From 10+ Years in the Trenches of Paid Media, SEO, and Growth Marketing
By Betul Thena Yildiz
In a world of oversaturated feeds, sky-high CACs, and never-ending platform changes, running a DTC brand is not for the faint of heart — especially if you’re in beauty, skincare, or fashion industries, which are perhaps the most competitive niches.
I’ve spent the past more than a decade navigating this space — not from the sidelines, but inside the dashboards, analyzing the data, obsessing over creative, and building real, repeatable growth for brands that started small but dreamed big.
And if you’re reading this, chances are you’re one of those brands: lean, scrappy, ambitious — and looking for someone who gets it.
So, who am I?
My name is Betul Thena Yildiz, and I’ve lived in New York for the last 10 years — building a career that’s taken me from agency roles to startup teams, to managing digital growth strategies for some of the most exciting DTC beauty and skincare brands in the U.S.
My work spans:
- Paid Media Strategy (Meta, Google, Pinterest, TikTok, Bing)
- Influencer and Affiliate Marketing
- UGC & Creative Testing Systems
- Organic Pinterest Growth (30M+ views/month)
- SEO & AI-Powered Content Strategies
I’ve helped beauty and skincare brands unlock outsized results with small budgets. My approach blends creative instincts with performance data — because in today’s landscape, that’s where the magic happens.
What Most Small DTC Brands Get Wrong (And How I Help Fix It)
One thing I’ve learned working with emerging brands? It’s easy to waste money fast — especially on ads that don’t convert, influencers that don’t move the needle, or content that doesn’t speak the customer’s language.
Most small brands aren’t failing because their products aren’t good. They’re failing because they’re trying to grow like a big brand — without the systems or strategy to support it.
Here’s where I come in.
Skincare Marketing 101: The Strategy Behind the Glow-Up
Great skincare marketing isn’t just about before-and-after photos — it’s about trust. In a category filled with pseudoscience, hype, and flashy packaging, the brands that win are the ones that communicate results, transparency, and real human experiences.
Whether you’re launching a new serum or scaling a best-selling cleanser, I help you build a skincare marketing strategy that aligns messaging with performance. That includes:
- Creating UGC-focused ad funnels to showcase real results
- Testing messaging frameworks that balance clinical proof and emotional storytelling
- Partnering with micro-influencers who actually use your product
- Leveraging platforms like Pinterest and YouTube for top-of-funnel awareness and SEO-rich content
Some of the best skincare marketing campaigns I’ve worked on didn’t rely on huge budgets — they relied on thoughtful content, smart distribution, and rapid testing. My goal is to help skincare brands build lasting trust and scale performance.
Let’s talk.
👋 Book a Free 20-Min Strategy Call
I offer fractional growth consulting, paid media strategy, content system builds, and creative performance audits. Whether you need smarter ads or a better funnel — I can help.
📅 Grab a time on my calendar here → [https://calendly.com/betulyildiz]
Let’s make your brand unforgettable — and unstoppable.
5 Proven Strategies to Scale Skincare & Beauty DTC Brands on a Small Budget
Here are the 5 key strategies I use to scale beauty and skincare marketing efforts on lean budgets — the same ones I’ve used to help brands go from overlooked to sold out.
1. Organic Growth Through Pinterest & SEO (The Unsung Heroes)
Let’s talk the long game.
Oftentimes, those long games are built with limited resources for self-made entrepreneurs and every penny counts to build the success we desire.
Most DTC brands think of pouring everything into ads, but ignore the channels that quietly compound over time. Pinterest and SEO are two of the most underrated growth channels for beauty, skincare and fashion brands.
On Pinterest, I’ve built profiles from zero to 30M+ monthly organic views, leveraging Rich Pins, seasonal boards, and optimized product tags to drive discovery. The audience on Pinterest is already in shopping mode — they’re searching for things like:
- “Best skincare for sensitive skin”
- “Glowy makeup looks for spring”
- “Clean beauty routine for beginners”
With a smart SEO plan, I help brands turn blog posts, FAQs, and YouTube videos into content that ranks for long-tail keywords. I also use AI workflows to turn one piece of content into multiple formats: blog posts, short-form videos, Pinterest pins, email content — all from one topic.
This is how you stretch a small budget and get evergreen traffic without buying every click.
Even for alleygirl.com, Pinterest is the number one source to drive traffic for my seasonal fashion and lifestyle content.
2. Paid Media That Converts — Not Just Impresses
Every ad is a story — and in beauty and skincare marketing, that story has to feel real. No one wants to see another generic stock photo of a serum bottle. They want transformation, proof, and personality.
At my last agency job, I worked with fashion and skincare DTC brands to build ad pipelines across Meta, Google, Pinterest, and TikTok. I launched high-performing paid campaigns with tailored UGC content, testing creative at scale, and optimizing around real purchase behavior. The result? 15x ROAS on Google Ads for a sportswear/fashion client — with modest budgets.
“Winning skincare marketing campaigns today rely more on authenticity than aesthetics.”
– Glossy Beauty Trends 2024
My approach to paid media balances conversion-driven creative with constant iteration — because performance isn’t about what looks good. It’s about what sells.
3. Skincare Marketing Strategy That Builds Trust
Skincare is intimate. Your customers are trusting you with their face, their confidence, their dollars. That’s why your skincare marketing strategy has to go beyond clever slogans — it needs to build trust at every touchpoint.
Here’s how I help small skincare brands craft marketing that actually resonates:
- Highlight real user stories (not just influencer promos)
- Use UGC video to show texture, results, and real routines
- Layer clinical claims with emotional storytelling
- Create segmented landing pages for acne, aging, or sensitive skin audiences
From before-and-after carousels to testimonial-rich Reels, I help brands tell stories that convert. Some of the best skincare marketing campaigns I’ve seen don’t use million-dollar shoots — they use honest content, thoughtful targeting, and strong positioning.
Let’s talk.
👋 Book a Free 20-Min Strategy Call
I offer fractional growth consulting, paid media strategy, content system builds, and creative performance audits. Whether you need smarter ads or a better funnel — I can help.
📅 Grab a time on my calendar here → [https://calendly.com/betulyildiz]
Let’s make your brand unforgettable — and unstoppable.
4. Influencer & Affiliate Campaigns that Feel Organic
If you’re a small brand, you don’t need a massive PR agency or a celebrity collab to make influencer marketing work. You need creators who love your product and talk about it like a friend would.
At Fluz App, I run a brand ambassador program that drives 80% of paying users, without running a single ad. I now use that same scrappy, high-impact approach with beauty and skincare clients.
Here’s what that looks like:
- Finding nano and micro-influencers with hyper-engaged audiences
- Offering a very promisinf bonus program actually help them to drive that extra mile for you.
- Structuring partnerships for UGC reuse in ads
- Focusing on results (CPA, trial sign-ups, traffic) — not just reach
Affiliate marketing and influencer seeding can drive measurable ROI — if you pair it with clear targeting and proper tracking. I help brands build those systems without the overhead.
With platforms like the TikTok influencer marketplace, you can find influencers with great content creation talent and just focus on the organic content to reuse over and over across all your channels. Offer a promising affiliate revenue to these partners to leverage their loyalty to you.
5. Systemized Creative Testing for Constant Optimization
Scaling creative output doesn’t mean burning out your design team. It means building a repeatable system that tests, learns, and improves every single week.
My workflow looks like this:
- Brief creative team with high-level hooks + moodboards
- Launch across warm and cold audiences (25/75 split)
- Evaluate results in 7–14 days (this part depends on your budget)
- Identify winning creative elements (headline, visual, CTA)
- Rinse and repeat — with variation testing and new angles
This cycle has helped me uncover the secret formula for dozens of brands. I track what performs, systematize creative production, and keep testing to avoid ad fatigue and keep CPAs low.
If you’re tired of guessing what’s working — I help you turn creative into a science.
Why Small Budgets Don’t Scare Me
I’ve worked with luxury DTC brands, early-stage startups, and everything in between. And the truth is, big results don’t always require big spend.
Because I’ve been there — building my own blog (Alley Girl), growing it to 150K+ users through organic content, Pinterest, and SEO. I’ve done more with less — and I help my clients do the same.
“You can’t outspend the big brands. But you can outsmart them.”
– Me, every time I run a new campaign
How to Create Winning Skincare Marketing stragety
Let’s Grow Your Beauty Brand — Your Way
If you’re a beauty, skincare, or fashion DTC founder with:
- A strong product and early traction
- A small team that needs a marketing plug-in
- A budget of $2K–$10K/month but a big vision
- A desire to test smart, move fast, and build systems that scale
Let’s talk.
👋 Book a Free 20-Min Strategy Call
I offer fractional growth consulting, paid media strategy, content system builds, and creative performance audits. Whether you need smarter ads or a better funnel — I can help.
📅 Grab a time on my calendar here → [https://calendly.com/betulyildiz]
Let’s make your brand unforgettable — and unstoppable.
Betul Thena Yildiz