NO MATTER HOW large e-commerce sales grow, the jewelry industry will always remain a local business. Wearing jewelry is a personal experience. It’s special and makes you feel good. Although online jewelry sales have grown over the years, there’s always going to be a large group of consumers who will continue to shop for jewelry in-person. For many people, going into a jewelry store is part of the fun! As larger, venture-backed national jewelry sites continue to capture customers, it’s important that as a retail jeweler, you remain visible to your local marketplace.
What Is Local Marketing?
Local marketing is specific. It targets a radius around your location. Typically, this will be the city or town you live in, but can also expand beyond these limits to neighboring areas. It’s not unheard of for some popular jewelry stores to attract customers up to 25 to 50 miles away. Depending on your area, a customer could drive up to an hour if your jewelry store has what they want.
The goal behind local marketing is to segment and fine-tune your marketing budget to attract only the most likely audience who will visit your store. By focusing your efforts you improve your conversion rates and lower your advertising expenses.
Here are 6 tips to improve the effectiveness of your local marketing.
1. Run Locally Targeted Advertising
The first area to review are your digital marketing campaigns. Go through all of your past sales and see where your customers came from. You’ll want to focus on the campaign radius of your PPC ads, display and retargeted banners, as well as any ads you’re running on social media. It’s critical that you’re not running ads that are too broad in scope. It does no good to run state-wide or national ads if the majority of your customers are local.
2. Join Local Groups In Your Area
Local groups such as the Chamber Of Commerce, Rotary Club, or Lion’s Club, are great ways to meet and network with members of your community. Being a jeweler is not just about selling jewelry. It’s a relationship business and about being a part of the generations of families who come to you to help celebrate the most special moments of their life. Oftentimes, the jewelry you sell is passed on as family heirlooms.
3. Offer Local Promotions
Discounts and special offers are always a great strategy. When you combine the traditional sales promotion with a local angle, you have a winning formula for success. Use the name of your city or town as a hashtag, or piggyback on a local event or news story. Any time you can customize a “generic” promotion and give it a local spin will help it to gain more attention.
4. Partner with Local Influencers
Influencers are the new “word-of-mouth” marketing. By working with the most popular people on Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok who live in your area, you’ll be able to reach a local audience not possible elsewhere.
People who follow an influencer naturally trust them, which means you also gain the added benefit of an implied endorsement. An influencer’s opinion carries weight and if they brag about your jewelry store or a favorite style you sell, their followers will take notice.
5. Use Google My Business
A great way to market your jewelry store locally is to create a Google My Business profile. This allows you to create a page for your business so you show up on Google Maps and in Google search results. It also greatly improves your chances of appearing when someone searches for “jewelry stores near me”.
Remember to include a full description of your jewelry store, contact information and store hours. You can even add photos of the exterior and interior of you store, including favorite styles and other examples of the type of jewelry you sell.
6. Promote a Loyalty Program
Whether it’s a member club or is points-based, loyalty programs come in many varieties. Consider offering your best customers a discount off their purchase or a special jewelry piece just for members.
Loyalty programs which reward repeat purchases are a great way to increase the lifetime value of a customer. There aren’t many loyalty programs in the jewelry industry (especially on the local-level) which makes them even more of a potent tool.
With more ways than ever to market your jewelry store, it’s critical that you narrow your focus and only go after the audience who is most likely to buy from you. Local marketing is a proven and successful way to grow sales. By adjusting your strategy to target only the right people, you make every dollar count. If you need any help building your local strategy for your jewelry business, don’t hesitate to contact our experts at: hello@smartagesolutions.com