The other day I started a new blog that has but one purpose: to generate sales for the PerfumersWorld Foundation Course which I sell at my PerfumeProjects website.
I started the Learning To Make Perfume blog out of my frustration in trying to explain the Foundation Course to people. This was the course that got me started in perfumery, creating fragrances of my own, as opposed to selling fragrances I had made using perfume compounds created by others, which, of course, is what all the major fragrance marketers do. The companies that actually create fragrance are absolutely unknown to the consuming public.
My background is in advertising – writing advertising – and in days of yore, it would simply be a matter of preparing some magazine ads, catalogs, and mailing pieces and sending them out. All would carry the same basic (tested) sales pitch. Only the formatting and copy cuts would distinguish on ad from another in various media.
Selling via the internet alone calls more for building a relationship with the customer, letting the customer get to know you better by revealing something about who you are, what your intentions are, and where you find common ground with others. So I've turned to blogging to explain – and sell – the Foundation Course. Instead of relying on a well structured ad that must keep a tight focus or risk losing readers, I've begun blogging the Foundation Course so I can write about lots of thoughts I've had about it and describe some of my failures and successes and add the little touches, the pleasures and frustrations involved in working with aroma materials as a creative medium.
My new blog was NOT created by sell my perfumes. Then I thought about it. In order to sell the Foundation Course successfully, I have to – and I want to – talk about what I've done with both the knowledge and the materials, which has been to create perfumes (call them “colognes” when selling to men!) ... and sell these perfumes, which is what I do on my FrankBush website.
As I worked to develop blog messages for the Foundation Course, it became clear to me that this same blog might also help me sell my own perfume. I'm writing this post to share that thought with you.
We both know that a good review for your fragrance in a major magazine will help sales. But, if you're only bottling a few hundred bottles of perfume a year and are unable to afford fancy, custom bottles and gorgeously expensive, decorative boxes, the odds of your getting an important review are close to zero. (The exception might be if you have lots of wealthy or famous friends who like your perfume, but most of us don't qualify there.) So you can't expect others to give you those great, sales spinning reviews.
But by blogging, you can do it yourself.
Look at this blog – my first. I set it up in about five minutes. It's hosted by Google's Blogger, which is currently free. So cost isn't an obstacle to blogging. (Someday this may change but I want to make hay while the sun is shining!)
A blog needs content. But for years I've earned my living as a writer. Give me a pen and paper and I write. So content isn't a problem. But – here's my real problem – I'm not very good about writing about my own creations!
In fact, I'm not very good at writing about perfume at all. I love it. With a bit of training and practice my nose can distinguish between two closely similar notes. I believe in perfume – the way aromatherapy people believe – with the exception that I love ALL the aroma materials that can be used in perfumery, natural or otherwise. I love the beautiful, kaleidoscopic aroma of ylang ylang. But I am also fascinated by (now artificial, for the sake of the animals,) civet and castoreum, which are not generally considered “pleasant” aromas. And I love the amazing out-and-out synthetics such as Undecavertol, Hedione and Iso E Super. But I'm not very good about putting my thoughts about perfume into words. This is a problem for a lot of artistic people. They can create but are not so hot about explaining – and selling – their creations.
So, in my Learning To Make Perfume blog, I don't really try to sell my perfume. I just talk about it in relation to my own work in creative perfumery which started with -- drum roll please! -- the PerfumersWorld Foundation Course. And I realized that all this chit chat on the blog is going to bring people to my FrankBush website where my fragrances are offered for sale.
Will this new blog boost my perfume sales? Well, the starting point is always getting the customer “in the door,” so if I get more interested visitors to my sales pages, my chances of making more sales are greatly improved.
Then, of course, the moment of truth – the customer looks at “the deal” and either buys my perfume or passes on it. But the blog gets people to give my perfume consideration that it would not otherwise receive.
The point is, with the blog I'm not trying to “sell” my perfume. I'm just talking about it in a straightforward manner, talking about something I can comfortably talk about – the creative process – and why I've made some of the decisions I've made. My feeling is that some people will find this interesting and it will pique their curiosity about various of my perfumes. And, when they go to my selling pages, they just might buy a bottle!
So I think that blogging a bit about your own perfume can be a very cost effective selling tool.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Give a gift ... make a fortune!
Recently I was reviewing the story of Jean Patou's Joy perfume -- how it was his little gift of joy for clients who, because of the Great Depression, could no longer afford to buy his frocks. Joy was hailed as "the world's most expensive perfume" (it was incredibly expensive to make) yet Patou distributed it free in 1931. The following year it went on sale. After Patou's death, Joy became a very important part of the business. Today it is in the hands of Proctor & Gamble.
More famous than Joy is Chanel's No.5. Without the money generated by the sale of No.5, the Chanel business would not exist today -- that's how successful and profitable this perfume has been. Even now when No.5 is considered "dated", it is THE product featured in perfume ads to draw buyers to the Chanel fragrance counter.
And, like Joy, No.5 was first distributed (in 1921) as a free gift. (In 1921, Europe was still recovering from five years of a horrendously destructive war plus the Russian Revolution.)
What does all this mean for you -- or for me? Once again I am working on a new fragrance, one for which I have a great deal of enthusiasm. It was compounded to be a man's fragrace -- an opposite to my Toxic -- but I now look at is as unisex. The name has not yet been finalized although I have a strong idea of what I want it to be. The "image" is still spinning around in my head (but I have a hazy vision of what I want) but I'm thinking ahead to marketing. Bottles (sprinkler neck) and caps are in stock and ready to go. The formula is finished but has to be rechecked for accuracy. So I'm almost ready to go ... but how do I sell it? Or should I give it away?
Now this is an expensive fragrance to make. It calls for the use of a number of costly materials, both natural and synthetic. (Yes, synthetic perfumery materials can be expensive too!) So for me, this is going to be my most expensive formula ever. Yet my inclination is to start the marketing process by giving it away ... and not just teensy-weensy sample bottles but rather nice, 1-ounce, flint glass bottles from a major Italian glass house. This is going to be an expensive free gift!
But who am I going to give it to? Not just anyone who asks! These bottles will be reserved for my best customers ... to give them a little more than they bargained for in this tight economy.
What will this do for the sales of this new fragrance? I can't be sure. But, if the fragrance is as good and as unique as I think it will be, I would hope that there will be some positive feedback ... and ultimately a market, however small and selective, will be created.
Give me about 18 months to work this one out! The plan is already going forward!
More famous than Joy is Chanel's No.5. Without the money generated by the sale of No.5, the Chanel business would not exist today -- that's how successful and profitable this perfume has been. Even now when No.5 is considered "dated", it is THE product featured in perfume ads to draw buyers to the Chanel fragrance counter.
And, like Joy, No.5 was first distributed (in 1921) as a free gift. (In 1921, Europe was still recovering from five years of a horrendously destructive war plus the Russian Revolution.)
What does all this mean for you -- or for me? Once again I am working on a new fragrance, one for which I have a great deal of enthusiasm. It was compounded to be a man's fragrace -- an opposite to my Toxic -- but I now look at is as unisex. The name has not yet been finalized although I have a strong idea of what I want it to be. The "image" is still spinning around in my head (but I have a hazy vision of what I want) but I'm thinking ahead to marketing. Bottles (sprinkler neck) and caps are in stock and ready to go. The formula is finished but has to be rechecked for accuracy. So I'm almost ready to go ... but how do I sell it? Or should I give it away?
Now this is an expensive fragrance to make. It calls for the use of a number of costly materials, both natural and synthetic. (Yes, synthetic perfumery materials can be expensive too!) So for me, this is going to be my most expensive formula ever. Yet my inclination is to start the marketing process by giving it away ... and not just teensy-weensy sample bottles but rather nice, 1-ounce, flint glass bottles from a major Italian glass house. This is going to be an expensive free gift!
But who am I going to give it to? Not just anyone who asks! These bottles will be reserved for my best customers ... to give them a little more than they bargained for in this tight economy.
What will this do for the sales of this new fragrance? I can't be sure. But, if the fragrance is as good and as unique as I think it will be, I would hope that there will be some positive feedback ... and ultimately a market, however small and selective, will be created.
Give me about 18 months to work this one out! The plan is already going forward!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
How To Succeed By Working Backward
You may not want to follow the suggestions in this article. I don't always follow them myself. But whether you follow them or not, they are important and worth keeping in mind when you sit down to work on a new fragrance.
If you follow these suggestions your chances of commercial success will be greatly improved.
As creative types we like to think of our great creations as just popping out of our heads. Thus the straight forward way for us to create a new fragrance is first to have a brilliant idea – a mental vision of our new scent – then to develop the physical product that matches our mental vision, then to develop packaging for it, and finally to present it to the end user – a customer, relative, or friend.
This is what I call “working forward” and it is probably the most common creative path followed by perfumers who do not have to earn a living by selling what they create.
But it helps before you get started on a new fragrance to take a backward look at your project. One great advantage of doing this is that ultimately you will be less likely to experience the frustration of finding that nobody shows any genuine appreciation for what you have created. Even independent creative types are encouraged by the receipt of honest appreciation from others.
Working Backward – Step # 1 – The End User (Buyer, Relative, or Friend)
Unless you are making a fragrance strictly for yourself, at some point you will have to introduce it to another person. It may be a spouse, or lover, or friend, or relative, or shop owner, or purchasing agent. That's up to you. But, working backward, your first step is to identify the person to whom you might first present your finished perfume.
This person should be very real to you – ideally someone you know personally. If you cannot think of a person you know who can fulfil this role, stop and find one, even if it takes you weeks or searching. Without being able to identify this person – this real person to whom you really want to present your perfume – you are not yet ready to start creating.
Work at finding this person and then, when you have found him or her, work at knowing this person inside out. Find out about their income and spending habits, their lifestyle, their culture, their tastes. Be able to form an emotional bond with this person so that, when you begin developing your fragrance, you will be able to keep in mind exactly what will delight them the most. This now becomes your creative goal.
Working Backward – Step # 2 – The Presentation
There is a belief in the graphic arts and fashion world that presentation is everything. Those of us who are not great visual artists or fashion trendsetters sometimes cringe at this truth – but it is a truth. Presentation – the way your fragrance is bottled and packaged and presented to the customer – is very important.
So now you have to think about how to present your fragrance to this individual with whom you have bonded. What kind of presentation of your fragrance will be pleasing to him or her?
Your financial resources and graphic arts ability can appear to be a great obstacle. You have to work to overcome this, even if it takes weeks of research into bottles and packaging possibilities. Your selection of the “best” solution will, of course, be based on what you believe will be most appealing, among all affordable, possible solutions, to the target customer with whom you have formed that emotional bond.
Working Backward – Step # 3 – Developing Your Fragrance
Now you are ready to develop your fragrance itself. And, because you know the person to whom it will be presented, you have a lot of ideas on what this fragrance can be and what it cannot be. So your range of ideas is now limited, but limited in a positive way. And within these limitations (of what your soul partner would enjoy!) your possibilities are limitless.
Following this “backward” procedure when developing your next fragrance can be very, very satisfying!
If you follow these suggestions your chances of commercial success will be greatly improved.
As creative types we like to think of our great creations as just popping out of our heads. Thus the straight forward way for us to create a new fragrance is first to have a brilliant idea – a mental vision of our new scent – then to develop the physical product that matches our mental vision, then to develop packaging for it, and finally to present it to the end user – a customer, relative, or friend.
This is what I call “working forward” and it is probably the most common creative path followed by perfumers who do not have to earn a living by selling what they create.
But it helps before you get started on a new fragrance to take a backward look at your project. One great advantage of doing this is that ultimately you will be less likely to experience the frustration of finding that nobody shows any genuine appreciation for what you have created. Even independent creative types are encouraged by the receipt of honest appreciation from others.
Working Backward – Step # 1 – The End User (Buyer, Relative, or Friend)
Unless you are making a fragrance strictly for yourself, at some point you will have to introduce it to another person. It may be a spouse, or lover, or friend, or relative, or shop owner, or purchasing agent. That's up to you. But, working backward, your first step is to identify the person to whom you might first present your finished perfume.
This person should be very real to you – ideally someone you know personally. If you cannot think of a person you know who can fulfil this role, stop and find one, even if it takes you weeks or searching. Without being able to identify this person – this real person to whom you really want to present your perfume – you are not yet ready to start creating.
Work at finding this person and then, when you have found him or her, work at knowing this person inside out. Find out about their income and spending habits, their lifestyle, their culture, their tastes. Be able to form an emotional bond with this person so that, when you begin developing your fragrance, you will be able to keep in mind exactly what will delight them the most. This now becomes your creative goal.
Working Backward – Step # 2 – The Presentation
There is a belief in the graphic arts and fashion world that presentation is everything. Those of us who are not great visual artists or fashion trendsetters sometimes cringe at this truth – but it is a truth. Presentation – the way your fragrance is bottled and packaged and presented to the customer – is very important.
So now you have to think about how to present your fragrance to this individual with whom you have bonded. What kind of presentation of your fragrance will be pleasing to him or her?
Your financial resources and graphic arts ability can appear to be a great obstacle. You have to work to overcome this, even if it takes weeks of research into bottles and packaging possibilities. Your selection of the “best” solution will, of course, be based on what you believe will be most appealing, among all affordable, possible solutions, to the target customer with whom you have formed that emotional bond.
Working Backward – Step # 3 – Developing Your Fragrance
Now you are ready to develop your fragrance itself. And, because you know the person to whom it will be presented, you have a lot of ideas on what this fragrance can be and what it cannot be. So your range of ideas is now limited, but limited in a positive way. And within these limitations (of what your soul partner would enjoy!) your possibilities are limitless.
Following this “backward” procedure when developing your next fragrance can be very, very satisfying!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
The ultimate challenge for the independent perfume maker:
The ultimate challenge for the independent perfume maker:
Creating a successful men's fragrance
For the solo perfumer marketing his or her output, creating a successful men's fragrance is the ultimate challenge. It is a good deal harder than developing a new woman's fragrance.
Look at it this way. For a woman's fragrance, you want something that smells nice, lasts nicely (assuming you are allowed to use synthetic substitutes for those natural aroma materials of animal origin shunned today), is compounded with a touch of artistry, and is a bit different than available mass market perfumes.
So, for a woman's fragrance, you make something that smells nice, is long lasting, and is clearly an alternative to "known" fragrances. You find something floral, add a little this and that, boost it up with some great base notes and, bingo! A new and beautiful perfume!
In spite of the hundreds of perfumes now being launched each year, the market is wide open. The needs of the mass market -- celebrity fragrances, for example -- are such that they must be least "common denominator" perfumes, acceptable to as many fans of the celebrity as possible and created by perfumers who are severely limited in the raw materials they can employ due to cost constraints imposed by their clients.
(Synthetic aroma chemicals are not necessarily inexpensive. But often perfumers are required to use the least expensive synthetics in order to meet preset cost objectives.)
I'm making it seem easier than it really is, but look now at what is involved in creating a successful fragrance for men.
Creating a successful fragrance for men
Men, it seems, are just starting to use cosmetics -- in places like England and Asia. Men, in our recent history, have been limited by culture in their exploration of the scented universe. Lots of older -- and younger -- men don't use fragrance at all. This is not because they claim fragrance allergies or are phobic about anything not "natural." For many men an appreciation of fragrance simply isn't a part of their culture.
Worse still, for many men who do use fragrance, the only fragrance they will use is after shave found in the shaving supplies section of their local supermarket.
So for starters, the male market for your niche fragrance is far smaller than it would be for a woman's fragrance. But there is still more to come. The older segment of the male market tends to be tradition bound and not very experimental. Just as they will wear the same styles in clothing that they wore in their teens and twenties, they tend to stick with the same fragrances they wore during those years, if they are still available. (This helps explain why certain men's fragrances remain on the market for so many years!)
We are now left with just a handful of men, generally young in age or spirit. This is our market. But there are still some serious challenges for anyone wanting to sell them a fragrance. Before they will buy a fragrance, it has to pass these three tests --
(1) It has to be acceptable to the women in their lives -- wives, lovers, co-workers, friends,
(2) It has to be OK with other men, and
(3) It has to create an immediate, favorable impression.
Men who might try a fragrance from a boutique perfumery are sophisticated in their knowledge of perfume. If your fragrance doesn't delivering something new and wonderful, they aren't going to buy it.
My own thinking of late (I'm working on a man's fragrance and feeling frustrated with my progress) is that a new fragrance is like an advertisement. The top note is your headline. It has to stop the prospect in his tracks and get him to savor the heart notes of your fragrance. The heart notes are the text of your ad.
The top note had to stop the prospect, not through shock but through a compelling "message," a promise of fragrant (and possibly other) delights yet to come. Then the heart notes -- the text of your ad -- must pay off the promise of the headline or the customer's fixation will be lost.
Here's something I can promise you: unless your top notes are able to send an immediate, compelling and important message to the customer, and unless your middle notes pay off the promise this message, you won't make a sale.
If your fragrance doesn't excite a man until it begins to unfold, you are too late. He won't hang around long enough to discover the good work you did down in the heart and base notes of your fragrance. The successful sale starts with a successful top note, and it's very, very difficult to achieve.
To succeed with a men's fragrance, you have to work incredibly hard to make your fragrance incredibly special. But, if you do succeed, there is the possibility that your fragrance too will be one of those that survive and sell successfully for many, many years!
Creating a successful men's fragrance
For the solo perfumer marketing his or her output, creating a successful men's fragrance is the ultimate challenge. It is a good deal harder than developing a new woman's fragrance.
Look at it this way. For a woman's fragrance, you want something that smells nice, lasts nicely (assuming you are allowed to use synthetic substitutes for those natural aroma materials of animal origin shunned today), is compounded with a touch of artistry, and is a bit different than available mass market perfumes.
So, for a woman's fragrance, you make something that smells nice, is long lasting, and is clearly an alternative to "known" fragrances. You find something floral, add a little this and that, boost it up with some great base notes and, bingo! A new and beautiful perfume!
In spite of the hundreds of perfumes now being launched each year, the market is wide open. The needs of the mass market -- celebrity fragrances, for example -- are such that they must be least "common denominator" perfumes, acceptable to as many fans of the celebrity as possible and created by perfumers who are severely limited in the raw materials they can employ due to cost constraints imposed by their clients.
(Synthetic aroma chemicals are not necessarily inexpensive. But often perfumers are required to use the least expensive synthetics in order to meet preset cost objectives.)
I'm making it seem easier than it really is, but look now at what is involved in creating a successful fragrance for men.
Creating a successful fragrance for men
Men, it seems, are just starting to use cosmetics -- in places like England and Asia. Men, in our recent history, have been limited by culture in their exploration of the scented universe. Lots of older -- and younger -- men don't use fragrance at all. This is not because they claim fragrance allergies or are phobic about anything not "natural." For many men an appreciation of fragrance simply isn't a part of their culture.
Worse still, for many men who do use fragrance, the only fragrance they will use is after shave found in the shaving supplies section of their local supermarket.
So for starters, the male market for your niche fragrance is far smaller than it would be for a woman's fragrance. But there is still more to come. The older segment of the male market tends to be tradition bound and not very experimental. Just as they will wear the same styles in clothing that they wore in their teens and twenties, they tend to stick with the same fragrances they wore during those years, if they are still available. (This helps explain why certain men's fragrances remain on the market for so many years!)
We are now left with just a handful of men, generally young in age or spirit. This is our market. But there are still some serious challenges for anyone wanting to sell them a fragrance. Before they will buy a fragrance, it has to pass these three tests --
(1) It has to be acceptable to the women in their lives -- wives, lovers, co-workers, friends,
(2) It has to be OK with other men, and
(3) It has to create an immediate, favorable impression.
Men who might try a fragrance from a boutique perfumery are sophisticated in their knowledge of perfume. If your fragrance doesn't delivering something new and wonderful, they aren't going to buy it.
My own thinking of late (I'm working on a man's fragrance and feeling frustrated with my progress) is that a new fragrance is like an advertisement. The top note is your headline. It has to stop the prospect in his tracks and get him to savor the heart notes of your fragrance. The heart notes are the text of your ad.
The top note had to stop the prospect, not through shock but through a compelling "message," a promise of fragrant (and possibly other) delights yet to come. Then the heart notes -- the text of your ad -- must pay off the promise of the headline or the customer's fixation will be lost.
Here's something I can promise you: unless your top notes are able to send an immediate, compelling and important message to the customer, and unless your middle notes pay off the promise this message, you won't make a sale.
If your fragrance doesn't excite a man until it begins to unfold, you are too late. He won't hang around long enough to discover the good work you did down in the heart and base notes of your fragrance. The successful sale starts with a successful top note, and it's very, very difficult to achieve.
To succeed with a men's fragrance, you have to work incredibly hard to make your fragrance incredibly special. But, if you do succeed, there is the possibility that your fragrance too will be one of those that survive and sell successfully for many, many years!
The ultimate challenge for the independent perfume maker: Creating a successful men's fragrance
For the solo perfumer marketing his or her output, creating a successful men's fragrance is the ultimate challenge. It is a good deal harder than developing a new woman's fragrance.
Look at it this way. For a woman's fragrance, you want something that smells nice, lasts nicely (assuming you are allowed to use synthetic substitutes for those natural aroma materials of animal origin shunned today), is compounded with a touch of artistry, and is a bit different than available mass market perfumes.
So, for a woman's fragrance, you make something that smells nice, is long lasting, and is clearly an alternative to "known" fragrances. You find something floral, add a little this and that, boost it up with some great base notes and, bingo! A new and beautiful perfume!
I'm making it seem easier than it really is, but look now at what is involved in creating a successful fragrance for men.
Creating a successful fragrance for men
Men, it seems, are just starting to use cosmetics -- in places like England and Asia. Men, in our recent history, have been limited by culture in their exploration of the scented universe. Lots of older -- and younger -- men don't use fragrance at all. This is not because they claim fragrance allergies or are phobic about anything not "natural." For many men an appreciation of fragrance simply isn't a part of their culture.
Worse still, for many men who do use fragrance, the only fragrance they will use is after shave found in the shaving supplies section of their local supermarket.
So for starters, the male market for your niche fragrance is far smaller than it would be for a woman's fragrance. But there is still more to come. The older segment of the male market tends to be tradition bound and not very experimental. Just as they will wear the same styles in clothing that they wore in their teens and twenties, they tend to stick with the same fragrances they wore during those years, if they are still available. (This helps explain why certain men's fragrances remain on the market for so many years!)
We are now left with just a handful of men, generally young in age or spirit. This is our market. But there are still some serious challenges for anyone wanting to sell them a fragrance. Before they will buy a fragrance, it has to pass these three tests --
(1) It has to be acceptable to the women in their lives -- wives, lovers, co-workers, friends,
(2) It has to be OK with other men, and
(3) It has to create an immediate, favorable impression.
Men who might try a fragrance from a boutique perfumery are sophisticated in their knowledge of perfume. If your fragrance doesn't delivering something new and wonderful, they aren't going to buy it.
My own thinking of late (I'm working on a man's fragrance and feeling frustrated with my progress) is that a new fragrance is like an advertisement. The top note is your headline. It has to stop the prospect in his tracks and get him to savor the heart notes of your fragrance. The heart notes are the text of your ad.
The top note had to stop the prospect, not through shock but through a compelling "message," a promise of fragrant (and possibly other) delights yet to come. Then the heart notes -- the text of your ad -- must pay off the promise of the headline or the customer's fixation will be lost.
Here's something I can promise you: unless your top notes are able to send an immediate, compelling and important message to the customer, and unless your middle notes pay off the promise this message, you won't make a sale.
If your fragrance doesn't excite a man until it begins to unfold, you are too late. He won't hang around long enough to discover the good work you did down in the heart and base notes of your fragrance. The successful sale starts with a successful top note, and it's very, very difficult to achieve.
To succeed with a men's fragrance, you have to work incredibly hard to make your fragrance incredibly special. But, if you do succeed, there is the possibility that your fragrance too will be one of those that survive and sell successfully for many, many years!
Look at it this way. For a woman's fragrance, you want something that smells nice, lasts nicely (assuming you are allowed to use synthetic substitutes for those natural aroma materials of animal origin shunned today), is compounded with a touch of artistry, and is a bit different than available mass market perfumes.
So, for a woman's fragrance, you make something that smells nice, is long lasting, and is clearly an alternative to "known" fragrances. You find something floral, add a little this and that, boost it up with some great base notes and, bingo! A new and beautiful perfume!
I'm making it seem easier than it really is, but look now at what is involved in creating a successful fragrance for men.
Creating a successful fragrance for men
Men, it seems, are just starting to use cosmetics -- in places like England and Asia. Men, in our recent history, have been limited by culture in their exploration of the scented universe. Lots of older -- and younger -- men don't use fragrance at all. This is not because they claim fragrance allergies or are phobic about anything not "natural." For many men an appreciation of fragrance simply isn't a part of their culture.
Worse still, for many men who do use fragrance, the only fragrance they will use is after shave found in the shaving supplies section of their local supermarket.
So for starters, the male market for your niche fragrance is far smaller than it would be for a woman's fragrance. But there is still more to come. The older segment of the male market tends to be tradition bound and not very experimental. Just as they will wear the same styles in clothing that they wore in their teens and twenties, they tend to stick with the same fragrances they wore during those years, if they are still available. (This helps explain why certain men's fragrances remain on the market for so many years!)
We are now left with just a handful of men, generally young in age or spirit. This is our market. But there are still some serious challenges for anyone wanting to sell them a fragrance. Before they will buy a fragrance, it has to pass these three tests --
(1) It has to be acceptable to the women in their lives -- wives, lovers, co-workers, friends,
(2) It has to be OK with other men, and
(3) It has to create an immediate, favorable impression.
Men who might try a fragrance from a boutique perfumery are sophisticated in their knowledge of perfume. If your fragrance doesn't delivering something new and wonderful, they aren't going to buy it.
My own thinking of late (I'm working on a man's fragrance and feeling frustrated with my progress) is that a new fragrance is like an advertisement. The top note is your headline. It has to stop the prospect in his tracks and get him to savor the heart notes of your fragrance. The heart notes are the text of your ad.
The top note had to stop the prospect, not through shock but through a compelling "message," a promise of fragrant (and possibly other) delights yet to come. Then the heart notes -- the text of your ad -- must pay off the promise of the headline or the customer's fixation will be lost.
Here's something I can promise you: unless your top notes are able to send an immediate, compelling and important message to the customer, and unless your middle notes pay off the promise this message, you won't make a sale.
If your fragrance doesn't excite a man until it begins to unfold, you are too late. He won't hang around long enough to discover the good work you did down in the heart and base notes of your fragrance. The successful sale starts with a successful top note, and it's very, very difficult to achieve.
To succeed with a men's fragrance, you have to work incredibly hard to make your fragrance incredibly special. But, if you do succeed, there is the possibility that your fragrance too will be one of those that survive and sell successfully for many, many years!
The ultimate challenge for the independent perfume maker: Creating a successful men's fragrance
For the solo perfumer marketing his or her output, creating a successful men's fragrance is the ultimate challenge. It is a good deal harder than developing a new woman's fragrance.
Look at it this way. For a woman's fragrance, you want something that smells nice, lasts nicely (assuming you are allowed to use synthetic substitutes for those natural aroma materials of animal origin shunned today), is compounded with a touch of artistry, and is a bit different than available mass market perfumes.
So, for a woman's fragrance, you make something that smells nice, is long lasting, and is clearly an alternative to "known" fragrances. You find something floral, add a little this and that, boost it up with some great base notes and, bingo! A new and beautiful perfume!
In spite of the hundreds of perfumes now being launched each year, the market is wide open. The needs of the mass market -- celebrity fragrances, for example -- are such that they must be least "common denominator" perfumes, acceptable to as many fans of the celebrity as possible and created by perfumers who are severely limited in the raw materials they can employ due to cost constraints imposed by their clients.
(Synthetic aroma chemicals are not necessarily inexpensive. But often perfumers are required to use the least expensive synthetics in order to meet preset cost objectives.)
I'm making it seem easier than it really is, but look now at what is involved in creating a successful fragrance for men.
Creating a successful fragrance for men
Men, it seems, are just starting to use cosmetics -- in places like England and Asia. Men, in our recent history, have been limited by culture in their exploration of the scented universe. Lots of older -- and younger -- men don't use fragrance at all. This is not because they claim fragrance allergies or are phobic about anything not "natural." For many men an appreciation of fragrance simply isn't a part of their culture.
Worse still, for many men who do use fragrance, the only fragrance they will use is after shave found in the shaving supplies section of their local supermarket.
So for starters, the male market for your niche fragrance is far smaller than it would be for a woman's fragrance. But there is still more to come. The older segment of the male market tends to be tradition bound and not very experimental. Just as they will wear the same styles in clothing that they wore in their teens and twenties, they tend to stick with the same fragrances they wore during those years, if they are still available. (This helps explain why certain men's fragrances remain on the market for so many years!)
We are now left with just a handful of men, generally young in age or spirit. This is our market. But there are still some serious challenges for anyone wanting to sell them a fragrance. Before they will buy a fragrance, it has to pass these three tests --
(1) It has to be acceptable to the women in their lives -- wives, lovers, co-workers, friends,
(2) It has to be OK with other men, and
(3) It has to create an immediate, favorable impression.
Men who might try a fragrance from a boutique perfumery are sophisticated in their knowledge of perfume. If your fragrance doesn't delivering something new and wonderful, they aren't going to buy it.
My own thinking of late (I'm working on a man's fragrance and feeling frustrated with my progress) is that a new fragrance is like an advertisement. The top note is your headline. It has to stop the prospect in his tracks and get him to savor the heart notes of your fragrance. The heart notes are the text of your ad.
The top note had to stop the prospect, not through shock but through a compelling "message," a promise of fragrant (and possibly other) delights yet to come. Then the heart notes -- the text of your ad -- must pay off the promise of the headline or the customer's fixation will be lost.
Here's something I can promise you: unless your top notes are able to send an immediate, compelling and important message to the customer, and unless your middle notes pay off the promise this message, you won't make a sale.
If your fragrance doesn't excite a man until it begins to unfold, you are too late. He won't hang around long enough to discover the good work you did down in the heart and base notes of your fragrance. The successful sale starts with a successful top note, and it's very, very difficult to achieve.
To succeed with a men's fragrance, you have to work incredibly hard to make your fragrance incredibly special. But, if you do succeed, there is the possibility that your fragrance too will be one of those that survive and sell successfully for many, many years!
Look at it this way. For a woman's fragrance, you want something that smells nice, lasts nicely (assuming you are allowed to use synthetic substitutes for those natural aroma materials of animal origin shunned today), is compounded with a touch of artistry, and is a bit different than available mass market perfumes.
So, for a woman's fragrance, you make something that smells nice, is long lasting, and is clearly an alternative to "known" fragrances. You find something floral, add a little this and that, boost it up with some great base notes and, bingo! A new and beautiful perfume!
In spite of the hundreds of perfumes now being launched each year, the market is wide open. The needs of the mass market -- celebrity fragrances, for example -- are such that they must be least "common denominator" perfumes, acceptable to as many fans of the celebrity as possible and created by perfumers who are severely limited in the raw materials they can employ due to cost constraints imposed by their clients.
(Synthetic aroma chemicals are not necessarily inexpensive. But often perfumers are required to use the least expensive synthetics in order to meet preset cost objectives.)
I'm making it seem easier than it really is, but look now at what is involved in creating a successful fragrance for men.
Creating a successful fragrance for men
Men, it seems, are just starting to use cosmetics -- in places like England and Asia. Men, in our recent history, have been limited by culture in their exploration of the scented universe. Lots of older -- and younger -- men don't use fragrance at all. This is not because they claim fragrance allergies or are phobic about anything not "natural." For many men an appreciation of fragrance simply isn't a part of their culture.
Worse still, for many men who do use fragrance, the only fragrance they will use is after shave found in the shaving supplies section of their local supermarket.
So for starters, the male market for your niche fragrance is far smaller than it would be for a woman's fragrance. But there is still more to come. The older segment of the male market tends to be tradition bound and not very experimental. Just as they will wear the same styles in clothing that they wore in their teens and twenties, they tend to stick with the same fragrances they wore during those years, if they are still available. (This helps explain why certain men's fragrances remain on the market for so many years!)
We are now left with just a handful of men, generally young in age or spirit. This is our market. But there are still some serious challenges for anyone wanting to sell them a fragrance. Before they will buy a fragrance, it has to pass these three tests --
(1) It has to be acceptable to the women in their lives -- wives, lovers, co-workers, friends,
(2) It has to be OK with other men, and
(3) It has to create an immediate, favorable impression.
Men who might try a fragrance from a boutique perfumery are sophisticated in their knowledge of perfume. If your fragrance doesn't delivering something new and wonderful, they aren't going to buy it.
My own thinking of late (I'm working on a man's fragrance and feeling frustrated with my progress) is that a new fragrance is like an advertisement. The top note is your headline. It has to stop the prospect in his tracks and get him to savor the heart notes of your fragrance. The heart notes are the text of your ad.
The top note had to stop the prospect, not through shock but through a compelling "message," a promise of fragrant (and possibly other) delights yet to come. Then the heart notes -- the text of your ad -- must pay off the promise of the headline or the customer's fixation will be lost.
Here's something I can promise you: unless your top notes are able to send an immediate, compelling and important message to the customer, and unless your middle notes pay off the promise this message, you won't make a sale.
If your fragrance doesn't excite a man until it begins to unfold, you are too late. He won't hang around long enough to discover the good work you did down in the heart and base notes of your fragrance. The successful sale starts with a successful top note, and it's very, very difficult to achieve.
To succeed with a men's fragrance, you have to work incredibly hard to make your fragrance incredibly special. But, if you do succeed, there is the possibility that your fragrance too will be one of those that survive and sell successfully for many, many years!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
An opportunity that I deliberately ignore could become a big money maker for you.
Unless you're a great marketer with an ego that DEMANDS that you have your name written big on the fragrances you create, I have a "business opportunity" for you -- one that, to date, I keep walking away from. It's called "private label perfume."
As you may or may not know, "private label" cosmetics are a big business. "Private label" involves a manufacturer or middleman developing a stock product and then selling it branded with the retailers name. In the world of cosmetics, a very small retailer can, without much difficulty, obtain a complete line of cosmetics with their own name on it at a very affordable price.
Many of these small retailers and entrepreneurs would also like to have their own perfume. But "private label" perfume doesn't exist.
The reason why sources of "private label" perfumes don't exist is simple. Creating a successful perfume is a far more complex task than creating a cosmetic product. 90% of a cream, for example, is advertising hype. Everyone's creams are pretty much the same with the difference being the packaging and, often, the use of exotic ingredients or "new breakthroughs from science."
But the efficacy of these special ingredients is not easily demonstrated to the consumer. Only through advertising or personal sales pitches can the idea of the product's superiority be implanted in the consumer's mind. The consumer (truly!) cannot really "prove," in use, that one cream is superior to another. As for lipstick, anyone can easily reproduce the popular shades.
But perfume poses problems. Setting aside the issue of packaging, which is not particularly difficult for a private label product, there is still the issue of AROMA. And, unlike the claims that might be made for a cream -- or selecting the popular shades for lipstick -- a perfume can be "comparison tested" by the consumer against every other fragrance they have ever encountered, at fragrance counters, on other women, on granny's dresser. The nose passes judgment.
So to sell a fragrance successfully, private label or whatever, the aroma must (1) be pleasing to the consumer and (2) "original" enough so that it is not perceived as simply a knock off of something available elsewhere.
This, of course, is very challenging for the creator.
A private label perfume poses the ADDITIONAL challenge of needing a mass market appeal. Why? Because, as the seller, your market -- small retailers -- will be very diverse. A niche product will not succeed because THEY will be looking for a product with broad appeal.
So, in effect, you find yourself doing exactly what the major marketers of fragrance do each time they launch a new fragrance. They (1) want a fragrance that can be called "new," but (2) they don't want it to be too new or revolutionary, (just a little bit new so that the consumer's nose does not have to be reprogrammed,) and (3) they want it to have mass market appeal.
To succeed with a private label business, your creations would have to be similar.
Of course this is a huge challenge and, you may ask, "if I'm able to create perfume that would meet the standards of a major marketer, why would I abandon my own name and brand and sell it as a private label product?
The answer, of course, it to make money!
IF your perfume meets the three criteria mentioned above, it will be much easier to sell it to small retailers in bulk as "private label" than it will be to retail it on your own, or to sell it with your own brand name to major retailers.
IF your perfume meets the three criteria mentioned above, with a minimum amount of promotion you should be able to generate inquiries that have the potential of being turned into orders.
There are a few steps you will have to take to close your sales. Your perfume must be nicely bottled and boxed. The solution here is to buy, in bulk, a bottle and closure that will become your standard. Then, as all bottles and closures are the same, you can have a custom box made to fit the dimensions. On the front of the box -- and on the bottle itself -- will appear your actual LABEL (also of a standard size) which will carry your customer's name.
Whether you decide to name each fragrance yourself or allow customers to name individual fragrances would be up to you.
Of course setting up this business requires both time and capital as well as creativity in perfumery. You will have to purchase bottle, boxes, closures, labels, possibly some equipment to fill your bottles and print your labels. This could run you from $5,000 to $10,000 so certainly there is risk involved.
But the biggest risk lies in the possibility that you will not be able to create a series of six or more fragrances that meet the criteria mentioned above.
But, if you can pull it all together, this could be a profitable business which has the potential to grow large in scale.
As you may or may not know, "private label" cosmetics are a big business. "Private label" involves a manufacturer or middleman developing a stock product and then selling it branded with the retailers name. In the world of cosmetics, a very small retailer can, without much difficulty, obtain a complete line of cosmetics with their own name on it at a very affordable price.
Many of these small retailers and entrepreneurs would also like to have their own perfume. But "private label" perfume doesn't exist.
The reason why sources of "private label" perfumes don't exist is simple. Creating a successful perfume is a far more complex task than creating a cosmetic product. 90% of a cream, for example, is advertising hype. Everyone's creams are pretty much the same with the difference being the packaging and, often, the use of exotic ingredients or "new breakthroughs from science."
But the efficacy of these special ingredients is not easily demonstrated to the consumer. Only through advertising or personal sales pitches can the idea of the product's superiority be implanted in the consumer's mind. The consumer (truly!) cannot really "prove," in use, that one cream is superior to another. As for lipstick, anyone can easily reproduce the popular shades.
But perfume poses problems. Setting aside the issue of packaging, which is not particularly difficult for a private label product, there is still the issue of AROMA. And, unlike the claims that might be made for a cream -- or selecting the popular shades for lipstick -- a perfume can be "comparison tested" by the consumer against every other fragrance they have ever encountered, at fragrance counters, on other women, on granny's dresser. The nose passes judgment.
So to sell a fragrance successfully, private label or whatever, the aroma must (1) be pleasing to the consumer and (2) "original" enough so that it is not perceived as simply a knock off of something available elsewhere.
This, of course, is very challenging for the creator.
A private label perfume poses the ADDITIONAL challenge of needing a mass market appeal. Why? Because, as the seller, your market -- small retailers -- will be very diverse. A niche product will not succeed because THEY will be looking for a product with broad appeal.
So, in effect, you find yourself doing exactly what the major marketers of fragrance do each time they launch a new fragrance. They (1) want a fragrance that can be called "new," but (2) they don't want it to be too new or revolutionary, (just a little bit new so that the consumer's nose does not have to be reprogrammed,) and (3) they want it to have mass market appeal.
To succeed with a private label business, your creations would have to be similar.
Of course this is a huge challenge and, you may ask, "if I'm able to create perfume that would meet the standards of a major marketer, why would I abandon my own name and brand and sell it as a private label product?
The answer, of course, it to make money!
IF your perfume meets the three criteria mentioned above, it will be much easier to sell it to small retailers in bulk as "private label" than it will be to retail it on your own, or to sell it with your own brand name to major retailers.
IF your perfume meets the three criteria mentioned above, with a minimum amount of promotion you should be able to generate inquiries that have the potential of being turned into orders.
There are a few steps you will have to take to close your sales. Your perfume must be nicely bottled and boxed. The solution here is to buy, in bulk, a bottle and closure that will become your standard. Then, as all bottles and closures are the same, you can have a custom box made to fit the dimensions. On the front of the box -- and on the bottle itself -- will appear your actual LABEL (also of a standard size) which will carry your customer's name.
Whether you decide to name each fragrance yourself or allow customers to name individual fragrances would be up to you.
Of course setting up this business requires both time and capital as well as creativity in perfumery. You will have to purchase bottle, boxes, closures, labels, possibly some equipment to fill your bottles and print your labels. This could run you from $5,000 to $10,000 so certainly there is risk involved.
But the biggest risk lies in the possibility that you will not be able to create a series of six or more fragrances that meet the criteria mentioned above.
But, if you can pull it all together, this could be a profitable business which has the potential to grow large in scale.
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