Laryssa Wirstiuk 00:08

Welcome to the Joy Joya Podcast where jewelry is joy and everyone is encouraged to add more polish and sparkle to the world with topics ranging from marketing tips to business development, best practices and beyond. This is the go-to podcast for ambitious jewelry industry dreamers like you. Hi, I’m your host Laryssa Wirstiuk. Through this podcast, I aim to empower and inspire jewelry entrepreneurs and professionals so they can thrive while adding more beauty to the world. I’m passionate about digital marketing for jewelry brands, and I’m excited to share my passion with you. As we all know jewelry is joy, so I’ll gladly seize any opportunity to talk about it. This is episode 165 and today I’m going to be sharing my interview with Liz Kantner. It will be the second time Liz will be joining me on this podcast. She was previously on episode 92 If you want to go back and check that one out first. Today we’re also going to be sharing a very exciting announcement about a collaboration that Liz and I will be doing. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Liz, but I’m sure many of you are, she’s passionate about working with independent jewelry artists to help them to find their voices and thrive in the modern marketplace. After making her mark as marketing manager for Todd Reed. Liz left to found her own company Stay Gold and also curated brands for JA New York’s new designer gallery. Liz now works exclusively for Stay Gold where she dedicates herself to a select roster of fine jewelry clients, nurturing them to success through digital marketing, trade show strategy, sales driving techniques and branding. In this episode, Liz shares her top five areas of focus for jewelry marketing in 2022. As I just mentioned, we’ll also be sharing a very special announcement, so make sure you listen through to the end.

But before we get to the solid gold of this episode, I’d like to take a moment to remind you that I love creating this content as my act of service to you my awesome listeners and you can support the podcast for free by taking the time not only to subscribe, but also to leave a rating or review on iTunes which helps other jewelry dreamers find it too. In this segment of the podcast, I give out my sparkle award for the week. During this segment I highlight a jewelry brand that is impressing me with their marketing. The Sparkle Award is also interactive so you can visit sparkleaward.com to nominate a jewelry brand that’s inspiring you these days, I might feature your submission on a future podcast episode. This week I’m highlighting the direct-to-consumer brand Studs, which coined the term ear escaping and is taking a fresh approach to ear piercing and earring curation. I first learned about this brand when they were interviewed on The Glossy podcast in early February. But I just recently encountered the brand again when they were featured in retail brew in an email newsletter that I get about the retail world. The brand isn’t just about pretty air escapes and on trend earring styles. Instead, they have a core value that permeates much more deeply than that. They’re about self-expression. Imagine that as a core value. All jewelry brands should be thinking what is the value, the mission that transcends the actual product that they are making. I think Studs has really nailed that. In a recent YouTube campaign. They invited five YouTubers to share their piercing journeys in a really personal way. Studs co-founder Lisa Bubbers, explained to retail brew that their customers often get piercings based on a personal milestone like a birthday or promotion or even a breakup, the resulting Earscape becomes a true expression of who they are and how they want to present themselves to the world. I love that the Studs brand is using YouTube as a channel to tell these really personal stories. Since this sentiment can be difficult to capture in a short Instagram reel, or other short form video content. It also resonates perfectly with what I discussed in last week’s episode number 164. All about using YouTube as part of your jewelry marketing strategy. As I mentioned, you can visit sparkleaward.com to nominate a jewelry brand that’s inspiring you these days and I might feature your submission on a future podcast episode, let’s discuss some recent news related to jewelry or marketing. Each week I share my thoughts about three relevant articles and you can get those links by visiting joyjoya.com/sign up. Once you’re on the VIP list, you’ll receive our weekly digest filled with new episode announcements.

The first article comes from marketing dive, and it’s about 66% of brands spent more on creator marketing in the past year. So, the publication marketing dive recently reported on the increasing number of brands that are investing in creator marketing. According to one expert quoted in the article, “over the past two years, the creator economy has blossomed into a full-fledged social media force that has changed marketing and business strategies around the globe” if you haven’t heard the term creator marketing, it’s basically influencer marketing but it’s really influencers who aren’t just out there posing pretty pictures of themselves, but really taking the time, effort and the energy to create engaging content and partnering with brands to help those brands with their content marketing strategies. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are all releasing new features quickly to keep up for this demand in brand creator partnerships. As I mentioned, 66% report spending more on this area in the past year compared with previous years, and 52% noted that their Creator marketing teams have expanded to support this growing trend. Remember, this can be done on a small scale with micro influencers who are also creators, but then it can also work for big corporate brands. So, don’t discount or ignore the potential of creator marketing even if you are a small, or a solopreneur jewelry brand.

I really loved this article from The New Yorker. The title is, everyone can be Liz Taylor on jewelry, Instagram. Well, first of all, the title just caught my eye. I love that this author who is not in the jewelry industry called it jewelry, Instagram, because this really is the thing and anyone in the industry knows that. So, the writer who as I mentioned is outside of the industry, found themselves caught up in a rabbit hole of browsing jewelry on Instagram and then this described the experience of doing that in this article. It was so cool to hear their perspective of an outsider, the author affirms that Instagram is just so perfectly suited for the product, unlike let’s say home interiors, for instance, which is difficult to portray on Instagram because there are so many details in a room or a space that are hard to capture in like a single photo or even a carousel or a reel. So, the author writes, “While scrolling through interiors on Instagram can be frustrating either the picture is too zoomed out to see all the details or too zoomed in for it to be more than an attractive still life, jewelry is perfectly sized for that phone screen square. You can see the facets, the prongs, the looping monograms and the depth of color. In stories, you can see the gems sparkle under the light.” It’s just a really cool article and I highly encourage you to Google it or sign up for the Joy Joya VIP list to get the link. A lot of jewelry brands that utilize Instagram to run their business. Basically, we’re also mentioned including Lauren Nicole and Marla Erin, I’m gushing over this article, I thought it was so smart and fun.

Then our last article comes from Morning Brew. With its atmosphere cleaning mission lab grown diamond startup Aether lands $18 million in funding. So, what makes Aether different from other lab grown diamond companies. They are manufacturing lab grown diamonds from carbon that’s been removed from the atmosphere. The article says, “The company positions itself as an alternative to the other alternatives.” So other lab grown diamond companies, whatever you think about lab grown versus natural, that’s not the point here. What I really love about what they’re doing is that for me as a marketer, this is a case study in market positioning. There are so many new players looking to enter the lab grown diamond game because it is hot right now and that is undeniable. But entering a red ocean that’s already full of sharks is just going to lead you to competing on price. If you can create your own market and bring something completely new to the table, then you might niche yourself down to a specific customer. But you’ll also have so much more clarity in your messaging and be able to offer true value that you can charge a premium for that value and potentially be more successful. I really look forward to seeing what Aether there has in store for the future. As I mentioned, if you want to get the links to the articles I shared in this segment of the podcast, you can become a Joy Joya VIP by visiting joyjoya.com/signup without further delay let’s chat with Liz. Hey, Liz, thanks so much for coming back on the podcast with me today. You were previously a guest on episode 92 in August 2020. I can’t believe it was that long ago now. 

Liz Kantner 10:54

It’s like a lifetime ago.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 10:55

Yeah, seriously. But now you’re back and with exciting news to announce we’re going to be collaborating on a new project. Many listeners and viewers of this podcast will benefit from it. So, I’m so excited to be talking about this with you today.

Liz Kantner 11:12

I’m so excited one, to be back and two, to be collaborating with you. Because I think we should have done this sooner. I don’t know why we waited so long. 

Laryssa Wirstiuk 11:19

I know. I don’t know why we waited so long. 

Liz Kantner 11:21

But it’s exciting and we’re really excited to share it with you. 

Laryssa Wirstiuk 11:24

Yeah, but before we’re going to create some suspense, we’re not going to reveal all the details right away and we’re actually going to offer something of value in this podcast episode. So, it’s not just a sales pitch for our project. So, you are if people are not familiar with you, a marketing and branding expert for independent jewelry brands, is that correct?

Liz Kantner 11:48

Yes. So, I’ve been in the jewelry industry for almost 15 years now. My first role was with Todd Reed, who is a well-known jewelry designer out of Boulder, Colorado. For him, I did almost everything, I started his Instagram page from scratch and I got to see so many aspects of the business and it was like a huge learning experience for me and I fell in love with the industry. From there, I was able to curate the new designer gallery with Jane York, which was amazing as well, I’m so passionate about supporting independent jewelry designers. But before I was in the jewelry industry, I actually worked in digital marketing for an agency in Philadelphia. So, that’s really where all of my experience comes from. Since discovering the jewelry industry, I focused on working with jewelry designers, and I’ve had so much great experience and I know you have to, which is why it’s so exciting that we’re going to be working together. But yeah, so I guess I would be calling myself a marketing expert, and branding expert.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 12:48

Amazing. Well, I know listeners and viewers are happy to have your knowledge and wisdom today. Since you are so like boots on the ground with these designers, you see what’s happening with the trends with the changes, with social media and all the shifts in digital marketing today. I’d love to hear from your perspective. What are the priorities and marketing that, brands should be focusing on this year? Do you have a list of things?

Liz Kantner 13:19

Yeah, so I think it’s really interesting, because I’ve been talking about this for a long time and now other marketers are talking about it too. But rather than trying to go wide and talking to a huge audience, you really want to niche down and go deep with people who are already fans of your brand or interested in your work. So, it’s kind of like the idea of don’t necessarily worry about growing your following, worry about talking to the following you already have. So, I think that’s going to be huge in 2022. Then I have five things that in my opinion should be what you should be focusing on this year. The first is branding and I think we all recognize that brands are what we’re drawn to when we’re thinking about making a purchase. So, brands are going to survive and this is again, something I’ve been saying for a long time. But I think it’s become even clearer as more and more brands have taken to Instagram or in the marketplace are visible to consumers. I think it’s so important to know who you are and be really clear about what your brand is about. So, I think that’s huge. Then also with that being consistent across all platforms. So, knowing your brand, and then making sure that in your email marketing, on your website, in your Instagram if you’re doing in person events, all of its aligning and making sense and coming from the same voice and the same vision. So, that would be the number one thing.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 14:40

So, one thing I find especially since you work with a lot of independent brands, they’re typically one person show or like a small team and a lot of their brand is driven by the designer and their vision. I find those people have some of the hardest time with the brand story because it’s difficult to separate the person from the brand, do you have any tips to create a unique brand story?

Liz Kantner 15:09

Yeah, I think it’s so important to start from that personal place of what really makes you take. But then think about how you want to put it out into the world. It’s so important to come from that personal space. But to your point, make sure that it’s marketable, and consumable, and all of those things. So, I think one of the best pieces of advice is getting a focus group together of your friends and seeing what they perceive your brand to be, and pulling things out from there. Then there’s some exercises that we’re actually going to talk about, in what we’re going to be collaborating on, and where we’ll do a deeper dive on this, actually. But one quick thing you can do is think about five brand keywords, I think that’s a good place to start and understanding what your brand is externally how people are perceiving it. Again, run that by your focus group, your friends and family.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 16:01

Yeah, another common feedback that I get, especially since social media is obviously such an important facet of digital marketing today, these solopreneurs, whose brands are focused around their identity, I can’t even tell you how many times they say to me Laryssa, I’m really shy. I don’t want to do like what so and so brand is doing because I don’t want to reveal like my personal life or get on camera or be on video, what would be your feedback for someone like that. 

Liz Kantner 16:34

So, think about how you do feel comfortable. So, I would love people to get their voice in it if they don’t feel comfortable showing their face. Maybe it’s a voiceover as you walk people through your process or share your collection. But getting really clear and creating boundaries around what your brand does share and what they don’t. So, perhaps you share your dogs, but you don’t share your kids, in your brand storytelling and just get clear on that and then it’s never a question for you again. So, it’s not like, oh, wow, I took this great picture of my kid. Well, you decided already, that’s not going to be part of your brand or what you’re talking about. So, you don’t use that. So, I think creating those kinds of rules and guidelines for what you’re putting out there is really important.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 17:13

Yeah, like brand boundaries or something.

Liz Kantner 17:15

Brand boundaries. I love that.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 17:17

That’s a good tip. So, what’s your number two.

Liz Kantner 17:21

So longer form content, which is something I think we’ve been talking about over the past couple of years, like writing longer Instagram captions, telling more of a story when you’re writing, which I know is tough for designers and my biggest piece of advice there is to voice record, you know, talk and voice record and then transcribe it because sometimes we’ll talk and get uncomfortable when they have the blank page to write. So, I’d really encourage you to do that. But once you put that effort into writing that long form, blog, email, or Instagram caption, you can use it in all of those places. So, it’s not like you’re writing it, and then it’s gone. You can reuse it and cut it apart and make sure that your effort is actually, you’re using it long term and repeatedly. So, long form because it helps with SEO is one thing for your website, which we’re going to deep dive into that too. But also, people just want to hear more from you. They want to hear more about your process, what’s inspiring your design, what’s in your world, what you’re thinking about, and that’s really going to help them make the decision to purchase because they’re going to be emotionally invested in you and your brand and your designs.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 18:31

Can you recommend any tools for, you we’re talking about transcribing? Are there any that you like to use?

Liz Kantner 18:37

Actually, I don’t have any.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 18:39

Okay, there’s one I like to use. So, because of my podcast I have had to find ways to pull content out just to make my life easier so I’ve tried a lot of different ones and my favorite is otter.ai. It’s like the most accurate one. There are a lot that just don’t get it, you’ll get like a mess of transcription. But even if you want to take it to the next level I love Fiverr too, there are people on Fiverr who can do that for you if you cannot be bothered at all and it doesn’t have to be like super expensive.

Liz Kantner 19:18

I love that, you’ve done the work for us. Just record on your phone and then just type it out, but having somebody transcribe it will save so much time for you.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 19:29

Exactly. I love what you said about making the most of the content that you are creating. So, maybe there’s a bigger anchor piece of content and then you’re pulling smaller things from it to potentially help you with SEO, get discovered, get found. So, that’s all-great advice.

Liz Kantner 19:48

To really make it work too I think, you’re writing this long form, Instagram caption for example, and some people will read it, some people don’t love reading as much or some people are just quickly Rolling. So, pulling apart important pieces of that and typing it in your stories and re sharing your post or sharing more images that add context is a great way to make it more digestible for the people who don’t love to read long pieces of content.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 20:14

Absolutely. I was just on a call yesterday with a prospective client and we were talking about their blog. I noticed that the last few blog posts that they did really seem to be written by an SEO agency that was focused specifically on keywords, but the actual content was super boring and not value driven or engaging. I told this brand, I was like, this is what I’m suspecting is happening and they’re like, yeah, you figured it out. But also, Larissa, nobody reads, so why does it matter? I want to actually do a future episode about this that, it doesn’t really matter if nobody reads or not because if you look at it that way, you’re looking at it through a very narrow lens and not seeing the bigger picture of why that content matters. Do you have any thoughts about that?

Liz Kantner 21:11

Yeah. I think people do read when I’m interested in a brand. I do read. I think that’s coming back to this bigger focus for 2022, where we’re going deep and not wide. So, yeah, maybe the majority of people won’t read what inspired this particular piece in your collection. But the people who are interested, the people who are fans of you and your collection will. That’s some powerful stuff to get them on board becoming a fan of your work and like joining your community, essentially. Because when they’re ready to purchase they’re going to purchase from you and they’re going to keep coming back. 

Laryssa Wirstiuk 21:46

Absolutely. Think about the ripple effects of that to like, say, that person did read the story and then they’re wearing your necklace, and somebody comes up to them in the grocery store and is like, wow, that necklace is so cool. Where’d you get it? What’s the deal with it, and then that person is like a brand ambassador of yours out in the wild, who already knows how to talk about your brand, who’s already enchanted by your story.

Liz Kantner 22:12

I think it’s so important to not go with this, like nobody reads thing and really just tell your story. Figure out how you feel comfortable, what feels like a good way for you to tell your story. I’m always encouraging designers to write like they speak and not get into your point earlier of marketing speak or trying to jam it with SEO, keywords or anything like that, because that’s not actually going to lead to people really engaging with what you’re doing. A click or a view is fine and all but we’re looking to get sales, right?

Laryssa Wirstiuk 22:50

Totally, yes, sales. So, what’s your number three.

Liz Kantner 22:54

So, number three is the importance of your connection with your customers, which is what we’ve been saying all along, is figuring out how to really deeply connect with your customers. So, things that are important are Instagram Stories, there’s so much opportunity there because it’s the gateway to your direct messages. So, really providing some extra context to your followers and storytelling and behind the scenes and inviting people to message you on your Instagram Stories is a great way to connect with your customers.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 23:23

Hold on, you said something, the gateway to your direct messages. I know maybe to you that’s like, oh, that’s what I say all the time. But to me that sounds very profound.

Liz Kantner 23:35

It’s like the portal, it like takes you through. I mean, it’s so easy to message somebody in the direct messages, which is why I think it’s such a powerful platform. Yeah, and invite people to message you and have conversations there, is just there’s a lot of opportunity.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 23:53

I think that’s such a missed opportunity. I’m always telling clients, brands like add more calls to action, even in the regular Instagram post and your Instagram stories and I think they think they’re being too annoying or like being too demanding, almost. But you would be surprised.

Liz Kantner 24:15

You can be really casual about it. I think we’ll show you these and what we’re going to be launching but I have so many ideas for calls to action. Some of them are very friendly and easygoing and like let’s have a conversation, versus this like hey, click the website, click the link in my profile to purchase or it doesn’t even need to be like send me a message to purchase. Purchase doesn’t have to be involved. There are so many ways that you can get people to interact with you and be really strategic about what you want them to do. So, yeah, Instagram Stories is great, nurturing the clients that you have, touching base with them you know, like on their anniversaries on their birthdays, things like that. Or just checking in to see how people are doing, if you haven’t heard from them a lot in a while, and they’re a collector, or they have traditionally purchased from you, every year, and this year maybe they didn’t check in, say, hello, see what’s going on, and just offer a really good customer service, because that will set you apart, it maybe doesn’t feel like it will. But like when somebody asks you a question, like, what is the price and I know we get ghosted, and I know it’s like a lot of work and a lot of energy, but respond to that inquiry with a video with maybe a story about the piece and what inspired it, or something special about the gemstone, or what is unique about it. That type of response is going to lead to if they’re not purchasing now, them coming back to you in the future.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 25:44

Absolutely. Or even referring you to someone else if they don’t make a purchase?

Liz Kantner 25:48

Yeah, definitely. Just being like really friendly and available within your boundaries. You can set a time like, oh, I respond to DMS from 5 to 6pm on every weekday or something like that. So, it doesn’t mean you need to be on direct messages or on Instagram responding or on email responding all the time, but when you do be really thoughtful about it.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 26:11

That’s a good point, too.

Liz Kantner 26:13

So the next thing that I think we should all focus on in 2022, which people aren’t going to like.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 26:20

That’s okay. 

Liz Kantner 26:22

It’s video, and it doesn’t mean you need to make reels. It doesn’t mean you need to dance; it doesn’t mean you need to do like learn editing skills, or do anything like that. But it does mean that you should show up in video format and so if you don’t feel comfortable showing your face, like we talked about earlier, do a voiceover, show your work, show your process, see how you can put things in motion. There’s something about seeing a piece of jewelry in motion, it feels like you can reach out and touch it. It’s also content that’s performing better on Instagram, if your emails are getting a decent open rate, but maybe not click rate, good click rate, having a gift or some sort of moving element can attract attention and have people scroll through your email more and get to your call to action or get to what your email is about, spending more time on your website if you have video content. There’s a lot of great things that video does. So, I think that everybody should start thinking about that if they haven’t already.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 27:21

Totally agree with that. Yeah, I don’t want to hear any excuses. I don’t want to show my face on camera because like you said, there are so many other ways to approach video and those might even be more fun and exciting than just talking anyway.

Liz Kantner 27:35

Yeah, definitely, there’s so much you can do with it. If you’re a maker, especially, like everybody, every time I see a video where somebody lights a torch, or like is melting gold, or melting metal or creating something or showing that type of process, I’m hooked and a lot of end consumers are too. So, that’s something that you could think about doing.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 27:56

Yeah, I like that you said the melting gold in the leg process part. So, I just did an episode about YouTube in jewelry marketing. Just for my own like casual research, I searched on YouTube for jewelry and then sorted by the most views or whatever. The top video was something about melting gold. So, there you go, people want to see it.

Liz Kantner 28:21

People want to see it and you need to remember that even though it’s part of your every day, it still blows my mind that people can create jewelry out of metal like as somebody who’s not a maker. Also, when we’re thinking about pricing, and people kind of pushing back on your pricing and things like that, once they see all of the work that goes into your piece, that helps reaffirm that purchase. 

Laryssa Wirstiuk 28:46

So true. 

Liz Kantner 28:47

So, my last thought about 2022 is just more conceptual but it’s just lead with passion. I think that, I feel like I see a lot of content that’s just in the like, oh, I have to put something up there, I have to feed the machine, I have to show up that kind of thing but your passion for what you do like you’re in this business for a reason and I love working with independent jewelry designers because they’re so passionate about what they do. You should really think about how you can put that out there, how you can share your story and share what’s exciting to you. I saw this really strongly when everybody was going to the gem show, which we didn’t go which was super sad. But when people were going to the Tucson Gems Show last month, their passion first on gemstones it just is addictive. Some of these jewelry designers and the way they were posting about it. So, if you could think about how you can use that passion and share it in that kind of way all year when you’re talking about finished products, when you’re doing a collection launch, when you’re pushing holiday sales, things like that, if you can tap into that passion that I saw when designers were posting about that too. On Tucson Gems Show, I think that would be really, really smart. But when you’re thinking about what type of content to create, if you’re stuck, think about what you’re passionate about and go from there and I think that’ll lead to the engagement you’re seeking.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 30:12

That’s such a good example about the Gems show and I agree. I know, I didn’t really think about it when I was seeing it. But now that you mentioned it, I’m like, oh, yeah, that’s a perfect example for people to see what is passion and how to express that.

Liz Kantner 30:26

Yeah, I love it. Obviously, I pay a lot of attention and same with you to what jewelry designers are posting, especially like clients or designers who are in our world. But other brands too, like I’ve noticed when they’re really excited about something or if they’re just feeling like they need to put a post-up or an email out. So, yeah, always come at it from this place of like excitement and passion.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 30:50

Such a great point. So, I think we’re ready to make this announcement and thank you for sharing your five points. They were so informative and helpful.

Liz Kantner 31:00

I loved it. I love sharing and I’m excited for this reveal.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 31:03

Yeah. Do you want to take the lead on explaining what it is that we’ll be doing?

Liz Kantner 31:08

Sure. So, Larissa and I have put together a six-part webinar series called Success With Jewelry and this could become more things from here. But what we’re launching right now is a six-part webinar series and it’s one webinar a month for six months leading up to q4. So, our goal is to get you ready for holiday. Once you’ve done all of these webinars, you’ve gone through all of it, you’ll be 100%, ready to have an incredible holiday season.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 31:40

That sounds pretty compelling to me.

Liz Kantner 31:43

Yeah, I think so. I love teaching webinars and then I know Laryssa you love doing your podcast and getting information to designers. I think this is the perfect way for us to one, provide really actionable steps and advice to jewelry designers, but also just connect with you too, because we’re going to have time for Q&A, we’re going to be talking to you one on one a little bit within these webinars. So, that’s really exciting for me, too.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 32:10

Yeah, it felt like such a natural collaboration for us and also a response to a lot of things that we see commonly in the marketplace that we truly see a need for this. Otherwise, I mean, we’re both busy ladies, we’re not going to invest our time and effort into something that we don’t think is going to be beneficial. So, this is fulfilling, a need that we saw among the people that we work with, and especially like timewise so we’re going to be starting this in April. As Liz said, leading up to q4, because a lot of these brands, designers are so busy, maybe they’re waiting till August or September to even start thinking about holiday. So, we are saying and we are encouraging you and we’re going to be your accountability partners and getting a jump on this and starting in April so that you are like golden by the time November, December comes.

Liz Kantner 33:03

Right. Even if you don’t have maybe holiday isn’t your biggest time of year, although even if your client is self-purchasers, I’ve seen with a lot of jewelry designers that q4 still tends to be the biggest time of year. This will set you up for success for 2023. For all the years going forward, you know what I mean? You’ll be in a really good place with your business. I think that digital marketing in general, which is really the focus of this six-part webinar series, and we’ll let you know like break it down for the topics and let you know what the topics are. But digital marketing has become such a crucial part of having a successful jewelry business. Even if you still are doing in person events. Even if you’re doing trade shows and have a wholesale business, it’s still so important to have a really high functioning website, having a strong presence in social media and as I’d mentioned earlier, having a strong brand. So, this series is going to walk you through all of those things to just make sure your business is set up for success.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 34:01

Totally. I think Liz, you mentioned the key word being actionable. So, like, if you listen to my podcast, yeah, I give a lot of tips and guidance, but you don’t necessarily have a chance to like chat with me afterward. Or maybe like fully know how to implement all of the things. Even if you’re on Instagram there’s a lot of great jewelry advice out there from various accounts, but they’re not necessarily there with you to implement the things or how they’ll work with your brand and your situation. But we in this webinar series really want to give actionable takeaways and then each session also has a live Q&A. So, you can actually ask us questions and interact with us.

Liz Kantner 34:47

Right and each will build on each other. So, after the live webinar, we’ll send out the replay so you’ll have full access to the replay for forever for as many times as you want to watch it. Then also we’ll send actionable to dos and like a guide that goes through what we talked about within that. So, you’ll leave really having a lot of direction and guidance, and then again, we will be available for answering questions, which should be super helpful for you.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 35:16

Yeah. It can also potentially help you feel like you’re part of a community also, because there will be other brands just like yours, people in similar situations and being able to share experiences in that Q&A with other people and hear how other people are dealing with things in the industry, because yes, the industry is close knit and I think there’s a strong community on social media, but I think it can feel really isolating, especially if you’re a solopreneur and working on your own and digital marketing can be so uncertain, and always changing and evolving. I think people wonder, like, am I doing the right thing? Like, is this just me am I the only person who feels this way? 

Liz Kantner 36:00

Yeah, and there’s so much. I feel like there’s a lot of information out there or that you can get piecemeal, but we put this program together with this idea of walking you through the steps of where to start and taking you through the finish line. So, it’s just guiding you where to start, and what to work on leading up to this q4. I think that that’s a little bit unique about what we’re doing. It’s a course that we’ve thought out and it’s very much based on us working with clients and seeing what designers should be focusing on and in order to really direct you through.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 36:38

Absolutely, we guide you, hold your hand, keep you accountable and in a digestible way, too. Because these once-a-month sessions, give you time in between to really digest the information and implement the things that you need to implement so that you’re ready for the next step.

Liz Kantner 36:56

Yeah, I’m excited.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 36:58

Me too. So, I’m sure people listening are like, oh, maybe they’re not interested. But maybe they’re like, oh, this sounds amazing. But they have questions. So, what are some frequently asked questions that we’ve anticipated, so we can answer them before they even come up?

Liz Kantner 37:15

Right. So, well, first, let’s quickly walk people through what the topics will be. 

Laryssa Wirstiuk 37:20

Oh, yeah. Okay. That’s a good point. 

Liz Kantner 37:23

Yeah, so in April and May, we have this focus on branding. If anybody’s ever done any of my webinars, taken any of my webinars, or heard me speak anytime, branding is where you need to start. Otherwise, you’re just going to be floundering, and you’re just not going to know where to go, or you’re going to be creating a message that’s confusing. Anyway, branding is the place to start. So, that’s where we’ll be starting with this series. Our first webinar is going to be about brand story and differentiation. That’s going to be on Thursday, April 21. Then, in May, we’ll be doing a webinar talking about the importance of content, SEO and having a content calendar. So, really planning out your content. So, it’s coming from a really strategic place. It’s not just what you feel like talking about at any given time, or you scrambling because you need to get a post-up. So, we’ll walk you through all of that and share tools to help you and help you get started there. Then June in July, we’ll be focusing on the customer experience. So, once you know what your brand is, and you’re set up to tell your story, and you’re putting your brand out there, and all those things, obviously, you want your customer to have a place to go to shop. So, a key to marketing success is ensuring that once a customer has made their way to your website, the experiences easy and thoughtful and optimized, and all of those things. So, we’ll be focusing on the overall customer experience in June and then E commerce optimization in July. Two really important things especially, to set you up for success come holiday season. Then the third chunk, August and September, we’ll focus on content distribution. So, now you have an optimized website. You know what your brand is, you know what you want to say? But how do you say it and where do you say it. So, in August, we’ll talk about social media marketing and then our last webinar will be about email marketing in September. So, it takes you through everything you need to do and it’s going to set you up for success.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 39:36

That sounds so great. I want to sign up. Oh, wait, never mind.

Liz Kantner 39:44

Well, you’ll get to be there Larissa. Anyway, one of the questions that we’ve been getting is, can I register for just one? As of now, no, we’re selling it as a full series because we believe that the full series is important since we’re going to have each webinar building on each other and we’re going to be giving out these guides, and we really want to hold your hand and walk you through it. We want you to get the most out of this. We don’t want to just sell you a webinar, we want to make sure that you’re actually finding success from this. 

Laryssa Wirstiuk 40:17

Definitely. 

Liz Kantner 40:20

Then Laryssa, you mentioned, it’s not a huge time commitment, right?

Laryssa Wirstiuk 40:24

No, so the actual meeting is just once a month, like one and a half hours to watch the webinar, including the Q&A at the end. So, listening to us present our information and having the Q&A. I mean, that is such a small-time investment, of course there will be takeaways, actionable takeaways that you’ll want to implement in the time between, but the amount of time and effort that you want to invest in that is really up to you and what your bandwidth is and what resources you have. But you’ll be able to take enough that you can decide how much is relevant for your business and to put into play for holiday.

Liz Kantner 41:07

Yeah, like I said, we’ll be sending out a guide after each webinar session. So, you’ll know what you need to be doing, or what we’re recommending that you do to move your brand forward. So, it will be less of you wondering what you should be working on and us telling you what to work on your marketing. If you’re more focused on like that, it makes it so much easier. A lot of times I talk to designers, and they’re like, oh, yeah, I know, I should be doing marketing, and that you spend a lot of time just thinking about it, and wondering about it. This will take all of that time where you’re just spinning and give you some things to actually work on. So, it’ll actually relieve you a lot of time.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 41:51

Yeah, that sounds great. Will there be opportunities for the attendees to get one on one time with us?

Liz Kantner 42:00

So, each webinar, like we said has 30 minutes of Q&A. So, if you have a specific question, we’ll definitely be answering that for you. But if you want to work with us further after, if you complete the series and need extra help, definitely message us, we’d love to work with you. I mentioned in the beginning, we’re working on some more things in our collaboration. So, we’ll have more to share soon. 

Laryssa Wirstiuk 42:28

Yeah, we’re starting with this series to see how people respond to it. But Liz and I are really passionate educators, I think, also not just marketers, but we love teaching people about what we do and helping to empower them. So, they can do this on their own. I mean, I wouldn’t be doing this podcast for so long if I didn’t feel that way. So, we’re both bringing this energy to the table and in this collaboration, want to build out a full program for success. So, we’re using this series as a starting point to test it out, see how people like it, and then seeing how else we can support designers and brands.

Liz Kantner 43:10

Yeah, I mean, that’s our main focus, is supporting independent designers. That’s what I’ve been passionate about for so long and same with you Laryssa. So, that’s really what drew us together to do this. 

Laryssa Wirstiuk 43:22

Absolutely. So, what are the details if someone’s interested in signing up? What do they need to know?

Liz Kantner 43:27

So first off, we have early bird special pricing, if you sign up now through March 13th, $299, for six webinars, with guides. So, six months’ worth of content for $299 if you sign up now, after that date, the price is going to go up to 350. Still an incredible investment for what we’re offering, in my opinion. So, I think that it’s a really great opportunity for designers who are looking to get on track with their marketing and set themselves up for success. So, if you want to sign up, or if you just want more information or if you want to ask us a question. The website is successwithjewelry.com and we’ve also set up an Instagram where we’re planning out some fun things to do there. But that’s at success with jewelry. So, follow us there ask us questions. We’d love to chat. We’d love to hear your feedback about all of this and if you need more details, just please let us know or visit the website.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 44:34

I’m so excited about this project, it really energizes me. I feel energized and excited to have people attend and to be able to share our knowledge and also, I think and Liz and I talked about this before. We’re both busy ladies. So, we don’t want to like take on something that’s going to feel like a chore or stressful. So, we really also want to have fun with this and we want it to be a fun, enjoyable experience because I know marketing can feel like a big pill that someone has to swallow. So, we really want to make it enjoyable and accessible as well.

Liz Kantner 45:11

Yeah, definitely. Actually, as we’ve been working on this, I’ve been like pushing off client work and like working on this and stuff, like you said earlier, we both love teaching and we both love educating. But also, marketing does feel like this huge thing for a lot of designers and I talk to designers all the time that are like, I just want to be at my bench, I just want to be designing, I just want to be making. But putting the time in upfront will leave you so much more time to be designing and making and then hopefully, it will help you grow your business so that maybe you can eventually outsource and spend more time at the venture doing what you love doing.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 45:51

Yeah and also helping people realize too, that at the end of the day, marketing is about relationships, relationships with your customers, relationships with collaborators with business partners and I think, at least in my mind, when you perceive it that way, it does become more fun and enjoyable, because ultimately, they’re the people who are going to give you the fulfillment that what you’re doing matters that you’re getting feedback that you’re seeing people out in the world with your jewelry that you’re interacting with those people. Really that’s the essence of marketing, not the social media Bs and the email schedule and the algorithms and all that. Yeah, it’s part of it. But like, it’s not the core of it.

Liz Kantner 46:40

Yeah, 1,000% marketing is about relationships. Love it. That was when we first started talking about this. We were like, yeah, it’s going to be us teaching marketing with no BS. Straightforward, actionable. That’s what we want to provide.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 46:58

I love it. Well, Liz, this has been awesome. Thank you for coming on and sharing your knowledge and also thanks for collaborating with me. Again, we’re so excited to share this and I’m glad we had an opportunity to tell our listeners and viewers about it.

Liz Kantner 47:12

Yeah, thanks for having me, and I can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks.

Laryssa Wirstiuk 47:18

What did you think? Would you like to enroll in the success with jewelry webinar series early bird registration opens March 13th for just 299? The early bird registration will be open for two weeks only until March 27th. So, you should act quickly if you want to take advantage of that early bird price and then at that point, the price will increase to $350. Want all the details visit successwithjewelry.com or follow us on Instagram at success with jewelry where we’ll also be sharing tons of free tips and information of course always providing value and educating people in the jewelry industry. I can’t wait to see you at the webinar. You can always email me Larissa. That’s L-A-R-Y-S-S-A@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 iTunes. To purchase a signed copy of my book, Jewelry Marketing Joy, visit joyjoya.com/book for all the information. Thanks for listening. Remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode. For more information about working with Joy Joya, visit joyjoya.com where you can sign up to download our free eBooks about various topics in jewelry marketing.