The Social Media Shuffle

Every day there seems to be some new, latest greatest viral marketing tool that is all the rage. Jewelers are so desperate to find that killer marketing application that is going to get them ahead of the guy around the corner that they attend seminar after seminar and spend hours in the back of their store, sucked into their computer, trying to stay ahead of the technological tsunami that will destroy us all. All of these new tools are web based and created by young brilliant 20 year olds in their dorm rooms at Harvard. Every one of them is going to be the “next big thing” and they all fall under the banner of Social Media. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, ( Whatever happened to MySpace?) they are all going to change the way we communicate with consumers. Traditional advertising is dead! All hail New Media! There’s only one problem. They don’t work. None of them work as effective, efficient advertising channels. Don’t get me wrong, I think every store should have a Facebook page, but that should never be confused with adverting. Mark Moates, president of Smythe Jewelers shared with me the other day ” I’d rather shoot myself than sit through another Facebook seminar. If tried this stuff! I’m one of the fools who has actually spent real money on Facebook advertising..it simply doesn’t work.”. Being one of the largest fine jewelers in the country, with a monster advertising budget, Mark can afford to experiment, and he does. He’s always pushing the envelope. That is why his advice actually means something. So don’t worry about the social media shuffle and focus on communications technology you can and must control.

Traditional Media with a Twist

Here is what works, traditional media with a twist. You see, in truth, nothing has really changed. The key to your success is dominating the “last mile” as I like to say, the twenty miles or so around your store. That is your market, not cyberspace. By dominating you local media market with radio or TV, you buy top of mind awareness that you simply can’t get any other way. I call it the heavy lifting. Increase your share of voice and you will slowly increase your share of market. Face it, consumers buy what they are told to buy and if you are not asking for the business you will not get it. It really is that simple. Now, as you know, in most markets radio is still by far the most cost effective medium, but we also use TV, especially cable when it is the next best alternative. The point is you have the beat the drum. You have to lead the band!

Ok, so what is the twist? The twist is a killer web site and an a real, ongoing email marketing strategy. You see, web sites have simply replaced catalogs and email has replace snail mail (direct mail). The problem is that most jewelers web sites are even more horrible than their stores and most of you only give lip service to email marketing. At Freshley Media, we have solved the web site problem with then best looking jewelry store sites on the web, and that process is growing and improving everyday under Greg Harvell’s leadership. But probably the most pressing problems with most of our stores is email.

Email is direct mail and you can now afford to do it every month. This past year Alex Rysman at Romm Diamonds in Brockton, Mass, really ramped up his client email acquisition as part of his Pandora marketing. When you bought a piece of Pandora at Romm Diamonds, you went into the database. By this past December Romm had over 2000 customer email addresses! Each month, whenever Pandora had an offer, Romm sent out an email and month after moth the business grew. In December alone, Romm Diamonds did over $200,000 in Pandora! ” Once we acquire a customer, we never let them go”, Alex Rysman told me, ” Email has now become automatic with every client. We spend a lot in TV and billboards to get them into our store, if we have their email we are opening a regular communications channel on their terms .”

Just add email addresses and stir!

So how can you ramp up your email? Simply call or email Greg Harvell, greg@freshleymedia.com , and we can do all the creative and delivery for you. We use state of the art Campaign Monitor to administer and mail your emails. Give Greg your creative ideas, or promotion and he will create great looking emails and upon your approval, blast them to all your customers. For our website clients we produce a seamless campaign on both the store’s website and Facebook page. It’s all done with one order! This whole system does depend on you acquiring email addresses, and that is something we should have all been doing for years. If you do nothing else this year, make getting your email database and an email campaign going your highest storewide priority.

The bottom line is invest a strong, market dominant broadcast campaign, along with a great web site and an integral email strategy and your business is guaranteed to grow. Most jewelers can’t even get the first right. Get all three humming and you’ll print money.