Of course, the holiday season is about enjoying time with loved ones, expressing gratitude, indulging in holiday treats, and being generous. However, it’s also about gifts! With the holidays quickly approaching, we’d like to take some time to explore how you can utilize gifts in your jewelry marketing strategy, now and at any time of year.

Gifting is not only an excellent way to reward customer referrals and loyalty, but it can also help you boost customer engagement. The best gifts will reinforce your brand and elicit a strong emotional response from the customer, so that she will remember your jewelry brand for many years to come. Here are four ways that you can incorporate gifting into your marketing:

Gift without expectations

How many promotional emails have you sent this season? You’ve likely emailed your contacts coupon codes, updates about new inventory, and news about promotions like free shipping and sale items. To be honest, you’re asking a lot of your customers – and often. Not only are you requesting that they buy something from you, but you’re also asking them to take a moment out of their busy day to pay attention to you, even while they’re being bombarded by marketing messages from dozens of other brands.

When was the last time you stopped asking and started giving? In your next promotional email, consider giving a digital gift card for $25 or more. According to this article from ClickZ, “gift cards are 10 times more effective at driving customers in the door than any other promotional activity,” definitely more effective than coupon codes or discounts. Are you worried that your customers will only use the gift card to buy something inexpensive? To remedy this, you should be putting your customer data to work. Compile an email list with the names of all your top-spending customers and only send them the gift card. You’ll feel more confident that these customers will use the gift card to make another large purchase.

If giving a digital gift card wouldn’t work for your brand, then you could try to give away other things, some of which don’t even have to be tangible. Experiment with these ideas instead:

• You can donate to a charity on behalf of your customers.
• You can throw a VIP holiday party and invite all your top spenders.
• You can write a personalized email message or mail a “thank you” note.
• You can give a PDF ebook like a styling guide.
• You can collaborate with an artist to create an exclusive piece of downloadable art, which customers can use as a smartphone/desktop background. Or you can give something printable, which the customer can display on a desk or vision board.
• You can generate personalized shopping suggestions or even recommend other up-and-coming fashion brands to complement their jewelry finds.

Gift in exchange for feedback

Have you been thinking about experimenting with some new marketing strategies in the New Year? If so, you may want to take the time to gather data and feedback about your customers, so you can make better and more informed marketing decisions in the future. Put together an engaging survey and send it to your customer list. If you need tips about creating an effective marketing survey, then you’ll want to check out this guide from HubSpot.

Honestly, nothing irks me more than when a brand emails me to ask for feedback without offering any incentive in return. I delete these emails immediately. These brands are basically saying, “It wasn’t enough for us that you gave your money. Now we want your time, energy, and opinions too.” If you’re going to ask your customers for feedback, you must offer a gift in exchange for their thoughtfulness. Giving a digital gift card, entering them in a giveaway for a higher denomination gift card, giving a special digital download, or even sending them some free brand swag (t-shirts, tote bags, etc.) are all great ways to reward your customers in this situation.

Gift with purchase

Every once in a while, you may want to consider offering a gift with purchase and advertise it broadly, using it as an incentive to get your customers to take action and buy from you. Gifts with purchase can include special branded jewelry cleaner or jewelry cloth, a travel jewelry organizer, a gift from a partner brand like a travel-sized fragrance, candle, or other small accessory. The sky’s the limit when you’re brainstorming creative gifts.

However, you don’t necessarily have to announce the gift with purchase. For example, at some times during the year, you can gift unexpectedly. During the holidays or near your customer’s birthday (if you know it), take special care to giftwrap the purchase, even if you’re not sure that it’s a gift, since most people like the experience of unwrapping pretty paper. Or, if you know that your customer is a high spender, or he or she has purchased a high ticket item, you can add something extra to their purchase. For example, I always like when Sephora randomly gives me samples in store, and I’m never sure whether or not I’m going to get them.

Gift your VIPs

Who are your top customers, and who are the customers who refer the most business to you? Once a year, you can choose to do something special for the customers who have spent the most money with you or have helped you acquire the most new business. As we mentioned before, you can throw a special party for those people, or you can give them a sneak peek at new products that other customers haven’t seen yet. Finally, you can use the gift card approach and give them a special discount that no one else can access. You could also try entering all those customers into a special drawing and then give a more significant gift to one lucky winner. If applicable, you could also offer some kind of free upgrade or surprise discount the next time your customer makes a purchase.

One thing to keep in mind is that, while gift giving can attract new customers, it can also attract the wrong customers who are simply looking for a freebie. To eliminate this risk, you can consider qualifying the customers who find out about your gift. For example, they have purchased from you in the past, they follow you on social media, or they have signed up to receive emails from you.

You must also be strategic about how often you give gifts, so that your customers simply don’t come to expect gifts from you. You want to keep your customers on their toes and endlessly intrigued. At the end of the day, your goal should be to surprise and delight your customers, not only with the gift but also with the entire customer experience.

Now that I’ve spent all this time talking about gifts, I’d like to give you a gift in exchange for a few minutes of your time. I’m reflecting on the past 60 episodes of my podcast and brainstorming ways that I can make the show even better. But I need your help! I’ve put together a short, five-question survey, which you can find at bit.ly/JoyJoyaPodcastSurvey.

Every person who completes the survey will be entered into a drawing to win a free Brand Audit, a $300 value. A Brand Audit is a thorough examination of your brand’s current position in the market compared to your competitors. Not only will this Audit help you determine the strengths and weaknesses of your brand, but it will also provide you with some suggestions and point out areas of improvement. Surveys must be completed by December 31, 2019 to be eligible for the contest. Thanks for your continued support and have a Happy New Year! I look forward to connecting with you again in 2020.