By Jordan Wentz, Sales Representative, Mason-Kay Jade & Marketing Consultant, Jewels of the Trade
Many jewelry professionals often feel it’s impossible to dedicate time in their daily routines to one of the most important aspects of their business: Marketing. Between sizing rings, taking repair orders, and consulting on Diamond purchases—all while trying to eat lunch before 3 p.m.—a steady stream of tasks like these are all too familiar to many in the trade.
If this sounds like your daily routine, you may be feeling overwhelmed trying to find success on social media, which is a critical part of every business’s marketing today. Perhaps it’s time to reevaluate your digital marketing strategy. You can start by asking yourself these simple but super-important questions:
“Who is your audience?” “What do you want them to do?”
If you can’t answer those two questions simply and specifically, then this is the point at which you should start reassessing and rebuilding your strategy.
The key to digital marketing is to target your audience with a clear, consistent message across your entire brand. This is known as a Call to Action or CTA. Your CTA could be “Schedule a Consultation,” “Buy this Ring,” or “Attend Our Event.” CTAs can differ widely depending on your business’s goals. But keep in mind, you must clearly and succinctly guide your prospect toward the action you want them to take. This can be done by saying the CTA out loud, including it in a text overlay on your video, or explaining it clearly in the content description.
For instance, if you want your content viewers to schedule a custom jewelry consultation, just say “Comment the word ‘CUSTOM’ and we’ll reach out to schedule your FREE custom jewelry consultation!”
To see if you’re on the right track, create a Reel on Instagram and show it to three other people before posting. Ask them, “Who is the audience for this video?” “What does it look like I’m selling?” “Will a potential customer understand how to take the next step toward making a purchase?” Use that feedback to strengthen your outreach.
What if you gathered a thousand prospective customers into a room? You amused them with a fun anecdote or told them an interesting fact about jewelry and then said “All right, it’s been fun. See ya’ next time.” Wouldn’t they be frustrated? The audience that you have on social media comprises real people, and the entire goal of gathering them is to sell them your product. Don’t let them leave a post or video without mindfully engaging with your brand, your product, and whatever platform you sell product on.
But, of course, the appeal of your content is not just the product you’re selling. Your post or Reel or YouTube video needs to offer the platform user something that is important to them. If you’re offering client education with your content, you can utilize keyword research to find topics related to your specialty that customers are Google-searching and want to know more about. If you’re offering entertainment, then identify the type of humor or personality that best reflects your brand and build on that.
Who are the personalities you like to watch on social media? Elyse Myers on YouTube? @FitDadeo and his horrible dad jokes? If you’re going to stylize an existing format to suit your strengths, choose one that is working. @ChristineJewellers has built a successful social media platform by testing Diamonds on the fingers of random people. If you’re going for entertainment, your niche should be whatever your customer will be entertained by.
A potential customer who has interacted with your social media account should know exactly what you’re selling and how they can buy it. If you didn’t answer those questions with your content, then why did you create it in the first place?
Your branding should be consistent in two major aspects: The audience you’re targeting and the message you’re sending them. Once you have that foundation, you can create content that offers value to the social media user. The two major types of content that users are drawn toward are entertainment and education.
The social media approach isn’t unlike classic sales techniques. Remember the saying, “Everyone likes to buy, but no one wants to be sold to.”
Users aren’t logging on to Instagram to watch commercials, they’re looking to be entertained with information, humor, or personalities that appeal to their interests. When determining who you’re targeting and how you want to convert them, ask yourself, “What will my target market find interesting?” “What type of content will they want to watch?”
Most important, as you develop your marketing mindset and move forward with a strategy that best fits your brand and goals, I advise that you view your platform through the mind of a prospect seeking your product or service. If you were a prospect and looked at ten different social media accounts in the same niche, would you choose your company to do business with? And if not, why? Fix what is broken first. Build a platform that drives sales.
This is proprietary content for AGTA and may not be reproduced.
Jordan Wentz is a sales representative for Mason-Kay Jade, which specializes in natural, untreated Jadeite Jade, as well as the cofounder of Jewels of the Trade (JOTT) with her husband Hun’r Wentz. Through their JOTT sales and marketing firm, they help businesses learn modern techniques to connect with customers through digital tools like social media and web and email marketing. She also has a popular YouTube channel that receives 50,000 views a month where she educates consumers about Jade in an entertaining fashion as well as interviewing other industry personalities. Reach her at [email protected].