SPEAKER_00
Today I'm talking about what to do when you launch a new collection or a new design and you just don't see the sales that you were anticipating. We're going to really look at that pre-launch strategy and how you can improve it and how your collection can be impacting your launches. And for anyone who hasn't got the memo yet, my team is giving away free strategy calls.

So if you've been listening to the podcast and you feel really excited about your business and you feel ready for expansion and growth, then head to jewellerybusinessacademy.ca to learn a little bit more about the program and go ahead and book in your free 30 minute strategy call. My name is Robin Clark and I'm obsessed with all things business and marketing.

I'm a jewelry designer who left the corporate world and grew a successful jewelry business. And now I help women just like you from around the world do the same. I'm the founder and CEO of the Jory Business Academy, the host of the Jory Business Academy podcast.

And I'm here to help you scale your jewelry business to six figures and beyond without burning out. Through my coaching program and podcast, I help you navigate the challenging seasons of business as well as teach you the secrets to building a sustainable business that makes you feel good. So grab a cup of tea and your notebook, get cozy and let's dive in.

Hello and welcome back. It's so good to have you here today. Today I've actually switched things up and I have set up my recording studio on the floor of my office space.

I am sitting in the sun. I'm so, so happy. It just feels like such a switch in energy as well.

And I was chatting about that on Instagram today, just moving your workspace, moving how you're doing things. If you ever feel like you're in that stagnant energy and you just can't shift from it, makes the world of difference. So today I am recording, as I said, on my office studio floor in the sunshine with my tea, ready to roll, ready to dive into a topic which I think is really, really important in a lot of jewelry business owners experience.

Sometimes multiple times throughout their entrepreneurial journey. And that is what to do when you're really excited to launch your new collection or launch your new jewelry piece or design. And then you just don't see the sales that you anticipated, you know? And I see this a lot and it really impacts businesses, obviously in terms of sales, but it also has a significant impact on a lot of business owners' sense of self-worth.

It makes them doubt themselves, it makes them start spiraling, it can lead them towards burnout as well. So it's not a great situation to be in. So today I wanna just really dive into this topic and what to actually do when you are really excited about a new designer or a new collection, really excited for that launch and then you just feel like knocked flat when you actually launch and just don't see the results that you were anticipating.

And I think if we start at the beginning here, it all starts with us. We think as business owners or as designers that oh my goodness, I am so in love with this new piece or this new collection, that should be enough to make people wanna buy. Like I just see, I just love this new piece, I just love this new design, I'm so excited about it and we think that that's enough to make people want to buy.

And you know, it's one thing for you to feel that excitement and it's really important that you feel that excitement about your new pieces and that you feel passionate about the pieces you're designing, but it's another thing to actually help your community feel that excitement. You have to acknowledge that your community is made up of lots of different people going through lots of different stages of life with other things going on and they're different biotypes. Your community is made up of multiple different biotypes.

You're gonna have your super fan customers who are always there, first ones out the gate when you launch a new collection and they're like oh my goodness, I'm so excited, I can't wait to get my hands on that piece. But then you're also gonna have the anxious buyers who are like, not too sure, I don't really trust myself, I'm not too sure what I want to buy, I have a lot of hesitations, you're gonna have buyers who need a lot of social proof, they wanna buy what other people are buying into, they trust other people's opinions, they put a lot of value on that and you know, that's okay. We have all these different biotypes and we have to acknowledge, as I said, that they're not all gonna be as excited about your new collection as you are or maybe they see your excitement but they're not even getting that chance to really connect to those new pieces.

So you really wanna acknowledge that just because you're excited doesn't mean your community is automatically gonna be as excited and just because they are excited doesn't mean they're gonna be pulling out their credit cards. And so if you're listening to this and you're like, oh well, I'm not that excited about my new piece or my new collection, that is a big, big, big red flag because if you're not excited, you cannot expect other people to be excited about your new piece or your new collection and when I say excited, I don't mean that this has to be the perfect design or the perfect collection but you have to feel passionate about it. You know, I see people selling really simple designs but they have so much passion behind it that people want to buy in because they're wanting to buy into that energy behind the piece, the feeling behind the piece.

So make sure that you are making and designing things that you feel excited about and you're not just putting those out there because you think this is what people want to see because ultimately people can feel the energy with which you're putting things out. So, you know, the first thing we want to do is make sure we're not cold launching and I've done a whole podcast episode about this actually. If you haven't listened to it, I highly recommend it.

I'll link it in the show notes for you but you don't want a cold launch to your community. Only massive, massive, massive brands can get away with cold launches and do really well but the majority of business owners, especially if you're listening to this, I can tell you, you do not want a cold launch to your community. You have to build up the hype and the way that I've kind of shared this on another episode is think about a friend who's in a relationship and they're in a new relationship.

Well, when they start dropping hints on Instagram, sharing little snapshots of them having coffee but you're not seeing the guy's face, going for walks on the beach, little trips but you're never seeing the full picture and they build up for a few weeks or even months and then they share the full on face photo, then they share the engagement, then they share, like, build up to the wedding. People are gonna feel very invested in that, they're gonna feel very excited for them, they're going to have just built up more anticipation so when they announce, oh yeah, we're getting married or whatever, it's not a shock, it's an excitement. Whereas, you know, if somebody is like, oh, I'm gonna hide this relationship till we married and then one day you just post a random photo and then you are in a wedding dress with some random person, it has the shock factor for sure but it doesn't have that connection factor so people, when they see that, just feel shocked, maybe they're like, oh, that's cool, that's exciting for her but they move on with their day.

Same thing when it comes to your jewelry. We don't wanna use the shock factor, shock factor doesn't sell, we wanna use the connection factor, we wanna focus on visibility so we wanna make sure, leading up to your launch, you are giving people the chance to, number one, be aware that you have a new collection launching and number two, have time to connect to those pieces, know which pieces they really like, know the names, know the materials, know the inspiration and story behind it. We want them to, when your launch launches, on the launch day, we already want your community to know the name of the piece or pieces that they are ready to buy and they are waiting and they are excited so when you launch that collection, they are there spending money and they're not only getting to know your pieces at that point so, you know, when you are super excited for a launch and you just not seen the sales, I want you to look back at, did you give these pieces a proper chance at being sold? Did you give them a chance? Did you make them visible to your community? Did you tell your community about the inspiration and story behind them? Did you really give them a fair chance? Now, if the answer is no when you're like, oh shoot, I've messed this up big time, I can't believe I just didn't give them enough chance, I didn't warm them up enough and now I have to design a whole new collection.

You don't have to design a new collection. You can relaunch existing products, you can relaunch a collection that had a bit of a flopped launch. Nobody is going to know and a lot of people really overestimate how much your customers and community are aware of what you're doing.

You can literally relaunch a flopped collection and I've seen this with clients actually in the jewelry business academy. I've had multiple clients have this where they're like, oh, I had this gorgeous collection for a whole year and I tried everything and I just didn't see the sales. So I'm cutting that collection and I'm gonna just create something new and I'm like, okay, but let's look at what you actually did for that collection.

Did you actually market in a way that number one made it highly visible? Did people even know it existed? Or did they not buy because they didn't even know about it? Or were you giving them enough information? Were you hitting all the different buyer types with your content? Were you giving lots of social proof? Were you telling lots of stories? Were you bringing those pieces to life? Were you making it feel like they're getting a similar experience that they would be if they're walking through a storm, picking up pieces and trying them on? Were you able to translate that online and to social media? And so when we look at that and when I looked at this with my clients, it's like, no, we didn't actually do any of that. We were posting some photos and telling people, are we launched this collection? Come by, do this. But that type of content used to do well a couple of years ago.

It just doesn't cut it on the online world now. Your customers rarely have so much choice. There are an abundance of jewelry businesses out there for them to shop from, to choose from.

And so they're going to buy from number one, businesses that are visible, visibility is key. And number two, people that they know, like and trust. So if they really get to know, like and trust you and you really appeal to what it is that they're looking to buy into, feelings-wise and values-wise, well, you're setting yourself and your business up for success that way.

So if you're listening to this and you're like, okay, I messed up that launch or that collection that was so dreamy, never just generated the sales I anticipated. I want you to try something new. I want you to relaunch.

And I want you to give yourself, even up to six, seven weeks to really build anticipation, build excitement, build hype. I want to know that if I were to give your community a pop quiz before your launch, would they be able to tell me what's launching? Would they be able to tell me when? Would they be able to tell me some names of pieces? Would they be able to tell me some stories? Would they be able to tell me which pieces they are super excited about? And that's when you know that you've done a good job marketing your collection. We need that excitement and hype long before the actual launch.

So go ahead and definitely relaunch any old pieces or collections that you have in the past that didn't do super well. And when you're doing this, I want you to keep one thing in mind. Some people launch massive collections and it's very overwhelming and they're giving their customers too many options.

And this can be another thing. You could have done all the right things building up to the launch and then you're not seeing the results you anticipated or they're good sales but just not as high as you were hoping to see. And in that case, I want you to look at what your collection was, what you launched.

Did you have a lot of competing products? Do you have a lot of price points that are right at the same place? And you're making it hard for customers to choose between pieces. I don't think people realize how difficult it is as a consumer to choose pieces when you're shopping. I was recently, I'm going on a trip soon and I was recently shopping for bikinis and stuff.

And let me tell you, I was overwhelmed by choice and I finally narrowed it down to my favorite brands. And then from there, I just, there's all these different designs, all these different colors. And I was so, I don't know, it was a lot to try and choose which ones you think are the best for you and also be like, okay, but what if I'm making a mistake here? So if you think of what you're presenting to your customers, not as the owner, not as the designer, but as a customer who has a busy life, who maybe has a business or a full-time job, who has a family, who has other activities, have you made it really easy for them to choose a piece from that, your collection and not feel like they're missing out on other pieces? And this is massive.

This is where having smaller launches is so much more effective. You don't want pieces that compete with one another in terms of design or price in a launch. So I need some of my tea because I feel like I'm losing my voice today, but.

Anyway, so I want you to think about that. So if you launched and you did all the right things, look at what you launched, look at that collection. Also, look at the variety within the collection.

Does it look like all those pieces were made by the same designer, by the same business owner? Do they all look like they fit within the right niche, the same niche? Are you trying to appeal to everyone with your collection? Do you have gold and silver and gemstones and pearls and all the things in that one collection? Because if you're trying to appeal to everyone, you're gonna appeal to no one. It's another thing to keep in mind. So, you know, I really want you to think about how you can make customers feel good about shopping with you because ultimately, if they feel good about shopping with you, they're going to want to shop from you.

And so we want to, number one, focus on building that trust. And part of building trust is showing them behind the scenes what you're doing. Letting them know you're creating this new collection, making them feel involved.

And this is something I actually see so many business owners that are new, make this mistake. They are working sometimes for weeks, sometimes for months behind the scenes, coming up with their business name, coming up with their collection, coming up with their pieces, naming the pieces, building the website. And they're like, oh, I'm not gonna talk about it online yet because there's no collection, there's no this.

And I'm like, no, that's the biggest mistake. You are missing out big time by not showing up on social media and on your email list and that. And letting people see the process, let them see the process.

And a lot of people hold back from this because they're like, oh, I don't want my competitors to be copying me. Let me tell you, like, people are gonna copy whether or not you share that. We need to focus on connecting to our community and not on worrying about our competitors.

You know, forget about the competitors. To me, honestly, I'm stressed when people aren't copying my content and I'm stressed when people aren't secretly watching my stories, thinking that I can't see them. Then I'm stressed.

I'm like, oh, okay, people don't care. When people are copying, it's annoying, it's frustrating, but to me, it's a sign like, oh, yeah, you're on the right track. So you just wanna reframe that because people are gonna copy things that are good, things that are working.

And they're always gonna be a few steps behind you because they don't know what you're planning and what you're doing. So always keep that focus on where you're going. Don't hold back from sharing because you're worried about competitors.

If you know that that content is gonna help your community connect to you and connect to your brand and build that trust. The no-like trust factor is just massive. So I wanna keep this short and sweet.

I would love for you to go re-look at your most recent launch, look at the numbers, look at like, did this hit your expectations? Could you have maybe improved things? Have you got a launch coming up? What is the process that you have set up for that launch? Are you hitting all the different biotypes? Do you know what those different biotypes are? Like take a look at what your previous launches looked like and what your upcoming launches looked like and re-launch all collections with a new strategy in place. And also simplify your collections if there's too many pieces. Even launching one piece can be a really great approach.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by this whole concept, choose one piece and just launch one piece. You're really gonna help your community focus on that one piece, get to know it, get excited about it. And then when you launch, you should see significantly different results if you execute this properly.

And I've seen that as I said with clients in the jewelry business academy who had pieces that just didn't do that well. And when we took those and put them in a small collection and built up the hype, built up the excitement, made it highly visible, let people know about them, told the stories, shared the reviews, the shared testimonials, shared our stories about those pieces. It gave people number one, the awareness that these pieces are there.

It helped them feel excited. And I had a client with 70 pieces that she had just wanted to get rid of because she's like, these are 70 designs. I don't wanna do anymore.

They've been so slow. I just can't seem to move them. I just wanna get rid of them.

And I was like, okay, but let's get rid of them in a launch way. So we did a sale, but with the launch strategy, helping them really connect to those pieces before they went on sale. And I think 65 out of 70 pieces were sold within five days.

And so that's really significant. It shows you these pieces that have been sitting there for over a year, not moving. They just hadn't been given the chance for people to know about them and to connect to them and connect to those stories.

So don't underestimate the power that you have as a business owner, as a designer, as just a human being in showing up authentically on social media, documenting what you're doing and helping build the hype behind your pieces. I think a lot of business owners, there's this kind of wall of what we do in a day, which is just hundreds and hundreds of things, or maybe it's a few things for some business owners. And then what you're actually showing on social media is this teeny tiny little portion of your day, and it's really curated and it's really sometimes staged.

And staged content is boring. Don't know who needs that reminder. And we wanna try, just show them more of what you're already doing.

I'm not saying go and create more content. I'm just saying, show them what you're already doing, it's the things you're already doing, other things that are gonna help them connect, it's gonna help visibility, it's gonna help them feel excited, and it's gonna help build trust. And that ultimately is what's going to make them ready, feel ready and feel excited to pull out their credit card and purchase on launch day.

And we actually have another whole thing I could do. I might do a separate podcast on this actually, because there's also a whole strategy during the launch that you need to be doing in order to help keep that momentum going. And then post launch is just as important, and most people completely forget about the post launch.

And actually during the launch, they don't do as much as they should be, they're not hitting all the different biotypes with their content, and they're not quite as aggressive or as visible as they could be. And it sounds maybe to some people like a lot of work, it's not, these are the sort of systems you set up once, the templates you set up once, and then for every launch you have those in place, you're just switching out the content. So it's pretty straightforward and effortless, I will probably have to do separate podcast episodes on this, because I don't want anyone to get overwhelmed.

I want you to take the notes that you've done from this episode and look at your last launch, or look at an upcoming launch and make sure that you've looked at what was the lead up like, how did it do, and could I have done better in terms of the strategy that I had for building the hype, building awareness, and building visibility of those pieces. So I'm gonna leave it there. I do wanna remind you that if you are, you know, I share so much value on this podcast, and on my Instagram, just a ton of value every single day on the, on Instagram, and the podcast is three times a week at the moment, because I really wanna help and support business owners, but if you've been listening to the content and you've been taking notes and you're trying to implement things, and you are ready for just even more support, I can tell you that what we're sharing on the podcast, what we're sharing on Instagram, I try to put a lot of free value out there to really help business owners at all stages and at all levels, but what we're sharing doesn't even skim a tiny percentage of what we cover in the Jewelry Business Academy.

It is one of the most in-depth, expansive containers for jewelry business owners. It literally breaks everything down for you in a really step-by-step way of, okay, like for example, these launches, well, what does that look like? How do we break that down? Where are the templates? What does the content look like and how do we make sure we're doing this effectively? And it breaks everything down for you. You have all the systems, all the strategies, all the tools, all the support that you're going to need to really implement the right systems and the right strategies into your business that are gonna make sure that you are moving your business towards your goals and also not burning out in the process.

So if that's something that you're curious to learn a little bit more about, or it feels like something that's really in alignment with where you want to be one year from today, you want to be hitting your goals in a sustainable way, in a way that feels really good, I would love for you to head to jewelrybusinessacademy.ca. You can learn a little bit more about the program there and you can book in a free strategy call with a member of my team. So as I said, those calls are completely free.

You have nothing to lose, you can hop on there and connect with them, learn more about the program and they are gonna come up with a strategy for you moving forward. And so I'm gonna leave it there. I have a really fun guest joining me next week on the podcast, I cannot wait to share.

And if you did enjoy this episode, definitely let me know. Thank you so much for joining us today and I hope you learned so much from this episode. And as we mentioned, we'd love to hear from you.

So make sure you screenshot the episode you're listening to and tag us on Instagram, it's Robin Clark coaching. And if you are enjoying these podcasts, if they have impacted your business building journey, if they have impacted your life, if they are uplifting you, if they are helping guide you, if they are helping build momentum in your business, I would love if you could take one minute to leave us a review on Apple podcasts. You can pause right here and head to Apple podcasts and leave a five-star review with a short and sweet message.

I really, really appreciate you taking the time to do that. And it means that we can keep producing more and more free valuable content for you to help you and support you on your business building journey. And so thank you in advance for taking the time to do that.

And I'm looking forward to reading them. And as I mentioned, I have got a lot of incredible episodes coming up over the next few weeks for you, which I cannot wait to share. So make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so you don't miss out.

I'll see you next time.