In a market saturated with candle brands, Lindsay Silberman, founder of Hotel Lobby Candles, attributes her success to the power of storytelling. Launching an online-only candle line at the height of the pandemic, she hoped to give customers a nostalgic taste of travel from the comfort of home. Her background as a magazine editor and experience creating online content laid the groundwork for what became a thriving ecommerce business.
Honing her editorial skills
Lindsay Silberman’s career began in the magazine industry, where she developed her skills for crafting compelling stories. She used those skills to start posting to her personal Instagram as a hobby, and when her following started to grow, Lindsay eventually decided to become a full-time content creator. “I genuinely never considered myself to be an entrepreneurial person,” she admits, even as she partnered with brands and later came up with the idea for Hotel Lobby Candle.
Describing the products viscerally
When Hotel Lobby Candle launched exclusively online, customers had no way to smell the products beforehand—making creative descriptions vital. Lindsay’s evocative copy captured the essence of a location, helping shoppers imagine the aroma and ambiance. The New York candle, for example, embodies both “the grittiness of the concrete” and “the bougie-ness of going to a lobby bar in New York.”
By tapping into a place’s overall mood, Lindsay gave customers a powerful sense of each candle’s unique vibe—and it worked. Hotel Lobby Candle’s early products sold out in minutes, based solely on her descriptions.
Finding advocates for the brand
Rather than paying influencers outright, Lindsay discovered the power of organic relationships. Building genuine connections with creators who found the brand on their own resulted in more sincere endorsements than paying influencers to start posting about the products. “The better strategy for us and for a lot of brands is to actually start off building really strong relationships … before you start offering them money.”
Lindsay’s approach cultivates real fans who talk about the brand on social media simply because they love it.
Getting to know writers and editors
With her editorial background, Lindsay knew how crucial it was to nurture relationships with writers and editors in the media. Instead of sending mass press releases, she recommends learning a journalist’s beat and pitching stories about your brand that fit what they already cover. “Building a relationship that way is so much more effective than blasting a press release out to 150 people,” Lindsay says.
To learn more about Hotel Lobby Candle and Lindsay’s tips for storytelling through your business, listen to the full interview on Shopify Masters.
