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Hi, I’m your host Laryssa Wirstiuk. Through this podcast, I aim to empower and inspire jewelry entrepreneurs and innovators, so they can thrive by doing what they love. I’m passionate about digital marketing for jewelry brands, and I’m excited to share that passion with you. This is Episode 147, and today I’m going to discuss the seven P’s of jewelry marketing, and why you need to not only familiarize yourself with them, but also use them to regularly reevaluate your jewelry marketing strategy, and your business processes. If you’re stuck in a rut with your sales, or you’re struggling to reach and/or convert customers in your target market, then making small adjustments to any one or more of the seven P’s may give you the boost you need to see improvements.

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But before we get to today’s episode, I want to share some marketing related news and insights from the past week that caught my attention. So first, an article from JCK is all about trends in colored gemstones. David Bindra who’s the Vice President of b&b fine gems in Los Angeles. His Instagram handle is @gemfluencer. He’s a social media star with a feed dominated by pictures and videos of his company’s fine, deeply saturated colored stones paired with equally colorful sneakers and a soundtrack of hip hop beats. You may have seen him on the gram. So he kind of chimed in on some of the trends in colored gemstones today. He says there’s a demand for fine quality color and there isn’t a lot of merchandise on the market, especially for those high end consumers who are looking for rare and unusual items that they’re not going to find in your typical jewelry store. So he thinks one sapphires are a huge trend in color gemstones, especially classic blue purples and pinks. He says there’s a really strong demand for Padparadscha sapphires, which of course are hard to find. But also pastel colored sapphires have done well in the past three to four months. He also thinks that red to red pink spinels are really popular, and he believes that’s because it’s hard to find good quality Ruby or pink Sapphire so spinel is serving as a nice substitute for that. He says paraiba Tourmaline is trending. And also, those fine rare collector’s stones like demon, demantoid garnets, and Brazilian alexandrites, which are more interesting for consumers. Wow, some of those gemstone names are a mouthful to say. But of course, they are beautiful to behold. Post COVID the market cap for gemstones has grown tremendously. Traceability in the colored stone supply chain, though, really matters. Consumers want to know the origins of their gemstones. So it’s important for jewelers who sell these colored gemstones to really have thoughtful conversations with their customers about where the stones are being sourced, especially if you want to remain relevant in the years to come.

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Another article from Social Media Today is all about a new feature that Instagram recently released. I really like this feature and idea, I think it will be really helpful, especially for those jewelry brands that want to start doing more virtual trunk shows and more live video shopping presentations. So this new feature allows users to schedule upcoming Instagram live broadcasts in the app, and it’s being rolled out to all users, so users will just be able to tap through to get a reminder notification on the day of the broadcast. This new scheduling tool will help jewelry brands promote, plan and prepare for their upcoming lives. They can now schedule lives with a feed post up to 90 days in advance and then promote them via a new stories sticker for any scheduled lives. This new option is a significant update because of the fact that it’s built into the app and provides automated reminders, which could provide major value for brands looking to maximize connection within the app. Especially if you’ve done those virtual trunk shows in the past and feel like it’s hard to remind people, especially with the way posts are displayed in the feed not chronologically, this is a really great tool. Instagram also announced a forthcoming feature that’s a new live practice option. And that enables users to check things like their lighting their camera, their sound without actually broadcasting, so you don’t have to do those fumbles in front of your audience. Broadcasters will also be able to connect with their guests ahead of time in this practice mode to test their connection, love the professional aspect of that look forward to that in the coming months.

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And finally, another article from Social Media Today is about fake reviews for businesses. And this is just a warning to you. I know my listeners know better than to collect fake reviews, but I think the temptation is really great. With social proof being so important for jewelry brands today, I know there’s probably a temptation to get fake reviews, but don’t do it. It’s not worth getting reviews at the expense of honesty, transparency, and your reputation. As e commerce continues to grow, so unfortunately, due to deceptive methods of advertising, including fake reviews, undeclared, paid endorsements and other practices that fall foul of federal laws, and the Federal Trade Commission or FTC is cracking down. This week, they’re sending out notices to more than 700 businesses about fake reviews, and threatening to have those businesses take them down. So these violations cover a broad range of practices, which are particularly applicable in social media marketing, which many jewelry brands use, and with the use of influencers and promotions. Also on the rise, it’s worth familiarizing yourself with the latest regulations. Because even if you aren’t a scrupulous person, you want to make sure you’re still adhering to all the guidelines and best practices set forth by the FTC.

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If you want to get the links to the articles I share in this segment of the podcast, you can sign up for my email newsletter by visiting joyjoya.com/signup, and you’ll get a digest with the links whenever a new episode drops. Okay, let’s get to the seven P’s of marketing.

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So as a summary of what I will be discussing in this episode of the seven P’s are product, price, promotion, place, packaging, positioning, and people. And I’m going to dive into what each of those seven things means for your jewelry brand, and some specific questions and considerations for yourself. So that you can use the seven P’s, as I mentioned before, to regularly reevaluate your marketing strategy, and make even the smallest changes that can help you see a positive impact in sales, a positive impact in reaching your target customers.

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So let’s start with number one product, very obvious thing for jewelry brands that clearly have products. So to assess this category of product, you want to ask yourself some really important questions. And be really honest with yourself, because I think it’s easy to kind of just gloss over product, especially if you feel like you are following your unique creative vision, which I of course, encourage. But you always want to make sure that that vision is in line with customer expectations, customer demands. So asking yourself questions like, are you making products based on your own whims and creative impulses? Or are you making products in a strategic way? Or are you at least balancing those two things? Do your customers actually want your products? Is it time to pivot to some new customers? Or is it time to kind of adjust your product offerings to match the customers that you want to reach? Are you paying attention to your competitors? And are you offering something that they don’t have something that’s better? Or something that’s slightly more unique than what they’re offering? Are you testing your products on customers are? Or are you just hoping that things resonate with them kind of taking the leap and hoping for the best? Are your products made with quality in mind in order to retain your customers like will they be satisfied enough to come back again and again and also refer them to friends and loved ones? And are your products presented accurately in order to avoid disappointment, false reviews or even returns so that is referring to your product photography to your descriptions, to your specifications listed on your website or elsewhere. Those are all things to consider.

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When it comes to product number two, let’s talk about price. The second P of the seven P’s. Price, of course, is important if you hope to sell anything, and you hope to have a profitable business. So are your products priced competitively with what the market expects and demands? If you do have those higher price points, say you’re selling fine or luxury jewelry, are you also prepared to invest the marketing dollars that it will take to attract and nurture new customers who are willing to pay those prices? The higher your prices, the more you’re going to have to invest in marketing, because the longer that customer journey will be, the more those customers will expect. And demand kind of like courting them in the process. There’s a lot to be said about pricing. It’s a really complicated topic more than I want to dive into in this particular episode. But if you want to know more, I do have a whole section about pricing in my book jewelry, marketing, joy. And you should check that out. If you want to know more about this highly important vital, let’s say topic. And so joyjoya.com/book is where you can find Jewelry Marketing Joy.

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Number three, promotion. By promotion, I don’t mean a discount offer. Or for example, your Black Friday, Cyber Monday deal. Promotion is more about creating brand awareness. So how are you talking about your brand and products? When I when I say the word promotion, I’m imagining a megaphone the actual talking about your brand that communicating about your brand? How are you spreading the word about your offerings and your unique story? What language are you using? And how frequently are you communicating with customers? Which platforms are you utilizing? Very, very small changes to your promotion strategy can help you achieve major results, you would be surprised what small tweaks can do. Working with a skilled marketing expert, of course can help you uncover missed opportunities when you just can’t see the forest for the trees, and even help you notice mistakes. And inconsistencies that you just don’t see, because you’re so blind to them being so close to your business.

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Number four of the seven P’s is place. By place, I’m not just talking about physical place. Although if you have a brick and mortar presence, physical place would be very relevant. But place also means all of the touch points, all of the channels where you’re selling your jewelry, like on your e commerce website, at trunk shows, on Instagram or Facebook, at your retail partners, etc. Questions you should ask yourself when it comes to place. Are you spreading yourself too thin by selling in too many places? Could you create new opportunities for yourself and reach new customers? By selling in new places? Is it time to reconsider how your jewelry is being presented in any of these places? Sit down and really reflect on these questions. And as always be honest with yourself about how place plays a role in your marketing strategy and your business success.

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Number five, packaging of course, this is such an important element for jewelry brands because it completely shapes the customer experience. And if done right has the opportunity to delight the customer. When was the last time you revisited your packaging? Have you looked into some of the most recent innovations and trends in packaging today? Are you staying up to date on them? Do you care? I think you should care if you want to delight your customer. Your packaging should not only be on brand, let’s say, but it should also leave an emotional imprint on the customer’s mind so that the person interacting with your physical jewelry when they first receive it will not only remember the actual piece of jewelry, but they’ll also have an emotional resonance that will impact them for many years to come. Is the packaging beautiful enough that your customer would even think to reuse it for something else? I have to say I have a few pieces of jewelry packaging that I have never wanted to throw away because it was so beautiful and special. And they even have a permanent place on my dresser in my bedroom. And guess what, every time I go to my jewelry box or I get something from my dresser, I see that brand name prominently displayed on my dresser every day, thus kind of imprinting that memory, that emotional resonance. In my mind, I don’t think a brand could really ask for anything more than that. And packaging is the true reason why that connection is happening. You really need to strive for a wow, when the packaging is in the customer’s hands.

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Number six of the seven P’s is positioning. What do your current customers think about when they think of your brand? How are you positioned in their minds? How do you tug on their heartstrings or stir their emotions? When people talk about your brand? What words or phrases are they using? Are all of the answers to these questions in line with how you perceive your own brand, or even how you want your customers to perceive your brand? In today’s fast paced digital world, I hate to say it but people make snap judgments about your brand and your products. That’s the reality of things. When it comes to positioning, are you prepared to face that kind of split second decision making? If you’re not, I think it’s really time to reconsider your positioning.

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And finally, number seven people is the seventh P of marketing. So a number of questions regarding people. Of course, the most obvious one is looking at the people directly involved in your marketing. So is it you? Is it a marketing team? Is it a marketing consultant, whoever that is? Who are those people handling your marketing? Are they knowledgeable and innovative? Are they passionate? Do they have your brand’s best interest in mind? You may think, oh, that’s kind of a weird question to ask. I mean, if I’m working with a marketing person, shouldn’t they have my best interest in mind? You would be surprised. I mean, I think some more inexperienced or hobbyist, let’s say, marketing providers, like if you’re relying on an intern or someone really low cost or whatever it may be, they may be just seeing it as like a fun project, maybe a creative outlet. And they’re not necessarily thinking about it strategically or about what is best for the brand. Even if that’s not necessarily fun, or cool, or creative. Marketing is not always glamorous or sexy. It’s about finding ways to grow the business at the end of the day. So does the person handling your marketing have your best interests at heart? Or are they doing it because it’s fun or cool or creative or interesting? Think about that. If you handle your own marketing, are you being honest with yourself about what you can and can’t do for your jewelry brand when it comes to marketing? Do you seek out support when necessary? Are you shy about asking for help? Do you have a strategy and plan to hold yourself and your team or your assistant or whoever accountable? And then how about your brand ambassadors and influencers? Are they representing your brand in a way that makes sense and feels authentic? You may even want to think about the seventh “P” people as your customers. Your customers also represent your brand, especially if they’re posting on social media. They’re writing reviews. Are you getting that reciprocal relationship back from your customers? And what can you do to encourage them to be more vocal ambassadors of your brand? Those are all really important things to think about.

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So what do you think about the seven P’s? Have you ever heard of this before? Does one of them feel more relevant than the others? Will you be taking these things into consideration as you move forward through the holiday season and beyond? I would love to hear your thoughts you can always email me Laryssa that’s laryssa@joyjoya.com. I’m always available by email, and I would love to communicate with you. As a reminder and I mentioned this before in the podcast. I have a book it’s called Jewelry Marketing Joy. It is available to order and I can sign a copy for you. You can get it by visiting joyjoya.com/book.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai