46. How much do you spend on advertising as a percentage of revenue?
| 0% |
| 6% |
| 1-3% |
| 29% |
| 4-6% |
| 29% |
| 7-9% |
| 14% |
| 10-12% |
| 17% |
| More than 12% |
| 5% |
Spending more. Ten years ago, fewer than 14% of jewelers spent an amount equal to one-tenth of their revenue on advertising. Now that figure is up to 22%. The majority of jewelers still spend less than 5% while those who spend nothing has remained constant at around 5%.
47. Which of the following gets the largest portion of your advertising budget?
| Paid search (PPC, Google Ads, etc) |
| 14% |
| Other social media marketing |
| 12% |
| Radio |
| 12% |
| Print |
| 10% |
| Facebook |
| 9% |
| Billboards |
| 9% |
| Direct mail including catalogs |
| 7% |
| SEO |
| 7% |
| Television |
| 6% |
| Community events (including sponsorships) |
| 5% |
| Email marketing |
| 2% |
| Other |
| 1% |
| Don’t advertise |
| 6% |
48. What one word do you most want to own in the minds of your customers (and employees)?
| Trust |
| 72% |
| Quality |
| 12% |
| Fun |
| 3% |
| Skill |
| 2% |
| Value |
| 2% |
| Different |
| 2% |
| Beauty |
| 2% |
| Other (Included luxury, honesty, integrity, and relationship) |
| 7% |
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49. Rank the various traditional media by most effective (10) to least as a marketing channel.
*Weighted average
By a significant margin, direct mail was ranked as the most effective traditional marketing channel. To be sure, the opportunities for direct mail are more limited, but it’s also the channel jewelers spend the least amount of money on, lagging radio, print and billboards and ahead of only television.
50. Rank the various social media on which you have a presence by most effective (10) to least as a marketing channel.
51. If you could choose any one of the following, which would it be?
52. If someone in your area makes a generic search in Google for “jewelry repair,” what page does your store appear on?
| The first page |
| 72% |
| Second page |
| 12% |
| Third page |
| 3% |
| Later than the third page |
| 2% |
Fail to land on the first page of Google, and the chance someone will click on your link dives by 90%. If your store’s listing is in no-man’s land — basically everything after the top listing on Page 2 — you have work to do on your SEO.
53. How do you respond to negative online reviews?
54. Has a marketing or advertising effort ever backfired on you? Tell us about it.
Sometimes you come up with a campaign as brilliant as a “Diamond is Forever” … and other times it doesn’t quite work out the way you wanted. Jewelers reveal their misfires.
- Back in 2010, I worked hard on a “Fire and Ice” campaign for a new diamond cut. The next month, the Trojan Fire and Ice Condoms hit the market for the first time. I was mortified when our radio ad ran on the same block as theirs.
- Jewelry cleaner giveaway with theater ticket stub (one per person). 0ne person brought in a dustpan full of stubs. Never again!
- Ran an ad once that said we encouraged touchy feely, just not with the sales staff. That got some uproar from the older population.
- TV ad making fun of engagement ring customer.
- I mailed 10,000 holiday flyers in 2020, and the post office delivered them end of January 2021.
- We offered free polishing just to have old ladies bring in their entire jewelry collection to polish.
- I had a plus size bridal event that did not work. Very surprising.
- Direct mail sent to wife and husbands that were divorced.
- We sent out a text to all of our clients one time and the timing got messed up and so our service ended up texting all of our clients at 5 in the morning. Very embarrassing.
- A print ad with a pair of diamond studs with the tag “anti-depressant medicine.”
- I rented a booth at a dental convention trying to sell jewelry to dentists who were away from their families at a trade show. Not a single sale.
- A TV and print promotion that was built around “Nothing is going to cost you an arm and a leg,” using prosthetics as props to make the point. Although a marketing success, we found it offended many people. Many phone call complaints.
- We did a $10K diamond engagement ring giveaway and the contest winner got extremely mad when they realized they were getting a tax declaration document and had to pay taxes on it.
- I once featured a ring with a marquise cut center stone that looked rude in print.
- Some of our most popular billboards will get someone offended. “Sometimes it’s OK to throw rocks at pretty girls” on a board with a diamond ring had someone thinking we were supporting abuse.
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55. Is there a marketing slogan, promotion or campaign you wished you’d thought of? Please tell us why.
JEWELRY
- “A Diamond is Forever”
(“Because that slogan still exists.”) - “Every Kiss Begins with Kay”
(“I haven’t had cable in 15 years but still remember it!”) - “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend”
(“Says it all.”) - Chocolate Diamonds.
(Le Vian’s remaking of a once overlooked colored diamond into a desired gemstone.) - Tied: “You never actually own a Patek Philippe.”
“I am loved.” — Helzberg
“Anything by Steven Singer.”
HONORABLE MENTION:
- A special place should probably be reserved for the tag line, mentioned by several jewelers: “Where ____ gets engaged.”
NON-JEWELRY
- “Just do it.” — Nike
“Two all beef pattie special sauce cheese pickles lettuce on a sesame seed bun.” — McDonald’s
“If you dream it, we can build it.” — Lowes