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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 #242. In this episode, we’ll be covering how your content can improve not only your marketing but also the customer experience. Do you want great customers who order from you multiple times and also tell their friends and family? Then you’ll want to hear my tips. By offering valuable information, entertainment, and inspiration to customers, your jewelry business can deepen its connection with its audience and differentiate itself from competitors. High-quality content can also help customers make informed purchasing decisions. By providing educational content on the quality, craftsmanship, and care of your jewelry, for example, you can help customers feel more confident and satisfied with their purchases. This also aids in reducing return rates and improving the likelihood a customer will leave a positive review. You can also leverage content to showcase the unique story behind each piece, such as the inspiration behind a new collection or the process of creating a custom design. By telling the story behind the jewelry, you give customers a chance to develop a deeper appreciation for the craftsmanship and emotional value of their purchases, leading to a more meaningful and positive customer experience. I’ll be covering: Why customer experience matters for marketing – and how jewelry marketing content can support that How you can use content to support the customer experience at various stages of the customer journey How to get your existing customers to share your content with others, thus spreading brand awareness and acquiring new happy customers 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.

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But before we get to the solid gold, I want to tell you about a very exciting opportunity that’s open 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.

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Okay, my Sparklers! Let’s get into the next installment of Jewelry Marketing Jumpstart, which is all about content and the customer experience. 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 us tackle the question, Why does customer experience matters so much for marketing? And how can content really support that? So I kind of touched upon this in the intro to this episode. But basically, what you need to know is that customer experience and marketing are fully intertwined. So why how let’s get into it. Basically, positive customer experiences lead to increased customer loyalty and repeat business. Customers are also much more likely to recommend a brand like yours to friends and family if they have a positive experience with your brand. On the other hand, negative customer experiences can lead to things like negative customer reviews, and negative word of mouth, which can be detrimental to your brand’s reputation. And ultimately, contradict all your positive marketing efforts. When your customers have really great experiences with your brand, that can really help you differentiate your business from competitors, and create a competitive advantage. And finally, customer experiences can generate valuable feedback for your business. So when a customer has a good experience, that can provide insights into areas that you can expand upon, or promote more to your target customers, or to help you find opportunities for innovation in your business.

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So now that you know all the amazing benefits of providing your customers with a great experience, you probably want to know how can your content, all the things you’ve been learning about this year through the podcast, how can content support all those things, and uplift the experience that a customer has with your brand? Well, first of all, and maybe the most important, content really creates transparency for a business. So a customer will know exactly what they’re buying into from your brand, they’ll know exactly what they’re buying from you, before they actually make the transaction. They’ll feel super confident, there won’t be any like mystery around it. And that ensures a best possible outcome for everyone involved, not only for the customer, but also for you because the likelihood that that person will be dissatisfied or want to return the product, or leave a bad review will be very low, because everything is super clear and on the table up front. In addition, content can really make your customer feel excited or connected to a piece of jewelry once they learn more about it. It’s really one thing to buy a piece of jewelry just because you think it looks nice and pretty. And it’s a whole other level when you not only want to buy a piece of jewelry because it looks pretty but also because you know some kind of really interesting story behind it or some kind of history behind it. And that can really level up the excitement for a customer, build anticipation, get them so riled up about your jewelry so that it’s not just another pretty product for them. And content can really support that along with it building transparency. Content also builds trust, content can help you seem like a business that’s like well established, that treats its customers well, that is dependable, that will fulfill its promises, that will be there if the customer needs additional help and support. Also, if someone, if a customer is coming to you looking for something specific, or something maybe they haven’t purchased before, let’s say an engagement ring, it’s their first time shopping for a diamond, content can help educate that customer who is new to whatever jewelry that they’re buying. And I think as we all listening to this podcast watching this podcast, are in the jewelry industry, we really take that for granted as people who know so much about jewelry. We forget that most consumers actually are not as enlightened as we are about jewelry, and they need a little bit of help. They need some direction and guidance and in ways probably we don’t even imagine or realize, so content can help fill that gap. And then lastly, content can be a clue for someone who is like maybe on the fence about buying from you. It can be the clue or the moment that someone thinks in their head, “Oh, yeah, this is the jewelry brand for me. I resonate with this, as opposed to like another jewelry brand or a competitor. And I want to support this and be part of it.” Content can make the difference between someone thinking that and someone just going on their merry way and buying a product from someone else.

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So then how can you use content to support the experience at all the different stages of the customer journey? First, let’s talk about the journey. So at some point, in the history of this podcast, I’ve talked about customer journeys. And I’ve talked about the funnel-like visualization of a customer journey. But let’s all refresh our memories so that this makes more sense. So if we’re comparing the funnel to the customer journey, the widest part at the top, is awareness, that is when a customer is first aware of your brand. And you want to get as many people in your target audience to know about your brand and have awareness of it. Because otherwise, they’re not going to buy from you if they don’t know about you. So it’s about just getting people familiar. And that’s where you’re going to want to try to attract the largest amount of people in your target audience, at that top part of the funnel. In the middle part of the funnel, we have interest. So this comes after awareness, someone has already learned about you for the first time, you might lose some people after that step. So people will learn about you, but then kind of decide it’s not for them, or they’re just going on their merry way. But a good amount of those people hopefully will be interested and move down the funnel. So they may potentially make a purchase at some point. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow, maybe in a year or longer than that. And some of those people may not ever make a purchase, but they’ll remain interested, continue to follow you, possibly share it with a friend, tell someone else about it. And then the bottom part of the funnel is the most narrow part. That one represents action, which in most cases is a purchase, the purchase is the action. This is when they finally decide to buy. So there are fewer people moving down the funnel who end up being actual customers. But those are the ones who kind of make it through to the thing you want them to do, the action that you want them to take. There are various other versions of this funnel that can get more complex, but we’ll just stick with these three steps, awareness, interest and action for the sake of what I’m talking about today. So let’s talk about how content can support the target customer at every stage as they’re moving through the funnel.

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Let’s talk about awareness first. So this is the stage where you get the customer or the target customer to learn about you, you have to simultaneously catch them their attention. Make them have a good experience right away so that they have like a positive flash judgment about your brand, and that they stay intrigued enough to keep wanting to learn about you and your products and get their interest sparked. So types of content that can support this part of the funnel would be blog posts that highlight your story and mission. Social media posts that showcase your unique designs and craftsmanship. Videos that showcase your process and materials used in the jewelry, maybe influencer collaborations or brand collaborations so that you can introduce your jewelry to a new audience. Potentially interactive quizzes or polls on your website or on social media that help these potential customers discover which products or collections from your assortment would best work for them.

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For that person in the next stage of the funnel, the interest stage, there’s so much content you can do for this person who already knows about you, but they’re not yet ready to buy. However, you’ve piqued their interest. So for this person you want to continue to build trust, just inspire them, delight them, get them excited to receive your emails, to see your social media posts to learn about new products or content on your website. So things that would support this person, blog posts. So you can write informative blog posts about jewelry trends, styling tips, the history and symbolism behind different gemstones and precious metals. Of course, all of those things relating back to your brand and brand story. And this type of content will help position yourself as an authority and help educate these customers in the interest stage. You could potentially have ebooks or other downloadable guides that provide more in-depth information about jewelry designs, like how to care for jewelry, how to select the right jewelry for different occasions, how to style various pieces. You can have videos that continue to tell the story in different ways, educating customers, giving them styling tips or shopping advice. You can do personalized email campaigns that showcase new collections or exclusive discounts. You can have interactive product pages that allow customers to customize pieces if that’s something that you offer, so they can see how something will look before making a purchase. You can have behind the scenes content that shows the design and production process. And then perhaps social media content that shows again, how jewelry can be styled with different outfits for different occasions. So this person in the interest stage can really envision how they’ll be incorporating your jewelry into their lifestyle and into their day to day.

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And then lastly, for the person in the action stage of the funnel. They’re like right about to make a purchase, they are thinking about it, you could still potentially lose them, it’s not a guarantee. So the content should be all about trust building. Perhaps you’re sharing other customers’ experiences to showcase social proof. Other types of content would be product videos, 360 degree images, so that this person really gets a true understanding of what the product looks like, how it how they can wear the product, how it moves, customer reviews, and ratings again, provide social proof that the product is high quality and worth purchasing, size guides. Fit tips ensuring customers can find the right size and fit for their preferences and their body type. Personalized product recommendations, live chat tools on your website. Really detailed product descriptions and specs, including materials used, the storytelling, the background of the product, the magic of the product, sizing and care instructions, anything around your return policy or shipping policies. And then if you’re able to a virtual tryon feature for your jewelry.

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So another way for your content to really improve your customer experience and help you attract more people to your brand is to get your existing customers to share your content with others, thus spreading brand awareness and just like spreading the love. And there are a number of ways you can do that. So let’s run through those. One, you should always be aiming to create shareable content. So make sure everything you put out there is visually appealing and captivating, and maybe even fun or like meme worthy, let’s say something that’s easy and fun to share that people would want to show their friends or family members. You could also consider having a customer referral program. And then as part of that referral program incentivize sharing, so this content for people who want to be part of their referral program can include shareable discounts, early access to new products and collections, exclusive promotions. If you’re giving those customers who are part of the program a reason to share, then that gives you a better chance of your content reaching a wider audience. And then always make sure you’re engaging with people on social media or wherever they’re interacting with you. Respond to all comments and questions on Instagram, for example, even if someone just leaves you like a heart eye emoji, something that seems very insignificant. Make sure you’re responding to that comment and engaging back, because those small gestures help build relationships over time. And then make those people more likely to share your brand with others. And when you’re able to, or you have an opportunity to make sure you’re leveraging user generated content. So give your existing customers reasons to share the way they’re wearing and styling your products. Maybe you have a proprietary hashtag. Or maybe there’s a contest or some other incentive to get people to share, so that you can reshare that content and then present your products in a more authentic and relatable way to the people who already follow your brand. Okay, that’s it for now about content and the customer experience. Much more to come in future episodes, go to joyjoya.com/jump for additional information, action items and further resources about this topic.

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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 marketing principles that I talk about on this podcast. So these are my thoughts about how I’d apply my ideas to a jewelry brand. And as a disclaimer, this brand’s not my client, I don’t have any inside information, just sharing my observations.

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So today’s content case study is Effy Jewelry. Unfortunately, kind of some sad news that you probably have heard. Effy Hematian, founder and designer of the iconic jewelry brand Effy, passed away at age 79, leaving behind a legacy of colorful gemstone designs featuring his lifelong muse, the panther. Hematian’s jewelry was easily recognizable, with a presence on over 100 cruise ships and retail locations across the world, and he was known for his passion, honesty, and humility that helped him revolutionize the jewelry industry.

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So in honor of Effy, let’s talk about some of their brand storytelling, specifically their “Collect Moments” campaign from 2019. In 2019, Effy spoke with JCK about the inspiration for his life and business: “​​Everything we do at Effy begins with family…We run our business as a family, and we think of our employees and customers as a part of our extended family. When I design jewelry, I keep this in mind. I want to create things that appeal to the wide range of people in our family, women and men of all ages, and even kids. It’s my way of making everyone happy and helping them celebrate the important moments in their lives.” Effy’s fall 2019 advertising campaign, “Collect Moments,” features a family wearing the brand’s jewelry in various settings, showcasing the role of jewelry in life’s memorable moments. The hashtag #EffyMoments was used to emphasize the campaign’s focus on life’s experiences. Founder and Designer Effy Hematian notes that the campaign shows how love and family drive everything the brand does. It’s also appropriate to share this on Mother’s Day because the photos from this campaign really reminds me of Mother’s Day gifting. I’ll put a link in the show notes if you want to see for yourself. So what do you think? Let me know in a podcast review or YouTube comment.

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Okay, let’s get into The Gold Mine. If you’ve been listening to this podcast for a while, you know that The Gold Mine is a segment of the podcast where I get a little more personal. I choose topics that I’m kind of reflecting on in the moment usually about entrepreneurship, mindset, success, tips for growing a jewelry business in a more like personal and heartfelt way. So let’s get into it.

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Today, I want to touch on the importance of vulnerability and transparency in the context of running a successful jewelry business. As a jewelry entrepreneur, it can be challenging to embrace vulnerability because the industry, especially with brands who sell at higher price points, is known for presenting a polished and perfect image. Brands like Cartier and Tiffany have achieved immense success with their pristine image, but smaller, newer brands may struggle to connect with their audience in the same way. If you’re looking to sell jewelry at higher price points, it’s crucial to understand that consumers often buy these brands for the prestige they represent, not necessarily for emotional connection. If you don’t have the same established reputation, a polished exterior may not be enough to build brand equity. To succeed, you need to incorporate an element of transparency and vulnerability, which can be a difficult balance to strike while still presenting your products in a luxurious way. However, incorporating vulnerability and openness can make a significant impact on your business. It can feel uncomfortable at first, but it’s essential to take small steps to connect with your audience on a more personal level. For instance, experiment with relatable social media content that’s not necessarily professionally shot. Try sharing photos or videos of yourself wearing your jewelry, or write in the first person about how you style a particular piece or what inspired it. Once you feel more comfortable, try getting front and center more often. Share more about the story of your brand and what inspired you to start it. Consider going live with your products or hosting in-person events, where you can let your guard down and connect with your audience. Sharing your experiences, doubts, and mistakes can also help build a connection with your customers. No one is perfect, and it’s refreshing to hear someone talk honestly about their journey.

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Look at K Kane Fine Jewelry as an example; the founder, Katherine, shares her journey to motherhood and how it inspired her designs. Her followers respond positively to her openness and authenticity. The beauty of all this is that you can do it slowly and incrementally. You don’t have to go full-on vulnerable with your audience. You can experiment in very small ways and then see how it’s received. If it doesn’t go over well, and you’re only taking a baby step, you can always step back or adjust your course. But I’m pretty sure you’ll see a positive outcome and then become more confident for your next experiment in vulnerable brand storytelling. Vulnerability and transparency can feel awkward and unnatural at first, but they’re critical components of building a successful and authentic brand. Start with small steps, experiment with relatable content, and gradually let down your guard to connect with your audience on a deeper level. So what do you think about vulnerability? Have you ever tried to tell a more authentic and real brand story, even if you sell at fine and luxury price points? Tell me in a YouTube comment or podcast review. I’d love to know your thoughts.

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Okay, let’s get into the news roundup, where I share three relevant articles related to jewelry or marketing. The first one comes from My Total Retail, and it’s called “Is it Time for the Return of the Catalog?”. So have you been looking for a new way to truly stand out in this crowded marketplace? I’ve talked about direct mail on this podcast before. And maybe catalogs could be great for you, especially if you have mailing addresses of the people who would potentially spend the most money with your brand. According to this article, post pandemic quarantine psychology has really elevated a renewed interest in physical engagements over digital, which is opening the door to print marketing, direct mail, and catalogs. And one quote from this article is “They allow brands to define their personality, create aspiration, and automatically trigger engagement with the consumer whenever they go to their mailbox. They can have a shelf life well beyond the fleeting digital ad and provide a more personal experience with the shopper”. The same way that when you’re reading like a print book, as opposed to having a Kindle experience. For many people that print book holding it looking at the cover, feeling the pages in your hand, it can really be a different. It’s sometimes more emotional experience than kind of looking at something on an iPad for example. Today’s jewelry retailers really need to continually be asking themselves how they can best reach their audiences in ways that drive attention, represent the brand, engage, sell, build loyalty through value, promise and service. Catalogs could potentially be that for a brand. But they also can’t live in a vacuum the same way that social media can’t live without like email marketing, or other marketing efforts. So catalogs kind of need to be working together as a whole, holistically with all your marketing efforts. So that these like multi touch engagement points really drive the customer to purchase all together. My main takeaway is, I think this could be a really great idea. If you already have beautiful, print-worthy photography, if you sell at fine or luxury price points, and you have the mailing addresses or could potentially acquire the mailing addresses of recent buyers, or people who have expressed strong interest in your brand. Do you kind of give them a whole other experience that they wouldn’t necessarily expect from you?

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The next article comes from Retail Dive, and it’s called “McKinsey: Consumers are trading down — and splurging”. What the heck is going on with consumer behavior these days? And what does their behavior mean for your jewelry business? So according to a new report from McKinsey, they’re saying as inflation accelerates in the US economy, then consumers are kind of displaying contradictory shopping habits. Some are splurging on certain purchases, and others are trading down on other types of purchases. So definitely, even though inflation rates this down this time, from last year, so I’m sure you’ve gotten the sense from consumer purchasing behavior this year that inflation remains a significant concern for shoppers. And two thirds of respondents to this survey are worried about it affecting their shopping habits. So when someone is out there buying things like jewelry, or whatever else they’re buying, there’s just so much more to consider in their purchase. Inflation is one of them, some people are worried about sustainability and how their purchases are affecting the planet. They’re also kind of just being more picky and choosy about where they’re putting their money. So maybe it’s travel, maybe it’s cosmetics, maybe it’s apparel, but people are really leaning into the things that they’re passionate about, cutting back in ways that maybe aren’t adding value to their lives, but leaning in to things that they are really passionate about. So what does that mean for your jewelry brand? I would say if you have been finding that purchase behavior has changed over the past year or two, you may want to adjust your messaging or reconsider how you’re positioning your product assortment. I think it’s really hard to predict how your target customer will change their behavior in response to economic conditions. But I think being aware of these things, how people are being mindful about what they’re spending on, considering that in your messaging, and maybe even niching down to more specifically speak to the people who are true fans of your brand, the people who would choose to spend on you, as opposed to like, I don’t know, a fancy handbag or something. Those are the people you want to lean into talking to, because they’re almost already there. And you need to speak to the things that they’re most concerned about, so that they will choose you over some other thing that maybe they also like and enjoy.

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And then the last article comes from My Total Retail, and it’s called “Promotions … Don’t Train Your Customers”. So promotional offers definitely increase the rate of response in marketing. There’s no doubt about that. But how can you balance offering promotions with keeping your customers from being conditioned to expect a promotion? And according to this article, the simple answer is that you don’t. I think even if you don’t offer promotions or discounts, you probably occasionally feel pressure to do so especially online, because you’re competing with so many businesses that do offer promotions and kind of train customers to expect promotions. But this strategy really needs to be heavily managed to avoid consumers from expecting discounts all the time. And if you currently offer discounts or you’re interested in exploring the possibility of doing so, one way to keep your customers from getting trained to expect discounts is to make each offer feel like, it’s really unique, like, it’s never gonna happen again. And also emphasize the limited-time nature of the promotion. So for example, some brands they’ll do their discount is like 20% off every few months or something, and it’s always the same discount, they don’t kind of change the promotion up. So customers might be trained to think I’ll just wait for the next 20% off. You can instead try to like keep them on their toes, by doing like free or flat shipping, a fixed dollar amount off their order, a different kind of fixed percentage off their order, a free gift, or a bundled promotion or something like that getting really creative with promotions so that the people who follow you, they never know what to expect. And they don’t know how long that promotion will last or they know it’ll last only a short time and not know when to expect the next promotion after that. If you’re going to do offers and discounts, they really need to feel meaningful, not just to the customer, but also for you. Have a true reason for doing it and make it clear what that is. So my main takeaway is, promotions don’t have to be scary or bad, even if you sell at higher price points. I think they can feel very special if you make them so, and they can be used to reward your best customers really showing that you care and want to serve them well. So if you offer promotions intentionally and with a strategy, and with them creativity, they can generate excitement, rather than lulling your customers into an expectation or into complacency.

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So what did you think? Did you have questions about Jewelry Marketing Jumpstart? 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’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