Industry Voices - Marketing

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The Canadian Cosmetic Cluster would like to present a new feature called Industry Voices. We talk to industry professionals to get an inside view of what they think about industry trends and the future of our industry. This week we talk to Anthony Valade, marketing director at CBON Group.  Anthony provides an interesting look at product marketing post-COVID-19. 

1. As a marketing specialist, what can you recommend to companies to invest in going forward?

I could choose to answer something very obvious like R&D or marketing. But these depend on the companies and what they are trying to achieve long term in the business world. Having worked for small/medium-sized businesses for most of my career, I think one of the best investments a company can make is in the optimization of its processes in general. It’s OK for something to be time-consuming if it is necessary and if it makes sense for the people involved in the process. When it is time consuming because the process has not been updated/optimized and the excuse is “we’ve always done it this way” it must be addressed. Of course, I’m a firm believer in the idea that when a process is being optimized, it must be thoroughly discussed with and explained to all the people involved in it.

2. Do you think there are more benefits to being local vs global in terms of marketing and audience engagement?
Purely in terms of audience and marketing, local is the winner for me. People want to buy local, they want to trade locally. Whether it is a good thing or not I cannot say. 

3. Companies are struggling with budgets, is it still important to invest in marketing?
Funny thing, when a company starts to have financial issues, one of the 1st department they do cuts in is marketing. Unless they’re an apple.
I see plenty of reasons as to why it makes sense in the short term to do cuts in marketing. But long term, it is not a good idea. Marketing is here to help you open the doors and to keep them this way. If one closes, it will open for someone else…

4. What would you recommend to focus on for cosmetic brands; Social Media or Website marketing?
Both are extremely important and I put them on the same level. Strategies must be put into the place of course, but they both need investment.

5. Is there a difference in marketing strategies for professional beauty lines and retail beauty lines?
Yes and no. I think the form is similar in terms of distributions and advertising. Both worlds give you options to be sold in physical stores (professional / retail) or online, to advertise online or in magazines (Social media, website, trade / retail magazines). Tradeshows might be the exception here as I think they serve the professional beauty business better. But in substance, the messages used for professional and for retail is very different. They don’t have the same concerns nor the same motivations.