The jewelry industry, just like many other industries, is dynamic and fast evolving. Almost all leading and standard jewelry brands have their online portals to allow customers to browse products by category and place an order according to their preference.
With thousands of new jewelry brands out there, it can be difficult to get your business noticed and have people take it seriously. Yet, many people still swear by the same old jewelry branding techniques that have been in use for years: referrals or word-of-mouth advertising, seasonal discounts and freebies, direct mails and so on.
While these tactics still work, they only do to a certain extent. Thanks to digitization, both the market and consumer behavior are changing, and you’ll risk leaving your business behind if you don’t give your branding techniques a digital revamp.
To help you evolve, we’ve listed these ten tweaks to capitalize on the latest industry challenges and trends.
1. Make the Most of Social Media
Everyone is hooked up to the internet, using it for everything from catching up on the latest news to buying their furniture, groceries and even jewelry. One of the biggest advantages of using social media for your business is that it allows you to have a more direct line of communication with your existing and prospective customers. It increases your credibility and helps you reach out to your target audience, instead of simply offering a discount or sending an e-newsletter.
Your customers can use social media to communicate with you, make queries, share complaints, criticism, and feedback. It also works as the modern word-of-marketing and your happy customers are your biggest assets. So, if your jewelry brand doesn’t have a strong social media presence yet, make it a priority to set up accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and keep posting regularly. Share product photos, videos, brochures, contact details, testimonials from clients, and jewelry styling tips. You can also run a poll, ask a question, announce sales, and so on.
A simple yet effective way to find your brand advocates is to be active on your social media pages and keep your followers engaged through various conversations. However, don’t post too often as this could overwhelm or annoy them.
Remember, when it comes to buying expensive products like jewelry, people trust other customers more than what you say or promote. When other buyers share authentic photos of your products along with their positive reviews, they are essentially recommending your products to their peers. Thank and reward these loyal customers with free gifts, vouchers, special discounts and other exclusive offers to keep them motivated.
2. Promote Real Customer Stories
Feature customer stories on your website and social media feeds to strengthen your brand identity. Request photos of customers wearing your products and also ask them to share their experience in a few words. Now share those photos and videos (with their due permission) on your social media handles to inspire others to purchase. Remember, word-of-mouth still has a strong effect on one’s buying decision and is actively sought. People love authentic reviews from others who have already used a particular product.
Consider dedicating an entire space on your website to share stories about your customer’s wedding, engagement, anniversary, graduation, and other special occasions, where they’ve either bought jewelry for themselves or their loved ones.
3. Get Customized Brand Logo
As a business in the jewelry sector, your logo needs to look as chic and polished as your inventory. Just like the diamonds in a wedding or engagement ring, your logo stands for your brand identity – that your business is professional, your products are genuine, and that you’re the one to trust when they want to buy precious jewelry.
Whether you’re a jewelry start up, goldsmith, or diamond aficionado, a good branding strategy will set your business above your competitors. And, a good branding technique starts with an impactful and memorable jewelry logo. Work with a renowned branding company that can provide you with unique jewelry branding ideas, including customized logos and taglines.
4. Use Chatbot for Better Online Buying Experience
Chatbots have become extremely popular as more and more brands have started using messaging applications to reach out to their online customers. Apart from helping with common customer queries, AI-powered chatbots can be an important part of your branding initiatives and help push customers through your sales funnel. It’s like guiding your customers through their shopping experience just as you’d if they were in person.
Unlike other forms of marketing, chatbots can catch your audience’s attention and keep them entertained for longer. For example, you may catch your audience’s attention with an engaging video but once it ends, it doesn’t have much to offer. Chances are that your website visitor will instantly leave your website and go elsewhere. The trick is to hold on to their interest with relevant information regarding your brand, products, and their preferred subject of interest in the jewelry industry.
Try using a chatbot with the ability to interact with many people simultaneously. You can either add a chatbot to the home page to answer questions from your visitors or to a special listing page like wedding rings or bracelets to offer selection assistance or customization options.
5. Determine Your Target Audience
A target audience can help you focus your marketing efforts on those who are most likely to give you business. You don’t want to waste your time and energy on targeting people who have nothing to do with your inventory. When you identify your real audience, you can focus on creating the right content that’ll establish your name in the industry. And given the current economic scenario, having a well-defined target market is more crucial than ever.
Here’s a simple template to help you create a target audience for your jewelry business (or any other business).
Name and Image | Give your target audience a name and an image (if possible). |
Need | Analyze your products and see what kind of people would be more interested in them. |
Competitors | Monitor your competitors and find out the type of audience they’re reaching out to. |
Demographics | Consider your target audience’s age, gender, household income, education or occupation, and location. |
Behaviors | Research and find out common behaviors among your target audience. |
6. Create Ads for Your Target Audience
How do you know if you’ve delivered the right message to your target audience? It’s when your prospective consumers don’t even realize that an ad is an ad. The best and easiest way to do this is by providing them with useful and relevant content that they can relate to. The more focused your content is, the easier it’ll be for you to engage them and influence their buying decision.
For women, they portrayed diamonds as THE celebrated symbol of love, commitment, and friendship. For men, they asked: “How can you make two months’ salary last forever?” The answer was — buy her a diamond, because something as rare and precious as a diamond will last forever.
According to their research, men perceived gifts to their wives or lovers as an investment in their relationship. Women, on the contrary, viewed diamonds as an epitome of their love and confidence in their partner’s commitment.
7. Work on Your Customer Support Service
Your customer service can make or break your brand’s reputation. When a customer is making a significant investment, be it a gold ring or a diamond necklace, they’d obviously want quality products for the best price. However, they also expect the customer support team to guide them through the entire process.
Good customer service can really build a store’s reputation. When a consumer is making a sizable purchase, be it a diamond engagement ring or a gold bracelet, they want to get the best product for the best price. But they also expect the salesperson to not only be knowledgeable, but to provide superior customer service.
According to research, 96% of consumers say that customer service is a key factor in their choice of loyalty to a brand. Customers with a good support experience are 3.5 times more likely to repurchase and 5 times more likely to recommend the brand to their friends and apprentices than if they had a poor buying experience.
Your goal is to put your buyers at ease so they can trust you with their jewelry investment and your ability to assist them in their purchasing decisions.
8. Run Instagram Contests and Giveaways
One of the most effective jewelry branding ideas is to run contests and giveaways on Instagram. Posts related to Instagram contests typically earn about 64 times more comments and 3.5 times more likes when compared to regular blogs, photos or videos. Your followers will feel a stronger connection to your brand due to the goodwill you’ve earned with your contests. It’ll also get more people to share your contest, which will further help in your brand promotion. According to a study, consumers are more likely to purchase from brands that are interactive and offer promotions on social media.
Take some lightweight jewelry pieces in your inventory and post them on your Instagram page for a giveaway. Ask your followers to post a picture of themselves wearing something that’d complement the piece of jewelry and tag your page in their posts! Just make sure that the description for your jewelry giveaway contest covers the following points.
- the rules of your contest
- eligibility criteria
- restrictions on who can enter (if any)
- the winning prize
- the deadline for making their posts
- the winner declaration date
Doing so will help you stay on the right side of the promotion guidelines stated by Instagram. If your budget permits, you can also consider spending some money on Instagram ads to get your contest reach out to a large number of your target audience.
9. Do Proper Image Optimization
If the images on your website or social media handles aren’t well optimized, it can hamper your brand’s reputation. Simply using catchy, high quality images won’t benefit your business. Google and other search engines are constantly working hard to understand the content on your website, and that includes images. As poorly optimized images are one of the biggest reasons behind slow web pages, pay heed to image optimization hat can reduce your website’s loading time and improve customer experience. Customize the file names and label the photo files so that it’s relevant to the content. Also use alt tags that site crawlers use to identify images and then add images to your site map.
10. Leverage Social Media Influencers
Influencer marketing is a popular kind of social marketing strategy that leverages the status and popularity of well known figures in the industry for better customer reach. Simply put, you partner with these social influencers for promoting your brand to their huge number of followers. Doing so will help you reach potential customers who might be interested in your products. Facebook and Instagram are two of the most popular social media platforms to locate these influencers in your niche.
Key Takeaway: Before pitching an influencer, research and learn about their audience and the type of goods or services they promote. Only choose those that closely match your industry, product, brand, and objectives.
Here’s how to find jewelry influencers who you could potentially collaborate with.
- Check out people who have liked or commented on your jewelry brand’s social media posts. If they have a good number of followers, chances are they’d be ready to work with you.
- Check out your competitors. You can always get some insight from their social media activities. Chances are that some of them are already working with these influencers to promote their latest range of products. Check out these influencers’ social media profiles and see if they are willing to work with a similar brand. If not, you can always look for other influencers in your niche.
- Use the right tools. Instagram has a unique search tool that allows you to use hashtags to find pages that are relevant to your business. It also offers a discovery section that’s divided into different interests, based on your recent activities.
11. Make the Most of Business Cards
Business cards have been around for ages, but they’re still one of the most powerful branding techniques in use. From simple die-cut designs to embossed illustrations and quirky gimmicks, these cards have come a long way since their primitive origin. Aside from using the right brand logo and slogan on your business cards, make sure that they’re handy enough for the users to hand out, carry in their wallet, tack on a bulletin board, enclose in an envelope or display on a store counter. A lot of people have special folders or binders where they keep business cards for future reference.
Always include a business card in your jewelry packaging boxes, before handing them over to your customers. Also give your business card to those you think would be interested in buying your products. For example, you can find prospective jewelry buyers at fashion shows, art festivals, and jewelry exhibitions.
12. Ensure Necessary Site Functionality
To ensure your jewelry website is optimized for success, you’ll need these site functionalities:
- User friendly web design
- High resolution images with proper Alt tags
- Relevant and quality content
- Social media integration
- SEO features and fully customizable URLs
- Promotional campaign management
- Product management tool
- Detailed shipping options
- Cross-sell and up-sell capabilities
- Easy payment and payment security features
- Clear return policy and FAQ section
These functions are key to your online jewelry business because they support better business functionality, customer experience, loyalty, trust and retention. It’s a win-win for both your brand and your customers.
13. Use Industry Resources
Although there’s an upfront cost for being a member of the Jewelers of America (JA), its free marketing and promotional resources are worth your investment. If you run a startup or a small handmade jewelry business that doesn’t have an official marketing team yet, consider joining JA to help you with better brand promotion and customer response.
14. Be Patient with Yourself & Your Business
Remember, a successful business doesn’t happen overnight. Don’t expect immediate business leads as soon as you launch your jewelry business. It can take months or even years of jewelry branding efforts before you taste the fruit of success. Set your goals high, but be realistic about what’s required of you to meet your objectives. Set small targets and try to achieve them, one at a time.
In conclusion,
An effective branding strategy is one that tells your target audience about your business without actually saying it. The trick lies in persuading your customers to choose you over your competitors. While there’s no one-size-fit-all branding strategy that promises guaranteed success, the above tips can surely help make your jewelry business visions come true. Try some or all of these jewelry branding ideas and see what works (or even doesn’t work) for your brand.
Business Development Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the Media and Digital marketing sector, Passionate about innovation and bringing the future into new business solutions.