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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.

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Welcome to Episode 241. In this episode, we’ll be talking all about content pillars for your jewelry marketing. You’ve probably heard the word “pillar” before in reference to architecture; it’s something that holds up a structure. Similarly, a content pillar is like the foundation that holds up all of your jewelry marketing efforts, from social media to email campaigns. It creates a solid and inviting experience for your audience, which is essential for any successful marketing plan. If you’ve ever found yourself at a loss for words when it comes to marketing, then you won’t want to miss this episode. We’ll show you how to use content pillars to streamline your marketing efforts and make them more effective and efficient. Say goodbye to feeling overwhelmed by your marketing strategy and hello to a more strategic and impactful approach. I’ll be covering: What’s a content pillar, and how can it help you streamline your marketing? What are some examples of content pillars? How can you make content pillars work for you? If you’re new to this podcast, you should know: from now through early July of this year, I’m offering a free (yes FREE) six-month, podcast-guided program called “Jewelry Marketing Jumpstart” which involves weekly audio and video lessons as well as companion PDF downloads for each new episode. This week, members of the Jumpstart program will get the worksheet AS WELL as a private screenshare walkthrough of how to update SEO copywriting in Shopify. If you haven’t already signed up at joyjoya.com/JUMP, then I highly recommend you stop waiting and sign up now.

2:40
But before we get to the solid gold, I want to tell you about a very exciting opportunity that just opened up for independent jewelry brands based in the US. Joy Joya’s offering a grant that could take your business to new heights. We’re giving away six months of FREE digital marketing services worth $12,000 to one lucky jewelry brand! The chosen recipient will also have the opportunity to share their business and marketing journey with our Joy Joya Podcast listeners and be spotlighted as our best case study yet. To qualify, your business must have been operating for at least three years, have an ecommerce website on Shopify, an active Instagram presence, engaged in email marketing, and have Google Analytics connected to your website. You must also be willing to be transparent about your business with our podcast listeners and viewers. To apply, visit our website by June 2, 2023, review all the requirements to make sure you’re a good fit, and complete the Google Doc application. Don’t miss out on this exceptional opportunity to elevate your jewelry brand with $12K worth of marketing services! Again, that’s joyjoya.com/grant, and you can also find the link in the show notes.

4:29
Okay, my Sparklers! Let’s get into the next installment of Jewelry Marketing Jumpstart, which is all about content pillars for jewelry marketing. If you’re ready to get more efficient with your marketing, this is the episode for you. You should also know that this episode has a complementary PDF worksheet, which you can access by visiting joyjoya.com/jump.

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So first, let me tackle the question, what’s a content pillar? And how can it help you streamline your marketing? So there are actually two ways to define what a content pillar means. But I’ll explain which definition kind of works best for our purposes today. So a content pillar can be defined as like the key themes or topics that you mention over and over again in your content, and storytelling. So like, let’s say you are a woman-founded brand, or something like that. And that’s a theme that keeps coming through in all the content. That could be a content pillar. Another way to define it is a content pillar is a long form piece of content that you create. So the actual content asset, what I mean by that is a lengthy blog post, or copy for a website landing page. And that serves as like the foundation from which you’ll distill and share all your other content, like on email, and in social media marketing. My favorite definition of content pillar kind of combines the two that I just mentioned. So having these long-form pieces of content that reflect important themes and topics regarding your jewelry brand, and then pulling from that long-form content for your shorter content, like your email marketing copy, and your social media copy. Also, content pillars should really be evergreen, so that you can continue to build on them over time. Let them evolve, add to them, expand upon them. They should literally be holding up all your marketing content the same way a pillar might hold up a building.

7:02
So why are these so great? And how can they help you streamline your marketing? Alright, so let’s say let’s talk about the month of May. And let’s say your content pillar for just the month is a focus on emeralds. Because you as a brand emeralds make up a huge part of your assortment, you sell a lot of emerald jewelry, it’s one of your signature looks. So boom, May is your month. That’s the birthstone, it’s green for spring for rebirth and renewal. And one thing that your brand loves about emerald is like the tie to royalty and how emeralds have been prized and collected by kings and queens for many, many years. So your brand value is making your customers feel like royalty, through emeralds that are in really wearable pieces. So throughout the month, you’ll be telling this story about famous royals who’ve worn emeralds and how those timeless looks can translate to today and how you can bring that like regal vibe to your day to day life.

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So this is like an overarching content pillar that you want to communicate for the entire month. And even beyond the month of May because you can buy and wear emeralds any time, it doesn’t even necessarily have to be time sensitive. This could be a story that you tell all the time because we always want to buy emeralds, right? So with this idea in mind, let’s say you write one long-form blog post about this topic, and I’m talking like 1000 to 1500 words where you really do a deep-dive into the storytelling, about the regal nature of emeralds, and how that kind of ties back to your brand values and what you want to offer customers today. From there, you can have a number of different email marketing campaigns throughout the month that showcase some of these regal emerald looks. You can borrow some language and copy from the blog post, you can even link to the blog post in the email, really build upon that storytelling. So you did the work of that blog post once, and now you’re already benefiting from it because you’re able to pull and distill from that for your email campaigns. Then you can also create a number of social media posts that are derived again from this single blog post that match the look and feel of your email campaign. You’re pulling language or pulling images from that blog post. You can use that in Instagram Stories, put links to the website. You can make several Pinterest posts just about this one topic, link it back to your website. You can also potentially revisit the product descriptions for your emerald products, and punch up the language a little bit with some of these new ways of storytelling about your emerald products, bringing more life into them. Might as well since you’ve already done the work with the blog posts. Not only have you now added so much more richness into all of your marketing, but you’ve also saved yourself a lot of time and effort because you only had to write about something once. And then repurpose that content and storytelling, on email, on social in your product descriptions, maybe in some other places. Maybe if you have retail partners, this is an element of your storytelling that you can share and pass on to them. So their sales people can talk to their customers about this aspect of your brand story. And then over time, you may choose to go back to that content, build upon it, build upon it, expand upon it, you could use it for linesheets, you could use that kind of in your direct correspondence with customers, you can make videos about it…the possibilities are really endless. But now you can see how this is a starting point for adding layers of interest and richness to your brand.

11:35
So I just shared one like full circle example of a content pillar and how it would be used. But I want to share some other examples just so you could really understand the potential of this. And first I just want to say if you’ve been following along with the Jumpstart series since the beginning of this year, you’ve already done so much of this pre work already, through your blog post topic brainstorming, your SEO, keyword research, your target audience research and more. So you should, by this point, have a great idea of the main topics that you can build upon in the storytelling of your jewelry brand. So other really effective types of content pillars: a content pillar could also be a long form video, you record maybe about your brand values, or about the process of making your jewelry, or even just spotlighting like one piece or collection. And then you could take that long video, pull clips from it, share those on social media, YouTube shorts, TikTok, email marketing, make Gifs out of it, you could also transcribe the longer video and modify it to turn it into a blog post. So again, one bit of effort, then being smart about what you’re doing with that longer piece and how you are sharing it. Another example would be maybe an ongoing series. This could be written this could be video, you choose the way that you want to communicate an ongoing series where you educate customers about your various product categories, if they’re really unique, and need a lot of education around them. Or about gemstones that you carry if you have really like unique and niche gemstones, especially if you find that your customers usually need more information before they make the purchase. Then you can take all of that content and distill it, maybe work it into your FAQs, or have it handy for you to share it with customers when they have questions. Maybe include some of that language in a post-purchase email or a postcard insert that you put in packages, to let the customer know more about the product they purchased and make them feel really good and confident about their choice.

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And then if you want me to get less generic and more specific, let me tell you about a brand. So let’s talk about Catbird, the Brooklyn based jewelry brand. So they have a landing page on their website that’s called “Our Values”. That landing page, at least for as long as I have known it and have seen it for many years, it never changes. It always has the same information. It shares the brand values and just says more about the mission and about the things they do to give back to the community and to like embody their beliefs. Even though that page never changes, the brand is always repurposing this content and making it feel fresh and new by linking to it, rephrasing the wording, re-emphasizing those values over and over and over in new ways so that it never feels like, “Oh my God, I’ve heard this a million times before”. For example, in April, which is Earth Month, I guess April’s known as Earth Month. I noticed that Catbird sent an email that had this section at the bottom called “Earth Day Is Every Day”. And there was a little bit of description about why their brand goes out of their way to honor the earth, to honor sustainability. And, but the way they positioned it with the April timing and the Earth Month, linking it to this “Our Values” page that never changes, it didn’t matter, because they made it feel like it was meant for here and now. They made it super relevant. So having this one long-form page that they worked on once means that they can reuse and reshare that language over and over and over as long as they are presenting it in new and fresh ways.

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So how can you make content pillars work for your brand? First and foremost, I want you to shout them from the rooftops, ensure that you’re actually sharing them and repurposing them, especially if they’re evergreen, and can be shared at any time of the year. It’s so important to revisit your content pillars on a regular basis, not only because you put the work into making them, but because they should be reflective of your brand story and your brand values. And they need to be re-emphasized over and over and over. So you should be working them into your content calendar so they don’t get wasted. There’s so much good stuff there. Make sure when you’re making your content pillars, and when you are distributing them that you align with your target audience. This probably goes without saying, but I need to say it again, your content pillars should be relevant to your target audience, and align with their interests, needs and values. Also be authentic, your customers can see through a lack of authenticity. So your content pillars should reflect and be true to your brand values and messaging in the most authentic way possible, because you want your audience to connect with your brand on a deeper, more emotional level. Also plan ahead with your content pillars. If you have one in mind, it’s important to kind of plan the development of it ahead of time, so that you can ensure not only that you have everything you need for it like photos, videos and text, but also so that once it’s done and ready, you can do everything possible to amplify it to share it in email to share it on social media. So that again, you are making the most out of it. And so everything that a customer sees is super consistent and cohesive. Planning ahead also allows you the time to make it as good as possible the first time around so that you can repurpose it again. And again, of course, you can always go back to your content pillar and update it and add to it. But you really want to make it as good as possible with whatever information you have right out of the gate. I think that spending more time in this planning phase ensures that you save time in the long run. So be super clear on what you want to say. And make sure it’s in complete alignment with your target audience’s needs and desires. So that’s it for now on content pillars. Much more to come in future episodes, go to joyjoya.com/jump for additional information, action items, and further resources.

19:25
Before we get into The Gold Mine as well as my jewelry marketing news roundup, I want to share a case study of a jewelry brand that I think embodies my approach to marketing. Okay, so these are my thoughts about how I’d apply my marketing principles to a jewelry brand in the wild. Disclaimer, this brand is not my client, so I don’t have any inside information. I’m just sharing my observations.

19:53
So the brand I want to highlight today is Lauren Hope and their limited-edition butterfly series. So Lauren hope describes themselves as a brand that reconnects modern-day jewelry with the vintage jewels that excited Founder Loren Barham as a child. Regarded by their collectors as “wearable art”, they create beautiful, heirloom quality costume jewelry that’s cherished, and then passed down through generations. It’s super sparkly, demi-fine jewelry handmade in the US. I recently saw an email campaign from this brand about the launch of their new release of their Butterfly Series, which returns for its 15th iteration. They’re introducing more than 40 OOAK butterfly brooches. Okay, I love the presentation and storytelling behind this collection launch. Talk about elevating your product, making it feel super collectible and desirable and creating a visual story. I mean, at the end of the day, they’re really just objects. They’re sculptural brooches crafted by hand in our Rhode Island studio using a mix of new and vintage glass stones. Super colorful and sparkly. But Loren Hope is just presenting them so beautifully. Most of the butterflies are framed with custom-made specimen boxes lined in hand-dyed silk velvet. Eight new Empress butterflies are on custom-designed stands, and there are four new limited-edition butterflies. Product description: “When she’s not being worn, she lives in her custom-made specimen box which can be propped upright on your vanity, live flat on your coffee table, or hung on the wall amongst your art collection. Crafted of modern, clear acrylic paired with luxe, hand-dyed silk velvet. (Sawtooth hanger hardware on reverse.) Each box is signed by Loren. Styling Ideas: Pin her on a jacket, pair with a silk scarf tied around the handle of your tote, pin her in your hair for your next special event, perch her in your bridal bouquet.” The stand description says this, “Our idea of jewelry as art… Displayed delicately perched on a custom-made stand, this entirely hand crafted, sculptural treasure brings a whimsical beauty to your space. Featuring an array of handset vintage and new stones from are archive. Group multiples in varying heights on a credenza or bookshelf vignette… display solo within your cabinet of curiosities.” I love how they’re basically painting you a picture of how you’re going to incorporate this lovely object into your life and treasure it forever. Just wanted to share that as a great example of creating desire and exclusivity in your storytelling. What do you think? Let me know in a podcast review or YouTube comment. Okay, let’s get into THE GOLD MINE!

25:33
Alright, let’s get into the goldmine. So the goldmine is a segment of this podcast where we speak a little more personally to topics like entrepreneurship, growth, mindset, success, etc. Today, I want to talk about generative AI. You might have heard me mention it on the podcast before, but just in case you missed it, generative AI is basically when artificial intelligence creates new and original content that didn’t exist before. It can be anything from images to videos to text. Now, I’ve talked to some people about this technology, and there seem to be two reactions. Some are really curious and interested in learning how AI can streamline their business and make their processes more efficient. Others, though, are super dismissive, like they immediately look down on the technology and don’t think it could possibly be applied in their business. I find both reactions fascinating, and that’s why I wanted to share my own thoughts. To be clear, I use ChatGPT pretty much every day, multiple times per day. I love using it to summarize parts of my podcast episodes for other assets like emails and social media captions. It’s also a great tool for helping me rewrite emails when I’m not happy with the tone, or when I need to cut down on words. Plus, it’s fantastic for brainstorming ideas and alternate options for headings and subject lines. Sometimes, when my brain is really tired, I’ll write out a draft and let ChatGPT clean it up for me and make it more compelling. Now, you might be thinking, “But wait, why would someone with a master’s degree in creative writing need an AI tool?” Well, let me tell you: it helps cut down so much time in content creation and editing. Instead of spending hours getting out of writer’s block, I can focus on strategy and big-picture ideas and then use ChatGPT as a tool that cuts down the time it would take for me to do it myself. And if you’re using ChatGPT to rephrase or summarize things for repurposing elsewhere (just like with your content pillars), then you’re working smart, not hard. I know a lot of small business owners who feel held back by lack of funds and resources. They might struggle to execute certain marketing tasks because they’re not quite sure what to say, they have writer’s block, or they can’t afford a graphic designer or a photographer. Well, guess what? AI can already do all those things for you – and at not very high of a price. You can get styled product photos, photos of your jewelry on a model, emails basically generated for you, social media graphics created for you, ideas for subject lines, and product descriptions. The list goes on and on. The main pushback I hear is that people worry anything created with generative AI will look and sound the same as everyone else’s. But that’s where human involvement comes in. You need to know what you want from it, you need to have the vision, and you need to be the one controlling what goes into AI so you can get what you want from it. The idea is to use AI to make you more efficient and to accomplish things you otherwise would have been held back from doing due to lack of time, budget, or other resources. So get creative with it and decide the role it’s going to play in your business. There’s ChatGPT, Mailchimp now has AI capabilities, Microsoft Designer is an AI tool that creates visual designs and templates, Canva has a text-to-image AI image generator. Soon, all marketing tools will have some component of AI built into them. It’s only a matter of time – a short amount of time. Now, I’m not always 100% happy with the stuff that ChatGPT gives me. But it’s a tool for me to get from point A to point B, and I’m the one driving the car to the destination ultimately. I know what I want to get from it, and I use it to that end – to as far as it will take me. I’m always exploring new ways to make it work for me, and I encourage you to do the same. Because if you haven’t tried any AI tools yet, you might be missing out on an exciting opportunity to break through all your pre-existing barriers. So what do you think? How are you feeling about generative AI? Tell me in a YouTube comment or podcast review. I’d love to know your thoughts.

34:35
Okay, let’s get into the news roundup, where I share three relevant articles related to jewelry or marketing. The first one comes from Business of Fashion, and it’s called “Is Mass Appeal Even Possible Anymore?”. So this is a really interesting take from Business of Fashion that poses the question that was in the title. Can we have mass appeal? Can brands appeal to like, an entire generation per se, or even like a large age range? On this podcast, I’ve talked over and over about how important it is to know your target audience inside and out, and not be afraid of getting specific and niche, if that means you can speak to your target audience even better. It’s super tough these days to cater to mass appeal, even to just like an age group, like, let’s say Gen Z, because within that now in 2023, and moving into the future, there’s so much fragmentation, there are so many different preferences, personalities, interests within that spectrum. With all this media available, so many ways for people to connect with their interests. It’s not just like, back in the 90s. You know, everyone followed this one trend or whatever, because that’s what everyone knew, that was the only access to information or to the cool things that people had. Now, there’s like no such thing as a mass trend, because everyone kind of follows their own interests and seeks out what they like. So you have to know exactly who you’re speaking to, and not be afraid to lean into that. I think this is especially true when you’re selling to a generation like Gen Z. And you may be listening to this and think, “Well, whatever, Laryssa, I don’t cater to Gen Z, they don’t like my products.” But let me challenge you there. If you’re hoping to have a lasting business for many years, eventually, you will be catering to Gen Z, because the oldest people in this generation this year are turning 26. Soon they will be in their 30s. And in their 40s. They may be earning themselves into a place where they can afford and enjoy your jewelry. So I think it’s important to be thinking about them and not discounting them. So my main takeaway is, if you’re a small brands you actually have a major advantage here because the big brands that have wide distribution are struggling, they need to figure out a way to connect with all these different fragmented demographics. So as a small brand, you can choose which niche to cater to, and then cater to them with full on force. And you should be doing this no matter what demographic you cater to, but especially if you’re hoping to have a long, long lasting business.

37:40
The next article comes from W Magazine, but you’ve probably seen this news all over. It’s been in a number of publications. It’s pretty big news in the jewelry industry. It’s called “Tiffany & Co.’s New Fifth Avenue Flagship Is So Much More Than a Jewelry Store”. So you’ve probably at this point heard about the new flagship store in New York City. And I’m sharing this because even though Tiffany is the huge heritage brand, their decision their move into upgrading their brick and mortar presence is a great example of how to bring brand storytelling into physical spaces and experiences, which I think any jewelry brand should strive to do at whatever scale they’re able to do, no matter what their size. So this location hasn’t been revamped since 1940. And now it includes just to name a few things: a private club, a series of video installations, a world-renowned art collection with works by Damien Hirst jewelry, Julian Schnabel and Anna Weyant. Of course, a ton of jewelry, and the recently designed area by acclaimed architect Peter Marino showcases a stunning collection of Tiffany and Co symbols, including the eye catching aqua, Jean-Michel Basquiat painting that was displayed in the brand’s 2021 ads featuring Beyonce and Jay Z. And additionally, visitors can admire the latest rendition of the famous 128.54 carat Tiffany diamond that Lady Gaga wore to the 2019 Oscars, and a copy of Audrey Hepburn’s classic little black dress from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. And I’m mentioning all these things because it’s like literally walking a visitor through the history of the brand, the evolution over time, without having to say much. And there was a quote in this article from actress Gal Godot, who was at this like opening party who said it’s just so brilliant what she said, quote, “It’s not just a place to shop, you know? It’s really also a place to dream.” And that, my friends, is the magic of shopping and retail that you should be striving to infuse into your experience. I think she said it so well. My main takeaway is, even if you’re not Tiffany, you can still strive to tell unique and interesting stories through your merchandising, and through experiences. So think about – what can you do to immerse your customers into your story and transport them something somewhere magical, where they can dream.

40:41
And the last article comes from Think with Google, and it’s called “What marketers can learn from luxury brands’ use of nostalgia”. So nostalgia is huge in advertising and marketing right now. Big brands are looking back in time and using that to elicit their target audience’s emotions. And in periods of uncertainty, consumers tend to look to good times from the past for comfort. So how can today’s brands leverage that to connect with audiences that are hoping hoping to get some of those feel good vibes? First, you can definitely explore your audience’s passion points. Identify where this aligns with your brand in a meaningful way. So for example, if your target audience is someone who likes unique fashion and is very interested in style, then they may be curious to see your jewelry styled with vintage apparel or other vintage accessories to kind of harken back to another time that may delight them and elicit a positive, nostalgic emotion. Many luxury brands, they have this advantage of being able to draw on their own rich stories and long-standing cultural associations. But if your brand hasn’t been around for decades, you can still draw on the past by doing kind of what I just mentioned, exploring your customers’ nostalgic passions, and establish where this could intersect authentically with your brand. So mix the old and the new in your merchandising in your presentation in your storytelling. So to give you an example of a bigger brands, luxury fashion house Dior has been using YouTube Shorts to collaborate with young influencers. But the goal of the videos is to celebrate Dior’s timeless, vintage spirit. So if your brand has a classic, timeless nature, you can potentially pair that with a more contemporary spin. My main takeaway is you don’t have to be a heritage brand to touch on nostalgia in your marketing. You just need to connect with your customers’ interests and then appeal to those, eliciting a powerful emotional response that transports them to another time and place that is the episode for today.

43:10
Did you have any questions about Jewelry Marketing Jumpstart or the jewelry marketing $12,000 grant? You can always email me Laryssa that’s laryssa@joyjoya.com. If you love 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 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