This is a continuation of yesterday's Daily Golden Nugget. I'm explaining how you can tie together different combinations of marketing methods to use as a unified marketing approach.Please refer to yesterday's Nugget to see the first 5 of this list. Here are the next 5...
Newspapers and email - Depending on who you talk to you will hear different reports on the successfulness of newspaper ads. According to reports from Editor & Publisher Magazine the local town newspapers have a higher readership than the county or regional newspapers. Consider advertising in local newspapers if you have that option.
Unfortunately, newspaper ads fall into that category of blasting the same marketing message out to your entire audience. This is a good place to consistently advertise your brand with a regular message, perhaps your Unique Selling Proposition with a subtle highlight of a particular product or service for that week.
Each newspaper ad could then be followed up with an email which mentions that week's print ad, but also gives more information. This is similar to the direct mail/email I explained above. I caution against sending that email to your entire list. Instead, carefully review the highlighted product of the week and send an email out only to those who would be interested in that particular special. Using this method you will not fatigue your subscribers by over-emailing them.
Newspaper and direct mail - This combination certainly sounds outdated, but truthfully many jewelers are still using this method during the holiday season. Several service companies catering to the retail jewelry industry provide bulk mail services during the holidays, but most of them are just sending out coupons to previous customers.
If you haven't realized it yet, this idea of pairing your marketing not only protects you from a single marketing point of failure, but it also acts as a one-two-punch to help make your marketing more effective. Use the same method I explained above for newspaper/email paring to associate your newspaper ads to direct mail recipients. You really will have to figure out a way to segment your customer database and export a list to your print on demand direct mail company to make this work.
Google AdWords and blog writing - AdWords provides a direct online method of advertising as long as you pay them every month and follow Google's rules. Meanwhile, the blog writing helps to build the organic traffic you need to reach the eventual sustainability of your online marketing.
If done correctly, the blog writing will become more important, and produce greater results than AdWords. No matter what, never participate in AdWords unless you are doing some form of website content building.
Google has changed the way AdWords works several times, and each change usually causes a serious interruption in how ads work. Relying on AdWords alone almost guarantees lower sales a few months each year as you reconfigure your AdWords account to comply with new methods.
Blogging and email - If you're reading this Nugget via email then you fall into this exact category. I write these Daily Golden Nuggets specifically to post as newsletters (i.e. blogs) to the jwag.biz website, but they are also sent out via email to readers who chose to sign up to the email list.
Likewise, some of your own customers would prefer room receive your blog posts as emails instead of coming back to your website to read. The posted blog on your website builds organic traffic over time while the emails maintain contact with your regular customer base.
Blogging and social media - It's important to note that all of your blog post should be directly on your main website, not some random WordPress site or an article marketing site. Google officially frowns on these methods not, and they do not help to build organic traffic to your website at all.
Each blog post should be shared to Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Each of those networks will have their own methods of sharing. Don't use the same description when sharing, say something different for each network.
According to the latest JBT report, the jewelry industry is shrinking, but that's not because people are not buying jewelry. Many local businesses are struggling to understand how the world of marketing has changed with all these new marketing options. The old methods of marketing that are so common are also becoming ineffective.
Attempting any of the marketing combinations I mentioned above will take a lot more time, effort, and money than simply creating and sending out something using one of those old methods. The real money will be in the segmentation of your marketing. By focusing your segmentation you will be able to elaborate on single topics to get someone's attention, rather than trying to be everything to everyone. The payoff will be greater.
I'm an optimist and would like to think that the retail jeweler is not a dying breed, but just one that is going through an evolution into a new media world. That evolution will probably see jewelers becoming specialists in particular types of jewelry as well as those who become resellers for the new wave of wearable devices that have already replaced bracelets and watches with a lot of additional types already in development.
