Bettison Copywriting

Email copywriting with Integrity

marketing

Marketing Lessons from the Jeffree Star & Shane Dawson Makeup Launch

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Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson broke the Internet last week, and it was all the result of a genius marketing move that I’d like to explore in today’s post.

First off, who the heck are Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star?

If you aren’t that familiar with YouTube, you might have no idea who these people are. No worries. Let’s take a minute to make sure everyone is caught up.

Jeffree Star was a MySpace personality and singer who moved to the YouTube platform. Nowadays, he’s most recognized for his influence in the online makeup guru space. He is the founder of Jeffree Star Cosmetics and is reportedly worth upwards of $50 million. As of writing this post he has 16.4 million YouTube subscribers.

Shane Dawson was an early YouTube adopter who got his start on the platform doing lowbrow sketch comedy. He’s been making YouTube videos for over a decade now and has amassed a loyal audience of 23 million subscribers. He has evolved into a documentary filmmaker on YouTube who is making long-form content that gets millions of views.

A Profitable Collaboration

About a year ago Dawson made his first documentary about Jeffree Star in which he gave viewers a look behind into Star’s makeup empire. The original series got upwards of 20 million views.

After the success of the first documentary, they decided to do a more in-depth collaboration that would take an entire year to film. In it, Dawson would learn the ins and outs of the cosmetics industry and release his own makeup line under Jeffree Star Cosmetics.

After the sixth episode of the documentary dropped, Dawson’s makeup line went up for sale online. The results were mayhem.

So much traffic crowded onto sites selling the products that the websites crashed.

Shopify had difficulties managing all the traffic.

People waited in virtual lines for hours only to find that the items in their carts were sold out by the time they could checkout.

Looking at some of the comments people left I saw things like …

“I’m not even into makeup, but I felt like I had to get this eyeshadow palette.”

“I was so emotionally invested I didn’t want to miss out.”

Let’s look at what made this so successful

Granted both men have sizeable online followings, but neither had sold out of this amount of product so quickly in the past.

What sales lessons can we learn from this?

Sell with story

When your prospects are emotionally invested in your product or service, they are much more likely to buy.

The documentary took people on an emotional journey. They saw the creation of the makeup from conception to finished product. They witnessed the deals that were made, the obstacles that had to be overcome, and the drama behind the scenes firsthand.

This inside look at what went into the creation of the product made the viewer feel like they were part of the process.

Don’t be afraid of being yourself

The documentary didn’t shy away from the messiness of the lives of the creators. There were emotional highs and lows. Dawson talked openly about his anxieties over the process.

Dawson included his engagement in the series.

We saw how Starr delt with a largescale theft in his warehouse.

At one point we see how Star does his best to continue on with business as usual even though he is desperately worried about his seriously ill dog.

In the end the audience saw how much they really care about the product and the experience of the people who buy it.

Collaborate strategically

Both men have big followings, but they wouldn’t have gotten the results on their own. Working together, they maximized their audiences and broadened their appeal.

Long-term marketing

People online knew about this collaboration a year in advance. There were hints and rumblings about it on social media. When the original trailer finally went up it got people talking. The documentary started over a month before the makeup line was released.

This was truly thinking in terms of the long haul when it came to marketing this makeup line.

To get better outcomes consider using some of these tactics yourself.

  • Sell with story
  • Be yourself
  • Collaborate
  • Use longterm marketing strategies

When you do you’ll find that prospects will connect more with your product and be willing to join endless lines to buy.

Hope this article gave you something to think about.

Do Freebies Still Work For Getting Subscribers On Your List?

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You’re on the right track. You started your email list, but now you need to figure out how to get subscribers.

Most people say the best way to get subscribers on your list is by offering them something for free, but you’ve also heard that free offers only attract freebie vampires that will suck all the information out of you and never buy.

You don’t want a list full of freebie vampires, so you’re not sure what to do.

Don’t worry. I’m here to help.

Give me all your free content!

Every online business owner has experienced the freebie vampires that seem to lurk in every dark corner of the internet looking to suck free information out of anyone who will provide it. They are determined not to pay for anything.

When you try to sell them something they get angry.

“How dare you try to sell me anything! Don’t you know that everything on the internet should be free?”

While they are quite vocal, they are the minority. Most people understand that if they really want a problem solved they will have to pay a fee.

So going around the internet afraid of running into freebie vampires is unnecessary because guess what? You’re bound to encounter a few. Instead of creeping around being afraid to do what you need to get subscribers, gather together your cross, garlic, and holy water and march right into that crowd.

Let the freebie vampires gabble up the free information you offer. Your focus should never be on them. You need to focus on the people who want to buy and they are out there.

Why would I even bother with a free offer then?

Buyers will get on your list too just for the free offer. They do that because they’re testing you out. They want to know if you can really help. My mentor’s mentor always says that the best way to show someone that you can help them is by helping them.

People buy from people they know, like, and trust. You win that trust by offering value and showing consistently. That means finding the right balance between helping and inviting subscribers to buy your services.

Send emails consistently. Most business owners feel comfortable with sending weekly emails. I prefer daily, but weekly will do if you just can’t manage daily.

Every time you send an email, remember to pitch your services at the end. So your emails should always consist of value and then the offer or ask. Get your subscriber used to the idea of buying from you.

It takes time. Showing up regularly and giving value and a pitch will keep you front of mind when your subscribers decide it’s time to make that purchase.