Marketing Strategies Every Entrepreneur Can Use

OSEA Malibu has been family owned and operated since 1996. CEO Melissa Palmer has marketing strategies that helped the brand sustain growth for decades.

In the fast-paced world of beauty and skin care, longevity is rare. Yet OSEA Malibu, a brand that offers seaweed-based skin care products, founded in 1996, has not only survived but thrived for nearly three decades. CEO Melissa Palmer, daughter of company founder Jenefer Palmer, has steered the brand from its humble beginnings in Malibu, California, into a global presence. Today, in addition to its online Shopify store, the brand is sold by major retailers like Ulta and Nordstrom, and in thousands of spas worldwide.

Melissa has learned over the years what it takes to create a business model and marketing plan with staying power. Let’s dive into the key lessons from OSEA’s 28-year journey.

 

5 steps to creating a marketing plan that will sustain growth for decades 

1. Start with a strong foundation

The first reason for OSEA’s enduring success is simple: "Without [a great product], I don’t think anything would have been possible, because we’ve continued to deliver on our commitment to our consumers of having a great product and doing what we say we’re gonna do," Melissa says.

This focus on product quality has been central to OSEA’s marketing strategy since its inception. Melissa’s mother, Jenefer, knew, “if we built a great product, people would come back.” A superior offering can be your best marketing tool. This philosophy has paid dividends, allowing OSEA to build a loyal customer base and expand into new markets over time.

Melissa’s mom, Jenefer, spent all of her time and energy cultivating the best products, leaving Melissa to do what she does best: package and sell them using her marketing expertise.OSEA Malibu

2. Embrace digital transformation

While OSEA’s roots are in traditional retail and spa partnerships, Melissa recognized the potential of ecommerce early on. In 2015, after scaling a direct-to-consumer Hula-Hooping brand, Melissa used the skills she honed with digital marketing and web design to build OSEA’s online presence. Her digital experience shifted the business from a primarily wholesale model to a thriving direct-to-consumer platform. 

“We just tried everything that was going on at the time in digital marketing,” Melissa recalls. This experimentation led to a significant shift in the company’s business model, from 99% wholesale to a thriving direct-to-consumer platform on its Shopify-powered website, showing how important it is to stay open to new media channels and opportunities to experiment and get creative. 

3. Build a unique influencer strategy

When brands started working with Instagram and TikTok influencers, OSEA decided to seek out content creators who aligned with its brand values. This meant eschewing the expected beauty influencers and instead partnering with nutritionists and healthy-living influencers.

“We went for non-typical content creators,” Melissa explains. “In 2016, you didn’t see a lot of nutritionists posting about what skin care products they were using.” This strategy allowed OSEA to tap into niche communities like nurses, flight attendants, and health-conscious consumers.

Melissa advises others to look beyond obvious influencer choices. Seek out partners whose values align with your brand, even if they’re not in your exact industry. One of OSEA’s most successful partnerships is with @fullyrawkristina, a lifestyle influencer based in Kauai who follows a raw food diet. Despite not being a typical beauty influencer, Kristina Carrillo-Bucaram has become a powerful advocate for the brand. 

4. Create memorable moments and a unique value proposition

When you can, look for unique ways to tell your brand story through promotions as well as special discounts other businesses can’t run. OSEA creates traditions customers can look forward to. Its Leap Year sale is an example of how creative marketing resonates with customers. By offering 1996 pricing every four years across all its sales channels, OSEA creates buzz and reinforces its brand history.

“We thought, OK, we’ll just once do 20% off. And then we realized, wait, this is a leap year. And we just had this really funny idea to leap back to 1996 like pricing,” Melissa explains. This campaign, which celebrates the brand’s launch year, has grown from a small event in 2016 to a major sales driver in 2024, activating across multiple channels including email, affiliate marketing, social media, and paid search.

The price of a Undaria algae body rarely changes, making the leap year sale every four years extremely popular among new and existing customers. OSEA Malibu

5. Continue to stay curious 

Despite OSEA’s success, Melissa emphasizes the importance of ongoing growth and learning. She’s participated in entrepreneur groups like Vistage and YPO, constantly seeking new perspectives to adapt to the changing needs of a growing company.

“I think I just continually come back to my core commitments, which is doing my best and working to understand that I’m doing my best for where we are right now,” Melissa reflects. This commitment to learning extends to staying hands-on in various aspects of the business, even beyond marketing.

Building a brand that lasts requires more than a great product. It demands a commitment to quality and a willingness to adapt in order to sustain growth. By following these principles, OSEA Malibu not only has survived but thrived for nearly three decades in the competitive beauty industry. 

Tune in to the full Shopify Masters episode to hear some of Melissa’s trials and errors when it came to scaling the business.