Beard & Blade
Australia’s Home of Men’s Grooming Products for Shaving, Beard & Moustache Care.
Role: E-Commerce & Content Marketing Manager (Freelance)
What I did:
Copywriting
E-Commerce Management (Shopify)
Social Media Management (Facebook & Instagram)
Blog Articles - How-To Guides and Buying Guides
Influencer Marketing
Email Marketing Campaigns (Mailchimp)
Graphic Design (Adobe Creative Suite & Canva)
From humble beginnings in 2007, Beard & Blade has seen rapid growth in Australia, offering over 100 leading brands to well-groomed men both locally and internationally. They also developed their own bespoke Beard & Blade range of men’s grooming products, which has since become their bestseller.
The Project:
Since their launch in 2007, Beard & Blade have become champions of men’s grooming, offering a vast array of skincare, hair, beard and grooming products to men all over Australia. In 2020, their growth propelled to epic proportions due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the sudden surge in online shopping.
As their freelance E-Commerce and Content Marketing Manager, I took charge on all content and marketing initiatives. This included copywriting product descriptions for new launches, revamping their digital social media presence, product photography, influencer marketing and writing new articles for their Academy blog.
Product Descriptions:
The business had a large collection of new products that required copy so they can be launched on the site. They also required a copywriter to update much older product listings to match their evolved tone of voice as the business grew.
The tone of voice for their product descriptions was simple, straightforward and educational. Transparency was a priority as Beard & Blade wanted their customers to know exactly what they were buying. Their product descriptions had three main sections: Highlights (summary and most important information), Description (in-depth description about the product and brand) and Details (specifications).
Results:
New product descriptions accelerated their product launches and increased revenue
Updated more than 700 older listings to ensure tone of voice was consistent throughout the entire site
Social Media Management:
Previously, their social media accounts (Instagram and Facebook) had become stagnant. Using digital tools like Plann, I created new content in advance to produce a curated feed that matched their new colour palette and conveyed Beard & Blade as a premium business with competitive prices.
As the business provided different services and Instagram doesn’t include multiple links, apps like Milkshake were used to get around this.
By refreshing their social media accounts, following continued to grow along with customer engagement.
Results:
Following increased to 3,131 (previously was 2,100)
Average engagement rate grew to at least 17% across new posts (previously was 1-2% on average)
Curated feed conveyed to followers that Beard & Blade is the go-to destination for men’s grooming
New posts educated customers about men’s grooming - offering tips, new product announcements and more
Blog Articles:
The blog, entitled Academy, was a huge traffic driver to their website, due to being SEO optimised and customer value driven. However, content had become stagnant and the blog required fresh new content. Liaising with the founders, I wrote new How-To guides to educate customers on how to use grooming products, as well as Buyer guides to help customers find the right product for their needs. The articles needed to be easily digestible and straightforward.
Click on the images below to read the articles.
Results:
Refreshed the Academy blog with new content to increase traffic to the website and increased sessions spent on website (via Google Analytics)
New content was SEO keyword optimised to increase Page Authority and Domain Authority for Google Search Results
Email Marketing Campaigns (Mailchimp):
Using Mailchimp, EDM’s played an important role in the marketing strategy as the business had a large subscriber base. Aside from educating customers about new product launches, I aimed to increase their overall open rate and clickthrough rate. A/B testing was also implemented - either through different subject lines or different day/times.
Results:
Open Rate increased to 18-20% on average
Clickthrough Rate increased to 4-5% on average
Regular A/B testing gave the team a much clearer idea of what kind of messaging the EDM’s should adopt for optimal results
Influencer Marketing:
Beard & Blade wanted to explore the potential of influencer marketing with their bestselling safety razors. Targeting Instagram and Tik Tok, I managed this entire project from proposal plan, talent outreach, pitching, sending products to ensuring influencers delivered engaging content that was on-brand. Some examples are below.
Results: Tapped into new audiences to increase social media following and establish a stronger digital presence.
Results & Outcome:
Social Media Management: Following increased to 3,131 (previously was 2,100). Average engagement rate grew to at least 17% across new posts (previously was 1-2% on average)
Refreshed their Academy blog with new content that engaged with consumers, new and regular
Email Marketing Campaigns: Open Rate increased to 18-20% on average. Clickthrough Rate increased to 4-5% on average
Influencer marketing tapped into new audiences to increase social media following and establish a stronger digital presence