The Art Of Selling Fragrance
Launching a fragrance has become the natural extension for many public figures. Once the audience’s trust has been earned, the next step can often seem obvious: introduce a product that reflects their world or lifestyle and fragrance is one of them.
We have witnessed how public figures can create successful brands and how a strong personal brand gives the founder one significant advantage: visibility.
For public figures, visibility is rarely the problem. They already have established an audience, recognition and the attention needed to create a successful launch. Although visibility may create curiosity, it does not automatically create trust.
The advantage of brand alignment
Funmi Monet is a recent fascinating example.
A prominent fragrance and beauty content creator who just recently launched her fragrance brand influxious. Funmi had already laid the ground work for a launch that felt credible to her existing audience.
That distinction matters
When an individual becomes known for something particular, they begin to accumulate a form of credibility that simply cannot be manufactured or bought with a single product launch. For Funmi the transition wasn’t unfamiliar as she was already part of the fragrance ecosystem and the product followed the personal brand.
And this is where I think founder-led brands can learn something important. Visibility is the starting point, not the strategy. There are several stages between having an audience and successfully asking that audience to purchase a product from you.
Here are the elements to implement into your personal brand
Visibility: People know who you are.
Credibility: They believe what you say. You have earned their trust and can support it with substance.
Alignment: What you’re selling makes sense coming from you.
Positioning: You have a clear and distinct point of view about what you’re bringing into the market.
Funmi’s journey highlights how these elements work together.
Her personal brand created visibility. Her years of fragrance content and recommendations credibility, which she further strengthened through formal certifications at ISIPCA in Paris. Her relationship with a fragrance & beauty focused community created alignment.
There is value in understanding your craft, your consumer and the industry beyond personal interest.
Brand Positioning
Influxious isn’t simply presented as another fragrance collection but as an extension of Funmi’s relationship with fragrance and personal expression. Part of her positioning is particularly interesting because she identified an opportunity to bring her own interpretation to freshness - a perspective shaped by her personal experiences and preferences. She found a space to make something familiar feel different.
And this is an important lesson because you don’t always have to create an entirely new product. Sometimes finding your place in the market means bringing in a new perspective to something that already exists.
This gives the brand a point of view and feels like continuation of something she has been building throughout her content creation journey.
The lesson for personal brands
When the temptation arises to ask: What can I sell to my audience?
The better question to ask is: What have I already earned the right to sell?
These are two very different questions and have to be considered strategically. A strong personal brand can open the door to almost any category but opening the door does not mean the audience will walk through it with you.
That requires credibility, alignment and a clear point of view. And that is perhaps the real art of selling fragrance.
You don’t begin with the bottle. You begin with the brand.
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