Today, JCK published an editorial titled “3 Predictions for the Jewelry Business in 2019 and Beyond“. At the 2018 GIA Symposium, Scott Galloway – marketing professor and founder of market research platform Gartner L2 – shared his thoughts about the future of jewelry.

He predicts that in 2019, 1) lab-grown diamonds will potentially disrupt the industry, 2) the jewelry market will begin to see a consolidation of independents, and 3) brands will need to promote a culture of experimentation and innovation in order to stay relevant.

In this blog post, I’ll be focusing on the final prediction and how digital marketing can support this need.

Too many legacy jewelry brands are sitting on their thrones complaining that brick-and-mortar retail is dead and that consumer shopping habits have changed. They blame everything except their lack of experimentation and innovation for declining sales.

The truth is that brick-and-mortar is actually doing better than many critics expected, and consumer interest in jewelry is high.

For example, even though global sales of real and costume jewelry are rising, “Recent years have proven difficult for Tiffany,” according to AdAge. Once the gold standard for jewelry gifting, legacy brand Tiffany has not pursued the experimentation and innovation necessary to keep up with the tastes and preferences of younger generations.

While young brands do have an advantage, since they can approach sales and marketing with a fresh eye, every brand can benefit from creating and executing a digital marketing strategy that emphasizes and communicates their commitment to pursuing innovation, satisfying customer wants and needs, and anticipating new trends.

To stay relevant, before sure to include these elements in your digital marketing for 2019:

1. Invite customers to peek behind the scenes. If your research and development truly revolves around innovation, then your customers will see and appreciate that. Through video, Instagram Stories, blog posts, social media posts, and other forms of content marketing, show your customers your creative process.
2. Regularly ask your customers to provide suggestions and feedback. Incorporate surveys into your email marketing campaigns, do Instagram Story polls, and even consider forming a VIP focus group of some of your most enthusiastic customers. Offer special discounts or other perks in regard to the input.
3. Consider creating limited-edition “experimental” designs to see how they perform and then build marketing campaigns around these news designs. Push the boundaries of what you already design and produce and try something completely “out-of-the-box”. Customers will return to your website again and again to learn about the “next big thing” you’ve made.

How are you preparing your digital marketing for 2019?