Suji and Jeeva are co-directors of Light & Glo designs, handcrafted wood wick soy candles. Suji looks after the creative side of the business, while Jeeva focusses on international trade and business development.
Dose of Glo
“It’s so varied—you are touching on every point of the digital space and allowing businesses to tap into that information and grow with it.”
The husband-and-wife pair started the Melbourne-based fragrance house in December 2015, manufacturing candles and home fragrances. Selling these products is one aspect of their business—the other is scent marketing, working with industries to deliver the right scent for their business. The business started as Suji’s hobby while she was on maternity leave three and a half years ago. At that time, the main selling platforms were Facebook and Instagram.
“As soon as the business started to evolve and Jeeva got involved,” Suji says, “we started doing events and had to build a client base nationally. That’s when we realised that we needed to have an online presence to cater to our customers’ needs.”
They launched a Shopify website and are now selling nationally. As the business continued to grow, and they delved into wholesale, they started a second Shopify website catering to the needs of their retailers and wholesalers. “We’ve got over 150 retailers nationally.”
Growing online with the Digital Solutions Program
The pair first heard about the Digital Solutions program from Wyndham City Council in an email about the program. Suji was impressed when she looked into the program. “Oh wow,” she remembers thinking. “They’ve got these programs where a professional speaker comes in and helps businesses.
“We’ve changed the way we work with LinkedIn, as well as Facebook Ads,” Jeeva says. “We were spending quite a lot of money on Facebook Ads, but there wasn’t much return on investment. Since we’ve learnt how to target our audience using those ads, the return has been very high.”
In addition to improving their social media ad campaigns, the Digital Solutions program has assisted in smaller—but no less significant—ways. “It’s learning the things you didn’t realise before,” Suji says. “Little tweaks, like changes to your profile, how you present yourself.
We’ve noticed more people checking our profile, contacting us, and starting to see what we do and why we’re different. The Digital Solutions has been instrumental in helping us to do that. ”Light & Glo’s participation in the Digital Solutions program has seen Suji’s attendance at three three-hour workshops, covering the topics: Profile Building & Networking on LinkedIn, Engage Real Followers on Instagram, and Boost Business with Facebook Advertising.
Light & Glo is also booked in to attend two upcoming workshops: Digital Marketing Essentials and SEO Foundations for Small Business. “It’s been fantastic,” Suji says. “The program makes it accessible and viable for small business who sometimes don’t have the cashflow to hire a specialist. Because it’s so varied in terms of covering all platforms and what might be relevant, you really are touching on every part of that digital space and allowing small businesses to tap into that information and grow with it.
“I would highly recommend the program to anyone.”
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