Shampoo Branding: 21+ Tips to Build A Brand from a Scratch

The generic name shampoo is perhaps one of the most widely known, fastest-moving consumer items worldwide. It is almost certain that the lion’s share of the target audience is women.

Men also form a sizable chunk of the target audience, but women form the most significant number of buyers. The shampoo is essentially a hair care product, although some brands also propagate their products as hair conditioners.

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Powerful Tips to Build a Shampoo Branding Strategies

The product is a viscous liquid applied to the hair. Many people also use their soap bars as shampoo, provided the foam thus produced is considerably much more. The history of hair care products dates back to ancient times when Indian Gooseberry ( amla) and shikakai were used extensively. Later on, soapnut, or reetha knew, has also been extensively used as a hair care product.

Benefits of using shampoo – The following can be described as some of the benefits of shampoo –

It is one of the best mediums to clean the hair from dust, pollutants, oil, and dirt.
It keeps the hair tidy, smooth, soft, and silky.
The pleasant smell of the shampoo is very soothing
Some variants of shampoo can be used as a hair conditioner too
The shampoo is harmless as far as the skin and the eyes are concerned
The shampoo has no harmful chemicals as its composition
The shampoo is an excellent hair hygiene item
It is also suitable for the scalp
One can have hairstyles as per one’s own choice
The foam and the creamy effect give a feeling that the hair is being sanitized properly.

Variants of shampoo

The following are the broad categories of shampoo that are generally available in the market .-

Normal shampoo
Shampoo for dry hair
Medicated shampoo
Shampoo for oily hair
2 in-1 shampoo
Shampoo for coloured hair
Everyday shampoo
Volumizing shampoo
Clarifying shampoo
Shampoo for swimmers

Defining the target audience of shampoo

Office-going women who are generally in the front office and back office of the corporate sector
Women are pretty higher up in the organizational hierarchy of the corporate sector.
Socialite affluent women
Women who have pretty out-of-office jobs like medical and sales representatives
Women in educational institutions
Women in cultural fields
Women in fully professional lines like medical practitioners, chartered accountants, engineers, and advocates.
Men who are generally conscious about their get-up
Men higher up in their organizational hierarchy
Men in professions like sales and other outdoor duties have to be on the move frequently.

Raw materials – Some of the finest ingredients are used in making shampoo. They are chemical extracts from coconut oil, palm kernel, and soybean oil. Also used are lauryl sulfates of sodium and ammonium.

Brand Nomenclature

Logo – As the primary target audience is women, the color scheme and the theme of the logo design must be multi-colored, keeping the women’s choices in mind. It has to be simple, relevant, and create an impact. A splash of foam or water will give an extra edge to the logo design.
Logo name and tagline – Broadly, the following are some of the criteria for deciding on a brand name and slogan for a shampoo brand –

The name must invoke a keen interest amongst the target audience
The name should be eye-catching and exciting.
The name should not be a me-too. Rather it should be distinctive
The name must have at least some connotation with the word hair
The tag line as a one-line or two-line descriptor should suffice the main benefit of the shampoo brand.
Logo color – The most adorable colors of women are red, pink, parrot green, sky blue, and grey. Men like brown and dark grey. Preferably these are the colors that need to be used.

Pricing strategy – The shampoo category is very price sensitive and with cut-throat competition. The brand has to be either lesser or at the same price as other competitive brands in the market to sustain its position.

Brand message — This forms the most important aspect of shampoo marketing. The cleansing properties, soft silky effect, natural glaze, and premium health benefits must be put forward. Another critical aspect of shampoo is its pleasant fragrance and foam content, which should also be highlighted.

Brand Voice – All the positive attributes of the message, the features, and characteristics must be put forward in a sophisticated and straightforward way so that the women would immediately understand and exclaim that this is the shampoo they have desired. They must directly relate to the brand. That this is the product, they are looking for.

Brand Personality — The above two — brand messages and voices would derive from the brand personality. To make the shampoo brand successful, the shampoo should ideally personify an urban thoroughbred professional with taste, elegance, smartness, and consciousness about her beauty. At the same time, the woman’s personality would be a no-nonsense lady aware of the latest trends in fashion.

Competitor’s activities

Since cut-throat competition is there in the category, let us see some of the activities of competitors that need to be carefully looked into-

Shelf presence of the competitor products at standard retail outlets
Which category of the competitor products – pouch or bottle sells more and why
Branding exercises of the competitors at the retail outlet level — what type of points of sales are being used
Consumer retail and gift schemes, if any that are being operated in a given territory
Publicity campaign of the competitors
Whether any celebrity is being used to endorse the products
Whether the competitors are using lady counselors and sales promotion executives in any retail counter
What is the competitor’s product’s brand perception compared to its own brand?
What are the traits liked by women in the competitive brand

Packaging

For a personal care product like shampoo, the packaging is of extreme importance. Shampoo packaging comes in two variants –

Pouch of various denominations and
Unbreakable bottles

The design needs to be very attractive, mainly understanding women’s moods. The pouch will be just a miniature adaptation of the more extensive bottle packaging. Nowadays, beautiful PVC bottles have also come out.

Branding integration

Office, retail, and marketing environment

The office interior should have sufficient promotional materials and product display materials.
Branded shops with on-shop and in-shop designs
Exclusive retail outlets with complete branding
Distribution of free samples
Beauty counselors and sales promotion executives at various A1 shops
Marketing through beauty parlors
Colour advertisements in women’s pages of national and regional dailies
Page sponsorship of beauty page or personal care page in women’s magazines
Sponsorship of women-oriented programs over cable and satellite channels
Sponsorship and branding of top-notch beauty pageants.
Exclusive college sales promotions

Social media –

Facebook,
Focussed WhatsApp group
Twitter
Instagram
Links to internationally acclaimed magazines like Cosmopolitan and Vogue

Website

The website should be user-friendly and very easily navigable
Links to be provided to prominent e-commerce sites
Testimonial ads and messages should be uploaded
Home page design and other page designs should be extremely attractive
Search engine operations
It should be configured with Google Analytics
It should be compatible with both mobile as well as tab machines.
Should have cart options
It should contain images of products
It should contain a list of dealers and exclusive retail outlets.
Should have map pointing facilities
Beauty and health tips should be uploaded on the site
Interactive sessions with local stars
Orders must be paid through the site.

Whether pandemic or not, shampoo and other health care products will survive and continue to be amongst the top favorites of maximum women of this country. At the moment, customer loyalty is of great importance. With the tendency to switch over to other brands., markets must seriously consider brand loyalty.