The Halloween holiday is an excellent time to reflect on spooky things, like the common marketing mistakes that jewelry brands make. Even though they can sabotage the growth and success of your jewelry brand in a very scary way, these mistakes can be avoided.

Whenever you start a new marketing campaign, do you often feel like you’re walking into a haunted house, filled with hidden goblins and cobwebs? If you see ghosts whenever you measure your ROI, then you may be making some very common marketing mistakes without even realizing it. In this blog post, we share five of those mistakes, so you can avoid them. You may also want to consider stocking up on smudge sticks, crystals, and garlic, just to be safe.

Not having a marketing strategy

Too often, jewelry brands “wing” their marketing strategy and only decide they need to pay attention to marketing when business is suffering. The trouble with making up your marketing strategy as you go along is that you probably won’t ever have enough time to prepare for the results you hope to achieve. For example, if you’re just realizing now that you only have a few weeks until Christmas, then you’re probably going to scramble to put together a holiday marketing campaign, which likely won’t be very successful.

However, when you take the time to implement a marketing strategy, for the quarter, for the upcoming six months, and even for the upcoming year, then you devise a clear plan for how to approach your marketing efforts and allocate your budget. To get to that point, you must take clear steps to understand your competition, research your target customers, ensure your branding appeals to your target customers, and then set clear and measurable business goals you’d like to achieve. With a marketing strategy in place, you’ll keep all your team members on the same page and know when it’s necessary to hire support, like a marketing consultant, graphic designer, or product photographer.

Deciding that design doesn’t matter

In last week’s blog post, we discussed the importance of design in jewelry marketing. If you’re not aware of how design affects your customers’ perception of your brand, then you’re simply holding yourself back from success. In an increasingly digital marketplace, consumers are judging brands based on visual appeal, and they may choose another brand over yours, simply because it has a more attractive or professional look. If you don’t know how to navigate design yourself, then you should hire an experienced graphic design professional who understands your goals and can help you achieve them.

Alienating your past customers

Did you know it costs more to acquire a new customer than it does to retain a current customer? According to data from Invesp, acquiring a new customer is five times as expensive as retaining an existing customer, and increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25-95%. You won’t have to invest as much time and effort into communicating with an existing customer because he or she is already familiar with your products and value proposition.

The scary truth is that too many jewelry brands are simply ignoring the existing customer segment because they’re so focused on reaching new customers. If you want to be more effective about staying in touch with your current customers, then you’ll want to focus your attention on email marketing, which will allow you to segment your audiences and send tailored messages to each segment. For example, you could add your existing customers to a “VIP” email list and send them exclusive offers you don’t send to anyone else. Or, you could invite those customers to participate in a digital focus group and gain their feedback about your ideas for new products and collections. That way, they always feel connected and valued.

Ignoring data

One of the best things about being a marketer or business owner today is that you have access to heaps of data, and much of it is free. You simply don’t have any excuses for making uninformed marketing decisions because you can always consult the data and allow it to guide you. If you’re ignoring your data, then you’re blindly spending money and wasting your time.

Instead, be proactive about familiarizing yourself with your data, managing it effectively, and checking on it regularly. You can find useful data on platforms like Google Analytics, Mailchimp, Instagram, Facebook, Iconosquare, and more. If you feel overwhelmed by your data, then consider hiring an experienced marketing consultant who can examine it and then deliver the most relevant data to you in easy-to-read reports.

Hiring a marketing consultant without understanding the basics of marketing

While it’s true that a marketing consultant or agency can provide comprehensive marketing services for your jewelry brand, they can’t work miracles. Of course, you can sign a contract, submit your payment, and let the marketing expert handle everything. However, you know your jewelry brand better than anyone else, and a collaborative relationship between the marketer and business owner often yields the best results. Marketing consultants love when a business owner understands the basics of marketing because then the business owner can provide helpful feedback and input.

In addition, when a business owner understands how marketing works, then he or she can set appropriate and realistic expectations for the marketing services being provided. Would you like to brush up on your marketing knowledge? Some of the best places to learn about marketing are websites like Hubspot, the Content Marketing Institute, and Copyblogger or books like Good to Great by Jim Collins, Get Scrappy by Nick Westergaard and anything by Seth Godin. You should also consider taking a course on an online learning platform like Udemy or General Assembly or enrolling in a course at your local community college. Business organizations like SCORE also offer affordable workshops.

If you’re not informed about marketing and the most common mistakes that jewelry brands make, then your marketing efforts may sometimes feel like trying on a series of Halloween costumes until something fits. However, as the saying goes, “knowledge is power”, and you can give yourself the best chance at success by increasing your awareness and trusting the marketing process.