4 ideas
Lauder's name for the most powerful distribution channel she had: a delighted customer telling her friends. Satisfied users pass on their recommendation for free, and it carries more trust than any paid message. Her tactics were therefore aimed at creating people who would talk, not at reaching the most people.
A product that works on the skin sells itself once the customer has used it, so putting it in her hands does more for a first purchase than paying to describe it. Lauder was told her small budget was too little for a real advertising campaign, so she spent it on free samples and gift-with-purchase offers instead. The gift removes the risk of trying something new and turns a curious browser into a user who comes back to buy.
Lauder treated the sale as a physical act. She applied cream to women's faces in beauty salons while they sat under the dryers, and she worked store counters herself when her products launched. Seeing the result on her own face convinced a customer in a way no claim could, and the founder's personal presence taught buyers and salespeople how the product should be sold.
When Saks Fifth Avenue's buyer, Robert Fiske, would not stock her line, Lauder gave out her products, including lipsticks in metal cases, at a charity luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria. Women then went to Saks asking for the product by name, and the store placed a small first order that reportedly sold out within days. She got the counter by showing the gatekeeper that his own customers were already asking for it, not by persuading him.