EXPOSED! How To Go Evergreen.

A Manual to Making Your Story Timeless

As a public relations professional, I took notes, but as a person, I internalized his message. The presentation was about storytelling and how to craft the perfect content. The message was “why.”  It is a very humbling question to ask yourself why you do what you do.  

So, there I was intrigued; then out of nowhere, Jim Olson, founder, and president of Hangar 6 Strategic Storytelling mentioned evergreen content. This is just a term for stories that are “always relevant.” I don’t know about you, but in the past, I had always been taught to craft a very personal story that speaks to the emotions of another person. Of course, the concept of evergreen content blew my mind, so to make sure I fully grasped the term, I related it back to beauty. 

Beauty. What does that word mean to you? What comes to mind? Is it your partner, the Eiffel Tower, your dog, a supermodel, or maybe it’s your mom. Whatever beauty means to you and whoever you thought of, like me you should realize that you just created evergreen content. 

For a moment I want you to imagine that you own a multi-million dollar cosmetics company; diversity is your slogan and innovation is your bread and butter. How do you make that last? How do your company and its ideas remain relevant? The answer is, you get very comfortable with creating evergreen materials. 

Of course, in the digital age, we’re living in, creating material that is “timeless” seems almost impossible. With social media platforms become a breeding ground for the latest trend of “outrage culture,” how does one break through the chaos and remain relevant with an everlasting story? In my opinion, the answer is research. Yes, I know it sounds both simple and really inconvenient, but I promise if you ask most public relations professionals, marketers, or advertisers what they do before implementing any campaign, approach media, post a billboard, etc. they’ll say research.

Photo by Edho Pratama on Unsplash

 I just so happened to be reading Forbes the other day, with the hope of reading something inspiring, and I found this quote: “The common facts of today are the products of yesterday’s research,” said Duncan MacDonald. Nowadays we’re so lucky to have access to some amazing research tools, no longer do we have to search for a book on the shelf, the inconvenience related to research shrinks every day. 

I can’t recommend enough that everyone knows how to use Google or Bing.  I’m not saying that these search engines have all the answers, but if you ask the right questions they’ll get you close. Evergreen stories don’t just happen. They take a deeper level of thinking, which I’m sure if you’re reading this you’re already thinking deeper than the ocean. 

Some of the things I suggest you look for to get started are why you and other people care, now or in the future; and what is the best way to get your point across. Answering questions like these take your story from talking about the latest lip gloss that will soon be replaced by the newest lip gloss, to talking about the latest lip gloss and how it’s reshaping the beauty industry. Which one would you rather read?

So, the next time you’re thinking of writing a timeless evergreen story, take a moment to do your research. Because if you don’t know what you’re talking about and why it matters, how can you expect anyone else to? 

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Why aren’t you into makeup? It was made for you.

I am really excited about this week’s topic. I want to discuss what the beauty industry does behind the scenes in preparation for a new product launch. I will begin with the process of analyzing sentiment.

In case you have been living under a rock, makeup is the brand-new buzz word. With four out of five women opting to cover their natural freckles or an unexpected breakout with makeup, how could the industry be considered so controversial?

It is 2018! With megastars like Alicia Keys standing for natural beauty and the #NoMakeup movement, the industry is facing a “trial by Twitter.” Of course, to an industry that is projected to be valued at over $800 billion in the next five years, criticism is just a part of the territory. To me, the beauty industry is like the best lip plumper in the market, thriving.

The “no-makeup makeup” is a huge trend and has overtaken the original stance of #NoMakeup. I agree this is somewhat disheartening; what was a very powerful movement has been buried under CC cream and ultra-lightweight foundation. What most people don’t know, is just about every campaign was carefully crafted to adhere to the response of the last one.  Meaning, nearly everything from foundation to nail-polish was planned around the latest trends.

What happens after all this sentiment data has been collected? If the company wants to be successful, it should continue by doing more research. According to Forbes, the first four out of 17 steps anyone should take before launching a product, are centered around having an intimate understanding of your audience. Social listening should be utilized, and with the help of platforms like Meltwater and Twitter, it is easier than ever.

For example, here is one of my recent tweets to MAC Cosmetics:

Comment from MAC Cosmetics to Janet Diane White

I am sure the company deals with hundreds of mentions every day and probably has a database of automated answers, but the fact that they are listening should be what we care about.  Imagine if 100 of my friends and I stated our opinion on the company’s lack of sonic blue blush. MAC would then have a choice, to either make the desired blue blush or not.

For argument’s sake, let’s say the company is moving forward with launching the blue blush. One of the next steps would include creating a demo or tester. After successfully completing the product safety testing and quality control, it is time to spend the blush out to the company’s list of influencers. In a perfect world, each influencer is loving and raving about the blush, and their audiences are ecstatic about the innovation.

Before MAC officially launches its sonic blue blush, the company should ask itself “why,” one more time. Why does the world need this blue blush? Why do people want a blue blush? Why did we create a blue blush? The fact is, the answers to these questions can be found with research, and MAC should be obligated to answer them without hesitation.

It is go time; the blue blush has hit the market. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world and there are a few loud disapproval’s. Good thing the company did its research and has already blocked @WeHateBlue because of its habit of publicly posting inappropriate comments.

Congratulations! You now have a foundation on how to do a new product launch. What are you going to launch next? I encourage you to read the entire, “17 Steps to Take Before You Launch a Product,” and then let me know what you think the next biggest trend will be.