How Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty goes viral, with CMO Katie Welch

Decoder with Nilay Patel · with Katie Welch · August 16, 2022 · 61 min

Summary

Rare Beauty, founded by Selena Gomez, exemplifies how modern brands can achieve viral success without traditional advertising. This episode with CMO Katie Welch reveals a strategy built on authentic social media engagement, leveraging a celebrity founder's massive existing community, and sophisticated influencer marketing. Ecommerce operators will learn how to cultivate loyal fanbases and translate online buzz into tangible sales through community-driven approaches and strategic platform use.

Key takeaways

• Focus on building an authentic brand narrative that resonates with your target audience, leveraging your founder's story or unique value proposition to cultivate a strong community.
• Instead of traditional advertising, prioritize a robust organic social media strategy that drives genuine engagement and leverages platform-specific trends and content formats.
• Develop a sophisticated influencer marketing program that goes beyond transactional relationships, focusing on creators who genuinely align with your brand values and mission.
• Measure success through metrics that reflect community engagement, virality, and brand sentiment, alongside traditional sales data, to understand the true impact of non-traditional marketing efforts.
• Strategically integrate online presence with retail partnerships (e.g., Sephora) to create an omnichannel experience that expands reach while maintaining brand consistency.

Themes

Topics covered

Episode description

Katie Welch is the Chief Marketing Officer of Rare Beauty — the beauty products company founded by superstar musician and actress Selena Gomez. Rare Beauty sells its products online and in Sephora retail stores, and importantly, Katie does almost no traditional marketing: Rare Beauty is a true internet brand, that depends on social media strategy, influencer marketing, and community to drive sales. Specifically, the enormous community around Selena Gomez, who, again, is an international superstar with a fandom of her own. This kind of marketing is essentially new. Famous people making their own products and companies and using their online reach to launch and grow those businesses is a combination of art and commerce that is 10 – 15 years old at most, Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty is only five years old, but it’s redefined the industry and helped make her a billionaire. Some of the first big successes came from the Kardashian-Jenners including Kylie Cosmetics, founded in 2015, as well as Kim Kardashian’s Skims, founded in 2019. I’ve been really curious about how these businesses work, how they reach their audiences and customers, how CMOs like Katie measure success, whether being the marketing executive for an super online celebrity-driven business feels different than being a traditional marketing person, and whether the ever-present risk of weird things happening online make her plan differently. Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23071490 Links: Why BeReal is breaking out Why Hank Green can’t quit YouTube for TikTok Apple’s app tracking transparency feature isn’t an instant privacy button Apple’s app tracking policy reportedly cost social media platforms nearly $10 billion Updating The Verge’s background policy Marketing Funnels Katie's TikTok Instagram walks back TikTok-style changes — Adam Mosseri explains why Makeup company Glossier to sell its products at Sephora as new CEO pushes to expand reach Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the

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Frequently asked about this episode

What does this episode say about influencer & creator?

Focus on building an authentic brand narrative that resonates with your target audience, leveraging your founder's story or unique value proposition to cultivate a strong community.

What does this episode say about brand & content?

Instead of traditional advertising, prioritize a robust organic social media strategy that drives genuine engagement and leverages platform-specific trends and content formats.

What does this episode say about dtc strategy?

Develop a sophisticated influencer marketing program that goes beyond transactional relationships, focusing on creators who genuinely align with your brand values and mission.

What does this episode say about retail & omnichannel?

Measure success through metrics that reflect community engagement, virality, and brand sentiment, alongside traditional sales data, to understand the true impact of non-traditional marketing efforts.

What does this episode say about influencer & creator?

Strategically integrate online presence with retail partnerships (e.g., Sephora) to create an omnichannel experience that expands reach while maintaining brand consistency.

Listen

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