For the purpose of this report, I have studied the websites of leading beauty brands Dove and Loreal respectively to assess their approach to inbound marketing and compare their different strategies to gain an insight into the type of inbound marketing techniques utilised by some of the world’s most successful beauty brands.

Each Organisations Approach To Inbound Marketing

Dove introduces many high-quality content topics positioning itself as an authority on each agenda whilst weaving these amongst their more commercial campaigns. Their content is designed to engage their audience as well as help them stay connected with their customers with plenty of strong cta’s, (call to action) to convert their visitors.

Loreal have adopted a more commercial approach to their content through interactive and augmented reality tools. They also utilise textual content such as tips and trends articles as well as emotive video content using a mix of big personalities in the media to promote their brand mission and ethos.

Strengths And Weakness Of The Inbound Marketing Approach Used By Each Organisation

Each of the content topics raised by Dove are highly relevant to today’s media agenda with links to black lives matter, self-care, climate change and the spread of covid 19. They have used these content pieces masterfully in a way to talk about their own brand and drive customer loyalty. The content is driven to be shared across social platforms and uses a variety of photography, graphics and info-graphics as well as interactive tools such as tests and quizzes to attract and delight the customer. Their content works hard to capture the details of their customers by providing gated content pieces as well as regular calls to sign up/ register/ download, login and explore more as well as using relevant hashtags to keep their topics of conversations going after the visitor leaves the site.

Among its many strengths, one of the strategy’s biggest weaknesses is its lack of video content. Considering that much of their content is textual, supported by a degree of visuals, it can make their content quite cumbersome for today’s audience who heavily rely on visual aids and video to tell a story.

Loreal skillfully promote their products by using a variety of complimentary interactive tools such as their augmented reality try on hair customizer as well as match my shade make-up tool. They target a cross section of markets, young and old, from a variety of ethnic backgrounds through a mix of models and celebrities throughout their photography and imagery. Their strengths lie in the digestible focus of their content and their use of video to bring their brand to life.

I believe Loreal’s main inbound marketing weakness lies in their lack of drive to stay connected with their customer. They do not promote sharing of their content to users and there are limited ways to stay connected with the brand through newsletters, blogs or socials channels.

Their main cta’s are try on/ buy which drive short term results with little emphasis on signing up/ registering or downloading which are designed to drive customer loyalty in the long-term.   

Which Organisation Was Best At Inbound Marketing And Why?

Whilst both brands seek to engage delight and convert their consumers through their use of inbound marketing, undoubtedly Dove was better at providing a more strategic inbound marketing approach. They have invested time and research into building their audience personas and are dedicated to creating and delivering tailored content directly to each of these in an aim to convert them to loyal customers.

They provide content that hits a variety of topics widening their market reach by providing more opportunities for various markets to engage with their content. They then create a range of ways for these personas to stay in touch with them through newsletters as well as other social media hashtags to keep in touch with the brand.  They have created a tiered segmented content strategy with different newsletters aimed towards different target markets as well as further entry points at which niche markets can engage with them through their various campaigns.

This approach will undoubtedly allow them to funnel their audiences and keep delighting them with relevant news, products and content as well as providing Dove with a way in which to measure and monitor their efforts.

Examples Of How Each Organisation Could Improve Their Inbound Marketing

Dove may improve their inbound marketing strategy with the addition of more video to maximise the high-quality content topics they have created and make their content more digestible and shareable.

Loreal could improve their inbound marketing efforts by aiming to promote their message across their social channels and provide more strategic cta’s and hashtags to keep the conversations going. They may also improve the visibility of their articles to support the sale of some of their products (as well as invest in more original content) thus improving the customer journey, creating brand credibility and balancing their use of promotional and non-promotional tactics.