How Manscaped grew from $3m to $300m through ‘ballsy’ branding

Below the belt grooming used to be a taboo topic. One that was hush hush, keep-to-yourself, and almost shameful to talk about.

Enter Manscaped.

Manscaped’s brand is centred around witty slogans, which shines through in their content. Not only that, but they get straight to the point. But why?

Authenticity.

This isn’t an accident. When we delve deeper, their strategy makes sense. They KILL it on Instagram consistently achieving 50k (and often much higher) views on Instagram reels. 

Taint talk? On Instagram? That’s brave! These guys know their audience. 25+ and thinking about their hairy balls. They’re not afraid to talk about their audience’s main pain point; pubes.

Wait till you see the comments…

Manscaped have optimised their socials for engagement. Their content is packed with personality, which gets people talking! These comments stand as a source of REAL testimonials often untrusted on a website.

What does this prove, though? Simple: Social proof -> more trust -> more intent to buy. So how can you make use of this strategy for your own brand?

3 Steps to make your marketing more authentic:

1. Find out what makes you, you.

Find the #1 thing that’s unique about your company and maybe isn’t talked about. In the case of Manscaped, Balls. Double, no, quadruple down on this. Be the master of one (or, in this case, two), as you have to stand out from the crowd, and it’s not a small one.

After all, there are around 410,000 new social users every day. Don’t be another number.

Make your brand speak for you.

2. Be bold, be ballsy!

To be exceptional, by definition, you have to be the exception. You can’t make the same content as everyone else, your socials should say everything that isn’t said.

Talk about testicles, gossip about groins, build a brand around balls. (If you’re Manscaped that is) – Be honest to what your brand is and shout it to the rooftops!

Plus, you need to be snappy and catchy to keep people’s attention anyway. Nearly 50% of users surveyed by TikTok said that videos longer than a minute were “stressful,” so they’re getting shorter. Feeds are scrolling quicker, and your chances of being given attention are slim.

You need to earn it.

3. Optimise to engage.

Create a discussion on your socials. Make them actually social, a place where people hang out and discuss things. And what’s the easiest way to get people talking?

Talk to them.

Retargeted users are 8x cheaper to reach per click. The bigger your retargeting pool of commenters gets., the higher your ROAS. And, as masters of this, Manscaped’s approach drives traffic through their brand, with their socials optimised for their hairy audience.

And it’s working.

Their content has bagged them an audience of 620k followers on Instagram with a funnel that looks something like this:

Their authentic content stops scrollers in their tracks and gets them laughing.

Real customers are right there in the comments. And you guessed it, talking about down south!

This creates a community around their customers. We’re like sheep, we do what others do! But it doesn’t stop there…

Audiences can visit the website for more laughs.

We see more of that authenticity in action through their merchandising: Lawn mower, crop preserver, groin grooming…

There’s an Instagram feed full of fuzzy folks just like you!

FAQs are not only an SEO goldmine but also provide quick information to help customers make that all-important buying decision, increasing conversions.

Once you’re hooked, they reel you in further…

A subscription plan keeps customers coming back, increasing the LTV of the customer, hugely important in them growing to $300 million! But they’re not all shit’s and giggles.

Their hero page packs a more mature punch.

‘Men’s grooming’ instead of Lawn Mowing or Crop Care. It’s grown-up and it also means their search traffic isn’t just keen gardeners. The first product is ‘the performance package ultra’, not a ‘beard & ball’ set. Why, though?

Because they understand the buying journey.

Sure, at the top of the funnel, make jokes, be unserious, and catch that attention. But at the bottom of the funnel (their website as they’re DTC) there is stronger intent to buy which requires more trust, more maturity. Let’s compare them to the established market leader, Philips. (ranked X in our 2024 Salience Male Grooming Index)

Here is an Instagram post about Philips’ ‘body groomer’:

Same goal; sell the trimmer.

But no novelty, no humanity. It feels more ‘ad like’, it doesn’t stand out in the feed, which is why there is barely any valuable engagement.

Manscaped’s sales were US$117.7m in 2023. A HUGE part of this was their organic success. 26.84% of website visits come from organic searches. You don’t always need to spend loads on ads! This is a great example of a brand-led marketing strategy.

We’re seeing Leading companies such as Dyson using brand-led strategies to achieve massive success, with a January traffic score of 957,718 in our 2024 online consumer electronics index. They have focused on building a brand around the Innovation of their tech and are dominating in the consumer electronics industry.

Attention is essential because if there are no eyes on your campaigns, then the rest is pointless. But attention is short-lived. Memory has a much larger impact on our buying behaviour and is what shapes our buying behaviour over the long term.

Companies like Manscaped and Apple, who are authentically themselves, are memorable because they’re different and successful because they’re memorable.

We know it can be hard convincing your higher ups of the value of organic when you’re judged solely on immediate ROI.

Here’s what may help:

1. Risk!

Later Investment into paid advertising can be done with a lot less stress when you know that organic campaigns have already performed.

1. Credibility

Organic social helps build brand awareness and credibility, making paid campaigns more effective by increasing trust.

1. Sustainability

Organic social campaigns can run with no budget, or ad specialist meaning long term, they can be more sustainable

 

So, Manscaped have optimised their organic social media presence to spread their message and create engagement.

The results?

Growing from $3 million to $300 million in 3 years.

If you’re looking to do the same. Focus on how you can speak to your audience authentically…

P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here’s 3 ways we can help:

1. Wondering what’s going wrong? Get a free audit of your current marketing strategy. >>click here to get your free audit<<
2. Clues from your competition. Look at our free industry report on the male grooming industry >>click here to learn about your industry<<
3. Make your content king. Hear our thoughts on the power of content marketing done right >>click here to learn all things content marketing<<