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.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 0:34
Welcome to Episode #266. Today, I want to dive into the process of sifting through your jewelry marketing ideas and zeroing in on those with the most potential to positively impact your business. In Episode #265, we explored the importance of consistency in marketing. Consistency isn’t just about being regular; it requires focused effort, dedication, and strong belief in your approach. It’s common to feel enthusiastic about a multitude of ideas, eager to try them all. However, it’s crucial to recognize that attempting everything isn’t practical or beneficial for your business. After you’ve brainstormed your marketing plans for 2024, I encourage you to revisit this episode repeatedly. It will guide you in carefully selecting and concentrating on a few well-chosen ideas, ensuring you execute them to the best of your ability. We’ll be looking at this topic through the lens of Hilary Finck Jewelry, who we’ve been spotlighting as a jewelry brand case study. For those joining our podcast series for the first time this season, I’d suggest starting with Episode #252. Doing so will introduce you to Hilary and allow you to follow this narrative from its inception. Before our conversation with Hilary, I’ll discuss how to evaluate the risks and potential benefits of various marketing ideas. I’ll provide a detailed, step-by-step method to sift through these ideas, helping you prioritize effectively. Additionally, we’ll look at how you can continually refine your strategy and maintain its brilliance using all the great ideas you have.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 2:29
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.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 2:51
Okay, let’s get into today’s episode, my Sparklers! This episode focuses on how to sift through your brilliant ideas and select the ones that will most positively impact your business. If you haven’t yet come up with ideas that excite you, it’s crucial to arrange a brainstorming session before year-end, ahead of the hectic business and personal schedules. Allocate as much time as possible for this session, either alone or with your team, to freely express all your ideas for the upcoming year. I recommend setting aside a generous amount of time, not just an hour or two, as brainstorming often needs some warm-up time to really get productive. It can be challenging to transition directly from other tasks into a brainstorming mode, as your mind needs space to switch gears into a creative, idea-generating state.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 3:57
So here are some tips for brainstorming that I really like in case you haven’t gotten to that step yet. And then you’ll be able to take all your great ideas and sift through them. So of course, make sure you’re choosing the right environment. So pick a setting that’s comfortable and inspiring, that won’t have any distractions or interruptions really encourage openness at this time. So you want to foster an atmosphere where all ideas are welcomed, and no judgment is passed. And if you’re a visual thinker, then this is a good time to use visual aids like maybe a whiteboard, or sticky notes or mind mapping tools, which can help you connect ideas and kind of see them in front of you. Include diverse perspectives too if you do have the luxury of brainstorming with a team. Ensure there’s a mix of roles and experiences and even different personality types to help enrich the idea pool. You also want to record everything, whether that’s having a note taker, or you’re taking notes, or even record yourself and or your team members speaking. And I really like using an AI tool like Otter to transcribe those recorded notes as well. And there are AI companions for Zoom meetings too, if you end up doing like a digital meeting for your brainstorming session, and focus here on quantity, rather than quality. So you want to aim for as many ideas as possible, don’t worry so much about whether or not they’re feasible, that quality and refinement part can come later on.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 5:45
So now that you’ve got your amazing brainstorm out of the way, let’s talk about filtering through your ideas. So first, you want to evaluate risks, and potential benefits of your ideas. So this is the stage where you’re gonna be making a lot of notes and doing a lot of reflection. But before you get to those actual notes, so you want to spend some time and the end of the year is a good time to do this. Think about the current trends in the jewelry industry. There are so many industry publications out there where you can go do this research, I would start to think about how have your customers been behaving this year? And how do you expect that to shift next year? What have your competitors been doing that is either frustrating you, inspiring you, challenging you?

Laryssa Wirstiuk 6:43
All of these insights really formed the foundation for your risk assessment. And then you can decide if you’re going to go against the grain, or you are you going to swim with the current? And definitely know your goals also for 2024. Because no idea in the world is going to be a good idea if you don’t know what you’re trying to achieve. Okay, so now for the note-taking part. So you have your big brainstorm. And then for each idea, I want you to think through factors like cost, time investment, required expertise, potential market reception, and then evaluate in your notes could be bullet points, just like the initial thoughts. How does each one of your brainstorm ideas align with or deviate with these things? What are your impressions? How does it go with established industry norms or customer expectations? Again, every potentially feasible idea should have some kind of impressions or thoughts about what you know, or what you can like predict about the future. Then you want to assess the possible outcomes of it each idea. So again, you’re not a fortune teller, you cannot see, you know, into the future, but I think you can make some educated guesses. So what would the outcome be? Would it lead to increased brand awareness? Would it lead to more customer engagement? Could it get you more sales, and then are those things in line with the goals that you’re trying to achieve? Whether they’re short term or long term for brand notes, brand growth, again, make notes. And if they are not in alignment, then they’re not right for you right now even if they sound cool and fun. I know it’s tempting to pursue ideas that sound really interesting. But you have to practice some restraint and hear and know what’s actually going to work for you. And if it’s a more edgy or out of the box idea, then weigh the risks against the potential benefits. So what could you stand to lose? On the other hand, if you were to be successful, what are the benefits you could potentially gain? And after you do this process, if there are some ideas that immediately, even if they’re kind of cool, they don’t sound feasible or doable right now, I don’t want you to throw them away completely, but add them to a list for future consideration and that way they won’t clog up your filtering process, or serve as just distractions, but in the future, they may help spark some more exploration. And don’t forget or lose about looseness. Don’t forget about or lose this document that you make with your future ideas.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 9:46
Okay, so now that you have notes, you have some potentially feasible ideas. I want to walk you through a step by step method to sift through your ideas so that you can prioritize effectively because as a business owner, you only have so many resources, so much time in the day, so much budget. First, make sure that list is organized. So during this time during the brainstorming session, during the vigorous note taking your idea generating process may have gotten a little bit messy. So you want to take everything and try to organize it try to make it coherent, so that you can kind of score and prioritize each idea without getting confused or overwhelmed. Now you want to establish a criteria that will help you rank your ideas. So this is going to be different for everyone. You need to decide on the criteria, that’s going to make something a good idea for your business. For example, for your business, the best ideas may be cost effective, relevant to your target audience, actually feasible to execute given maybe you have a small team or not a lot of extra time. And they’re aligned with your goals. So write out whatever criteria makes sense to you like what’s going to help you decide that something’s a good idea, write those things out on a piece of paper, like a score sheet, and place that somewhere where you can easily see it. So that you can cross check it as you assess your ideas, and then have a scoring system, it could be something like one to 10 of how well your idea meets each one of your criteria. And the best ideas that check the most boxes will maybe be a closer to a 10 or even a 10. The ones that are interesting, but don’t meet the criteria, there’ll be closer to a one. So I want you to spend time going through all your ideas and kind of scoring them based on how well they match your criteria. And at the end of this, I think anything above a six or seven is worth keeping on your list for more consideration. But again, don’t just throw out the other ideas, anything that’s below six, put them on your file away for the future list, then you gotta take all these best ideas that you have and prioritize them, because you’re not going to be able to execute on all of them all at the same time. So this is a fancy word. But usually you would go to use a prioritization matrix. I know it sounds like Keanu Reeves is going to be involved or something. But it basically just means like, you have a square in one corner of the square, you have high impact, high effort. In another you have high impact, low effort. And then low impact, low impact, you don’t even want to bother with those. So you just want to pay attention to the ideas on your list that are gonna have the highest impact or potentially highest impact, and then decide, is it going to be high effort? Or is it going to be low effort, and the ones that are high impact, low effort, those are your no brainer ideas that you’re going to want to start with. And then you can literally put blinders on and ignore all the others for now, don’t let yourself get distracted by them, because they’re just going to throw you off course. And then maybe your favorite high impact high effort ones are for later in the year or in a few months from now.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 13:51
But now that you kind of have wrapped your head around the ones that you like, you can make a plan for how you’re going to get to the high impact high effort ones rather than worrying about them, or putting them on a potential perpetual to do list that never gets done. So how can you continually refine your strategy and maintain its brilliance? Using all these great ideas that you have? Well, as you move forward throughout the year, you may even want to sprinkle in some lower priority ideas that are low effort. So again, don’t throw them out. Maybe they would be good for testing, but with a realistic expectation that they may not have a tremendous impact on your business. But we’ll let you almost have like experimental ground to do some new things. And then learn from both your successes and failures to make and make sure you keep a log so that when next year comes to an end, you can reflect on all your ideas and have a clearer brainstorm session for the day. Following here, and then try to figure out some ways to gain more customer feedback as you go and get more comfortable with asking customers for their insights and their impressions so that you have a system to test, like the impact of these things in real time and actually with real people with your real customers. So in our upcoming chat with Hillary, we’ll be talking with her about how she assesses her own ideas, before confidently confidently moving forward with a new one.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 15:35
Hey, Hilary, how’s it going today?

Hilary Finck 15:37
Hi, Laryssa. It’s good. How are you?

Laryssa Wirstiuk 15:39
I’m doing well. I’m excited to talk about how you come up with new ideas in your business and how you innovate without, like alienating your customers or confusing them really, which I know is something jewelry business owners can struggle with sometimes? Sure, let’s go. So when you’re thinking about a new product that’s maybe like a little bit different from what you currently offer, do you have a specific way that you approach the design and development process?

Hilary Finck 16:10
Yeah, so generally, new ideas just kind of rolling around in my head before I do anything. And then if it’s something that needs to be, that’s a little bit tricky, like, certain components are tricky, or there’s mechanisms or portions that need to be worked out, then I’ll sketch and, but a lot of times, I just kind of get right into the, into the metal. And if I’m confident in what it’s going to be, I’ll go ahead and goals. But if it’s something where I’m like, I’m not quite sure, you know, I’ll do it in silver first, especially if it’s a proportions kind of a thing. Or if it’s a mechanisms kind of a thing, or like a kinetics kind of thing, like some of the earrings that are in my hand hammered collection. They need to, you know, they need to lay the right way and move the right way. So, you know, you gotta, you gotta make sure you’re getting that right before you work in gold.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 17:09
Now, those silver pieces are, are they ever shown to clients? Or is that more like internally for you to understand how the product will work?

Hilary Finck 17:19
It depends if it’s earrings, maybe I just like one, you know, and then it’s not really a pair of earrings. And then those just kind of end up in little, little scrap dishes I have around my studio and end up with the refiner. Like I have little these little copper bowls that I’ve hammered out over the years. And you know, like when I’m thinking maybe a chain links like this would look good, you know, I just have lots of little doodads hanging out in my studio. But if it’s like, yeah, it’s fine. It looks nice. If I if I got it, right and silver, then sure. But I don’t I don’t fit it, you know, I’m not like finish it or put the finishing touches on on it necessarily.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 18:00
That makes sense. And then, besides maybe like, the mechanical or functional aspect of it, is there anything else that lets you know, okay, this is a go, I should move forward with it.

Hilary Finck 18:11
I just, if it feels good, I just go with it. And I have to say I’ve put out some pieces in the past where I’ve had to kind of redo them, little parts of them. You know, even after they’ve been on my website for like, a year, just because something’s still bothering me. I’m like, oh, that’s what I should have done. Like, it might not occur to me right away, that, you know, oh, that earring, hook should actually be like that instead of having to jump through through it, you know, like little connections and things like that. But I guess I’m just not too precious with all of that. And I probably should be a little bit more. But a lot of times I just I just kind of go for it.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 18:52
Yeah, I think that’s a good attitude to have. Because, you know, there’s the opposite of that of getting stuck in like perfectionism and then like not making anything, either. So I think I think it’s a good way to move forward.

Hilary Finck 19:05
Yeah, it’s fun. And I wish I had time to design lots of new pieces and come up with new designs, but I haven’t been doing that as much lately anyway, unfortunately.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 19:15
So what are some examples of ideas that did not make it to the customer? And then why did you decide to scrap them?

Hilary Finck 19:23
So a few weeks ago, I was working on this wooden bangle idea that’s been bouncing around in my head for a very long time. And I think I talked about this already but it’s I just don’t have the right tools. I mean, if someone would have had like a camera recording what I was doing what I was trying to do with this hunk of like very hard Acacia they would have just spent like it would have just been totally embarrassing like I definitely just not knocked out the right schools. So anyway, I still have it as a example of what not to do. But it’s not that I scrap the idea necessarily, it’s just that for now I’ve scrapped me making it. And maybe it’s me working with a woodworker. Or maybe it’s me actually just going to the store in Berkeley that someone recommended me getting the right tools. But it also took a lot of time, and I was like, Okay, I don’t have that much time to just mess around with this. Um, so that’s, that’s really the latest one. Like I said, I’ve, you know, I have like, lots of little scraps and things like that, and little dishes, like little chain parts and things like that. But so much of my work lately has been working with stones, and because I’m just in love with stones, and you know, the stones really dictate the design. So a lot of it has, I guess, it hasn’t been that experimental lately, or I can see it clearly enough in my head of what needs to be done that it doesn’t end up being scrapped.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 21:01
Yeah, that makes sense. I do know, though, every once in a while, you kind of throw something new at your customers. So tell me a little bit about those products?

Hilary Finck 21:11
Well, um, I mean, I guess a few years ago, when I came up with the captured orbs, that was pretty much a game changer. And that was just me seeing, you know, one of my stone dealers, you know, putting up these beautiful orbs on Instagram, and I was like, Oh, those are so cool. I want some of those. And then I sat around for a few days looking at them, and I was like, how am I gonna? What am I gonna do with this, you know, and then it came to me what to do with them. And I gave it a try. And it’s been a great success since then. So that was probably the best example of a new product that really kind of changed the trajectory of my business. I mean, I’m gonna be coming up with some cufflinks soon. I’m hoping I can put them out in a couple of weeks. So I’m really excited about that. That’s a totally new idea. Although I guess I shouldn’t say totally new I used to make cufflinks. Back in the day in the early 2000s. I used to make enamel cufflinks and I used to make wooden inlay cufflinks. Um, but these will be a little bit different, a little bit different mechanisms and designs. Yeah, I just I never know. Honestly, I don’t, I don’t really know what I’m going to make too far in advance. It guess it just mostly comes from like the stones that are in front of me, or how much time I have. I love working with challenging stones. So that’s kind of something I look for. Because that is that’s definitely where a lot of like creativity and challenge comes in.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 22:48
Do you mean stones like opals? Or do you mean like softer gems? Is that kind of what you’re talking about? Strange, like different shapes, or different shapes?

Hilary Finck 23:00
Yeah, things that might just be a little bit unconventional in the shape, or, you know, working with the faceted stones, I guess that’s another new thing that I’ve started to do that is really just been with custom work mostly. And I’d like to start integrating faceted stones more into my regular work. I plan to buy some more of those at Tucson this year, or with one of these, this really great gym dealer here in San Francisco downtown that I’ve been been looking at some of her gorgeous stones. So that’s, you know, that that changed things up a little bit too. And again, that’s just like, you know, looking at the stone and going okay, how, since I don’t do prong settings, and you know, things like that. I’m like, How do I do this? You know, it’s really just about like, the simple engineering with my capture design, you know, how to how to capture different types of stones?

Laryssa Wirstiuk 23:50
Yeah, one thing that was interesting, well, I think we all thought it was interesting, when you did a recent like opal orb release, I feel like it was maybe two months ago, and you introduce like a hoop with a charm on it. And I know that was a new thing for you. And we were all kind of surprised that your customers didn’t respond to it. So I’d love to know your perspective on like, your thoughts about what might resonate with people versus like actual responses you get and even on the flip side, maybe something surprises you and how people like respond positively to it.

Hilary Finck 24:29
Yeah, I am. I mean, I guess the thing that I never know what people are going to respond to, I mean, except for like, you know, people love opals, people love tourmaline things like that there. I feel like I’m surprised every time I put something out like oh, that that one sold. I wasn’t expecting that one to sell. Or right away, you know? Yeah, I guess it’s really just about like, if it sells, and people seem to want more. Great. I’ll make more if I count if I’m able to. But you know what those Opal, or poops, I really think it’s one of those things where people need to, they need to wear them. And so I am sending some of those to one of my galleries. Because once they’re in and I can’t remember if I got any pictures of them on a person, that’s my other thing. Like, it’s, I don’t always have time to get model images. But I just really feel like those are the kinds of things that once someone puts them on, they’re like, oh, wow, those are cool. And then they know that they can like take that term off, and maybe put another term on, and I keep having this idea to do just like an earring charms release. But for some reason, I just haven’t prioritized that. Yeah, you know, I don’t I don’t get too bummed out. If something doesn’t resonate with my, with my customers. If anything, it’s just, that’s just a good indication of what works and doesn’t, right. So it’s good information, if anything.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 25:53
And I really like what you said about how now. Okay, the next step is to send those to like one of your retailers or a gallery, because you know, are you think, Oh, this would be better if someone tried them on? So? Yeah, totally. It could be the presentation, it could just be like how people are seeing things. So there are so many factors involved when you’re like introducing something new. Yeah.

Hilary Finck 26:17
And opals are notoriously difficult to photograph. So you know, I don’t think I have the best photos of those hoops unfortunately, anyway.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 26:28
What have been some successful tactics, tactics you’ve used in the past to introduce new ideas or products, concepts to your customers?

Hilary Finck 26:37
Instagram, I mean, it’s basically all Instagram. That is, you know, the main way that I reach my current customers, new customers. So either it’s, you know, putting out new pieces in my feed, or in my stories, putting out the process pictures, as I’m making something new. And I’ve seen, you know, this has been an issue before to where I get really excited about making something new. And I’ll like, post all these process pictures, and then it doesn’t work. And then I’m like, or, you know, like, maybe I should post it on a process, or something that doesn’t work. Like the wooden bangle, I was like, Oh, I think I just had this like, I mean, now I’m like, there was just totally delusions of grandeur about how I showed all these videos that I was like, Oh, that’s it was pretty bad. So sometimes I’ll hold those back now until I know that piece works. And then I’ll put out the shots as I’m making them. So I just get really excited sometimes, but really, you know, it’s all through. To me, it’s just all through Instagram. And then of course, my weekly newsletters are great. But for introducing pieces, Instagram was really where it’s at.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 27:58
So one thing that I’m curious about is in jewelry in this industry, like trends are sometimes a motivator for customers, they can sometimes dictate what’s popular. Of course, not all brands are like trend driven, but I think you know, you still kind of have to pay attention to like what customers are gravitating toward. I’m curious if that the awareness of trend, even among your own customer base, does that ever impact like new ideas for new products you’ll be developing?

Hilary Finck 28:30
I would say I pay attention to what gemstones people are gravitating toward. And I feel like it really hasn’t changed much in the past few years. I mean, it’s still like opals, and pearls, I surprised the pearls are still popular. Um, you know, it’s all pay attention to that, because I think that’s actually really important. But generally I try to not follow trends in terms of designs that other jewelry designers are doing. I think that’s pretty problematic. I don’t want to copy other people’s designs, and I know that we’re all influenced by each other because we can’t help but see. I mean, there’s certain jewelry designers where I just don’t want to follow them. I don’t want to see what they’re making because I love their pieces so much and I’m like okay, I can’t know. You know? So I really tried to not follow actual like design trends. Something that does inspire me though, and I know a lot of jewelry designers feel this way but like when I went and saw the tips, it was like an Egyptian pharaoh exhibit at a gallery or a museum here nearby and the jewelry that was in that show. Now that was inspiring. You know, I mean like that. I feel like that is okay to take little pieces From and, you know, to inspire my own design. So it’s stuff like that, that will inspire me a lot.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 30:08
When you do put new stuff out. Do you have a way of like, gathering feedback from customers that that play a role? Or do you just kind of get like a vibe from from what’s happening?

Hilary Finck 30:20
I guess it’s more like, you know, if it sells, then ya know, also on Instagram, how it’s received, then I know that okay, well that worked. And I should make more of those like these little like the orbs clearly. And then, you know, the in hydro rain, some putting out, you know, a bunch of in hydro pieces in December. And then, just lately that like little terminalling trio charm, has gone totally bonkers on Instagram, and I’m like, Oh, my gosh, I mean, I’ve made those. I made those over a year ago. For some reason. It’s this green one, right. It’s like, sometimes it’s just the colors that people really go crazy about. So I’m definitely going to be making more of those. And a while ago, I had stone cutter cut me a bunch of little ovals to make more and and just like lots of different colors. So I need to get busy on making some more of those as well. But yeah, I really think it’s just how things are received on social and through sales. Definitely.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 31:25
Well, thanks, Hilary. It was really fun to learn more about your creative process for new ideas, and I hope it resonates with listeners.

Hilary Finck 31:34
Absolutely. Thank you. This was fun.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 31:36
What did you think about the interview? Are you excited to follow Hilary on this journey? I highly encourage you to check out Hilary’s website hilaryfinck.com and follow her on Instagram @hilaryfinckjewelry. Link in the show notes as well. Let me know in a podcast review or YouTube comment what you think about this new journey. Okay, let’s get into THE GOLD MINE.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 31:59
This is a segment of the podcast where I get personal and share insights on entrepreneurship, mindset, success, growth, all things business. I’m excited to delve into a fascinating topic that marketers often discuss: the need to stand out in a crowded market. I recently came across an intriguing piece online that sheds light on this issue, and I’d like to explore it further with you. You might recall me talking about “The Marketoonist” in previous episodes. Tom Fishbourne, the brain behind this, is a marketing guru who conveys his insights on current marketing trends through witty cartoons. I’ll include a link in the show notes for those interested. In his latest work, Tom humorously criticizes business owners and marketers who overlook their mundane messaging, mistakenly believing that pouring more resources into marketing is the solution, rather than revitalizing their lackluster content. This often leads to misdirected questions about our marketing strategies, where the emphasis is wrongly placed on increasing investment, rather than addressing the core issue. I was particularly struck by Tom’s interaction with Adam Morgan, a marketing researcher. Morgan is currently working on quantifying the “cost of being dull” – essentially, how much businesses lose by being uninteresting. This is a vital insight for those of us who value concrete data. Morgan and his colleague discovered that dullness in marketing is costly because it demands much more effort and money to make an uninteresting message stick, compared to a compelling one. But there’s a silver lining for small business owners. Those with limited budgets might actually be at an advantage. Research suggests that campaigns with bigger budgets are often less creative than those with fewer resources. This presents a unique opportunity for smaller brands to outperform their size, provided they can overcome the temptation to play it safe. So, for those with limited marketing budgets, don’t lose hope. Throwing more money at the problem isn’t always the solution, especially since research indicates that larger companies often spend more on uninspiring marketing messages, thinking it will solve their problems. The real key lies in enhancing the creativity and innovation of your message. Echoing the words of Kevin Lynch, founder and former creative director of Oatly, “Your biggest competition isn’t other brands in the category; it’s indifference.” In competitive markets like jewelry, it’s not just about outshining other brands, but also capturing the attention of your easily distracted audience. What did you think? Let me know in an Instagram DM, podcast review or YouTube comment.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 36:32
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