We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Diana Marcelin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Diana thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?

One day we received a personal message on one of our social media pages from a young lady who needed help with her acne. She tried everything possible to get rid of it but unfortunately, it was not going away. She started to feel depressed and was being bullied about her situation. I told her that I was extremely sorry to hear what she was going through and that she was not only good enough but also beautiful. She came to Martous Naturals for help with her acne and wanted to know what soaps would work best for her.

After about a week of using our soaps, she sent us another message, this time with her before and after photos of her acne. You could immediately see the difference as her skin was glowing. She loved the phenomenal results that our soaps gave her. Stories like these are the reason why I make my skin care products. I love helping our customers on their path to achieve healthier skin.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I was born and raised in Miami, FL. Moved to Atlanta and married an awesome human being name Frito (yes like the chip) and we have a wonderful 3 yr old daughter named Phoenix. I come from a big family of 10 (I’m number 9 in case you were wondering, lol) Both of my parents are Haitian immigrants and growing up my skin issues weren’t a concern until my adulthood. I noticed that commercial brands that I was using wasn’t agreeing with my skin. I would get breakouts, rashes; you name it, I had it. Especially, after showering my skin would feel extremely dry and itchy. Something was happening and I couldn’t figure out why until I decided to look at the products I was putting on my skin. To my surprise some of the ingredients were foreign to me. Meaning, I didn’t know what they were or how to pronounce them. So of course in the age of free information a.k.a “La Google” I went ahead and researched those ingredients and soon realized that the products that I was using were not skin friendly and the minute I stop using them my irritation started to decrease. My skin went back to normal (thank goodness).

After that, I then stumbled across a DIY lotion on the internet and decided to give it try. It worked! Since then, I’ve been making my own products for my friends and family. I started to do more research on creating soaps and other natural products that our skin can actually benefit from without all the harsh ingredients. From there, I created my own formula and in doing so “Martous Naturals” was born.

I am extremely proud that we’ve been in business for 4 years. Going into it, I knew I wanted to help others who were going through the same skin issues like myself. Letting them know that there are better options to getting our skin back to optimal health. We are a Haitian-family owned business and we strive for excellence whether it’s through educating our customers about our natural ingredients, customer service, or even the quality of goods that we use in our products. I want the Martous Naturals experience to be something you’ve never felt before. I would not release something until I felt it was absolutely right for a great experience. For that, I had to have a lot of patience because greatness takes time and I’ll put in the efforts to make sure people are getting that from Martous Naturals. We want our customers to know that they can trust us with their bath and body needs and know that it is made out of love.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

For us, it was consistent posting along with jumping on new social media platforms.

For a time, we were only doing in-person events and word of mouth sales. Our online sales were nonexistent. Due to the pandemic we were forced to find other ways to promote our business. At the time TikTok was at its infancy so we were able to take advantage of it. For about 3-4 months we posted everyday on TikTok while repurposing that content on our Instagram account. Our Instagram grew by 300%. Then after about 9 months consistently posting on TikTok we had a video go viral with over 2 million views. This grew our account to over 30K and sold us out.

My advice to others is to post as much as possible while also providing value. Be honest and transparent and trust the process. Be patient and have fun. Make sure it’s content that you’re passionate about so you won’t burn yourself out.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Social Media is amazing! Our consistent posting has allowed us to reach and connect with so many people interested in our products. I can honestly say that without social media we wouldn’t have been able to grow as much and be where we are today.

In addition to the consistent postings, being able to post on influencer pages that have the same values as we do has helped as well. Through all of our postings we aim to provide some type of value, whether it be educational content about business or show how our products are made.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.martousnaturals.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/martousnaturals/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/martousnaturals1/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/martousnaturals
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaHu05rC_1_nUh9nyewjbA?view_as=subscriber
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@martousnaturals