Within the aesthetics, beauty, and wellness industries, many brands look to Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) to create awareness of their products and services – and even to shape their future portfolio. A respected and experienced KOL can play a powerful role within a brand PR strategy, for example, they can add credibility to the brand reputation, endorse scientific claims, help raise awareness via media and social channels to boost sales, and much more. As a beauty brand or aesthetics business owner, you may be considering appointing a KOL or brand ambassador to help raise your profile or guide your R&D programme, and here at Kendrick PR we regularly facilitate strategic collaborations that drive tangible results for all parties.
In this article, our beauty PR experts explain everything you need to know about the role of KOLs in the aesthetics, beauty and wellness industry – and share guidance on how to become a KOL if you’re an expert in your field.
What is a Key Opinion Leader (KOL)?
A Key Opinion Leader is a trusted and well-respected individual with proven experience, heritage and expertise in a particular field. One of the main reasons that brands in the aesthetics and beauty industry collaborate with KOLs is for the trust they can build with their target audience, through their expert-led endorsement of the brand’s products or services.
Incorporating a KOLs into a brand PR and marketing strategy is a tried and tested approach. From a dermatology expert endorsing a skincare product in a TV ad, to a renowned aesthetics doctor demonstrating a new treatment on social media, there are many ways for brands to leverage a KOLs’ expertise and reputation to support their PR and sales objectives.
The role of a KOL for beauty brands
So what does a KOL actually do? An established and well-respected KOL must already have a prominent status within their community or specific field (i.e. dermatology, injectables, surgery) and their opinions are valued and listened to by peers, the media and/or general consumers. When a KOL collaborates with a brand, they are seen as true expert and trusted third party – rather than an employee or direct representative of the brand. In short, they bring a degree of impartiality and professional perspective on your brand and its portfolio.
What tasks can a KOL do?
A PR agency will often negotiate and devise the best way to incorporate a KOL into a corporate or brand PR strategy. It is important to define objectives so that not only do you find the right KOL for your brand, you also define the appropriate tactics or tasks for them to undertake within your partnership – and the expected outputs or ROI of that collaboration. A KOL will typically be involved in:
- Expert panels
- Product launch and press events
- Keynote speaker at an industry event or conference
- Media interviews
- Social media Q&A
- Product strategy
- R&D strategy
- Clinical trials or product development trials
- Patient case study development
The benefits of KOLS for brands
A KOL can help your brand and its target consumers in many ways, these become more apparent when the KOL is well-known to the public. The benefits and impact of KOLS for brands in the aesthetics, beauty and wellness industry include:
- Trust: a KOL’s key role is to add TRUST to a brand, product, or clinic and instil confidence in each stakeholder from customers to investors.
- Credibility: KOLs are often seen by consumers as impartial, genuine and honest which means their personal recommendation may feel more credible and reliable than a direct brand employee or a celebrity or influencer endorsement.
- Brand awareness: a respected KOL will draw attention to your brand and stimulate increased coverage helping to reach a wider target market, this is further enhanced by the power of word-of-mouth.
- Sales and/or bookings: the opinion or endorsement shared by KOLs drive prospective customers further along the sales funnel to boost overall sales and bookings, a long-term partnership may also improve customer retention rates.
- Patient education: unlike the “buy it now” sales approach a KOL will add the more persuasive consumer education marketing method within your PR strategy which can boost satisfaction levels, sales, trust and your market position.
- Innovation: brands can utilise a KOLs knowledge to define their R&D programme and shape future products and service, KOLs often attend and speak at niche industry conferences and are very close to market insights and consumer trends.
A beauty industry KOL example: Dr Sharon Wong & The Inkey List
Kendrick PR facilitated an exciting brand collaboration between Dr. Sharon Wong, a respected KOL in in the field of trichology and dermatology, and cult beauty brand The Inkey List. This brand values long-term collaborations from experts within the skin and hair categories and they wanted to partner with a KOL who would provide insightful educational content to their customers and add value to their brand reputation.
We devised a creative and strategic PR campaign with key moments to engage customers and press. This successful partnership included:
- The Inkey List appointing Dr. Sharon as a Knowledge Collective Member alongside other key opinion leaders within the hair and skin categories.
- An educational press event to celebrate the relaunch of The Inkey List’s haircare and scalp care range, key journalists enjoyed a 1:1 appointment with Dr Sharon to gain key insights into their scalp health and learn about the range
- Spotlighting Dr. Sharon’s single ingredient approach to hair and scalp care whilst driving awareness of concerns and goals and the best way to achieve these with The Inkey List products
- Ongoing support and expert knowledge from Dr. Sharon for 6 months.
How to become a KOL
Establishing your reputation as a key opinion leader in a specific field or industry takes time and dedication. The most respected KOLs have gained the respect of their peers by pushing boundaries, making regular appearances in journals and popular press, speaking at conferences, and developing new theories, techniques, or research – and are also advocates for major aesthetic, beauty, and wellness brands.
In order to secure interest from brands wishing to collaborate with you need to raise your personal profile in both the digital and real world. Here are our top tips to become a KOL:
- Embrace social media: from Instagram to Linked In, sharing and engaging with relevant content related to your expertise is a great way to build and boost an online profile. Brands are likely to be scouring key social media platforms to find their next KOL.
- Be accessible: get involved within your industry community as much as you can and maintain a presence with your peers. For example, you can attend conferences, deliver talks or publish thought provoking articles online and in print.
- Share your opinion: surround yourself with other industry professionals that share the same interests as you, but not necessarily the same opinion. Start conversations on social media and face-to-face to build and strengthen 1:1 relationships.
- Keep learning: a KOL must always possess the knowledge and expertise to support their opinions and in the aesthetics, beauty and wellness industry messages and opinions change frequently. Ensure you are well read on key topics and actively seek the latest research and insights within your field.
KOL Profile development for individuals
At Kendrick we are experts in helping individuals in the aesthetics, beauty and wellness industries to build, establish and maintain leading reputations so that they can be recognised as KOLs in their field. From spokesperson development to defining your USPs, we will devise a bespoke strategy to enhance your profile and raise awareness of your expertise. Learn more about profile development service and book a discovery call with one of our PR experts.
An award-winning beauty PR agency
At Kendrick PR, we thrive on creating winning formulas of strategic and tactical support for premium beauty brands, aesthetic clinics, practitioners and entrepreneurs. We lead with our values: passion, professionalism, and authenticity!
Founded in 2015 by award-winning communications expert Julia Kendrick, Kendrick PR are an experienced and passionate team who thrive on creating tangible success for every client. Since launch, we have delivered outstanding results for some of the industry’s most innovative brands and exciting entrepreneurs, such as ALLÉL, Debbie Thomas, The Private Clinic, Oxygenetix, and Medik8 – and we’d love to support your brand. Please do get in touch to book your complimentary discovery call with our expert team.