Branding lessons for Norwich businesses from Zoella

I found myself watching Zoella’s latest vlog the other day, the one where she launches her new beauty product range, Jelly and Gelato. It’s not that I haven’t seen her vlogs before as my 12-year-old daughter is a huge fan and one of her nigh on 12 million subscribers.

However, this time I was blown away by the pure marketing and branding brilliance of this butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-your-mouth, somewhat endearing 27-year-old.

If anyone has lessons to give Norwich entrepreneurs on how to establish and grow a successful business, it is the empress of this behemoth internet brand cleverly created by Zoe Suggs, aka Zoella.

In so doing, she has amassed a small fortune and is currently estimated to earn £50,000 a month, although that figure has never been corroborated by Suggs herself.

For those of you not yet tuned into the world of vlogging, Suggs began her entrepreneurial ascent when she started writing her own fashion, beauty and lifestyle blog in 2009, while working for the fashion chain New Look.

By the end of her first year she had a thousand followers and expanded her blog to the YouTube channel, where she began to video her latest beauty hauls and pick her favourite products of the month. She was well on the way to establishing her brand.

Emulate Zoella’s business values

Since then her rise has been meteoric, and needless to say both her fans and advertisers can’t get enough of Miss Suggs. She has branched out into publishing top-selling books, launched her own branded bath and beauty product ranges and even has her own wax model in Madame Tussauds

It would appear she is a naturally gifted entrepreneur who has easily adopted a set of values all of us trying to make a buck in business are constantly advised to embrace.

She is a prime example of entrepreneurial spirit and embodies the business ethos of not only being passionate about what she does, but is also continually creative, carefully listens to her audience, educates and nurtures them via her online channels and ultimately daily attracts more subscribers to her.

It starts simply with her sheer enthusiasm for what she does. Clearly any established enterprise or anyone looking to start up in Norwich must learn to emulate this.

She introduces her products to her followers (customers) as if she is just telling her best friend over a cup of tea all about her ideas and how she went about turning her visualisation into a reality. Tick, tick, tick.

Joining up the dots to success

Selling is really all about building connections, allowing people to get to know and trust you. Zoella does this effortlessly via her regular vlogs where she invites people to enjoy short glimpses of the now somewhat fabulous world she inhabits.

She is a queen of branding. While there is obviously a marketing team behind her, Zoella has a carefully crafted image of someone who genuinely has a strong work ethic and hands on approach to everything she does.

Her video launching the newest summer product range is a masterclass in vlogging – or what is effectively the new word for flogging. From the formulations to the packaging, Suggs enthuses and shares with her audience the care and thought that went in to them. It’s certainly not hard to want to buy into her brand by just watching her.

It’s no wonder the Jelly and Gelato products are flying off the shelves of Superdrug even before they hit the stores. The products were first available at discounted prices on the chain’s website, after all that’s where Zoella’s audience live, work, play and do their shopping - on the internet.

Increasingly businesses are being urged to use video and content via social media to market themselves. If you need some inspiration go watch Zoella.

Being on line is where every Norwich business has to be. At the end of the day we might not all have Zoella’s zingy charm and camera-confident capabilities, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take a leaf out of her best-selling book.

Building a brand on line, communicating with your customers and turning a tidy profit are achievable for anyone with those goals in mind.

Get in touch for expert advice

• At Business Showcase we offer clients a chance to communicate directly with clients through a range of writing services including blogs, website words and Business Showcase articles.
• At Norfolk Web Support, we offer a comprehensive, cost-conscious and friendly services including website design, branding and much more.
• Both serve a digital community wherever your business is geographically based.
• Call us today for a free analysis of your business requirements.

Written by Sheree Hanna