all the different types of marketing you can choose, one of the best ones that work really well for cosmetic businesses is affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing can help your small business drive sales and generate a substantial amount of online revenue. As an online retailer, you can utilize micro-influencers to generate more website traffic or sales for your products through commission-based referrals. The good thing about this type of marketing is that it’s also beneficial for your brand and chosen affiliate marketers. That's certainly far off from the more traditional marketing tactics that the beauty industry used to implore.

You can work with micro-influencers and some of your loyal current customers for this type of marketing through word of mouth. You no longer need to limit yourself to traditional marketing techniques. Instead, you can engage with your customers and, at the same time, market your products.

Top 3 Benefits of Affiliate Marketing

Here are the top three benefits of affiliate marketing and how you can fully utilize beauty influencers for a thriving indie beauty cosmetic brand.

1. Affiliate marketing is performance-based.

A good advantage of using affiliate marketing is that it’s entirely performance-based. You only have to pay your affiliates or beauty influencers their commission once they have brought in the agreed upon number of sales or customers for you. Because of this, they'll be motivated to get more purchases for you. You’ll no longer have to spend time strategizing how to keep on generating traffic. You don't have to fear wasting money on advertisements that may or may not give you the desired conversions. On top of that, tapping micro-influencers allows you to branch out. Not only are you getting your money’s worth in terms of campaigning, but you're also saving dollars by no longer spending on creating an entire marketing campaign. It may also reduce extra costs for implementing various marketing campaigns because you’re getting exactly what you pay for.

2. It helps broaden your audience.

You’ll never run out of an audience with affiliate marketing because there are affiliates for every industry and product category. The majority of influencers often have their own established audience and visitor base, so the partnership also gives you the opportunity to expand into new markets, or a different related niche, for your brand. Partnering with the right micro-influencer is like getting an extension of your current marketing team. You may want to ask yourself, “What’s my brand image? What’s the story I’m telling with my products? Who is my customer?”, and then search for an influencer who would purchase your product even if they weren’t being commissioned. We recently worked with Boujee Barbiee, an influencer who has over 128k subscribers on Youtube and became one of many influencers who created a successful lip gloss business during the pandemic. Visit her channel and watch her latest reviews on our TKB Jelly Gloss (Flexagel) and Money Maker Collection!

3. Affiliates can boost your reputation.

Partnering with beauty influencers who have a large following also establishes your reputation in the cosmetic business. Every time your affiliates promote your products, potential customers will become even more confident in your beauty products. Even if customers often prefer non-affiliate reviews during the research phase of a purchase, they'll still gain a certain level of trust in your brand. The more affiliates you work with, the more sites will link to your pages. As a result, you’ll reach more customers. These affiliate links will increase your online search rankings as well because followers of these affiliates will be looking up your products. You’ll be seeing a boost in your organic and direct website traffic! 

Affiliate Marketing and Social Media for Indie Beauty Brands

When it comes to indie beauty cosmetic brands, it’s not that complicated to find micro-influencers you can work with. These days, you can quickly introduce yourself, your brand, and your company, and provide them with your terms and conditions by sending them a quick ‘direct message’ (DM). There are a lot of ways out there for affiliate marketing such as giving them free products in exchange for a promotional post.

With the popularity of social media, there are a lot of platforms you can start with. One good platform to try is TikTok, where your beauty influencers can create unboxing videos for your cosmetic products. Hashtags such as #microinfluencers, #brandambassadors, and #beautyinfluencers also work effectively on Instagram. Let’s not forget about YouTube where customers can watch product reviews made by influencers you’ve partnered with.  

Key Takeaway

There are a lot of success stories about how cosmetic companies have evolved and established their brands. One good example is how Fenty Beauty has successfully left its mark with the help of influencer marketing. Yes, as a small indie beauty cosmetic brand, you may have limited time, money, and resources at your disposal — for now. But, with the help of affiliate marketing and partnering with the right micro-influencers, you can also potentially reach Fenty’s level in the near future.

Have you worked with micro-influencers to promote your business? What's your favorite marketing strategy? Share your stories with us!