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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 #243. In this episode, we’re diving deep into the world of content distribution. Have you ever wondered what exactly distribution means and why it’s crucial for your content? We’re about to uncover the secrets that will take your brand to the next level. Throughout this year, we’ve been working hard to equip you with the tools for success. In my recent episodes, I’ve shared invaluable tips on creating impactful content for your jewelry brand. We’ve explored how content can boost your brand’s visibility, generate better search engine results, and attract your ideal customers. But here’s the thing: creating content is just the beginning. To truly harness its power, you need to make it work for you. Crafting a piece of content requires effort and creativity, so it’s essential to maximize its potential. And that’s where the magic happens. By effectively distributing your content across various channels like email marketing and social media, you can unlock its true marketing potential. So, get ready to learn how to supercharge your marketing efforts through content distribution. I’ll be covering: What is content distribution? What are my favorite methods of content distribution that are accessible for most jewelry business owners? How can you amplify your jewelry marketing content to really get the most from it? 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. You can access all the previous worksheets. There are like 17 right now from the beginning of the year. With so much content, bonus resources, private video walkthroughs there’s so much there, I highly recommend you stop waiting and sign up right now at joyjoya.com/jump.

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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 distribution and how it will supercharge your marketing. Say goodbye to the days when you weren’t sure what to say in email campaigns or what to include in yet another social media post. Say hello to consistency, creativity, richness, and a wealth of marketing assets. 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, what is content distribution, because that’s what we’re talking about today. Well, think of it as the ultimate way to promote and share your amazing content with your audience. It’s like grabbing a megaphone and shouting your captivating stories from the rooftops, making sure your intended audience actually sees and pays attention to them. You’re in the ring, fighting for attention in the crowded marketplace, so you’ve got to believe in the value your content brings and know that the right people will be absolutely thrilled to experience it. You know, it’s a bit like that age-old philosophical question: “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” If you’re going to move forward with content, then you need to make sure it actually gets noticed and seen, making an impact. Even if you’re diligently rocking your content marketing game and scoring some solid traffic through Google search, but your existing fans and customers aren’t getting their hands on those juicy stories and valuable bits of information, what’s the point? It’s all about making sure your content reaches the right ears and makes a real impact – on all fronts. Here’s another beautiful thing about content distribution—it brings some much-needed structure to your digital marketing efforts. We’ve all been there, struggling to come up with fresh ideas for our emails or social media posts, especially when your emails and posts are only focused on sales and asking your target customers to do something for you (buy this, attend that event, use this code, you know the drill). It can start feeling a bit selfish and one-dimensional. That’s where your content comes to the rescue, my friends. It’s a golden opportunity to give more, provide value, and give you so much more to talk about.

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Okay, so what are my favorite methods of content distribution that I think are really accessible for most jewelry business owners? Let us start with email marketing. Truly one of my favorites lately. I love email marketing, but Nothing grinds my gears more than getting an email from a jewelry brand I’m subscribed to like once every few months because they have a new product or collection to promote, or they want you to come to an event. It’s like a “friend” who only reaches out to you when they need a favor, and you happen to have something they need. Please don’t be that jewelry brand. You’re not annoying subscribers by emailing them regularly. Think of it more as providing a service and being a good friend. Marketing is all about building and maintaining good relationships, and only emailing your subscribers when you want them to buy every once in a while is frankly very rude. Don’t know what to say in your emails? Distribute your content. Let them know you have a new blog post that may be of interest to them and give them just a teaser in their email. Do you have a quiz? Any interesting new product stories? Behind the scenes info? Whatever it is, use your content calendar and look for reasons to tell your story. Remember: the email itself is not the content but should be a teaser for content that lives on your website where you want them to go. So don’t give them the whole shebang in your email, they’re only going to skim and glance at it anyway, just tease them with the email, include a button with a call to action, and encourage them to take the next step to make that microcommitment with your brand.

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So my next favorite mode of content distribution is social media marketing. The same things I just said for email apply to social, except you’re probably posting on social media more regularly than sending emails, so there’s just more pressure overall to come up with interesting content that just doesn’t feel the same all the time. People come to social media to be entertained and delighted and not to be sold at all the time. Sure it’s important to incorporate more sales focused posts into your feed, but you want to balance those with value driven, relationship building content. Put links to blog posts and styling guides and gift guides in your IG stories, put the link in bio. If you utilize Facebook, make sure you’re posting those links in captions and not just auto sharing instagram posts. For Pinterest you can get super creative and come up with multiple pins just for one piece of content. For example, let’s say you’re doing a graduation gift guide. Put a number of different products that you feature in different pins and have them all linking back to the gift guide. If you’re making longer videos for your content, you can cut those down into clips that you reshare as Reels or on TikTok.

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So email and social media are definitely my two favorite forms of content distribution. But here are a few others. So one: in person events, you could potentially say you’re doing a trunk show or a pop up or whatever kind of show that you do for your brand. You can have printed versions of your content, maybe little booklets, if you don’t like print, or you don’t want to invest in print, you can have QR codes on on your table or on your display that encourage people to go directly to those content assets online.

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Another form of content distribution would be wholesale partners. So if you do have partners, and sell your jewelry through wholesale, you could share with those partners your content assets, especially if you have great relationships with them, or even if you want to build better relationships with them. And you have educational, inspirational styling tips type of content, sharing that with your retail partners. They could potentially give those things to their salespeople to help them in the store, talk about your products with customers and really just build better relationships overall, you know, help them help you.

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Another form of content distribution would be collabs, and partnerships. So if you work with influencers, they can also share your content to their audience. If you have brand partners, you can work together, perhaps on a collaborative piece of content that you both share to your respective audiences. And finally, PR. So if you do happen to already engage in PR, and you have a strategy for that, or even if you’re doing some like DIY, local PR with local publications, you can share your content as story worthy opportunities for publication. So in lieu of like a more traditional press release, if there’s something that feels really story worthy or newsworthy, and you’ve already created a piece of content around that, you could potentially share that with publications. And maybe they’ll be interested in it and want to expand on it or include that in their own in their own content calendars.

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So now that you know about a lot of different ways to distribute your content, how can you really amplify your content to ensure that you’re getting the most from it? First and foremost, be super consistent and build the distribution into your content calendar. Maybe choose one day every week that’s just about distributing your content rather than promoting products and being more sales-oriented. Don’t forget your evergreen content. A big missed opportunity is only looking for opportunities to distribute your newest content. Remember that you probably have old content like last year’s grad gift guide that can be updated and repurposed for the current year. The more committed you become to content marketing, the more you’ll have in your evergreen library that you can pull from in the future, thus enriching your marketing. Engage with User-Generated Content (UGC): Encourage your audience to create and share similar content. Repost and highlight UGC on your social media platforms, website, or in your newsletters, giving credit to the creators. This builds social proof and fosters a sense of community around your brand. Explore Niche Communities: Identify and participate in online communities, forums, or groups specific to jewelry enthusiasts or niche markets related to your products. Build relationships, establish yourself as an expert, and share your content strategically within these communities. Monitor and Optimize Performance: Continuously analyze the performance of your content distribution efforts. Track metrics like engagement, website traffic, conversions, and social media insights. Use this data to refine your strategies, focus on high-performing channels, and iterate your content to better align with your audience’s preferences. That’s it about content distribution for now. Much more to come in future episodes. We’re gonna like, start to really focus in on these content distribution methods like email marketing, like social media marketing, and get super specific. So go to joyjoya.com/jump to get the PDF worksheet for this episode, to get all the previous ones and to make sure you don’t miss anything in this series. 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 the principles that I talk about in this podcast.

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Alright, so these are my thoughts about how I’d apply everything I talk about to a jewelry brand in the wild. And just as a disclaimer, this brand is not my client, so I don’t have any insider information, just sharing my observations and really my admiration. Today’s case study is Polly Wales, a fine jewelry brand known for its cast-not-set pieces. They say they “defy the status quo without restraint”. This one will be pretty short and sweet. It’s about a recent email campaign they sent with the subject line “NYC, check. Where should we visit next?” They are sending an email to ask their subscribers where they should visit next. “THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS also JOYOUSLY EMBRACES REBELLION. Nothing quite like a weekend visiting far-away friends.” The button says “TELL US WHERE TO TRAVEL” and when you click it opens up a Google Form “We want to hear from you: where should we haul our molten-gold, gem-encrusted goodies next?” The subscriber is able to be as specific as they like, suggesting a place to visit. Getting your email subscribers involved in choosing the location for your next trunk show or pop-up shop is a smart move for your jewelry brand. It shows them that their opinions matter and creates a sense of community. Plus, asking for their input helps ensure that you’re catering to their preferences and interests. When you engage your subscribers this way, you’re more likely to attract an enthusiastic audience that’s interested in what you have to offer. So, don’t hesitate to ask your subscribers where they think you should set up shop. Their input could be the key to a successful event and the start of meaningful customer relationships. 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 following this podcast, you know that I launched THE GOLD MINE in August as a secondary episode every week. Moving forward, I’ll be doing THE GOLD MINE as a segment in my weekly Sunday podcast. Today’s Gold Mine is dedicated to those of you who sometimes feel discouraged or question if your jewelry business journey will lead to success. I’ve had countless conversations with jewelry entrepreneurs who share these doubts, especially when their designs are deeply intertwined with their creativity. Questions like, “Is there a market for my jewelry?” or “Do I have a place in this competitive industry?” are common among business owners, no matter what they’re selling. [DISCOURAGEMENT AND UPS AND DOWNS] Running a business is never a smooth ride. You’ll experience moments of excitement when everything falls into place, and you feel on top of the world. But there will also be slower times when it feels like nothing is happening, whether it’s a dry spell, unresponsive retailers, or a decline in social media engagement. These periods can be disheartening, and you may even consider giving up or scaling back your business temporarily. [MY PERSONAL STRUGGLE] During the early years of my own business, I often let external factors dictate my emotional state. If things were going well, I was happy, but if they slowed down, I doubted my business’s potential for success. It was as if I allowed the unpredictable tides of circumstances to control my mood, like a boat tossed around at the mercy of the ocean. [THE SHIFT IN PERSPECTIVE] Over time, I’ve come to realize that I can’t let external factors have such a profound impact on my inner resolve. Recently, while listening to a podcast (I wish I could remember which one), a guest shared a powerful insight (and I’m paraphrasing in my own words): “No matter what’s happening around me, I’ll never give up on my business, and I’ll never give up on myself. Having that unshakable belief renders everything else irrelevant.” [INNER STRENGTH AND CONTROL] When I heard those words, a wave of peace washed over me. I realized that I would never give up on myself, and that knowledge became a source of strength. It doesn’t matter what storms come my way; I will persevere. It has become a regular affirmation that empowers me, especially when external circumstances beyond my control feel overwhelming. I remind myself that I can control my actions and behavior, and that I have the resilience to overcome any challenge. [STARTING TO BELIEVE IN YOURSELF] If you’re not yet at a place where you fully believe in yourself, there are ways to start showing yourself that you have your own back. Begin by following through on promises you make to yourself. For example, if you set Mondays aside for marketing, stick to that commitment consistently for several months. As you build these habits and follow through on your own promises, your confidence will grow. You’ll realize that you’re the one in control and that nothing can shake your unwavering commitment and determination to succeed. [CONCLUSION] Remember, no matter what happens externally, you have the power to maintain your inner resolve. Believe in yourself, trust in your abilities, and demonstrate your commitment through consistent actions. The storms may rage, but you will weather them with unwavering determination. Keep pushing forward, and success will be within your reach. What do you think about that? Does it resonate with you? 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. This first one comes directly from the Amazon website, and it’s about a new feature program they’re launching called Amazon Inspire. The online shopping experience is about to get even more personalized, and Amazon is leading the way The recently-launched Amazon Inspire is an in-app shopping feed that is personalized with shoppable photos and videos. It has kind of a TikTok-like format and using it is much like using TikTok. To start using it, simply download the Amazon Shopping app. To access Inspire, first log in to your Amazon account, and then select the “light bulb” icon located on the bottom navigation bar. Next, you will be asked to choose from a list of over 20 interests, such as makeup, skin care, pets, gaming, plants, hiking, interior design, travel, running, and more. This step is important to personalize your Inspire feed. Customers can shop as they scroll and products featured in photos and videos are tagged on the screen. To learn more about a product, access reviews, and add it to the cart, customers can tap on the product. Inspire is available to all customers in the U.S. through the Amazon Shopping app. Customers, Amazon Influencers, and Brands can submit product reviews and post photos and videos to appear in Inspire. The content on Inspire is personalized based on the customer’s preferences and likes. MAIN TAKEAWAY: Who knows if people will be into this. Most people go on TikTok to be entertained and then finding new products is kind of an accidental by-product of that. Will people go on Inspire expressly to learn about new products? Maybe. But it’s interesting to see the ways that Amazon is innovating the customer experience and delivering content that’s aligned with the self-reported interests.

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The next article comes from a Cosmopolitan, and it’s called “1-800-Flowers.com Just Launched an AI-Powered Program That Makes One-of-a-Kind Poems and Songs”. Totally not related to jewelry at all, but I thought this example was just such a fun intersection of content and AI and also customer experience, which we’ve spent so much time talking about today Right before Mother’s Day, the flower delivery service 1-800-Flowers.com launched an AI-powered experience called 1-800-Flowers.com MomVerse that creates original poems and songs for moms – but they’ll be repurposing it for other holidays and other recipients. MomVerse is a ChatGPT-powered “composer” that users can access exclusively on the site. If you struggle with writing a note to accompany your flower arrangement, this can help you – and in a fun way. It’s a really playful way to elevate the customer experience through content because I know a lot of people dread thinking what to write for that little flower bouquet note. To create a unique poem, users can choose a format, identify the person for whom it’s intended, and list three things that person likes. After the poem is made, users can save the image, share it on social media, or email it directly from the website. The service is free and can be used for anyone for any occasion. MAIN TAKEAWAY: So fun! Makes the process of sending flowers a little less boring and intimidating, establishes 1800 flowers as a brand that wants you to have fun with gifting – because gifting should be fun!

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And then the last article comes from Marketing Dive, and it’s called “Google starts testing generative AI in search, ads included”. Search is going to change very soon with AI! Google is testing generative AI in search, which will bring significant changes to user experience, e-commerce features, and advertising. The AI-powered search aims to answer user queries in detail and provide follow-up suggestions and links while maintaining context. Google is striving to catch up with competitors that have already adopted generative AI in search. The implementation of generative AI in search is part of Google’s Search Labs program, with a waitlist for users interested in testing and providing feedback. The initial rollout will be in the U.S. and in English only. AI-powered e-commerce is an area where Google sees potential advantages, utilizing the Google Shopping Graph to offer personalized recommendations. Google will share more on advertising in AI-powered search at its Marketing Live event on May 23. MAIN TAKEAWAY: I don’t really have an action item for you at this time, I’m just looking to see what Google does with generative AI in search, which will likely make the search experience more personalized and provide opportunities for ecommerce brands looking to reach their target audience.

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Well, that’s it for this episode today. Did you have any questions about jewelry marketing Jumpstart? Again, if you want to sign up, that’s joyjoya.com/jump. If you want to chat with me, you can always send me an email. 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