The beauty industry is a market that is sometimes overlooked in promo, but it shouldn’t be. With the rise of beauty TikTok and influencers everywhere, promo packaging and promo products are bigger than ever. Youtubers and Influencers are creating new makeup and skincare lines by the second and making sure that they have the best promo is a major opportunity, that is often missed. In this article, we’ll tackle the beauty industry in two ways: 1) the beauty industry itself, who to target and with what promos 2) how to incorporate beauty promo items into any campaign.

Beauty Today

Today, the global beauty industry is estimated to be a $532 billion business, which means large sales opportunities exist for promo distributors. When you’re targeting businesses, remember beauty goes beyond hair and makeup. This industry includes teeth whitening products, nail products – which are currently huge – fragrances and so much more. There are a ton of ways to incorporate beauty products into marketing.

Your clients in and outside of the beauty industry can all add various beauty products into:

• Free gift with purchase
• Sales incentive 
• Recognition gifts 
• Retail branding
• Trade show giveaways

Who to Target in the Beauty Industry

Promo in Action

A great example of how to integrate beauty products into events, giveaways and trade shows can be seen in a recent Kylie Cosmetics Ulta Event. Many of the influencers and content creators invited to the event revealed the immense amount of promo products that created the best experience, along with the immense amount of Kylie Cosmetics given for free. In a video by user Iris Beilin, a lifestyle and beauty TikToker, you can see the event’s style and branding, which can also be implemented into any brand or industry. The video shares Kylie Cosmetics-branded makeup bags and rugs, as well as a massive branded prize wheel, where attendees could win freebies like beauty sponges inside branded containers, branded glass displays for products and branded bags.

Something for Every industry

Even companies that aren’t beauty-related can incorporate beauty products into their marketing. For example, the hospitality industry can hand out toiletry bags and goodies such as face rollers or makeup removers. For education, branded brushes and compact mirrors are a nice way to connect with students and teachers. Razors, shaving cream and shaving kits are products that all genders can use and make perfect giveaways in the financial industry.

It's More Than Just a Product

When people look for beauty products, they care about their needs, but also sustainability, clean ingredients, size, easy storage and transportability. Make sure you’re considering all of these things when you’re looking for products to pitch to clients.

ThinkDirty is an app that scores products based on varying criteria and states. Consumers only need scan the product and scores and information instantly pop up. Keep this in mind when recommending clients gift beauty products such as lip balm, makeup or skincare. As far as storage is concerned, brands will get attacked for products being unusable due to packaging. If a package is too bulky, can’t be stacked or isn’t easy for people to open, this impacts usage. Although this may sound trivial, it won’t benefit your client’s brand if they hand out promo products that end up in the trash or the back of the closet because they’re difficult to access or use.

Track the Trends

Now is the best time to look at the trends of 2023, especially for the beauty industry. Pitch the perfect products to clients to make sure they’re ahead of the game and on track. Many of the beauty looks for spring and summer 2023 are not new trends. For example, candy colored eyeshadow, glass skin, shimmer and smoke, glitter, brown and neutrals and matte finishing and all be incorporated into promos.

When calling on brands in the beauty industry, since candy-colored eyeshadow and glitter are in, pitch products that come in vibrant and bright colors, as well as metallics. Cosmetic bags or even traditional promos like reusable drinkware and T-shirts in candy colors or metallics could seal the deal.

Another trend is glass skin, making face mists, face oil and even lotion a great option. Also, marketing a mirror as “a gift to always keep your skin glowing” is a creative approach.

Since browns and neutrals are making quite the comeback over the past few years, suggest your beauty clients hand out a gift bag of various products all in brown shades. Their beauty-conscious customers will love the on-trend items. For example, suggest a dark brown cosmetic bag filled with lip balm, shaving products, sunscreen and makeup wipes but each product is a different shade of brown.

While glitter is in, so is matte finishing – especially when paired with browns and neutrals, matte finishing can look elevated and classy. Matte finishes are also a great touch for promotional printing items, like business cards or signs, as well as increasing the perceived value of promo pens or mugs.

Apparel and wearable accessories are a promo win in just about every industry. For beauty clients, scrunchies are back from the 80s and you’d be smart to include them in your presentations. They are perfect piece of branding that can go anywhere and be used by just about anyone, but they have major millennium and Gen Z appeal, a major target of makeup, skincare and hair product companies.

Beauty encompasses a wide variety of options and categories which is part of the reason it’s a $532 billion industry. Trends and products are typically static from season to season and year to year, making beauty products the ideal investment as a vehicle for any type of promotion. Make sure beauty isn’t left behind just because it might not be obvious how it fits in with the industry and clients.

Tell us what beauty products you like to pitch? And what type of clients in the beauty industry have you had the most success with? Share on our Facebook page.