3 Personal Branding Lessons From Pop Culture Icon Rihanna – Forbes

Rihanna (born Robyn Rihanna Fenty) is an undisputed queen of personal branding. Rihanna’s work ethic and skills in various business ventures have earned her a total net worth of $1.7 billion, making her the richest musician in the world and the richest female artist after Oprah. (another queen of personal branding!). Rihanna became known for her pop hits like “Umbrella”, “Diamonds”, “Shut Up and Drive” and “Don’t Stop the Music”, but has now transcended her original music career to become a pop culture leader, of fashion and beauty. She leveraged her notoriety to launch wildly popular beauty brand Fenty Beauty and her lingerie brand Lingerie Savage x Fenty, and there are lessons for anyone interested in branding.

Here are three personal branding lessons from pop culture icon Rihanna.

1) True inclusion sells.

One of the key branding choices Rihanna and her team made about any brand expansion was to seek true inclusion. Her clothing brands sought to produce sizes for all bodies, and her makeup line launched with dozens of foundation shades, which delighted anyone looking for traditionally difficult darker foundation colors. to find. Rihanna said at the Fenty Beauty launch, “In every product, I was like, ‘There has to be something for a dark-skinned girl; there must be something for a really pale girl; there has to be something in between’…you want people to like the product and not feel like, ‘Oh that’s cute, but it looks good on it’. It proves that not only is inclusion the right thing to do in a 2021 world, but that being truly inclusive of as many of your potential customers as possible sells.

2) Personalize your products.

One of Rihanna’s true strengths in branding is in creating personalized products and product lines, both for the consumer who buys them and in relation to Rihanna’s background and style. Rihanna is vulnerable sharing what inspires her from her childhood in Barbados when she talks about launching her makeup line in an interview, saying, “When I was a teenager in Barbados, I was in a pageant. beauty and my mother used to make me up for it. I will never forget the feeling I had after seeing what my skin even looked like when she put foundation on my face. I liked it. It’s like Photoshop. I love that my makeup looks like skin – really beautiful skin. [My mom] worked behind a cosmetics counter in a department store in Barbados and did makeup for weddings. This is where my obsession with cosmetics and perfumes comes from, but I was not allowed to wear makeup except for a special occasion. This vulnerability allows her audience to feel connected to her as a person and helps make her products personalized and relevant.

3) Leverage your audience for new business.

Rihanna could have been content with creating popular music and walking red carpets throughout her career. She certainly could have made a whole career and a fortune out of those things. Instead, she opted to leverage her mega-fame into brand new ventures across all industries. Rihanna has 110 million followers on Instagram and 103 million on Twitter, which she has turned into an incredibly loyal brand. Her die-hard fans have even dubbed themselves the “Rihanna Navy”, which may sound extreme, but has compelled her new brand ventures to runaway success.

As Rihanna’s personal brand reaches higher and higher heights, her net worth continues to rise, and there are valuable lessons for everyone. From understanding that true inclusion sells, to ensuring each product is personalized, to knowing how to leverage fans and superfans to support new ventures, every brand can learn from Rihanna’s incredible success.