2 Essential Phases of Marketing for Jewelry Businesses

Laryssa Wirstiuk 0:00
Ready to break free from algorithms, vanity PR, and money-sucking ads? My name’s Laryssa Wirstiuk, and I’ve learned in 7 years of jewelry marketing that content is the crown jewel. My agency Joy Joya takes a holistic approach, leading with laser-focused storytelling, impactful content creation, and strategic content distribution. This method has worked for the solopreneur as well as the multi-million-dollar company, and now I’m sharing these systems and tactics with you. Here’s to standing out in the Sea of Sparkle.

Welcome to Episode #274. In this episode, we’re diving into the essential stages of marketing for jewelry brands and why it’s crucial to understand their distinctions. I’ve noticed that many new jewelry business owners might not have a clear grasp of what marketing really involves, and that’s perfectly fine! I’m here to provide some clarity. First and foremost, let’s clarify that marketing is distinct from public relations and sales. While marketing can certainly support these functions, it operates differently. And if you want more on that, an entire chapter actually, check out my book Jewelry Marketing Joy. But today on the podcast, I’ll explore the two primary types of marketing you’ll be engaged in for your jewelry business in the long run. The first type is “Audience Building” Marketing. These are the marketing activities aimed at getting people to notice your brand. Imagine sending an email campaign to an empty subscriber list or posting on Instagram with zero followers – it wouldn’t yield much, would it? To make the second type of marketing, “Customer Relationship Building” Marketing, effective, you also need to be actively involved in”Audience Building Marketing.” If you’re launching a new jewelry brand, you’ll likely dedicate most of your efforts to the first type because you need to attract those initial eyeballs and interest. Even if you’re an established jewelry business, you can’t afford to neglect “Audience Building” Marketing. You should continue to focus on attracting new audiences while nurturing relationships with those who are already interested. Ready to understand marketing on a deeper level? Keep listening or watching as I explore the differences between Audience Building” Marketing and “Customer Relationship Building” Marketing. I’ll provide examples of both types and delve into why “Audience Building” Marketing can be super challenging, as well as what results to anticipate from your efforts.

But before we get to the solid gold, I’d like to take a moment to remind you that this podcast has both audio and video – so you can either listen on your favorite podcast platform or watch on YouTube by searching “Joy Joya”. You can support the podcast for free by taking the time not only to subscribe but also to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.

Okay, let’s get into today’s episode, my Sparklers! If I’m going to boil marketing down into one simple definition, it’s about “creating relationships and nurturing relationships”, that’s it. It’s not about gaining clout or about being a salesperson. It just comes down to relationships. If you really have trouble wrapping your head around marketing, just think about it the same way you would friendships. If you want new friends, then you put yourself in situations where you might meet new people, like taking a class or joining a book club. If you want to maintain your friendships, then you keep in regular contact with your friends and show interest in their lives. If you want to do both make new friends and keep your friends, then you do all those things. Simple! That’s marketing, except your the business, and your friends are your customers. Sounds really straightforward, right? Then why is marketing so hard? Well, if you’re ever tried to make new friends and keep your existing friends, you know that friendships are much more complicated and nuanced than what I just explained. Sometimes it can be really hard to meet great people you vibe with, even if you put yourself in all the right situations. And sometimes it can be hard to keep your friends, even if you do all the right things; people move away, sometimes disagreements happen, etc. So the same way that friendship is complicated, marketing is complicated too. But basically, I just want to talk about the two ongoing stages of marketing that your business should be doing – the “Audience Building” Marketing and the “Customer Relationship Building” Marketing. The “Audience Building” is like finding friends, and the “Customer Relationship Building” is like keeping friends.

As I mentioned in the intro, Audience Building isn’t just for brand new jewelry businesses. Even jewelry businesses that have been around for decades, need to do Audience Building because there’s turnaround in customers, and the business is always evolving. The challenge with Audience Building, as you can probably imagine, is that it’s really HARD to get seen and heard in the crowded marketplace, and that’s a reality that not all new jewelry business owners are prepared to accept. Firstly, if you don’t have a substantial marketing budget to invest in Audience Building up front, it demands a significant investment of time and patience. Building a sizable and engaged audience takes time as you work on establishing brand credibility and recognition. The jewelry market is often saturated with competitors, making it challenging to stand out. In addition, maintaining a consistent online presence, creating quality content, and implementing effective strategies all require resources, making audience building a multifaceted effort that demands both time and financial commitment. That’s why so many entrepreneurs get discouraged after just a year or two – it takes a significant amount of time of being consistent. We actually don’t often provide the service of Audience Building Marketing for newer jewelry brands, for many of these reasons. It’s not that we’re not able to do it, but most new jewelry business owners underestimate how much work it really takes – so we really need to charge more for this type of marketing than the Customer Relationship Building Marketing. The other thing is that no one can accurately predict how long it’s going to take for Audience Building Marketing to “work”. I’d love to say six months, but there’s no way I can guarantee that. Working with new business owners on Audience Building Marketing puts a lot of pressure on us in a situation that we literally can’t control, no matter how hard we work or how rock-solid the marketing strategy is. And those are hard pills to swallow when you’re new and not really making money yet – and you really would like to start getting reliable, repeat customers as quickly as possible. It’s kind of the curse of starting a new business. You don’t have many or even any customers, but you’re probably going to have to invest a lot of time and/or money at this stage, more than you could have anticipated.

If you don’t have a lot of money, but you do have time, I have some ideas for Audience Building Marketing Tactics, that you can do to get eyeballs on your brand: Brand Collaboration Customer Referral Program Brand Ambassador and Microinfluencer Partnerships In-Person and Virtual Events Partner With Retailers Direct Mail Marketing Search Engine Optimization or SEO Grassroots Public Relations (PR) Community Building Thought Leadership Once you start getting eyeballs on your brand, you’ll want to be laser focused on building an email list because that’s going to be the most effective way to start your Customer Relationship Building Marketing. Of course, you’ll also want to build your social media following, but email marketing means you have more control over your communications with the people who have interacted with your brand. Basically, the main examples of customer relationship building marketing would be: Email Marketing Social Media Marketing Some of the examples from Audience Building can also be used for Relationship Building, depending on how you approach them: In person and virtual events Community Building Thought Leadership So, where does one process start and the other begin? It’s not always a clear-cut distinction, as these stages often overlap. Brand awareness efforts are ongoing to continually attract new customers, while relationship-building activities occur simultaneously to keep existing customers engaged and encourage repeat purchases.

Okay, let’s get into the GOLD MINE. Welcome to another edition of THE GOLD MINE – a segment where I get personal and share insights on entrepreneurship, mindset, success, growth, and all things business. THE GOLD MINE allows me to share topics and insights close to my heart. On this week’s GOLD MINE, I want to talk about guarantees in marketing. Earlier in this episode, I mentioned that when it comes to Audience Building, it’s kind of hard to know what will happen, even with your best and most consistent efforts. And that’s such a hard pill to swallow because you’re either going to be putting money, time, or a mix of both into your business while doing Audience Building. So is it possible for any marketing to be guaranteed? If a marketing company or even an employee “guarantees” you a certain outcome from your marketing efforts, should you believe them? It’s virtually impossible to provide guarantees in marketing, particularly during the Audience Building stage, and here’s why. Marketing involves engaging with a diverse and dynamic audience, each with unique preferences, behaviors, and reactions. These factors can’t be predicted with absolute certainty. Also, the external environment constantly evolves, with market trends, competition, and consumer interests fluctuating unpredictably. As a result, what worked yesterday might not work tomorrow, making it impossible to guarantee specific outcomes. And finally, the effectiveness of marketing strategies relies heavily on human psychology and behavior, which can be influenced by countless variables. Even the most well-researched and executed marketing campaigns can’t ensure that every individual in your target audience will respond as expected. Marketers must continuously adapt and refine their strategies based on real-time data and feedback, embracing a flexible and experimental approach. With all the risk and uncertainty, why do marketing at all? Because if you want to have a business, you have to do marketing. The two are inextricably intertwined. Marketing is pretty much the process of figuring out how to get people to buy your stuff. So if you want to sell it, you have to be marketing – and not just in spurts or when you feel like it, but with precise consistency. The good news is that the more you lean into marketing and the more you trust it and are consistent about it, the better you’ll get at avoiding the guesses/experiments and actually become good at making educated decisions about your customers and what they’ll respond positively to. So consider that your motivation to undertake this difficult process for your business. What are your thoughts? Do you wish that marketing would come with a guarantee? And how does that make you feel? Drop me a message via Instagram DM, leave a review on the podcast, or comment on our YouTube channel. Let’s engage in a discussion about it!

Did you have any questions about today’s episode? You can always email me Laryssa at laryssa@joyjoya.com. If you loved this podcast, please share it with a friend who’d appreciate it. And don’t forget to subscribe as well as leave a review on Apple Podcasts. If you’re completely new to digital marketing, then you’ll want to purchase and read a copy of my book JEWELRY MARKETING JOY. Visit joyjoya.com/book for more information.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai