Quality is not a enough to grow a Sustainable Business

I started Exoticbella Skincare as a passionate Chemical Engineer with deep love for everything skincare and a desire to create high quality products for people with my type of skin (people of color). So, I started creating these beautiful products that were effective in delivering smooth, healthy glowing complexion, my friends, family and first set of customers were amazed at the results they were getting and the support was massive. I felt fulfilled. I felt confident in my belief that ‘quality would speak for itself’ and because my people loved it, more customers would flock to my superior products. My margins were really small too, like what more could potential customers want than a good quality product at an affordable price?

For the first couple of years, we were pushing it, we were not really making money, and I felt that businesses don’t really do well in the early years, my customer base was not growing as expected and its as if we were stuck with the same set of people, nothing was changing and the bills kept mounting, hmmm……

In our 4^th year, I realized that something was wrong, how can we have a great product, low price and still be stuck, we were even loosing the few customers we had to our competitors and I started wondering where I missed it

So, I sat down to evaluate the situation and realized that my products were outstanding, but I needed a new approach to my marketing, the skincare industry is highly competitive especially in a country like Nigeria, where every celebrity and everyone owns a skincare brand. The barrier to entry is low and our ‘senior colleagues’ in the industry had misused the word ‘Organic Skincare’ and so people associated made in Nigeria skincare products to only organic skincare which also means bleaching products in Nigerian context.

The funny thing is that even after realizing this fact, I didn’t do much about my marketing, I unconsciously went back to formulating new products and hoping that ‘maybe people would love this new one’, until I created over 20 skincare products. All effective, all great and solves all manner of cosmetic skincare problems.

And for another 2 years I struggled in my business, the irony was that I couldn’t market 8 products and so, how do I want to market 20 products? I paid for mentorship o, and they thought me to believe in myself, asked me what I was passionate about, and gingered me to keep doing it. Only one told me to stop making new products and look for how to sell the ones I have made, but funny enough, he didn’t know how to go about the selling we were talking about, we only both knew we had to sell, lol, don’t get me wrong o, I was active on Instagram and making sales on Instagram, but for the kind of business I wanted to build? Only Instagram couldn’t do it

Determined to turn things around, for myself and Exoticbella, I decided to embark on a journey to improve my marketing skills. The first step was to study trends, consumer behavior, and successful strategies employed by other thriving businesses. It became apparent that a robust online presence was crucial in today's market (not just Instagram), Armed with newfound knowledge, I revamped our company's website, making it more user-friendly and visually appealing. I started working on Google ads and trying to explore other affordable marketing options (because Marketing is Expensive o) that would help build a strong brand. We are on that journey now and I would be gisting you as we go along, and in the meantime, please I am open to advice and recommendations on how I can move this my skincare ministry forward.

Thanks for reading my epistle and hope to come your way soon with updates, experience, fails, successes, and everything I encounter in this my entrepreneurial journey. But in the meantime, you can visit our online shop here and browse through our products and check if anyone catches your fancy and please buy

Bisola of Exoticbella