In Ep. 140 of Earned, Conor sits down with Paul Jauregui, co-founder of viral makeup brush brand BK Beauty. To start, Paul unpacks the remarkable journey of building a successful beauty brand with his wife, professional makeup artist and YouTube sensation Lisa J, from her early days as a makeup artist at MAC Cosmetics, to building a community of over 300k subscribers on YouTube. Next, we dive into the intricacies of social commerce, exploring how BK Beauty harnesses the power of TikTok, YouTube, and Shopify to streamline processes and cultivate authentic relationships with creators. Paul explains his strategic decision to build in-house distribution, and how it has been pivotal in scaling their operations. We then explore the critical role of influencer partnerships in e-commerce, and discuss the important balance between paid acquisition and organic growth. Paul also emphasizes the importance of maintaining brand integrity and positive values, and sheds light on BK Beauty's collaboration with the Kindness Campaign. To close the show, we take a look at the brand’s exciting upcoming events and collaborations, so keep an eye out!

In this episode, you’ll learn:

How integrated, closed-loop systems can skyrocket social commerce growth on platforms like TikTok and YouTube
Why BK Beauty chose to remain DTC in order to maintain operational control, efficiency, and authentic storytelling
Why building genuine influencer relationships and balancing paid and organic strategies have been crucial for BK Beauty’s e-commerce expansion

Resources:

BK Beauty - https://www.bkbeauty.com/

Connect with the Guest:

Paul’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/myover/

Connect with Conor Begley & CreatorIQ:

Conor’s LinkedIn - @conormbegley
CreatorIQ LinkedIn - @creatoriq

CreatorIQ YouTube - @TribeDynamics
CreatorIQ Instagram - @creatoriq
CreatorIQ TikTok - @creator.iq
CreatorIQ Twitter - @CreatorIQ

140 - Paul Jauregui, BK Beauty