If You Have Dark Under-Eye Circles, You Are Trendy 😜!

Lately, dark under-eye makeup is popping up everywhere 📍.

When it comes to an eye makeup routine, our eyelids and lashes usually see most of the action. However, social media users and fashion designers seem to feel strongly 💪 that the area under our eyes also deserves its moment to shine. From intentional dark under-eye 👁 circles to bejeweled detailing and everything in between, bold under-eye makeup is definitely trending, and even though no one ever expected it, we do not necessarily hate 🤢 the look.

The unique trend arguably kicked off earlier this year when TikTok users began embracing those dark circles that most of us have been trying to cover 🙈 up with concealer, but instead of just flaunting their natural dark circles, these TikTok makeup mavens were intentionally painting on dark circles with eyeshadow.

The power of “dark marketing”

While many marketers view dark marketing as a scary unknown, clued-in companies of all sizes are using dark marketing practices to build 🧱 stronger relationships with their audiences - away from the prying eyes of the competition. This is not about using black hat 🎩 social media techniques, like buying Instagram followers from Russia. It is about segmenting data to deliver targeted messages to interested audiences only.

Dark marketing, or posts published only to targeted 🎯 individuals, relies on highly specific targeting practices to create the most personalised advertisements possible. People share all sorts of information online, especially on social media. Marketers can use information ranging from demographic categories to dream 💭 vacation goals to develop campaigns that speak to individuals on a personal level. Dark ads (a.k.a. unpublished posts) can promote an event or a product in a customer’s news feed without posting anything on the company’s social page.

This technique is tricky because companies cannot just look at their competitors’ websites 🌐 to see what they are up to. Done right, dark marketing immediately drives 📈 revenue without revealing to the rest of the industry how it was generated. Imagine a massive campaign that covers millions of people; then, imagine that only the targeted customers know the campaign is happening. Closing the curtain on your competitors: That is the power of dark marketing.

Here are 3 principles of dark marketing you can implement into your company:

1️⃣ Velocity is your friend

Speed 💨 is the name of the game in dark marketing. Opinions and opportunities shift quickly, so to transform those short-term feelings into revenue, you have to strike while the digital iron is hot 🔥.

Create workflows that allow you to take an idea 💡 from concept to execution within a few hours, namely minimise the approval process so campaigns do not get stuck. It will help if you are only targeting one or two ✌️ defined audiences.

Spend the morning 🌞 developing a message for each audience, and then spend the afternoon targeting and executing that campaign. The faster you move, the more likely you are to beat your competitors to the invisible punch 🥊.

Keep your marketing team updated on the latest in segmented marketing. Every member needs to know how to isolate and attack different channels with different techniques. Retain specialists in segmentation, retargeting, and personalisation to maximise the impact 💥 of your reach.

2️⃣ Targeting finally hits the mark

In the past, targeting was mostly limited to demographic information. Dark marketing offers a whole new layer 🧅 of targeting precision that makes old targeting techniques look as outdated as old Nokia phones. 

Use dark marketing to go beyond traditional methods, and seek audience members with highly specific traits. Go after prospects based on their job titles or their online behaviours, and show different audiences 👥 different ads for the same campaign.

It might sound strange, but it is not as difficult as it may seem. For instance, let us assume you sell crochet 🧶 supplies. You want to target retired women in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, but you also want to get a piece of the 20-something market in Portland. Dark marketing allows you to not only target both groups, but to also show them separate ads. The Texas grandmas see ads about making hats for new grandbabies 👶, while the free spirits in Portland see countercultural uses for their yarn. With dark marketing, who sees what is all up to you - and that is great for your ROI.

3️⃣ A/B testing delivers clear insights

Dark marketing is highly specific, which means it is also highly variable. Rather than waste money 💰 and confuse your audience, use A/B testing to create multiple versions of ads for your audiences to see which ones perform better.

In traditional campaigns, A/B testing is far more difficult. How can you know whether one ad really performs better 👍 than another without consistency in both your audience and circumstances? Dark marketing removes that uncertainty by focusing closely on specific audiences. Test multiple ad variations within the same group to find out exactly which ones work and which ones flop 👎.

Thanks to dark marketing’s personal nature, you can test 🧪 as many variations as you want without everyone wondering why you have many different ads. Create multiple variations on your theme, and when the campaign is finished, analyse 🧐 the data to make your next attempt even more successful.

Nonetheless, with all this talk 🗣 about personalisation, be careful not to overstep your bounds. New data breaches pop up every month, and regulations like the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) put the weight on businesses 💼 to safeguard the data they collect and to delete that data for good if customers ask them to. To avoid the worst kinds of backlash, do not collect any personally identifiable information that would allow you to over-personalise your messaging.

You do not have to stay in the dark when it comes to dark marketing. With a bit of research 💻, you can transform your public campaigns into targeted masterpieces that drive more revenue and keep your strategies out of the limelight. Keep your competitors guessing 🤔 and your targeted audiences interested - before long, you will wonder why you were ever afraid of the dark.

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Ready to make a huge splash with your target audience without your competitors detecting so much as a ripple? Embrace these 3 principles of dark marketing like how you should embrace your dark under-eye circles. Chat with us to learn more and to join the dark-under-eye-circles gang 🤩😎.

References:

Callahan, C. 2021, October 11. Under-eye circles are cool now, according to TikTok and fashion runways. TODAY.

Gibbons, S. 2018, December 20. How Dark Marketing Is Improving Startups' And Large Brands' Social Strategies. Forbes.