The history of natural skin care is a fascinating tale that has it’s roots in ancient Egyptian culture. Contrary to popular myth Cleopatra was not the first to experiment with herbal skin care formulas.

In 1000 B.C the Eygptians developed perhaps the first natural skin care treatment for dry skin. This was a natural treatment of bullock’s bile, whipped ostrich eggs, olive oil, dough and resin mixed with milk.

Cleopatra’s herbal skin care formula

Not to be outdone the Romans also practiced a form of herbal skin care. Cleopatra’s favorite was a natural skin care routine consisting of a mud pack made with crocodile manure. Very exotic!

If a Roman had acne, he spent hours baking a primitive natural formula. This was a mixture of beans and lupins, which he carefully applied to his blemishes.
The use of toxic chemicals and industrial detergents in the name of skin care is a relatively recent phenomenon.

Though, the Greeks were in fact the first to experiment with toxins in skin care. This was to be the first departure from natural skin care treatments.
The desire for a pale face look led to the use of lead paint. This mixture was successful for only a short time. The subjects got their wish for a pale face though it came at a price. They also lost their teeth and hair and got severely pitted skin.

Lead paint and beauty? You would think most people would have learned their lesson about using toxins in skin care. However, the use of lead paints continued into the Middle Ages. As hair and teeth fell out, eyebrows made from mousehair and cheek ‘plumpers’ made from cork became a necessity for beauty.

In the 17th century, the rosewater/urine facewash was introduced. This was a hybrid herbal skin care product mixed a known toxin. The resulting rosy glow, combined with cerise – a poisonous mixture of lead paint and cochineal – quickly replaced the urine facewash as the new trend. Combined with poor health and hygiene, the use of toxic cosmetic materials often spelled an early demise.

How far have we progressed? So, what have we learned. We are now in the 21st century, how far have we progressed with modern cosmetics and natural skin care product formulas? Well, skin care is now a $29 billion dollar a year industry.
Therefore, due to modern advances in the cosmetic industry skin health must be at all time high right?

Not so fast, there are now over 80 known skin diseases everything from acne to lipoma to warts. Also recent phenomena such as psoriasis and eczema both are the direct result of chemical irritants and lithium respectively.

Is there a connection between toxins in cosmetics and skin diseases? That is the $29 billion dollar question.

We talk to people on a daily basis that would like to sell skin care products for themselves. This might mean selling existing lines or starting your own private label brand (with your company name and logo). Starting your own brand is very exciting and the work is time consuming. You literally have to create from concept to finished product. This is why focus is so important.

The first question we will ask is “What type of skin care line do you want to have?” This seems like a loaded question to many people. Remember that skin care encompasses Bath & Body, Spa Products and Anti-Aging. Then you have to think of possible product crossover opportunities among those segments. Maybe the proper question is “What type of demographic are you selling to?” Do you want to do luxury skin care products or do you want to lean closer to the mass market? This answer will point you in the right direction when you begin to make decisions concerning what your artwork will look like, what type of packaging will you use and what your final price point will be for your new line.

Another aspect of focus will concern what products you will choose to represent your company. For instance, if you are focusing on the Bath & Body segment, will you have a lotion, wash and scrub? Will you have a signature scent or are you going to try and follow the popular scents of the current time? If you want to sell Anti-Aging products, what will be the one or two products that will represent your company once you begin to sell? Furthermore, are you ready to really push these products to ensure their success?

Focusing on what you really want to do will help you lighten your workload. If you are only interested in Anti-Aging, then you know can eliminate Bath & Body from your list. By narrowing your focus, you can then begin to task out those small jobs that are necessary to take this idea to completion and into stores for those deserving profits and rewarding customer satisfaction. I can promise that the customer expects you to know your product, so refrain from starting your business with an excess number of products and opt to be an expert in those you do represent.

When starting any new business, its always best to create a detailed plan. A road map, if you will. Create goals, analyze how much capital is required, and think of your products in great detail. Make a game plan of which exact skin care products you wand to include in your business. Options include wrinkle creams, skin moisturizers, eye care products, topical creams, and protection from the sun, among others.

Search for a trustworthy supplier. You can either contact someone who is in the industry or go right to a plant that makes products for other people and companies and approach them about using ingredients they already stock. Many people in the business can provide a brief education on the makeup of products and help coach you into making a successful brand. You have creative control over packaging, logos, and all other aspects of the business, so let the experts tell you about how to make the right formula. Whether you decide to market on a big scale or start selling to people you know, you really have a lot of options as far as what direction you want to take with your business model.

The skin care business has very little barriers to entry. Of course there are major players already like in any booming industry. But, with solid products, researched price points, and a good marketing plan you can essentially ride their coattails.

If you don’t have the required capital to enter the business with your own product line, you may want to try something like Mary Kay Cosmetics or Arbonne. Both companies offer direct sales opportunities and you will learn a lot about the business without committing a lot of capital. Products will be already made for you and all you have to do is build a network. Easier said than done, of course, but anything is possible you put your mind to it and just follow a game plan each and every day.

Skin care is a booming business and continues to be in demand, even in a down economy. It may be a good time to start researching the business and setting yourself up for success, because when the economy rebounds you want to be in position to have a solid customer base to draw from. It’s all about marketing, and if you put your best foot forward, do your research, and work with solid people, you certainly can see success in the skin care business.

The skin care industry is very competitive and proper marketing is required for success in this industry. Here are some great tips to aggressively market your business. Link building is very important to drive traffic to your ecommerce store or business website.

It is the best and most inexpensive way to generate traffic and visibility for your business. Google ranks websites up higher that have many relevant links linking to your website. The more links you have linking to your websites the better your chances to reach the top then of Google in search.

Top 10 skin care website link building marketing tips:

1. Build a “top 10, 15 etc. list” to help you (…). These get Dugg all the time, and often become “authority documents”. People love linking to these.
2. Buy relevant traffic with a pay per click campaign. Relevant traffic will get your website more visitors and brand exposure.
3. Syndicate articles at sites like EzineArticles, GoArticles, etc
4. Syndicate press releases and submit them to PRWeb, PRLeap, etc.
5. Submit your skin care website to paid directories as well as tag related sites like Del.icio.us.
6. Have reviews written about your brand on skin care blogs.
7. Start your own blog and link to other bloggers. Post frequently and gain readers.
8. Hold a contest. Contests make great link bait. A few-hundred-dollar prize can result in thousands of dollars worth of editorial quality links.
9. Rent some high quality links from a broker. Text Link Ads is the most reputable firm in this niche.
10. Hire a publicist or/and a consultant to help you achieve proper link building for your company.

In today’s skin care market, manufacturers and marketers of this industry have to utilize proper tools to open distribution online and offline. Traditional distribution of products in this industry requires sales sheets and samples to be submitted for distribution once accepted. There are many advantages of creating one page post card quality 8 by 11 sales sheets.

Create the sheets with the below content and with quality design.

Your logo
Images
About Company
Testimonials
Product Specifics
Benefits
Contact Information

Advantages

Through printed materials be recognized and your products. By distributing your sales sheets with potentially samples of product to buyers and distributors, you gain chances to capture that potential market, since the product they see the most have better chance of being purchased.

Have your target market recall your products via print. Sales sheets can get you customers because it is recognizable and the recall for your product results in potential sales. With printed materials such as these sheets, you have the visual maintained in the memory of your customers.

Have your customer remember your product name. Do this by printing your sales sheet in an appealing way so it will last to the memory of your consumer. The name and label for your skin care product which is your image and brand is one of the keys to make your product be more recognized to the consumer.

Remember these advantages of using and developing printed materials to support sales and marketing so you could maximize on its uses to achieve increases in profits.