New banner & marketing tips

The new banner I made for Dawanda-shop. Turquoise blue…anytime!

Today I have been reading about marketing tips of other jewellery designers and sellers on Launchgrowjoy . What keeps repeating in my head is "social media, social media…"
Here is my selection of tips:

• Run strategic Facebook advertising campaigns. For certain holidays, make sure to advertise special deals that are only available to Facebook fans. These campaigns are great, because you can target consumers according to certain demographics: age, gender, location, and whether or not the people are connected to your business. Also, you can set a strict daily budget and select how long you want your advertising campaign to run. This has been very successful in helping me obtain countless new likes and customers. – Claudia Montez from isabellegracejewelry
• Take fabulous macro photos. Show off that great detail you handcrafted into each piece with vibrant, clear photos that make your customer believe they are holding the piece in their hands. If you don’t have good photos, no amount of social media, google ad words or e-blasts will sell your product.  If you don’t know how to take photos, or have the time to learn – invest in someone who does! - Marja Huhta from Glass Elements
• Every person you meet is a potential customer. Wear a piece of your jewelry every day, every where you go.  Be friendly, positive and smile to everyone you see. When people compliment you on your jewelry, say thank you, hand them your business card, and say, since you like these earrings or this ring, bracelet, necklace or whatever it may be, please visit my website to look at my other jewelry. The person will happily take your business card and you now have a new potential customer.  - Diane Batoff from Micassileo Jewelry
• You must use social media as one way to market your brand, but the messages you give must be genuine. Get people interested in your brand through personal stories and thoughts, not through a sales pitch. The other piece of advice is to make sure you keep a steady presence on the different social platforms without being overwhelming. - Shana Farr from Shana Farr Pure Imagination
• I hired a web marketing agency to give my traditional sales approach a marketing makeover. I started with Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and a newly designed and social centric website. The web marketing agency taught me how to blog and had me focus on frequently asked questions, what I stand for and what problems I solve. Because of the training I received and shift in my marketing approach – I previously had 2-3 jobs a year from the website – now, I get multiple custom jobs per month from it. People ship me their pieces to work on from all over the country and I’ve done custom wedding jewelry for people I’ve never met in the U.K., France, Sweden and the Arctic Circle. Getting into the online universe has helped me sell more jewelry and find the people who like my designs or want to design their own thing! - Calla Gold from Calla Gold Jewelry
• Constantly keep your customers updated and always wear your fashionable jewelry to represent your line. - Marlyn Schiff from Marlyn Schiff
• Getting your name out there, wherever you can…getting people to know about you. One of the best things, while difficult to do, is getting your product featured in a magazine (not an ad). You have to find the correct contact person (editor of a specific area of the magazine). Send them your info, either by email or hard copy, including any pics of your product. Offering to do a giveaway with them as well will get your name in the magazine. Just one great feature can bring in all kinds of business! - Bonnie Riconda from Calico Juno Designs
• Social media has become an amazing sales tool for us. We are working moms, so being able to promote ourselves via our iPhones and iPads makes running a business (on the go) that much easier. Our Instagram feed has especially allowed us to spread the word (and make sales) while showcasing our product. - Gloria Bijou & Renee Haddad from Wren & Glory Jewelry
• My best tip for marketing my products is through the use of social media! Facebook friends and family are fabulous promoters of your products and the best part: FREE! Online fashion bloggers are always looking for pieces to add, and with my experience, they will post your products for the small fee of sending one of your pieces for free! - Kaitlin Durkin from DurkyDesigns
• Know who your consumers are and connect with them. Being able to relate to their lives and their style on a personal level is my ultimate goal for wristcandie. - Gina Chinino from Wristcandie
• My best tip is to utilize what is free and don’t just focus on one thing.  FB, pinterest, twitter, e blasts and blogging are great but you have to stay on top of it all and integrate all platforms together.  Since it is free you can experiment as much as you like.  It’s really rewarding to have so much interaction and feedback from customers. - Sarah McBrair from Love of Pretty
• To distinguish yourself from other artists, make sure your website & marketing materials speak directly to your prospects and convey an engaging story about your jewelry (of beauty, history, nature, myth, family, etc).  Give them more than just a list of metals, gems and dimensions so they can connect emotionally with your creations and be motivated to buy. – Alyson B. Miller from PivotGuild
• We are a part of the greatest marketing time ever, before the growth of major social networking it was difficult for a small business’ such as a jewelry designer to reach out to other areas to market. Today be sure to take advantage of all avenues of social networking and be sure to stay on top of them with new content and material.  People have an attraction to what’s new or a Sale, be sure to drive interest in your product by rotating it through different social sites. Google adwords and Facebook ads could be another driving force at bringing interest into your site and possibly into your pocket book. Be creative most social media is free of charge but the ads are not so be sure to budget ads correctly and you can be marketing to the masses in no time. – Fallon Morris from Din’e Creations
• People love to have unique jewelry customized especially for them.  Instead of relying solely on a website or direct customer interaction to market the jewelry, make it easy for retailers to make the sale for you.  Develop an attractive display to convey your story and showcase your quality.  The retailer then sells a packet or order form, connecting you directly with the customer.  While you may need to split your margin with the retailer, you gain a great deal more exposure and the retailer makes a good profit “brokering” the connection. - Sharon Herrman from Zelda’s Song
• When marketing your jewelry designs online be sure your photography is the very best.  Jewelry is hard to photograph but there are lots of tips and ideas available online and remember, your potential customer can’t pick up the piece of jewelry and hold it, they can only see what you show in your photos so never stop trying to improve your photography. - Paula Huckabay from Pacific Jewelry Designs
• Create a look, word or color that is distinctively yours. When people see your work and marketing material, your name should pop in their head. - Lauren Sigman from Lauren Sigman Jewelry
• My brand is like my personality.  I create quirky, fashionable jewelry that supports my values of being sustainable and budget conscious.  I gave serious thought to my values, beliefs, passions, creative inspirations and who I am as a person; the outcome of that is a brand that describes who I am and what I create, which in turn helps me focus on marketing to my target audience, and gives me a foundation on which to continue growing my business. - Merry Ware from This Merry Life
• I actually use Instagram a lot to market my jewelry. Often, I’ll post supplies for my supply shop because it’s easier just to photograph then with my phone and end up having someone who wants to purchase it as a made piece! It’s also great to get quick feedback about if people like an item! - Jenipher Lyn from Cherry Runway
• Creating Branding Content on Social Media Networks such as Twitter and Instagram! Utilize Hashtags to create a larger based audience for your product! You never know who might be paying attention. - Lisa Rocha from Ilaments
• I often dress myself and those I go out with in my pieces.  This way potential customers get to experience your work in person, and how it is meant to be worn. I’ve found that women seem more likely to approach someone who is wearing something that they like, and ask that individual where they purchased it. - Rosa Villanueva from Fornication Nation
• I’ve found it’s  important to have lots of take-aways such as business cards or postcards at craft shows.  It helps indecisive buyers track you down later to make a purchase online, and is also a great way to get found by boutiques and show directors looking for jewelry to feature.  Some of my biggest leads for wholesale accounts and other shows have come from an email saying “I saw you at a craft show and took your card, we would love to have you… - Tess Fedore from Gilded Days
• I have found my own custom-made wedding “day of” and bridesmaid jewelry to be its own best advertisement–i.e. I wear it when I meet my customers. Once my clients see its beauty, functionality, and day to day wearability in a “real life” setting, I’ll get an order. - Lynn Jawitz from Florisan Wedding and Event Design
• My tip would be to embrace marketing as an important part of your jewelry business and not to be afraid to try new things. If you have a limited or non-existent marketing budget, take advantage of social media to make connections and get the word out about you and your brand, and also submit high resolution images to magazines and newspapers. Sign up for HARO. - Anne Bliss from Bliss Designs
• Using social media sites can be a great way to market a new business.  I recommend utilizing sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest to gain followers and awareness in your brand.  Setting up a page on Pinterest is easy and fun!  You can create the look you want for your brand, and use it to promote items or services you offer.  Creating short tutorials on the site gains you followers, that will ultimately turn into customers.  Facebook is a great way to advertise events and sales you have, and interact on a personal level with your followers.  You can answer questions directly about your products, engage in conversation with fans, and create polls and questions for ideas you may have for your business. - Heather Markowski from Posh Adornments 
• Up-and-coming jewelry designers have an opportunity to make a splash in the market even if they’re small because the Internet has shrunk the world in a way that allows us to connect so easily with buyers. These designers should utilize social media platforms– especially Facebook and Pinterest to promote their pieces. GET VISUAL! These platforms see high engagement levels with photos, especially something as flashy and sexy as jewelry, so use photos of your jewelry to create a buzz about you. You can build a large tribe of followers who love your pieces and can contact you directly to purchase. This is perfect if you’re small and selling to consumers (B2C) because a Facebook page can work as effective as a website and reach potential clients. If you’re trying to sell to stores, you can utilize Twitter. Set up a Twitter account and start conversations with companies by tweeting pictures of your collections to them. You can then find out who is their buyer and connect with them. - Jayme Pretzloff from Wixon Jewelers
• This has been my most important element in growing my business and it includes quick responses to questions, polite and informative answers, custom designs or re-sizing to fit the client, beautiful packaging, quick shipping and, above all, making a personal connection with clients. It is a great way to add that element of personality to an online shopping experience and it has resulted in repeat buyers, personal recommendations to other clients and amazing feedback which in turn helps new buyers feel comfortable purchasing your product. By making a shopping experience memorable, clients will always remember to you in the future! - Catherine Scott from JanJat Jewelry
• I have had my jewelry business for 13 years. I use many creative strategies to drum up business and get customers to spend. I always send out a holiday card with a special discount code that can only be used in person at a craft show or gallery show ( I list all the events on my card for that season). This makes my good customers want to come and see me in person. I can usually talk a customer into something bigger or more expensive if I can sell the piece in person rather than through my website. Trying on jewelry is such a big part of a purchase and it connects the wearer with the piece. Speaking about the jewelry… how I designed it, the materials, stones etc. also gives the customer that extra push to purchase. I also add into my holiday card that every customer who purchases in the month of December is automatically entered in to win a piece of my jewelry. I have the drawing on the last day of December and then email the customer so they know to expect a “surprise” in the mail. - Andrea Lucille Shin fromAndrea Lucille Designs
• When you post on Facebook or Pinterest, it needs to be VISUAL and done CONSISTENTLY.  I take some time at the beginning of the week to gather some photos, quotes, product shots, and get them ready to go for use that week. I also find material to share from other sources that fit with my brand (blogs, products I like, photos that inspire, quotes).  Then each day I get up before my kids and schedule the Facebook posts.  I often do several days at a time, but it’s important to stay engaged and make sure you’re responding to posts.  Of course you can hire someone to do this for you, but I enjoy connecting to my customers in such a personal medium as Facebook.  This doesn’t mean you have to be online constantly.  Just schedule your posts in bulk and it’s really pretty easy. - Sarah Jane Nelson from Life is Rosey: Jewelry that Speaks
• Mix things up. Don’t depend on solely on one avenue, especially when you are in the e-commerce business. If one source dries up and that is your only lead/sales source, you are out of luck. I make sure to diversify our online marketing strategy to include numerous avenues where potential customers can find and buy our jewelry. We invest heavily into SEO, Social Media, PPC, Blogger Outreach, Shopping Comparison Feeds and Online PR. So far, our SEO and Shopping Comparison Feeds have proven to be the most effective for our business. Jennifer Dunphy from South Of Exotic
• My tip is, make it a religion to carry your business card, even to social occasions and. wear your products. Canvas not only as many outlets as you can in order to cultivate multiple possibilities to be seen and admired, like social media and  in-store visits, but  social interactions as well.  As Mark Twain said:  ” Lord save us from the Hope tree that has lost its faculty to put out blossoms.” - Jennifer Aston from Art On A Wire Jewelry
• The line is currently sold in 650 stores! Marlyn Schiff is marketed mostly at the fashion and accessory trade shows held in New York City. We also market the Marlyn Schiff brand through our website that sells both to our wholesale and retail customers. Marlyn has sales representatives all over the country selling the contemporary line. Marlyn Schiff jewelry can be seen in major magazines every month including InStyle, Oprah, MORE, US Weekly, People Style Watch and OK Magazine. We have also had jewelery featured in television fashion segments such as Good Morning America, FOX 29 and ABC 6 News. Aside from these marketing strategies, the company makes use of social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter and the Constant Contact mass emailing system that helps to keep all customers up to date on the latest designs. – Marlyn Schiff from Marlyn Schiff
• My best tips are: – Online website with great photos & SEO (sight engine optimization) so people searching for what you offer will find you. Also found Etsy, Facebook, Twitter & Ebay to be very low cost & effective; Offline (craft shows, school & church boutiques/fundraisers, street fairs, giving jewelry donations for charity auctions is a great way to be seen!); Wholesale to stores (calling & going into stores to show them what I have to offer & selling my line at wholesale to them); Independent sales reps selling the line for me like Avon/Scentsy/Pampered Chef, etc. either doing home parties, having their own facebook pages, showing up at their own local fairs/churches/school functions, etc. My sales reps make what my stores make, the difference between wholesale & retail and these motivated women are great sales for me because they are passionate about the line & wear it daily which is just more exposure for the line! - Rachael Miller from Go Sports Jewelry
• The best tips I can give are the following: Make sure your photos are of the best quality, as people are buying online and can’t hold your items, you photos must be fantastic! When marketing online, you must make sure that you are optimizing your site with good SEO (search engine optimization) Your tags, titles, and descriptions must match one another and be relevant to what you are selling. Use social networking for great promotions.  Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Wanelo are all great ways to promote your shop. Good Customer service.  Respond prompty and try to solve any problems that come up quickly and make sure that your customers know exactly what they are getting before hand so there are no surprises. - Joleen from Wasataylor
• As a jewelry entrepreneur and a former PR person, here are the tips I’d like to share: Host a jewelry trunk show, by yourself or with other jewelers who do not produce the same type of jewelry that you do (less competition). Produce a few pieces to be donated to high profile charitable auctions, to get yourself in front of the appropriate clientele. Don’t just go to craft shows,but expand your reach to religious holiday bazaars and showcasing your wares at networking opportunities. Always be wearing one of your fantastic pieces! You are the best showcase for your own jewelry – and when someone stops you on the street to ask where you bought that wonderful piece, you can say, “I created it and would be happy to create a similar one for you for $xxx.”Having a website is important but it constantly needs to be updated with current works. If you can’t worry about photographing new pieces, take pics anyway and let site viewers know that new works are in progress. Then post pics when you can. - Jocelyn Brandeis from JewelsByJocelyn
• One of the most important critical success factors for online product sales is having good images of the product; and this is especially important for an item as personal as jewelry. Unlike in a bricks and mortar store or at a craft fair, the online buyer doesn’t have an opportunity to see and touch the product in person, so good photos are essential. Good jewelry photography doesn’t require a professional photographer nor an expensive camera or any exceptional photographic skills, but it does require some planning on the part of the seller. I have found that most folks that sell jewelry do a good job with the layout of their subjects, but where they need assistance is on the technical aspects. - Stephen from Tabletop Studio
• Here’s some things that I’ve done and I still do to market my business:  I always offer advice and helpful hints to other business owners which in turn provides me business because when you help someone they never forget who help them and most of the time they will shop with your business or offer referrals which also brings business. I travel with my business to different vendor shows and even if the event is not lucrative in one, I find that people will tend to find our business on the social sites like Facebook and Twitter and for me that still shows support of my business. During the second year of business I started to write about my business and my products in magazines and articles. Currently I blog for two magazines and write for Examiner.com for the fashion, and business columns. Recently, I was named 2012 Best Fashion Blogger by Examiner.com. My ultimate tip for small business owners is not to pay for something you can do for yourself and yes this does include marketing. – LaNette Kincaid from  Just Pearlz

An other tool I came across is the use of hashtag #. Here is the whole article. I never understood this hashtag, but now I do, I will be using it from now.

Enough homework for today, the mountains are covered by Sunset's golden blanket. They seem to whisper my name… :-)