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Have you ever wondered how you could make your jewelry store more profitable?
Does the idea of marketing in today’s social media world leave you with more questions than answers?
Are you working harder, while having fewer new clients, with less margin and profit?
– CLICK ON PHOTO FOR SHOW NOTES –
Questions like these and more will be answered by experts in the jewelry trade.
Real people, giving real insight, into what really works when it comes to getting the most from your jewelry business.
If this sounds like what you have been looking for, then pull up a chair, because the first episode is about to start.
More About “Inside the Jewelry Trade” radio show
This is the online radio show devoted to jewelry store owners, the jewelry trade, and those who want to get a rare glimpse behind the curtain into the $70 billion dollars a year U.S. jewelry and watch industry.
We give you access to jewelry designers, vendors, successful store owners, and those who have the proven expertise you need to move your jewelry business forward right now.
This radio show is for those in the jewelry trade who expect more from their business and want to cut through the clutter to find out what really works.
Our mission statement is simply to be a conduit of relevant information that strengthens and elevates the jewelry trade in the competitive global luxury market.
We want to bring the cutting edge of social marketing, business expertise, and best practices to the members of the jewelry trade as a whole.
Hello and welcome to “Inside the Jewelry Trade!”
I’m your host Rod Worley and this is the online radio show devoted to jewelry store owners, the jewelry trade, and those who want to get a rare glimpse behind the curtain into the $70 billion dollars a year U.S. jewelry and watch industry.
We give you access to jewelry designers, vendors, successful store owners, and those who have the proven expertise you need to move your jewelry business forward right now.
The bottom line: This online radio show is for those in the jewelry trade who expect more from their business, and want to cut through the clutter to find out what really works.
This episode is sponsored by the good people at Four Grainer.
Four Grainer is a content-driven social media marketing firm for jewelers, by jewelers.
Their four divisions provide the diverse expertise and services today’s jewelry brand needs to profitably grow their business.
From content-driven social media marketing to their exclusive “Jewelry Media Center”, to one-on-one consulting, Four Grainer has the expertise you need to take your jewelry business to the next level.
Welcome to our inaugural show!
It has been that kind of journey from scribbles on a restaurant napkin to finished product. All told it has taken a year to bring it all together into the finished product that you are listening to.
Now granted, this wasn’t our only project. More of a side project really from our regular day to day business. But still, a year to pull it all together, though anyone who knows me will tell you that I am a tad bit of a perfectionist, ok, well, full disclosure here, maybe more than just a tad bit, but you know, everyone has some sort of issues that they are working though right?
Now about the show itself. The concept for this show really came out of the experience of going to a jewelry trade show. When you go to a trade show they have various breakout sessions where these experts give presentations about what you could be doing to take your jewelry business to the next level.
The great part about that for me is the fact that these breakout sessions are highly informational, usually short, and you leave them with some great ideas, or at the very least, a different way of looking at an issue.
So I was thinking, wouldn’t it be cool if you could sit down with these experts that you see at the trade shows, in a nice, relaxed atmosphere and get to know them a little bit beyond their polished stage personas, and actually ask them some questions?
You know, get a chance to know them as real people, get their views on related topics, and ask the real-world questions that could help my business.
So who is going to be on the show? Well, it is going to be a diverse group because we want to introduce you to a wide range of designers, experts, and highly successful people in the trade that can you the information you need to move your jewelry business forward.
We will be interviewing established jewelry designers that you see splashed all over the trade publications and new, emerging jewelry designers that you might not have heard much about yet.
For me, I think it is going to be a lot of fun talking to these new designers because they are right on the verge of breaking onto the national scene.
A lot like finding a diamond in the rough. I mean, wouldn’t it be great, to have talked to some of these big-name designers just before they got to be household names?
Listen to where they got their initial ideas, how they struggled and paid their dues. America loves a good David and Goliath story, and honestly, count me in because I am right in there with everyone else.
From there we going to bring on various jewelry vendors who can positively impact your day to day business. Some vendors that you might be on the fence about for your store and perhaps when you hear the interview, it helps you make up your mind.
For me personally, when I’m selling jewelry it is all about the story, especially the back story. I mean, what can I bring into the presentation that transforms this piece of jewelry into more than simply metal and gems.
Listening to vendors and designers talk about how, and why their pieces were created gave you a ton of useful material for your presentation.
So we will bring on authorities in website design, search engine optimization, marketing, social media, and operations.
We are also going to invite successful store owners and jewelry brands that have figured it out. The ones that have perfected the “Secret Sauce” of sales growth, bottom-line profit, and positive brand recognition.
Now, these won’t always be the big names, because there are several small and medium-sized that are having success.
To add some fun to the show, we have added a “Shout Out” feature which allows anyone to call our studio and leave a message. We’ll pick one or two per episode and get your voice on the show. To get more details on how to do a “Shout Out”, visit, “How To Do A Shout Out”
I think that is going to be a fun feature for the show for two reasons. First, it gives anyone in the jewelry trade a chance to be heard by their peers, and secondly, it is a chance to show off your creativity.
Personally I am looking forward to hearing them. If you want more information, check out the show notes for this episode titled “Launching Inside the Jewelry Trade online radio show, episode 001” on Four Grainer.com
All it takes is for a magazine like Forbes, Inc, or USA Today to run an article about this hot, new emerging social media platform that all the young people are raving about to cause a tsunami of emails and inquiries.
Look I get it, no one wants to be left behind. No one wants to be the last person to the party, but before you start chasing the latest, greatest shiny object consider these three key points.
Three Key Points To Consider
1. Does this “new” platform fit into our existing marketing and social media strategy? I will let you in on a little secret here. The reason that most social media platforms fail to produce the expected results is that independent jewelers and jewelry brands don’t understand the platform and give up after only a few months. Remember that social media is simply that, “It’s social” and it does take a while to establish a meaningful social relationship.
2. Are our clients on this platform and will they benefit from us being n it? Let me clear the air a little bit here. The big three of Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter are pretty safe bets that your jewelry clients are on them and using them often. The question comes in to play when we talk about the next 20 social media platforms. Right now you hear about how hot “Snap Chat” is with 20 somethings. Ok, that is true, but I would rather you see you devote your time, energy, and resources to making a real impact with the platforms you’re on already.
3. Can we afford to invest in it? Resources are finite, even for the largest jewelry brands. While getting on social media platforms is often free, the actual cost of content creation and staffing is certainly not.
So exactly who on your staff has the expertise, ability, and time to take on another platform? Please, please, don’t say that your sister’s son who just moved home from college is going to run it. That is a whole another topic, and one that makes my deep dish pizza turnover in my stomach.
In today’s uber-connected, social media-driven, everything-is-public age, people tell you they are having incredible results with the latest shiny object, or as Michael Lewis aptly call in his great book, “The New, New Thing”.
I don’t dispute their results but to be successful long term, you need a long term outlook for your marketing and social media efforts.
The bottom line is that you need to stop looking for the silver bullet, the magic cure, the next latest greatest. Right now, times are crazy and challenging enough; don’t complicate business management with a lack of focus, priorities, and discipline.
The bottom line here is to resist the temptation to chase the latest shiny object in business and especially the latest in social media.
We’re back and as promised, let’s dive into the mailbag to answer one of your social media marketing questions. Now, this is one of the questions that an independent jeweler submitted to us in the last couple of days.
But, before we start, let me get off on a quick tangent here. What you may not know is that since you are in the jewelry trade you can always get answers to your social media marketing questions. All you have to do is go to Four Grainer.com and click on the light bulb with the big red question mark inside of it.
The icon is located just below the initial fold on the right side. The good news here is that the answers are free. Yes, in an age where there seems to be a charge for everything, answers to your social media marketing questions have always been, and always will be free.
Sorry about the tangent, but I wanted to make sure you knew about this valuable resource for those in the jewelry trade.
So let’s grab a question. Alright, let’s grab a question, a jeweler in the heartland of the country asked, “How often should my jewelry business post to Facebook.” That’s a good question and one that we hear a lot.
The short answer is once a day because you want to keep the channel current and relevant for your clients, but there is more to the answer than that. The answer I often give is, “How often do you have something relevant to say that your clients would honestly want to know about?”
Look, success with social media comes down to two factors.
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Two Factors For Success With Social Media
1. Content. Content is absolutely king. Content is what makes social media work, and really the Internet itself. Do you have something to say that others want to hear? It really comes down to that. The more relevant, informative, or entertaining it is, the more it gets shared. The more it gets shared, the more people follow your platform. The more followers you have, the more potential impact you have to get your marketing message out there. Granted that is a very simplistic answer, but it is essentially how it works. The problem is that very few jewelers or jewelry brands have anything more to say than just “Here is a photo of my jewelry, or here is a photo of my heavily discounted jewelry, and please buy it.”
2. Long Term Commitment To Caring About Your Clients. Social media is by its very nature “social”. It is all about building relationships with people. It is without a doubt one of the greatest tools available to a jeweler to show your clients that you are more than just a place to buy stuff. That you are actually a living, breathing, and caring group of people that provide a trusted service to the community.
Look, I get it, I have a business degree, I understand how this works, businesses are in the business to sell stuff, but here’s the thing, social media for businesses is about relationships first, and selling stuff second.
Relationships take time to grow in your personal life and they take time to grow and develop online with your clients. Social media isn’t a quick fix to your business, it is a long term investment, that if done well will pay dividends well beyond your expectations.
So we come back to the original question of, “How often should I post on Facebook?”
The expanded answer is that for the majority of businesses that simply post product photos, once a day is sufficient, but you have great content to share, if you are trying to build a long term relationship then two or perhaps three times a day is where you should be to engage your audience.
Alright, I hope that answered your question.
As for other questions, there are probably some questions you might have about the show that we haven’t addressed yet.
The first question would be, “What is the average length of the show?” I’ll answer that one by saying this show is set up to be a commuter podcast. This means the average commute in America is around 23 minutes so, the length of the show is going to be around 23 minutes, give or take a couple of minutes depending on the guest we are talking to at the time.
The bottom line here is that we want to get in, give you great content, and get you on your way.
Another question would be, “How often are you going to publish shows?” Our plan is twice a month with perhaps a few extra ones tossed in from time to time. The thing is, we want to under-promise and over-deliver. You can count on the first Tuesday and the third Tuesday of the month.
As a side note, we also publish our free email-based Newsletter on the first Tuesday of the month. I know that was a subtle plug for our successful monthly Newsletter, but seriously, if you are one of the few in the jewelry trade who isn’t already signed up, honestly, ah, what are you waiting for?
With those questions out of the way, I have one for you. “Who would you like to see come on the show?” When it is all said and done, this really is your show. So this is your chance to let us know who you want. Simply email me personally at Rod@FourGrainer.com
As we draw to a close here, let me take a moment to really thank some people who helped make this show a reality.
Certainly want to thank Dan Lyons who put together the snappy intro, outro music, and the commercial. Dan’s one of the top-rated DJs in Australia and he really knows the radio business. You can reach him at Dan Lyons: Podcasting Like a DJ
Special thanks to Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income and his incredible free video tutorials on how to podcast. You can reach Pat at Pat Flynn: Smart Passive Income
I have to thank Cliff Ravenscraft for his expert advice on equipment and how to produce the show. Simply could not have done it without you, Cliff. You can reach Cliff at Podcast Answer Man
A heartfelt thank you to Dave Jackson and his School of Podcasting for tips, time-saving advice, and for being such a genuine supporter of all podcasters. You can reach Dave at School of Podcasting
Thank you for taking the time to listen in, and I hope you take a moment to rate this show in iTunes and give us some feedback love in the comments section.
If there are any questions you can see the show notes for this episode titled, “Launching Inside the Jewelry Trade online radio show, episode 001” at Four Grainer.com, or you can contact me at Four Grainer.com
I ‘m your host Rod Worley, and it has been a real pleasure being with you today.
Take Care!
Our “Inside the Jewelry Trade” Radio Show Episodes
The host of “Inside the Jewelry Trade” Radio Show – Jewelry Business Strategist – President of Four Grainer LLC. Author of the business books “A Reason To Chant,” and “A Reason to Chant – Jewelry Trade Edition.” Rod lives in Atlanta with his wife and two almost-human cats.