We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Carmen King . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Carmen below.
Carmen , appreciate you joining us today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?
When I first started Black Light Candles I was ordering my supplies based on a ” need ” basis. I was a new business owner and didn’t understand the importance of reviewing reports and ordering in bulk.
In 2020, my website was completely sold out and my inventory was stuck at the port due to Covid -19. I was panicking! I didn’t know what to do nor how to handle the situation. It was unknown when the inventory would arrive and I was receiving emails on a daily basis regarding when I would be in stock.
After drying my many many tears, I decided the best option was for me to communicate with my customers about the obstacles that my business was facing and to provide regular updates on the status of restocking.
I had a handful of angry customers, however 90% of my customers were completely understanding and actually still support me to this day due to the communication and honesty I provided at a difficult time.
I truly couldn’t believe it as I was so hard on myself for not having a surplus of inventory stored away even though at that time that wasn’t financially possible.
This gave me the confidence I needed and taught me to have faith in the community I am building around my brand. Even in a difficult situation, don’t go mute on your customers. Communicate with your customers at all times.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Carmen and I’m the owner of Black Light Candles LLC. We sell 100% soy wax wooden wick candles as well as supply candle making materials to other businesses.
Black Light Candles has been operating for almost 3 years and is evolving every day. I wasn’t always this business savvy entrepreneur that you see today. I’ve experienced different positions within Corporate America such as
retail, food service, collections, customer service and insurance, but one day I decided to release myself from the 9-5 fight!
I opened Black light Candles in 2020 during the pandemic with no experience in how to run a business at all. I continued to experiment with e-commerce and decided to sell a product that I always had in my own home.
Over time and lots of testing I sold my first candle and one sale turned into ten, which then turned into 100 and now we have hundreds of sales per month.
Now I operate my business full time & help others do the same. With my years of knowledge, my goal is to help other business owners grow as much as they can and provide my skills & knowledge to help entrepreneurs achieve their goals.
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
I communicate with my customers via email and SMS. I send out monthly news letters to keep customers up to date with the brand as well as any promotions, new releases etc.
I also offered a Candle Addict Program. Customers gain points for money spent that they can convert into discounts on future purchases. We also offer tiered programs within the candle addict program.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I built my audience on social media by creating content of me making my candles and answering questions about my product. Explaining the benefits of my candles and why you should include my candles in your self care routine and home decor.
If you are looking to grow your social media presence I would recommend creating content around how your product/service will benefit the customer. Why do they need what you are providing?
Also provide helpful tips & tricks surrounding your product. Something that will encourage a customer to save or share your content, this is a great way to get your content seen on social media.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://blacklightcandle.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blacklight_candles/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064000958797