Creating content that is not just about your product and nurturing a genuine and engaged community is the best way to build your brand says Trinny London’s CMO Shira Feuer.

Speaking at MAD//Fest London last month Feuer of Trinny London, the digital first brand that is making waves in the world of beauty, said in her keynote, ‘ Rethink Your Routine – 10 strategies to write your DTC success story”, that as “performance marketing eventually plateaus, it’s vitally important to build your brand from the beginning”. She added that “this should not be retrofitted later on”.

Feuer said that great brands are brands that are “consistent, recognisable, and have a strong point of view”. Therefore, “your brand’s content is not just about the products you sell”.

What Feuer calls ‘impactful entertainment’ is a huge part of the marketing function at Trinny London. From creating shows on their YouTube channel like ‘Closet Confessions’, (a weekly fashion show where Trinny Woodall merely wears Trinny London’s range of make up whilst taking viewers shopping), through to shows about skincare, fitness, and makeover helps build a massively engaged audience. This means that Trinny London is then in a great position to “soft sell their products within the entertaining content”.

Allied to creating fun and remarkable content is the nurturing of the community it helps develop. This is also key to Trinny London’s very impressive success. Feuer says that brands need to replicate a real-life community where people bond because of a shared interest, be that supporting the same football team or going to the same church. For Feuer this is all about creating a “many-to-many conversation” and not a “one-to-many conversation”. As such, she does not think Instagram is a genuine community.

Trinny London’s big ‘many-to-many’ community is Trinny Tribe. This was actually started by fans of the brand via a series of 35 Facebook groups from around the world who have all bonded over their shared love of the Trinny London. Feuer thinks Trinny Tribe is the “nicest place on the internet” where fans of the brand support each other with ideas, suggestions, and compliments on how to use the company's range of beauty products.

Yet, more than just being a lovely part of the World Wide Web Feuer said that it is every marketer's dream because those who are part of and engaged in the tribe “are selling Trinny London products better than I ever could!”

Over 8,000 people attended MAD//Fest on 7-8 July in-person and via the virtual platform. Speakers included new KFC CMO Jack Hinchliffe, S4 Capital Executive Chairman Sir Martin Sorrell and Resi Founder Alex Depledge MBE. Full sessions are available now on our YouTube channel.