One of the best example to study as a business start up is the story of Drew Barrymore who went from an alcohol and drug abusing child with no proper parenting to a business owner and celebrity.
Drew Barrymore started her career as an actress as early in her life as 11 month old. Then she costarred the big shot at the time ET movie at the age of 6.
So she started building a celebrity status early in her life. She had to rebuild it after the rehab from alcohol abuse (age 11) and drugs (age 12). This is the heart breaking part to know about any child, and it is enough to ruin anyone for the rest of his/her life.
The rebuilding was not as easy as starting, but it helped her that people already know her from her childhood roles. She started with small roles and kept building momentum to the point that she became the celebrity that we know right now.
One more thing to consider about her case is that she is one of the beauty icons in the world and for years she’s been a Cover Girl model.
Now about her business ventures. The first business she had was Flower production company. This is what she had experience with and wanted to build a business in it. She also directed some of the movies produced by her company. Diluting herself thin I don’t think she liked it to live like that (work + stress = no fun even if you like what you’re doing).
She had a partner in her production business. And if nothing else at least it gave her the chance to portray herself the way she wanted in the roles she played in the movies she produced and directed.
The second business is the one to focus on because this is the big shot she’s done with a bunch of right decisions that helped her new company shoot up and eat up a big sector of the already saturated market. It is also a model to follow in Internet marketing.
Remember above I mentioned that she became a beauty icon and modeled for Cover Girl for years. When it was time, Drew Barrymore started her own cosmetics and make up company Flower Beauty.
First let’s focus on the bunch of right decisions I pointed to above.
The first decision is to use herself as an advocate and marketing material for her company. She’s already been established in the minds of her fans as the beautiful girl next doors. They already love her and some will try to look like her. When she says she’s “wearing a full face make up from Flower Beauty” on the late show her fans will look for those products to do their own faces.
The second right decision she’s made is to partner with a giant in the retail world; Walmart. Flower Beauty products are sold exclusively at Walmart stores across the US and Canada.
This is a win-win-win for her, Walmart, and the consumers. Walmart will get more customers just for the cosmetics section due to this partnership with the beauty icon Drew Barrymore (this is not me talking here, it’s the market, I absolutely have nothing to do with this).
The consumers are winners because of the low price tags on Flower beauty products. At Walmart everything is priced lower than it is anywhere else due to the large volumes of sales, and this goes also to Flower Beauty products.
And Drew Barrymore is a winner because she’s targeting the biggest sector of the market: girls and women with low income who deserve a chance to look beautiful. And this is her third right decision.
Other cosmetics companies shoot for the higher income customers and leave the low income ones to low quality products that are in my opinion a waste of money.
The above 3 right decisions made it inevitable for her business to expand quickly and acquire a large share of the cosmetics and beauty market, competing with big names like Cover Girl and Nicole Miller.
Drew Barrymore has built her status as a celebrity in the beauty market. This celebrity status gave her credibility when she talks about beauty (used by Cover Girl). And when it was time to build her own cosmetics and beauty business she had her market ready to buy instantly.
Drew is also using the Internet, especially social media, to do her marketing and advertising. If you follow her on twitter you will find out why. She’s giving away samples of her new lines to her followers, shooting a series of beauty tips on Tuesday, and is being friendly and lovable by her fans who are in direct contact with her on social media. We’re talking about the social proof here.
This system alone the Drew is using to keep in contact with her market is the ultimate manifestation of an Evergreen Launch(TM). Every time a new product is out her customers are already waiting for it to buy it once to try it, and buy it again and again until a new line comes out.
Drew’s business model is worthy of spending months and years to study it and follow, and this short article would do it no justice. Her life is also an example to be followed by those who are going through hardships.