The 2017 launch of Trinny Woodall’s skincare and beauty brand, Trinny London, was received with much skepticism.
Since then, however, she has transformed it into a thriving business, with sales skyrocketing during the last coronavirus outbreak.
Makeup and skincare from Trinny London are available in a broad variety of tones, hues, and levels of coverage, respectively. Customers may find the items that will work best for their skin type and needs with the use of an online tool.
Woodall told CNBC’s Tania Bryer last month that she was prepared for the coronavirus pandemic since she ran her company online.
While growth had been relatively stable prior to the closure, “we did triple, quadruple the business during lockdown,” she said.
It was a turning point in her life, she claimed. Woodall observed that before the pandemic, most beauty businesses primarily sold their goods in person, making it more challenging for them to transition to selling online.
Establishing a name for oneself in the market
But getting the goods in front of the proper people is just as important, as Woodall pointed out.
As she put it, “heralding a community of women and talking in a language they understand is essential to building a business in the modern world in the industry I’m in.”
Woodall has done this in part by fostering an online community for Trinny London fans via her own social media profiles and those of Trinny London itself, which she calls “Trinny Tribes.”
“Social media allows you to be honest and candid and bring people on a journey,” she said.
Trinny London’s brand and marketing approach now centers on being honest and open online. Instead of utilizing a 20-year-old model to sell things to 35-year-olds, as Woodall put it, businesses should speak about their wares in an unvarnished, approachable manner and make sure the message suits the buyer.
To paraphrase, “We want reality, and we want ambition. And, she stressed, “the importance of striking a balance between realism and aspiration.”
Money matters
In addition to developing its products, Trinny London relied heavily on funding from outside investors. According to Pitchbook’s data, the company was worth $22.19 million in July of 2018 and $36.1 million in its most recent transaction in July of 2021. In early 2021, Forbes stated that the company’s value had reached $250 million. In 2021, the company made £59.8 million (about $74 million), according to data compiled by research firm Dealroom.
However, Woodall noted that it wasn’t always simple to pitch a business with an emphasis on women to a largely male investor base.
She claimed that many of them would bring in their secretaries or helpers to see if they would purchase the merchandise. Others advised her to concentrate on younger women instead, saying that those in their 30s and 40s would never purchase from an online-focused firm, but Woodall was ultimately successful.
She told CNBC, “How we tell the story of what we want to build is crucial as female founders,” and that she had figured out how to tell her story so that “people could hear what I wanted them to hear.”
She said that although she had a firm grasp on the fundamentals, others often need a more methodical approach.
“I wanted to bring someone in on the whole idea, and sometimes you need to do chunk pieces,” Woodall said. She also said that explaining the process beforehand helps people avoid the feeling that “I’m lost in this execution.”
However, neither the business nor the product are central to her most important piece of advice for female entrepreneurs. Keeping your mind on the task at hand is essential.
You need to stay in your own lane if you go out there with an idea. According to Woodall, it’s not helpful to focus too much on what other people are doing.
“It takes away your sense of vision and your belief in your doing what you know and you’ve woken up every morning thinking ‘I love,'” she said.
