Kylie Jenner rings as a somewhat controversial character. She is the daughter of an Olympian and her fame initially started with the exceedingly popular TV show that simply follows the extravagant life of her family. Recently however, Kylie has become her own form of entrepreneur creating her own cosmetics company- aptly named Kylie Cosmetics. Although not all of us can simply get paid for breathing, we can recognize some of the successful marketing and advertising schemes that Jenner has put into place surrounding her own company. Here are a few fundamentals that Kylie employs to make her a successful businesswoman outside of simply being filmed eating and shopping on her TV show.
1. Branding: Once again, not all of us have the ability to put our name on something and call it a brand, but Kylie Jenner has been able to turn her name into an association of luxury. The Kylie Lip Kit and Kyshadow pallet have brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars of profit not necessarily due to quality, but of the status associated with it. The name alone is able to increase the perceived worth of the product allowing Kylie to charge a higher price. Using a well-liked celebrity or some associated wealth figure is a near-guaranteed way to make a product seem more desirable.
2. Scarcity: Kylie only releases a certain amount of her products at a time. She keeps supply low and demand high so that her product is almost constantly sold out. This creates an aura of desirability for her products and increases the status associated with owning them.
3. Advertising: Kylie is the queen of advertising AND she does it for free. She is able to post on her Snapchat and Instagram reaching hundreds of millions of people at absolutely no charge to her; having virtually no advertising costs leads to lower costs and therefore more room for profit. Social media is one of the best ways to advertise in this era as it can reach a vast audience for very little charge.
4. Pricing: The pricing on Kylie’s products is right in-between luxury and standard for the items she is selling. They are priced moderately enough that they are not out of range for the middle class, but they are expensive enough that they do not resonate as cheap or poor quality. Combined with her branding and promotion, she has created a product at a price point that appeals to an incredibly vast audience, meaning that the volume of sales is able to be exceedingly high.
Once again, Kylie Jenner is a “special” businesswoman because she is already famous and wealthy and has a certain status associated with her name, however, she still must employ business fundamentals that lead to success within her company. The business models she practices are in many ways applicable to simply creating profit, regardless of fame or personal income.