Having explored distribution channels and laid the foundations of a solid business strategy, it is now time to focus on promoting your scented creations through the distribution channels you have chosen. Build your approach around three key objectives: acquisition, conversion and retention. These pillars will guide you towards steady growth.
The content calendar: an essential tool for planning your communication ahead
Before promoting your creations, and to avoid posting on a whim, define themes that are consistent with your brand's world and take seasonality into account.
The benefits of a content calendar and how to organise it
A content calendar lets you plan your posts weeks or months in advance, ensuring smooth, consistent communication across all your channels. With this overview, you can build your content around a common thread or seasonal highlights, strike the right balance between promotional, inspirational and educational messages, and avoid overwhelming your audience.
Tailoring your content to each channel
Every channel has its own codes. Instagram, for example, favours striking visuals and short formats; Pinterest showcases aesthetic, on-trend visuals; a newsletter builds a closer, more personal connection; while a blog or an e-commerce site needs optimised, evergreen content.
E-commerce site: optimising your online shop for conversions
An e-commerce site is much more than a simple shop window: it is a real conversion driver. To promote handmade creations effectively through a website, you need to think in terms of marketing, user experience and storytelling, building on a solid foundation: your business strategy. Here are a few tips to put into practice when creating an e-commerce site:
How can you optimise your online shop for conversions?
- Detailed product descriptions: focus on sensations, use and experience. Show your products in a home setting, in real-life situations.
- Customer reviews: reassuring, convincing social proof.
- Related products: increase your average order value by suggesting complementary products.
- Exclusive offers: promotional highlights such as French Days or flash sales.
How can you attract quality traffic through organic search (SEO)?
Work on your organic search ranking to attract qualified visitors without relying solely on social media or paid advertising. The 4 pillars of SEO to follow:
Technical
Optimise your site's infrastructure (with turnkey solutions such as Shopify, the essentials are already in place). To go further, you can improve performance, but this requires the help of a specialist developer.
Content
Optimise your site's editorial content by targeting strategic keywords, whether in product pages, categories or blog articles. Also pay attention to the quality and file size of your visuals (photos and videos): they should be lightweight so as not to slow your site down, and properly named to improve your SEO.
Link building
Add hyperlinks on your website pointing to sites that, ideally, are in the same line of business as you. The aim is to build a partnership in order to earn backlinks (links from the partner site to yours). This strategy strengthens your authority and popularity in the eyes of search engines, and so improves your organic ranking.
UX
UX (User eXperience) design aims to make the user experience as good as possible. The pillars to follow:
- Useful: your users have taken the trouble to land on your site, so you need to meet their needs. Otherwise, they will leave.
- Easy to use: navigation should be smooth. Avoid menus or categories that take countless clicks, as they may put your visitors off.
- Attractive: expectations around customer experience keep rising, not least because of competition. Offer high-quality content (HD visuals, videos, interactive elements).
- Adaptable (responsive): your site should be just as pleasant to use on a computer as on a mobile. As a reminder, according to Stocklytics.com, 62.7% of global internet traffic comes from mobile devices.
Social media: selling by showcasing your brand's world
Once your visual identity has been defined and approved, you can move on to creating content. Below is an infographic to help you better understand the different Instagram and Facebook post formats.
Creating quality content
Quality content is the foundation of a presence that makes an impact. It should be visually polished, authentic and consistent with your brand's world. We recommend that you:
- Post lifestyle photos of your creations and short videos on Instagram and TikTok (tip: talking-to-camera videos tend to generate more engagement with your audience).
- Share educational content: tutorials on how to use or care for your products.
- Ride the sensory content trend: play with sounds, light and textures to create an immersive experience.
Building an engaged community
Today, engagement is far more valuable than follower count. The human and emotional bond with your community is what turns casual visitors into loyal customers. A few tips to put into practice:
- Reply to every comment, direct message or reaction.
- Spark conversation: ask questions in your stories.
- Create interactive polls and quizzes.
- Share customer testimonials, unboxing videos or genuine reviews.
- Feature your customer ambassadors in your posts.
- Encourage UGC (user-generated content): invite your customers to share photos/videos featuring your creations, and to repost.
Integrating your shop with social media
Making it easy to buy directly from the platforms is essential today.
- Activate an Instagram, Facebook and TikTok shop to present your products seamlessly.
- Use a single link in bio (such as Linktree or Beacons) to direct people to your online shop, new arrivals or newsletter.
- Always tag your products in your posts, Reels and stories so that buying is just one click away.
Online advertising: gaining visibility and conversions
Running paid advertising campaigns boosts your visibility, drives qualified traffic to your website or social media and, above all, converts faster. You can handle this yourself if you know the basics, or hand it over to a specialist depending on your budget and goals. Let's look at the essential networks for developing this area.
Google Ads: capturing purchase intent
Google Ads lets you run your ads on the world's most widely used search engine.
Display campaigns: show eye-catching banners (images, GIFs, short videos) on thousands of partner sites, mobile apps and YouTube, targeted by interests.
Demand Gen campaigns (formerly Discovery): run image and video ads on YouTube (including Shorts), Discover and Gmail (“Promotions” and “Social” tabs).
Search campaigns: your ads appear directly in Google results when users type queries related to your products (e.g. “buy handmade candle”).
Shopping campaigns: showcase the image, title, price, seller name and sometimes reviews, at the top of the results or in the “Shopping” tab.
Meta Ads: reaching a highly targeted audience
Advertising on Meta (Facebook & Instagram) is a powerful way to introduce a brand and generate sales, thanks to its precise targeting and creative formats.
Collection ads: an immersive format combining a main video or image with a product grid, ideal for presenting a brand world or a product range.
Lead ads: collect contacts (newsletter, exclusive offer, quote) without leaving the platform. Useful for launches, pre-sales and discount codes in exchange for sign-ups.
Short video ads: grab attention with dynamic formats such as quick tutorials, behind-the-scenes footage of your making process and customer testimonials.
Dynamic catalogues: automated remarketing that shows people the products they viewed or added to their basket on your site.
Sponsored stories and posts: perfect for pushing an offer, a testimonial, storytelling or a high-engagement product photo.
Building for the long term with a consistent strategy
By skilfully combining these levers, you grow not only your visibility and sales but, above all, a strong and genuine relationship with your audience. It is this authentic connection, fuelled by the quality of your products and the consistency of your brand's world, that will make the difference in the long run. Next, read our complete guide to the steps to take to register your business and operate fully within the law.
