10 Q4 Marketing Strategies for Established Beauty Brands to Prepare for Black Friday and Christmas

Let’s stir up some magic in the lab with today’s hot topic: how established beauty brands can use the six weeks between mid-September and the beginning of November to prepare properly for Black Friday and Christmas.

If your beauty brand is already generating consistent sales, has a few thousand followers, a growing customer database and some recognised bestselling products, your Q4 strategy should look very different from that of a brand that launched less than a year ago.

At this stage, the goal is not simply to “get more visibility”. You already have customers. You already have traffic. You already have content. You already know which products sell. The real opportunity is to use September and October to make all of those existing assets work harder.

By the time Black Friday arrives, you want a larger warm audience, more customers ready to repurchase, stronger product familiarity, Christmas gift boxes ready to sell, advertising audiences built and your November and December campaigns already prepared.

If I were advising an established medium-sized cosmetic brand, these would be my 10 priorities before the end of October.

1. Build a Dedicated Black Friday VIP List

From mid-September onward, start actively promoting something like: “Join our Black Friday VIP List for early access + a VIP-only bonus.”

Promote it through the website, Instagram Stories, Reels, email signatures, TT videos, FB, LinkedIn, order inserts and organic content.

The objective isn’t just email collection. It’s to create a segment of people who are essentially saying: “I am interested in buying from you during Black Friday.”

You can warm this audience throughout October with product education, customer favourites, hero-product content, gift previews and behind-the-scenes content before giving them early access when the campaign finally begins.

Your November Black Friday campaign then starts with a ready-made group of people who have already expressed purchase intent.

2. Run a Six-Week Customer Acquisition Campaign Before Advertising Gets More Competitive

Use September and October to introduce cold audiences to your brand before the Black Friday advertising rush begins.

Focus your campaigns on content such as:

– bestselling products
– strong user-generated content
– founder and product stories
– educational or problem-solving videos
– reviews and testimonials
– short product demonstrations

The primary goal isn’t necessarily immediate ROAS. It’s also building: website visitors + video viewers + Instagram engagers + email subscribers + first-time buyers who can later be retargeted during Black Friday and Christmas.

3. Produce November and December Marketing Assets in October

Prepare October content in September. And by 31 October you should have:

Black Friday photography, Christmas photography, gift-set images, campaign videos, emails, stories, website banners, UGC, product demos, testimonials, reels and ad creatives finished for November & December. 

Ideally the November content calendar is also written.

This means November becomes: publish → advertise → analyse → optimise ; rather than: photograph → write → design → panic → post.

If every Black Friday email, Christmas Reel, website banner and product photograph is still being created during November, you leave yourself very little time to actually study what is working and adjust accordingly.

Front-load the creative work so the holiday period can focus on selling.

4. Launch a Six-Week Hero Product Content Strategy

Rather than trying to give equal visibility to all SKUs, choose perhaps 2 to 5 products that will drive Q4. Then make those products extremely familiar. 

If the same moisturiser appears repeatedly throughout October through founder content, UGC, reviews, routine videos, ingredient education, advertising, stories, FAQs, customer results, blog posts, etc, then the audience has time to build familiarity with it.

By Black Friday they are seeing: “Oh! That’s that serum I’ve been seeing everywhere!”

Customers are much more likely to act on a Black Friday offer for a product they have already encountered repeatedly than for something they are seeing for the first time.

5. Run a Proper Customer Reactivation Programme

One of the most valuable assets an established beauty business owns is its existing customer database. Use it.

Export your customer list and segment it based on purchase recency, frequency and behaviour.

Purchased within 30 days:

• Ask for a review.
• Show them how to use their product.
• Invite them to the Black Friday VIP list.

Purchased 1 to 3 months ago:

Cross-sell based on what they purchased and introduce relevant Q4 hero products.

Purchased 3 to 6 months ago:

Reactivation incentive such as free mini, €10 credit above a threshold or free delivery.

Inactive 6+ months:

Stronger win-back campaign. Reintroduce the brand, show what’s new, highlight bestsellers and provide a clear reason to return.

One-time customers:

Build a specific second-purchase sequence.

“You bought X. Here’s what we’d recommend next.”

Repeat customers:

Don’t treat them like everybody else. Invite them into VIP access and recognise their loyalty.

This is for the top 5-10% of customers. Give them something genuinely exclusive: first access, free Christmas gift, founder note, exclusive set or other VIP treatment.

6. Turn Referrals Into a Proper Six-Week Customer Acquisition Campaign

Do not simply install a referral widget and leave it sitting quietly on the website. Turn referrals into an active campaign.

For example: “Share the Love: Give €10, Get €10”

Customer gives a friend €10 off a first order over €40. When the friend purchases, the existing customer receives €10 credit towards a future order over €40.

Then actively push it for six weeks: 

• Send a dedicated email at launch.
• Include referral cards in every September/October parcel.
• Remind customers in post-purchase emails.
• Post it on stories weekly.
• Add it to the order confirmation page.
• Personally invite the brand’s best customers.

Halfway through October, send: “You’ve still got time to give your friends €10.”

And crucially, make the customer’s reward usable in November/December.

That creates a very nice mechanism: October customer → brings new October customer → original customer receives credit → returns during Christmas period.

So one referral potentially generates two future purchasing opportunities, rather than simply one discounted transaction.

Don’t forget to track:

• Number of customers referring
• Number of new customers acquired
• Cost per referred customer
• Average first order
• Percentage of referrers who redeem their reward

Treat referrals like a proper acquisition channel rather than an optional website feature.

7. Create a Six-Week Brand Collaboration Sprint

Find perhaps 5 to 10 complementary brands targeting the same customer type without competing directly:

• Skincare + candles
• Haircare + accessories
• Body care + lingerie
• Skincare + jewellery
• Men’s grooming + fashion
• Beauty + wellness
• Beauty + tea/chocolate

Don’t make every collaboration complicated. It could simply be:

• Instagram Collab Reel
• Joint giveaway
• Newsletter swap
• Products included in each other’s parcels
• “5 brands we’re loving” email exchange
• Instagram Live
• Joint Christmas gift bundle

The aim is audience swapping. If Brand A has 4,000 followers and Brand B has 5,000, each has something useful to offer the other.

Start conversations now so the collaborations can happen throughout October and into the Christmas period.

8. Build Christmas Gift Boxes From Existing Products and Enhance Selected Boxes With Simple Add-Ons

You do not necessarily need special Christmas formulas.Start with the products customers already know and buy and create perhaps three core gift boxes:

• €25 to €35 small gift: Two bestselling products or one hero product plus a mini.
• €45 to €60 main gift box: Two to three complementary products.
• €75 to €100 premium box: A complete routine or several bestselling products.

Then create a second layer of gift boxes using inexpensive non-cosmetic add-ons that dramatically increase perceived gifting value.

For example:

• Body-care products + fluffy socks
• Skincare + reusable headband
• Haircare + satin scrunchie
• Haircare + wide-tooth comb
• Bath/body products + candle
• Hand care + cosmetic pouch
• Skincare + facial cloth
• Lip products + small mirror
• Men’s grooming + toiletry bag

I would keep the range tight, perhaps 3 to 5 gift boxes maximum, because too many combinations create stock and fulfilment headaches. And too many options to choose from can cause decision fatigue in your customers. 

And all cosmetic products inside should of course already be compliant products placed on the market correctly. The non-cosmetic add-ons also need to meet whatever EU product-safety requirements apply to their own category.

9. Launch a Mini or Discovery-Size Customer Acquisition Strategy

If your beauty brand is already generating consistent sales, use September and October to get more prospective customers to actually experience the products.

Create a limited Discovery Kit using minis or samples of existing products, where operationally feasible.

The clever part is to make some of the discovery-kit price redeemable against a subsequent full-size purchase, for example: “Try our routine for €15 and receive 10% towards your first full-size order.”

Set the redemption window so it extends into November/December. 

The sequence becomes: September/October: Customer discovers brand → buys €15 kit → tries products → receives 10% credit → November: Black Friday/Christmas provides another reason to return.

You can advertise the Discovery Kit to cold audiences too. That’s often an easier proposition than asking someone who has never used the brand to immediately buy an €80 routine.

If minis aren’t practical, create a paid sample set using existing compliant sample formats instead. This is particularly useful for people who are interested in the brand but have not yet committed to purchasing a full-size routine.

10. Run an October Wishlist Campaign That Builds Black Friday Purchase Intent

Use October to encourage the existing audience to decide what they want before Black Friday arrives.

The message becomes: “Build your wishlist now.”

Throughout October, use email, stories and social content to encourage customers to:

• Save their favourite products
• Choose their routine
• Decide which gift boxes they want
• Send gift ideas to partners/family
• Join the VIP list so they know when offers go live

Content can deliberately encourage consideration:

• “If you’ve been wanting to try one product from us, which one is it?”
• “Build your dream 3-product routine.”
• “Which of these would make your Christmas wishlist?”
• “Send this to someone who needs a hint.”
• “Our three most-gifted products.”
• “Save this for Black Friday.”

This has a very specific objective:

October = consideration. November = conversion.

The customer should ideally arrive on Black Friday already knowing what they want.

You can reinforce this through abandoned-browse emails, back-in-stock notifications, product reminder emails and wishlist functionality if the website supports it.

And you should DEFINITELY send a reminder to your email list (+ in stories) about this Wishlist when Black Friday arrives, so that people who built it or saved products during October, remember it well come end of November 🙂

And for higher-priced products or routines, this is especially useful because Black Friday then becomes the trigger that converts existing desire, rather than the brand desperately trying to create desire and close the sale simultaneously.

Established Beauty Brands Should Use October to Build Leverage, Not Just More Content

Once your beauty brand has reached a certain size, holiday growth should not depend entirely on posting more often or offering a bigger Black Friday discount.

You already have assets. You have previous customers, email subscribers, website visitors, bestselling products, reviews, content, behavioural data and some degree of brand recognition.

Use September and October to make those assets work together. By 31 October, you ideally want:

A growing Black Friday VIP list
A larger warm advertising audience
November and December creative already prepared
Recognisable hero products
Inactive customers being reactivated
New customers arriving through referrals
Brand collaborations underway
Christmas gift boxes ready
New prospects trying Discovery Kits
Customers actively building wishlists

Then November becomes much less about scrambling for attention and much more about converting demand you have deliberately spent six weeks building.

That is the difference between simply participating in Black Friday and Christmas and actually preparing your beauty business to take advantage of them.

Here’s to formulas that work and brands that thrive!

From my lab to yours,

Rose