Most successful jewelers are inherently good at making people comfortable. The larger ones have good processes in place for managing millions of dollars in very portable inventory, greeting customers when they walk in the door and making people feel at home.
However, jewelers in 2021 face some difficult challenges.
There are big, national retailers on almost every street corner. Not to mention the “local” guys in every market that have been around for years.
Add in the competition from companies like Blue Nile, James Allen and a host of others spending small fortunes on Google Ads. And to top it all off, there’s this whole digital marketing thing. For years jewelers leveraged broadcast media like radio and TV to build big businesses, but if feels like their customers live on their phones (or even their watches) these days.
How do you stay in touch with them digitally, but then get them to actually show up in your store?
That’s where we come in!
Over the years, we’ve developed a proprietary system for jewelers that merges old school strategies that still work with new school digital marketing strategies.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the most common challenges we have to overcome as well as our Dazzling, 6 Step Jewelry Marketing Formula.
Clients we talk to tell us they struggle to make sense of digital marketing in a few common areas. Let’s cover those first so you can get a good foundation for the actual strategies themselves.
But here’s the big shift… Instead of thinking of your mass media strategy separately from your digital marketing, think of how they can work TOGETHER.
If someone hears a radio ad about a particular collection or piece of jewelry, make sure that’s easy to find on your home page. Send an email blast to your audience about that same collection. And keep it visible on your social media profiles while those commercials are on the air.
Think of connecting the dots for the consumer because it doesn’t matter where they hear the message FIRST! Make sure you give them lots of chances to hear a similar message.
It’s called brand consistency! Great marketing is about reaching the maximum number of people with the right frequency of your message.
That’s why making mass media work together with digital marketing yields BIG results!
Messages that are suitable for mass communication don’t always play well on digital… at least not when they’re done repeatedly.
You’ve got a big chance with digital to vary your message and to be much more specific than ever before, especially if you’re on different platforms like Facebook & Instagram. One of the best ways for doing this is a technique I learned from the great Wizard of Ads - Roy H. Williams. He calls it a “We Believe” exercise.
Stating your beliefs as a company is a great way to bond with your customers by giving them specific concepts that you both share.
So rather than saying “we offer competitive prices” which is something people might take as marketing fluff, you could say “we believe each item should be marked at the absolute lowest price” which is something people can see and agree with.
When someone clicks on your Google ad for an “emerald cut engagement ring”, they’re doing research. When someone clicks on your Facebook post about “hot engagement ring styles”, they’re interested in the headline or image.
They may have bought jewelry a few months ago. They might be looking for a friend. Or they might be a day or two away from visiting a store. It’s safe to assume that someone interacting with your business on social media or clicking on your website is interested in jewelry, so why not warm them up rather than just asking for the sale?
In other words, use your message in the right sequence on digital marketing. When someone signs up for your newsletter, don’t wait 30 days to email them. Send them a few automated emails in the first week or two with something fun or interesting of value.
When someone visits your website, remarket to them with special offers or ads featuring your customer testimonial. Sequence your messages to develop the relationship over time and you’ll be the jeweler they trust when they’re finally ready to make that purchase.