Marketing Happy Hour - UGC is The New "Word-of-Mouth" (+ Excellent Early Career Advice) | Andrea Linhares of Sephora

Starting point is 00:00:00 you're listening to the marketing happy hour podcast where we discuss career and industry insights with our peers in marketing we're here to talk about it all like the ups and downs of working in social media how to build authentic relationships in the influencer and pr space managing a nine-to-five and a side hustle at the same time, how to be productive in your life and career without losing your sanity, and more. Ultimately, we're here to build a community with you because we're all trying to navigate the world of marketing together. Are you ready? Grab your favorite drink and join your hosts, Cassie and Erica, for this week's episode. Hey, Marketing Happy Hour listeners. If

Starting point is 00:00:53 we know a little something about the people that listen to this show, chances are you probably are wearing something from Sephora in some shape or form right now. If you're a raving fan of the brand like we are, you will love this week's conversation with Andrea, brand marketing manager at Sephora. In this episode, Andrea walks us through her day-to-day advising brands at Sephora on marketing best practices, her perspective that UGC is the new word of mouth, how Sephora identifies and collaborates with influencers, and her best advice for marketers at any stage in their career, but especially early on. Go ahead, grab your favorite drink, and let's dive into the conversation. Hey, Andrea, thanks so much for being here.

Starting point is 00:01:40 How are you doing today? Hi, Cassie. Thank you for having me. I am doing great. Excited to chat with you guys. Yes, absolutely. We have yet to talk to anyone at Sephora. So very stoked. I will say personally, I am head to toe decked in Sephora products right now. So I'm definitely a huge fan. I know Erica is too. So this is definitely a treat for us. So thanks for being here. But before we get started, I do have to ask you what's in your glass right now, or what do you just enjoy sipping on on a regular basis? Yeah, I'm currently drinking this as a lychee water, sparkling water. I really like it's not too sweet, no added sugar. So it's been good for it's 10am here in California. So keeping a chill. Absolutely. I actually have a new to me drink. I've had this

Starting point is 00:02:27 brand before. It's a kombucha brand called Brew Doctor, but I found this flavor at Sprouts called Vanilla Oak. And I'm really intrigued by that because a lot of my favorite like candle scents are those like woodsy vanilla-y scents. And I'm like, I wonder if that's going to bring, you know, that vibe into this kombucha right now. So I'll report back once I try it, but Cassie, what do you have? Awesome. That sounds great. Yeah. Also new to me, I have Explorer cold brew. So they have a lower caffeinated version of their cold brew, which is good because I needed just a little slight pick me up. So I have their cold brew with some of their all natural vanilla syrup and it is delicious so far. I do not have hot coffee. It's cold brew, like I said, but I'm drinking it

Starting point is 00:03:09 in a mug regardless, which is hilarious. So anyways, that's what I love that. Okay. I also just tried it reporting live for all of you and it is fantastic. I will definitely be repurchasing this. That is so good. It has vanilla, white oak, and green tea, in case anybody's curious, but super good. Well, let's get right into it. We are, like Cassie mentioned, so excited to have you here today and to dive into your experience and expertise. But first, could you just share with us a little bit about your background personally and professionally? Yeah, I have been in the marketing industry, essentially like my background in CPR.

Starting point is 00:03:49 That's where I graduated with. I went to San Jose State and we had so many opportunities to like do internships and really be in the heart of like Silicon Valley. So a lot of exposure to like the big four companies that we all hear about, as well as like some like really smaller um like digital brands and agencies so I actually did a ton of internships in the technology space and then I learned through that that I really liked marketing more than I liked PR

Starting point is 00:04:19 so when I graduated I accepted an offer at Epsilon which I don't believe they're still around. I think they were bought out, but essentially I worked in email marketing for them. So I did a little bit of that and I worked in like project management for marketing. I did a little bit of like accounting or sorry, sorry, account management. And then, um, I was recruited to work at Sephora and I've been with them for the last, last like and a half years. And within Sephora, again, within the marketing department, I did creative marketing. And then now I'm within the brand marketing team, which I love. It's so much fun. But yeah, I'm fairly familiar with California, but I'm sure San Jose to San Francisco is kind of a jump in terms of moving to a big city, uh, just exposure to new career opportunities and things like that. You know, a lot of people come to us and they're like, I want to move to a New York and LA, a San Fran to pursue a new job. So what was that experience like with you

Starting point is 00:05:20 just jumping into that kind of space headfirst and just broadening your experience in San Fran? Yeah, that's a great question because that's definitely how I felt after, you know, college. I definitely wanted to move to San Francisco. I was like, it was on my path, you know, my chart, my dream. And I honestly looked for roles, a lot of roles in the city. And something that's interesting is that a lot of companies will try to stick with the, you know, like the talent that's already in the city. So you don't have to commute. It's a lot easier for the employee in general. So what I did is I looked for companies that had bases in like both places. So Epsilon at the time did have a San Jose office

Starting point is 00:06:02 and a San Francisco office, which was great. So I was able to go back and forth and just network with the San Francisco team until there was an opportunity for me to just kind of like jump in. So I think I would say that's a good way to think about like moving to a big city is just like looking for companies that have bases everywhere or like building that network that could refer you into a role in the city you want to live in. Yeah, that's great advice. So I want to kind of shift into talking about community a little bit. So, you know, your ultimate goal is to build community for brands and peers. You mentioned off record, you work a lot with the brands that you have at Sephora. So I'm sure a lot of relationship building as well comes into play there. But how do you approach community building in the context of brand marketing and how does it contribute to the success of the brands you work with the niche guys as well as like the legacy brands. And we definitely help instill that idea that like you need to build loyalty with your customer

Starting point is 00:07:09 and you can do that through community. And we tend to focus on like really advising your brands to like do social listening, whether it's through TikTok or Instagram, just like be involved, respond to comments, know what people are talking about, and creating opportunities through like either sampling or like loyalty programs where the customers can come back and feel like they're part of that brand in one way or another. Because at the end of the day, we're serving a customer need. So it's really important for us to like understand what they need so we can service them. For sure. And I know a lot of the brands that you guys work with are very strong in their

Starting point is 00:07:47 storytelling. And so Sephora, there's this like idea of confidence and transformation and just testing and creativity that I feel like you guys exude really well, at least from the customer standpoint. So what are your thoughts on storytelling and how do you leverage that storytelling in your content strategies just to create more of that emotional connection with the audience and differentiate your brand? Yeah. It's great because it varies by brand. Like I mentioned, we have some niche brands as well as some legacy brands. And I see that the bigger, well-established brands have already have they already have like a way of

Starting point is 00:08:26 storytelling um but what we do to try to help them be up to speed with what's happening in the world is really like paying attention to like the difference in the industry like who's shopping now mcdowell genesee wants something that's different than you know like the millennial generation wanted so really helping them identify that you know through data points and seeing kind of like what they're drawn to and on the other hand of like how to portray that information out to them is really paying attention to like creatively how can you get to them emotionally I know Gen Z really loves like a one-on-one like face-to-face story time type of content so really paying attention to those trends and letting our brands know, hey, you should tap into this,

Starting point is 00:09:06 even though you are like a legacy, let's say like one of those big YSL guys who are established and they have kind of like their own DNA, but really playing into the times and understanding how to communicate with the generations that are more involved in like social.

Starting point is 00:09:22 And on the other hand, understanding the other consumers because we never want to leave anyone behind. So, you know, whether it and on the other hand understanding the other consumers because we never want to leave anyone behind so you know whether it's to the other generations and focusing on like Facebook and like how do you do a storytelling through Facebook whether it's like an influencer it's a a smaller group you know those niche um what are they called um the community groups that you have to like accept be accepted into like maybe there's an opportunity there and really like pitching to them again based on their needs like what it is they're looking for um and focusing on the client and finding them where they are so really a robust like when we think about storytelling not so much of like connecting to the needs of the generation

Starting point is 00:10:02 but also like meeting them where they are is like super important because I feel like a lot of times brands get so focused on just like what is trending that they kind of forget that there's like a bigger, a larger pool of customers that we also need to target. I absolutely love that. And I love that working with Sephora, you know, from the brand perspective, you really get like a lot of coaching, it sounds like Sephora, you know, from the brand perspective, you really get like a lot of coaching, it sounds like, and, you know, ways to speak to new audiences, especially the Sephora audience in general. And I think that's so great. That's like such a great partnership, you know, give and take there.

Starting point is 00:10:39 And I love that you guys are doing that. So that's awesome. I want to move into a little bit. You mentioned that you worked in both that. So that's awesome. I want to move into a little bit, you mentioned that you worked in both tech and now beauty. So you've likely witnessed a lot of trends. What current trends do you find most impactful in brand marketing? And how do you kind of adapt your strategies to stay relevant in those trends? Yeah, I would say since I started like social was starting to get really big um there was

Starting point is 00:11:07 definitely like influencers on Instagram I think that was like all the buzz was influencer marketing and what we're seeing shift now is that the industry is you know I would say it's a little saturated there's so many influencers out there but it's really looking for you know the the smaller up and coming um content creators who are creating like UGC content who can really give you some like direct feedback on the product so I think UGC is going to be really big in the next year like in 2024 2025 I know there's like up and coming agencies that only work with UGC content creators. So I'm really excited to see, like, I wouldn't say like the regular person, because we're all regular people, but like

Starting point is 00:11:50 a non influencer kind of get into that space and really give their opinion about products and kind of influence the industry to like shop a certain way. Yeah, absolutely. And I've heard a lot of talk about, you know, the influencer space and people may, you know, in the beginning, it was a lot of like, ads thrown at you all the time. And I've heard a lot of talk about, you know, the influencer space and people may, you know, in the beginning, it was a lot of like ads thrown at you all the time. And now it's like more of, okay, let's hone in this influencer partnership and kind of like get some products, you know, going or like a storefront where they can kind of really recommend things that they actually love and actually use. And it's like a long-term partnership instead of that, like one-off thing where, you know, as the consumer, they're getting paid so much to talk about this product. And you might not trust them. And then especially in the world of UGC, that's just a more trustworthy avenue too, to hear from someone that is just like you, this person may have, you know, whatever, 500,000 Instagram followers.

Starting point is 00:12:46 They're not huge. And they're still impacting brands in a really impactful way because of that trustworthy communication about their true opinion of the product. And I think that's a genius way, a genius thing to tap into as a brand for sure. Definitely. I feel like you just see as the next like word of mouth marketing in a way where you know it feels like you're talking to your girlfriends or you know a family member who's just like giving you their true honest opinion and a lot of UGC content creators are very honest I know with you know influencer marketing there's like guardrails and there's a brief involved there's certain things

Starting point is 00:13:21 that you can't talk about and certain things that you can't. And I think for UGC, even though there are still guardrails, it's more lenient in how you present the product, which comes off more natural, which I'm excited to do. I'm excited to see more like content creators go that route. Yeah, absolutely. Well, as we're on the subject of influencer marketing, we know that's obviously a key component in the beauty sector, like we chatted about just recently. How do you identify and collaborate with influencers or those UGC creators? And what kind of impact have you observed on the brand awareness and engagement of who you're executing these partnerships on behalf of? Yeah, I would say, so when I go through campaigns and trying to figure out like who would best fit this campaign who should we reach out to I really put on like my brand DNA hat like it's a four DNA

Starting point is 00:14:13 hat as well as like the brand that I'm going to be featuring in this campaign so a lot of the times it's based on like I really focus on like diversity and inclusion in terms of like, who's going to present this product? Do they resonate with the client for that specific brand? Do they resonate with the client that shops at Sephora? I also think through, you know, we work with agencies, so we have definitely have that data to support a lot of our decisions. So we look at their engagement rates and like based on their size, does it make sense to have that engagement? And have they like naturally and organically talked about the brand on their size does it make sense to have that engagement and have they like naturally and organically talked about the brand on their social channels because I feel like that comes off less ad-like and more more of that community partnership that that influencers can

Starting point is 00:14:57 have with the brand so really thinking through those like those key metrics and then deciding you know based on our budget obviously if that could be a possibility and we can work with them um and I see that when I engage with influencers that have that previous relationship to the brand whether it's like you know whether it was a natural they like reached out to the brand and got some product or you know they've had like previous partnerships um the engagement is a lot higher for these campaigns because i feel like customers are like again based on affinity and like trustworthy um that trustworthiness of the partnership like they really understand and they're willing to listen whereas with one-off influencers it feels very ad-like which a lot of people are just like not even taking the

Starting point is 00:15:45 time to listen to it anymore. So it's a, it's a fine line because we definitely want to work with the, like the really big influencers at times because they have so much reach, but we need to understand like, how can this be a partnership long-term rather than just like a one-time push? Yeah. Well, and I'm sure as we've kind of already dived into, you know, relationships with those influencers is important, just like relationships with the brands that you're working with is important. I mean, as a consumer standpoint, you guys have so many different brands launching so many different things all the time. And so I'm sure organization and communication is super important. And so would love to know too, just on a communication standpoint, how do you, or how are you working to just build deeper relationships with those brand partners? And then just tips overall for younger professionals getting new in their career,

Starting point is 00:16:35 learning to get out of their shell and kind of talk to new people and build some of those strong relationships with the vendors or partners they're working with? Yeah, I think from a brand perspective, once the brand comes into Sephora, we really want to give them the resources to succeed. You know, we're very much like, we want you guys to get your brand out there. You want your name to be known. So we tend to do a lot of like meetings with them to just like understand what's up and coming. We do a lot of like meetings with them to just like understand what's up and coming we do a lot of like forward thinking of like looking out into the next couple of years like what are you going to launch like how do we want sephora to support you in this way and we it's a partnership with the brand so we often share with them information in terms of like this is what's trending this is what we see successful in terms of like marketing content and creative content

Starting point is 00:17:25 just to really partner with them to make sure that they have the tools to succeed um and then in the interim of when these like large product launches happen or when campaigns go out it's a lot of like day-to-day checking in making sure you know if they have any questions they can reach out if we need to set up one-on-ones to discuss anything that they have that time. So they feel comfortable, um, coming up to us. And then we often meet with them in person too. So I think that like in person moment, that's less business and more like, how is your day going? It's super, super important because it builds that connection to like the human behind the brand. Um, so it's really important to have that face-to-face time with them as well. Yeah, for sure. I know we've talked about that a lot too. And Erica shared some

Starting point is 00:18:10 personal stories of just how at a beauty brand she worked with, they were keeping personal records of influencers and team members and vendors that they could just reach out to and wish happy birthday or happy anniversary or things like that. And I think to your point, some of those personal human to human connections go a long way in strengthening and deepening that bond with people outside of maybe your inner corporate circle too. So that's awesome. Part of the question was like, how advice for someone who's starting or who's in the industry, I think in that working is so key and just like being kind. I feel like the beauty industry is so small. There's just so much going on.

Starting point is 00:18:53 And at times we get so wrapped up on like the new launch and this and that, that we kind of like lose sight of our own, like why? And a lot of the times we're in this space because we really love, you know, we love whether it's makeup or, you know, hair hair care or we want to influence an industry in a certain way we want to have more inclusive approach to marketing so I think um remembering that why and always being kind and like keeping that tone as you network with people and like be curious is really like key to like maneuvering around um whether it's like different departments or just like different companies yeah for sure for sure. Yeah. So good. That's always important to remember. Well on that too, we speak to a lot of young professionals, especially professionals coming out of college

Starting point is 00:19:33 and their aspirations are to work in beauty. They have some of those key brands like Sephora that their goal is to step into a role there. So do you have any just overall advice for young professionals getting started in their career with some of those big goals and aspirations just to hopefully achieve those goals over time? Yeah, I would say something that I've learned just through experience is that to be nimble and to not be afraid of taking chances. I was in a full-time role before I went to Sephora and I entered Sephora as a contractor. And I was terrified because I'm like, I'm a contractor that can let me go any minute. But while I was there, I really tried to pay attention to like how the business worked, you know, who had influence in certain areas. And then I really

Starting point is 00:20:22 pushed myself to just like be the best version of myself at work really prove myself to my team and show them like I can be part of this team full time like I would love to be here as a full-time employee um and continue to have those conversations I think one thing that as a young professional we tend to forget is that we need to be vocal um so not only did I like do the work and I show up the way that I should have, I was constantly having conversations about like, when is the opportunity for me to become full-time? How can I grow within the team?

Starting point is 00:20:53 Even when I switched from being a PM to brand marketing, it was a lot of like career conversations with my manager. So I got really blessed to have some great managers at Sephora and the culture overall is just very accepting. They want you to grow. They want you to learn. So if you're in a space where it may not be like that, maybe finding a person that can help guide you and find a path. But always continue to be vocal and just kind of like show your work to the best of your abilities.

Starting point is 00:21:23 Oh, absolutely. And advocating for yourself is so important. We always say that on the show, we always talk to, you know, college students and people who maybe are in their first job and they are, you know, very timid and shy and they just want to do what they're asked to do. But it is important to have those conversations with leadership or just people in positions that you aspire to be in yourself, just to kind of make it known that you're there and willing to learn and curious about, you know, what they're doing and wanting to do that someday. So I always recommend that. Well, Andrea, we could talk all day long

Starting point is 00:21:55 about Sephora. Like Cassie mentioned, we are both huge fans of the brand and it's been such a treat to get to know kind of the behind the scenes look at brand marketing there. But we have to end with the question that we ask all of our guests. And that is, what do you know now that you wish you knew a little earlier on in your career? You know, you alluded to some of those things in the last question, just about advocating for yourself and your career and things like that and staying curious, but anything else that you would share with your younger self? Yeah, I would say to be patient. Everyone's on their own timeline. I think when I think back to when I first started my career, I was just so eager to do all things and be somewhere at a certain time, like age-wise.

Starting point is 00:22:39 And the older I get, the more I understand there's so much to learn out there. It's impossible for you to know everything. So just being patient, be curious, and don't be too hard on yourself. You know, there are times we're in a meeting and you may not know the answer and that's okay. Just say, I'll circle back, you know, I'll figure that out. Like have a growth mindset instead of a just, you know, I have to meet this at a certain time because life is unpredictable. And as long

Starting point is 00:23:05 as you're trying and you're pushing yourself, like things will work out in the end. They most often always do. So yeah, I'd say just be patient. Yeah. That's such good advice, especially in the age of imposter syndrome. And just, we like to compare ourselves to other people online, especially, which is really hard. There's also a lot of awesome sources of inspiration, but just knowing where you have to kind of step away from looking at that until you get too far into that comparison game. So it's always great advice. Yes. Well, Andrea too, uh, we loved chatting with you today. As Erica said, this has just been so wonderful to hear your personal story and just everything over at Sephora and what you guys are working on. But as we close out to you, we'd love to continue to stay in touch with you and also the brand,

Starting point is 00:23:50 of course. So do you mind sharing with us where we can follow along with you personally, as well as Sephora across digital channels? Yeah. So personally, you can follow me on LinkedIn. It's Andrea Linares. And then Instagram, if you're willing, it's A-L-I-N-H-A-R-E-S-S-S. So three S's at the end.

Starting point is 00:24:13 And definitely follow, support on social. I have so much great content coming up. We love, love, love when, you know, our network and our consumer base, our community, they're always like on the comment section. It's so much fun. You know, when we get to see and respond back, I personally don't, but, you know, we're closely with the team that does, and it's always such a joy to read the comments. So like be involved, get engaged and yeah, we'd love to connect with all of you guys.

Starting point is 00:24:40 For sure. Well, I know you guys have a lot of awesome stuff coming up, so we're excited to continue staying in touch with you guys. And just you personally as you continue to grow and develop in your career. But thank you so much for sharing everything with us. We loved having you on the show. Thank you both for having me. This was fun. And now we're on by really fast. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Marketing Happy Hour podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please remember to subscribe, rate, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. If you want more of Marketing Happy Hour, but don't know where to start, we invite you to download our free Marketing Happy Hour starter Kit at marketinghappyhr.com forward slash starter dash

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Marketing Happy Hour - UGC is The New "Word-of-Mouth" (+ Excellent Early Career Advice) | Andrea Linhares of Sephora

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