How To Market Your Candles & Grow Your Brand
If you’re working to transition your candle-making from a hobby to a business, you probably know how hard it can be to make that shift and learn how to market your candles. That’s why I’ve put together these essential tips for marketing your candles and growing your brand.
If you would like to learn more about this topic, head over to my YouTube video!
Who is Your Ideal Customer?
The first step to marketing your candles is to get to know your ideal customer. For most people, this is easier said than done. However, it is the most important part of marketing your candles and expanding your brand.
Once you know who your ideal customer is, you will have a better understanding of how to get your product in front of them.
To figure out who your ideal customer is, you will want to start by looking at your candles themselves. What kind of words would you use to describe your candles? For example, if your candles fit into the farmhouse or rustic niche, then your ideal customer is going to be interested in the rustic vibes that your candles give off.
If this is something you’re struggling with, you will want to check out my post on everything you need to know about finding your ideal customer.
It’s also important to remember that all candles fall into the category of home décor. This means that all of the candles you sell will be put into someone’s house as décor. People don’t just buy candles for their scent! While a candle’s scent is oftentimes the main reason for purchasing a candle, people are also looking for pieces to decorate their homes and bring their vision to life.
How To Design Your Instagram Feed
Now that you know who your ideal customer is, it’s time to design your Instagram feed. When you are planning out product photos and captions for your brand, you will want to keep your ideal customer in mind so that you cater to their interests and keep them coming back for more. Here are some tips for how to design your Instagram feed.
Post More Than Just Sales Pitches
Your Instagram feed shouldn’t just be one big sales pitch.
When people are deciding who to follow on Instagram or social media in general, they are looking for an account that they can relate to. So, instead of flooding your followers with non-stop sales pitches, you should give them a peek inside your growing business and an opportunity to get to know your brand
For inspiration, it can be helpful to check out other candle-making businesses on Instagram. Take note of how they celebrate their niche and jot down any ideas that you find compelling or would like to recreate according to your own niche.
As you’ll see, most brands like to break up their product sales posts with inspirational quotes, lifestyle photos, or even reels of them at work making or packaging their candles. It can be helpful to cycle through each of these categories while you build your brand’s Instagram page.
Bring Value to Your Customer
Another important thing to consider while you are designing your Instagram page is how you will add value to your customer’s feed.
For example, if you are in the wedding niche, try to post photos that capture the attention of the bride-to-be while she is planning her wedding. Whether that means posting photos of some stunning bridal bouquets or sharing ideas for fun bridal shower games is totally up to you!
Anything that you can add to the feed that adds value or sparks inspiration for your ideal customer will help your brand grow.
Remember, when you are marketing to your ideal customer, you will want to post photos that they would like to see on their feed. For that reason, what works for a different candle-making business might not always work for you. Stick to your niche and let your ideal customer guide you.
How to Drive People to Your Instagram
After you have your page set up how you want it, it’s time to start thinking about ways that you can drive traffic to your Instagram and help people discover your page. Here are a few popular options for getting more eyes on your Instagram.
Paid Ads on Instagram and Facebook
Paid ads on Instagram and Facebook can be an incredible tool for your growing business. When you choose this route, you will pay to have ads put in front of your ideal customer on Instagram and Facebook. This is a great option because it allows you to target certain people with certain interests that align with your brand’s niche.
Use Hashtags
Another way to drive an audience to your page is through the use of hashtags. Hashtags are a free way to draw an audience to your page.
Many new businesses overlook the power of the hashtag and their Instagram pages suffer because of it. I highly recommend using hashtags properly and maximizing their potential in every post. Instagram allows users to post up to 30 hashtags with each photo, so it’s important to make sure that you are using all 30 of them with every post.
I also recommend switching up the hashtags you use often to reach a broader audience. Using the same set of hashtags over and over again can really limit the number of people who will see your posts.
The key to this is adding hashtags that your ideal customer will be looking for. For instance, if you are going with the farmhouse niche, you will want to hashtag things like #farmhousedecor, #rusticdecor, #farmhouseinspo, etc.
How to Use Pinterest for Business
Pinterest can be an incredible tool for marketing your business if you know how to use it properly. The key to making the most out of Pinterest for business is to create boards that your ideal customer will be interested in. When you include pins that feature links to your products on these boards, your ideal customer can repin those posts and drive more traffic back to your website. In all, this is a great way to drive organic traffic to your website.
Fuel Your Marketing Fire!
There’s no doubt about it, learning how to market your new candle-making business can be tough. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to maximize your marketing potential and take your business to the next level. If you would like to learn more about this topic, head to my YouTube video on How to Market Your Candles and Grow Your Brand.
