Tuesday, 16 August 2016

Beauty Bloggers and Vloggers Affect Consumer Buying Behaviour | Prep, Prime & Shine

*Image credit: https://www.lds.org/friend/1996/07/sharing-time-look-feel-and-help?lang=eng

During my final year of University I knew I wanted to write my dissertation on something that I enjoy as I had to invest a huge amount of time into it over 8 months.  It was pretty easy to identify I wanted it to be marketing related and then it clicked, as I am a blogger and use beauty blogs and vlogs to guide me in my buying process I would write about how vlogging and blogging in the beauty community affects consumer buying behaviour.  It's crazy to think that even I could influence just one person to purchase a specific product.

*Now I know a lot of content today is sponsored and paid for however I decided not to address this in my dissertation as that itself is a whole other story with differences in country laws etc*


So here I am, sharing the results with you bloggers and vloggers that you may or may not already know and may help you!  (Might I add I mentioned the limitation to my dissertation was that the sample size was only 250 – that being British, Italian and Spanish 18-24 year olds).

RESULTS

The main conclusion of my research was that today vlogs are the preferred method consumers use to find out information about products - that may be what drugstore mascara is the best buy or eye looks for their night out on Saturday using the Morphe 35O palette.  Sometimes they are just looking for what to buy and sometimes they are looking for how to use it.  Everyone is different.

Tutorials were almost always preferred through blogs it was found that blogging tutorials are sometimes difficult to follow as they cannot see exactly how to apply it step by step - especially for those from Italy and Spain as they found the majority of "big" vloggers and bloggers normally spoke English and the language barrier was sometimes difficult to overcome.

HOW DOES THIS HELP BLOGGERS?

After viewing vlogs consumers were 90% more likely to research the products further and 83% of the respondents said they would do this by searching for blogs featuring the specific product as they often contain more written detail than vlogs.

As the second port of call we may feel that we are second best, but in reality we are the influencers that help the consumer make the final decision, playing a key role in their buying behaviour process. 

MAJOR FINDING

When asked if anyone had recommended a product to family and friends without physically having the product themselves and just going by what a blogger/vlogger had said 44% of respondents said they had.  That's 110/250.  Now I know you may be thinking 'that is not the majority?' but to me that figure is amazing considering readers and viewers have that must trust in us to give them our honest opinion.  

It normally takes brands years to build the trust and loyalty from consumers but some how the beauty blogging and vlogging virtual world has gained a huge amount of trust from people in just a short space of time.

It is amazing to see how much the consumer buying journey has changed all because of the rise of the Internet and the virtual community the beauty industry has created online.


SO remember: you may write or film about beauty just because you enjoy it, you may do it because you want to build an empire, you may do it because it's what everyone seems to be doing these days, regardless of your reasons, you are allowing yourself to be an influence marketer and that's a good thing.

Questions:
Have you ever made a decision on purchasing a product due to what a blogger or vlogger has said?

Have you ever recommended a product to someone without having it based on a blogger or vloggers opinion?

Or Bloggers/Vloggers: Did you realise your content was being used in this way? 

xo



Wednesday, 13 July 2016

Payday Potential | Prep, Prime & Shine

This Months Payday Potential
(project: justify my purchases/urge to splurge)

As I have just recently graduated I am currently looking for full time jobs as well as saving to move out.  With the current online world it is so easy to lust over products and I myself (maybe others would agree) finding it difficult to fight the urge to splurge on products.  I thought making this list would one: make me research the products more and two: reevaluate and realise I don’t need anything on this list…

Gym Clothes:
So I've been slacking at the gym since before I went on holiday (which was the 1st of June lol) and I am now trying to motivate myself to getting back into it.  I've found myself lusting over the Pink Soda gym range which I first seem EmShel wearing and then on a few of the girls from TOWIE.  It's such a beautiful range of pretty but subtle gym wear.




Click Here: Pink Soda

Liquid Lipsticks: 
If you are not aware of the liquid lipstick trend then you must of been hiding under a rock.  I'm not sure who started the trend but when Kylie Jenner followed so did the world.  I really cannot justify paying for a Kylie Lip Kit simply because postage to the UK is almost the same price as the product itself.  One of my friends told me about the Sleek Matte Me 'lip glosses' and her fave is Birthday Suit.  I cannot tell you how hard this is to get your hands on in store apart from the old yucky testers.

Another major lust of mine is the NYX Lipstick lingerie! NYX has finally opened up in my local boots and I cannot believe I've actually managed to not pick any of them up already.  Literally every single colour of Nude possible. 
Image Credits: Les exploratrices

(NYX website is currently getting revamped but you can find them at Boots)

Gel Nails:
Gel nails have always been a thing but I feel summer is when they are really 'a thing'.  Especially because they last to long and thats exactly what you need when holidaying by the sea or pool.  However, I can't justify spending money every month to get a new colour so when I heard about the Essie Gel Setter Top Coat it was one of the top of my lust list!


Rings:

I am totally back at the ring party! Mixing up my ring game is so fun! I keep finding amazing new boutiques as well as going back to Swarovski for on trend rings that I can stack and wear on nearly every finger!!  I'm loving LVNDR Rings and Swarovski Rings (they currently have a sale with up to 70% off!!). Ring party is this season trend and it's all about stacking your rings and making a statement *I have a lot of rings and I can't pick my favourite so I'm just going to wear them all..*


Some ring inspo from LVNDR.


All credits to @TheLustList on Instagram

Can we appreciate how amazing this drawing is from Sally at The Lust List on Instagram.  She draws amazing things of all those dreamy products we can quite justify splurging on (and if you can be proud!!).

What's top of your payday potential buys?
And what's stopping you from your urge to splurge?
xo

Friday, 17 June 2016

To Blog or Not To Blog? |Prep, Prime & Shine

* Image credit to: http://www.smittenblogdesigns.com
As I sit here trying to decide what to write for my first post in over almost a year, I feel regret for disowning (I'm not sure if thats the word I want to use) my blog.  I've recently realised how much I miss posting what I've found out in life - that being new beauty discoveries or just general lifestyle things.  I've lacked a bit of inspiration and motivation and over the *almost* past year I was generally focusing on my final year at University.  Now that it's over I've no excuse but to get my blogging bug back hence the re-brand and new look of the layout (which I am loving).

I've just recently returned from a two week holiday (vacation) and while away I found myself reading Zoella's 'Girl Online' novels which have inspired me to get back into blogging.  It's so true what she writes about that you can't let things get in the way of finding yourself (as cheesy as it is, the older I've got the more I agree).  

I also watched Fleur De Force's recent Q&A where she discussed the topic of YouTube being "over saturated" however she suggested it's a place to express creativity and that it will never be over it's capacity.  I think the main pressure with blogging (as well as vlogging) is trying to be different.  

It's difficult enough trying to select the best font - verdana, but thats my uni essay font; courier, but that stretches everything out; times, but is that too old fashioned? and don't get me started on font size never mind the actual layout for my blog which is what people first see and make an opinion on.

We are all individuals with different personalities, skills etc. but it is hard to not fall into the crowd. And I can see I am overthinking greatly instead of allowing myself to find my path naturally.

Maybe some of you could help with my font troubles?
  1. What font do you prefer to write/read in? And is there any different ones you can use instead of the blogger version?
  2. And what size is best?

Until next time,
attempting again blogger, struggling with fonts.
xo