Beauty and Wellness Marketing in an Era of Burnout

The World Health Organization recognized workplace burnout back in 2019. ¹ Then the pandemic hit. Since then, social, political, and economic issues have made things more intense. In a nutshell: People are stressed out. 

As a small business in the beauty and wellness sector, you are in a position to help. Your services and products can offer much-needed self-care in an age of burnout and fatigue. 

But, much has changed in the past few years. The pandemic forced people to get back to the basics. Ideas on beauty and wellness have shifted.

Let’s dive into how to meet your customers where they’re at today with four tips:

• Reframe Your Messaging
• Focus on Product
• Market the Experience
• Go Virtual

Reframe Your Messaging

Chasing perfection is becoming a thing of the past. In an Avon survey, almost half of women aged forty or above said the pandemic has made them want to embrace their wrinkles (49%) and gray hair (46%). ² So it seems that over the past few years, many have gotten back to their roots (pun intended).

The no-makeup trend also started to take hold ³ and “Skinimalism” became a thing – simplifying skincare routines and achieving beauty naturally. ⁴

So, consider how your beauty and wellness business will frame your messaging to market to the growing set of people who are embracing life and wanting to look and feel their best without the fatigue of constantly chasing perfection.

Here are some do’s and dont’s when it comes to your messaging:

Don’t

1. Don’t use messaging that promotes trying to look “flawless”. In a survey, 71% of women said they want health & beauty brands to promote body positivity, ⁵ and in 2021, Unilever announced it would stop excessive photoshopping of its models, reflecting changing attitudes toward beauty standards. ⁶
2. Don’t focus on anti-aging or weight loss messaging. These messages seem to be falling by the wayside in favor of messaging that embraces a person’s beauty whatever their age or weight. Since Pinterest banned weight loss ads in 2021, they report that global searches for “weight loss” on the platform have decreased by 20%.⁷
3. Don’t create messaging that promotes complicated routines to get results. In recent years, people have realized they were burnt out on their beauty routines. Many women report relaxing their beauty routines and not wanting to go back to the way it was before. ⁸

Do

1. Do reframe messages to be more about health and wellness. For example, Pinterest reports that the 20% reduction in “weight loss” searches has been accompanied by a 65x increase in “quick and healthy meals” searches, a 13x increase in “healthy food motivation” searches, a 5x increase in “positive self-affirmations” searches, and a 2x increase in “body positivity” searches. ⁹
2. Do use messaging and imagery that celebrates all people at every age. VisualGPS data (Getty Images) shows that “consumers of all ages really do respond positively to images of happiness and fulfillment in old age, even when wrinkles are visible.”  ¹⁰
3. Do show how your services and products address total wellness, both physical and mental. McKinsey research found that a large percentage of consumers feel as if current wellness services and products don’t meet their needs. ¹¹ Areas where people want more options include better sleep (No. 1 on the list), better mindfulness, better health, better nutrition, better fitness, and better appearance. (Note that “better appearance” ranked last on the list).

Focus on Product

Stuck at home, many people took beauty regimens into their own hands. As a result, at-home beauty treatments and technology have skyrocketed with no signs of slowing. ¹²

Get creative with your retail offerings for people who want DIY treatments. You can package your products as take-home kits for people who want spa days at home, for instance. Consider theming your product bundles, too, based on body parts (facial kits, body kits), mood (stress, exhaustion) or outcomes (inspiration, gratitude).

Many small businesses will also want to add natural or organic lines of product to their offerings to cater to the mindful customer. Seventy-four percent say clean, ethical ingredients matter when buying personal care products. ¹³

Along with that comes products that embrace the “less is more” attitude and low-maintenance self-care. According to research by Avon, only 10% of women now use more than five daily skincare products, with 64% of women using no more than three. ¹⁴

Market the Experience

With consumers now getting used to the fact that they can do some of the more routine beauty regimens at home, you can entice people with experiences they can only get with you.

Remember: The convergence of health, beauty and wellness is here, and people want their self-care to address all three. With a focus on total wellness, consider offerings that address body, mind and soul. 

And don’t forget the extras that make coming to your place of business worth it for customers. The pandemic left people with “touch starvation” so a little extra hands-on pampering can go a long way. ¹⁵

More people are considering how to attain beauty from within, too. Fifty-three percent report thinking about the relationship between their diet and their physical appearance. ¹⁶ You can add supplements to your offerings, making healthy drinks and snacks available and other nutritional-focused services. 

Since we are in an era of personalization, you can also create personalized offerings for people based on what they need right now. Millennials (49%) and Gen Z (37%) express a strong preference for products, services or apps that leverage personal data to personalize the consumer experience, according to McKinsey. Could you let customers easily design their own packages based on some services you already offer?

Go Virtual

Now more than ever before, people prefer the comfort of their own home. Virtual learning, workouts and meetings have become the norm. Online searches for “how to” content on self-care and beauty treatments have skyrocketed over the past few years.

Beauty and wellness businesses can add value through virtual services and potentially new streams of revenue. 

Here are some ideas: 

• Gyms: People have realized they can get fit at home. The top benefits of working out at home, according to one research study, include feeling more confident to try new fitness activities (48%), flexibility to work out whenever (48%) and flexibility on the activities they can do (46%). ¹⁷ Plus, nearly four in 10 respondents also said they have more motivation to work out since they started exercising at home. Consider how you might launch virtual fitness classes or an app to people who prefer to stay out of the gym. 
• Spas, salons, massage therapists: The at-home self-care craze means people want to learn how to perform services on their own. Consider creating content for at-home blowouts, low-maintenance makeup looks, self-massage and more. 

If you’re in beauty and wellness, you can make a real difference in people’s lives. Consider the tips in this article for how you can market to people who need self-care in the age of burnout. And if you’ve got a great idea, let Groupon get your promotion in front of people who need some pampering. Find out how Groupon works.

Sources:

1. https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases
2. https://www.avonworldwide.com/beauty-innovation/innovation-centre/future-of-beauty/power-in-ageing
3. https://www.personalcareinsights.com/news/no-makeup-makeup-younger-generations-trend-natural-beauty-post-pandemic.html
4. https://business.pinterest.com/en-us/pinterest-predicts/2021/skinimalism/
5. https://www.thepullagency.com/events/is-your-brand-too-woke-brand-vs-social-purpose
6. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/mar/09/dove-owner-unilever-to-ban-excessive-photo-editing-from-its-adverts
7. https://www.thedrum.com/news/2022/07/13/weight-loss-searches-pinterest-down-20-ad-ban
8. https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2021/01/22/covid-has-spurred-no-makeup-trend-women-look-different-post-pamdemi/4134442001/
9. https://www.thedrum.com/news/2022/07/13/weight-loss-searches-pinterest-down-20-ad-ban
10. https://creativeinsights.gettyimages.com/en/trends/wellness/health-as-beauty
11. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/still-feeling-good-the-us-wellness-market-continues-to-boom
12. https://www.voguebusiness.com/technology/at-home-beauty-tech-sees-a-lockdown-boom
13. https://www.harriswilliams.com/article/harris-williams-2021-beauty-personal-care-consumer-study
14. https://www.avonworldwide.com/dam/jcr:5298865c-deff-4bc1-9f3d-2826d5cb29a9/future-of-beauty-report-post-covid-trends-2021.pdf
15. https://www.tmc.edu/news/2020/05/touch-starvation/
16. https://www.lycored.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Lycored-COVID.pdf
17. https://swnsdigital.com/us/2021/04/staying-at-home-made-americans-realize-they-dont-need-a-gym-membership-to-stay-in-shape-new-research-reveals/