Rare Beauty’s “anonymous insider” spills the tea on their new Substack

I’ve recently been using Substack to find new music to listen to. That’s probably not quite what its founders had in mind, but it has a ton of newsletters written by people who just really love music. It’s less professional music criticism and more “hey, this album was great, give it a listen.”

That’s not the only off-label use for Substack. Today’s master of marketing is also a Substack fan — and she took a big risk with it.


Meet the Master

MacKenzie Kassab

Director of Creative Strategy, Rare Beauty

Claim to fame: Launched Rare Beauty’s “semi-authorized” Substack newsletter


Lesson 1: Get curious about your own product.

Novelty wears off fast when you’re in the trenches.

“Working in the office, [our product] is something” — a new blush, say — “that we‘re around all the time. We go to meetings about how products are made every week,” Kassab tells me. “It doesn’t feel necessarily thrilling from the inside when you’re in it for a year and a half.”

But your audience’s first peek at a new product? That’s magical.

When you’re brainstorming new content, think about it from your consumers’ perspective. What do you know that they don’t? If you’re marketing a new product or service, what got you excited about it in the first place?

Even though Kassab might attend weekly meetings about a new product, she’s not necessarily there every step of the way. So for her newsletters, she takes the opportunity “to find out some of the bloopers, or [other] things that happened.”

For one newsletter, Kassab sat down with Rare Beauty’s chief product officer to get the scoop on how the newest blush came to be. One reason they developed a powder blush? Some customers found Rare Beauty’s famed liquid blush too pigmented. Not something you’ll hear most beauty companies admit.

“To share these and see how excited people get [about this information] — that is really rewarding and makes it interesting.”


Lesson 2: Embrace your imperfections.

Like a middle schooler with their first palette, the road to the perfect liquid blush is lined with some highly pigmented mistakes.

It’s tempting to brush those under the rug, but remember: Everybody loves a blooper reel. Whether it’s from your fav TV show or it’s about a new lipstick, sharing mistakes breaks down the artifice between consumer and producer. Sort of a “Celebrities, they’re just like us!” for your marketing strategy.

Plus, it brings a human element to her newsletters.

We are showing the trials and tribulations of making a product. So I think embracing the idea that even as a big brand, we’re not perfect either — we hit bumpy roads and things turn out okay in the end,” Kassab says. “I hope that kind of thing is encouraging.”


Lesson 3: Respect the platform.

Kassab’s idea to launch a Rare Beauty Substack newsletter had a simple origin: She was already a Substack fan.

Designed to publish individual voices, Substack has built a community that reminds me a bit of early social media — back when everybody was having a good time instead of doomscrolling ourselves to sleep every night. It’s a place that tends to value good writing over self-promotion. Introducing a brand voice to that ecosystem was always going to be a risk.

But in some ways, Kassab isn’t a brand voice. That’s underscored by her cheeky Gossip Girl-esque signoffs, the “semi-authorized” anonymous byline, and even by how lean her team is. (“It’s a very scrappy team,” she says. “It’s me.”) Even though she’s representing Rare Beauty, she’s still a solo content creator.

Don’t worry, the lesson here isn’t to reduce all your content to one person. (Unless you are a very small business, please don’t do that; I beg on behalf of writers everywhere.)

If you’re going to take a risk like Kassab and Rare Beauty did, think about the value that users are getting from the platform — and work with that, not against it.


Lingering Questions

This Week’s Question

What is your favorite thing about marketing that can’t be easily measured? —Brenna Loury, CMO, Doist

This Week’s Answer

Kassab: The emotional connection. I love the way marketing can make people feel something. It could be inspiration, motivation, curiosity, nostalgia, or just a moment of joy. For us it comes down to self-acceptance and belonging. That connection drives everything we do, no matter how impossible it is to quantify (although I’m sure AI is trying).

Helping even one person in our community feel seen and comfortable in their skin—I love so much about my work, but that’s really what gives it all meaning.

Next Week’s Lingering Question

Kassab asks: What’s your least favorite part of your job, and how do you motivate yourself to get through it?

ObadeYemi

Adeyemi is a certified performance digital marketing professional who is passionate about data-driven storytelling that does not only endear brands to their audiences but also ensures repeat sales. He has worked with businesses across FinTech, IT, Cloud Computing, Human Resources, Food & Beverages, Education, Medicine, Media, and Blockchain, some of which have achieved 80% increase in visibility, 186% increase in month on month sales and revenue.. His competences include Digital Strategy, Search Engine Optimization, Paid per Click Advertising, Data Visualization & Analytics, Lead Generation, Sales Growth and Content Marketing.

Share
Published by
ObadeYemi

Recent Posts

How to scale your hypergrowth marketing team from 5 to 25 people using this template

In times of chaos, marketing team structure is often overlooked, but for companies in hypergrowth,…

14 hours ago

YouTube, newsletters, and X — the AI workflows that will help you dominate them all

Let‘s be honest: if you’re running a business focused on AI tools and you‘re not…

14 hours ago

16 best practices for email design, according to an email marketing consultant

Email design is a mix of art and science. You can have the best email…

1 day ago

Marketing without the cringe: Jayde Powell on Gen Z audiences

I am “just threw out my back while turning to adjust my seatbelt” years old,…

2 days ago

Leon Kiptum, fintech executive who believed in people and purpose, dies at 44

When Leon Kiptum left his role at Flutterwave in June, his goodbye post on LinkedIn…

2 days ago

Update: DigiTax gets technically approved to expand into Nigeria

DigiTax, a pan-African e-invoicing firm, has secured technical approval from Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service…

3 days ago