SPEAKER_00
Ready to break free from algorithms, vanity PR and money sucking ads? My name is Larissa Worstiek and I've learned in eight years of jewelry marketing that content is the crown jewel. My agency Joy Joya takes a holistic approach leading with laser focused storytelling, impactful content creation and strategic content distribution. This method has worked for the solopreneur as well as the multi-million dollar company and now I'm sharing the same systems and tactics with you.

Here's to standing out in the sea of sparkle. Welcome to episode 292. In today's episode I want to cover a few different topics.

First, I want to announce a very special opportunity that I'm opening up to emerging jewelry brands everywhere and if you've been intrigued by Joy Joya's grants in the past then you must check out this one. Wait just a few moments and I will explain. I also want to give a recap of my experience at JCK Las Vegas this year.

It was one of my favorite times at JCK yet and I'm so so impressed with the events team and all the amazing efforts that they put into the show this year. And lastly I want to share some tips about how you can facilitate a mid-year course correction for your marketing if you feel like you've gotten off track. June is a time when we often feel like we need a break especially if you're coming back from that big trade show but at the same time it's also such a great opportunity to start planning for the holidays and getting ahead of the busy season that's coming before we know it.

So you'll want to hear my tips for regaining your business equilibrium. And in the gold mine I'll be sharing some things about JCK that inspired me and that I want to pass along to you to hopefully give you some ideas to spark your mid-year reset and go into that second half of 2024 with innovation and creativity in mind. But before we get to the solid gold I'd like to take a moment to remind you that this podcast has both audio and video so you can either listen on your favorite podcast platform or watch on YouTube by searching Joy Joya.

You can support the podcast for free by taking the time not only to subscribe but also to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also if you didn't know I co-host another podcast called Success With Jewelery with my friend Liz Cantner who's also a jewelry marketer and the founder of the Stay Gold Collective. We have a free version of the podcast that's available everywhere.

You listen to podcasts as well as on YouTube and we also have a membership community with extended episodes and additional resources. I invite you to check that out if you're hungry for more content. Okay without further delay I have some really big news that I'm very excited to share with you.

For the third time my agency Joy Joya is opening an incubator grant and it is officially live and waiting for your applications. We're doing things a little different this time around because we like to try out different stuff and if you want all the details I want you to visit jewelrybrandincubator.com and I'll put that link in the show notes also.

But to give you a rundown here's what we've got. So we're giving away six months from August 1st to January 31st of free full service digital marketing support valued at $18,000 in total to one emerging jewelry brand. Yes one brand is going to get six months of free marketing support.

Last time when I offered this about a year ago at that point we had some pretty strict application requirements. I got feedback about how that felt limiting to brands that wanted to enter. You told me and I listened so we're taking off those requirements and all you need is to be an active jewelry business with an e-commerce presence to apply and enter for a chance for this grant.

And the highlights of those services are access to me and a dedicated client account manager, six months of content that's tailored to your brand, three comprehensive audits of your e-commerce site, your social media marketing strategy, your email marketing strategy, us completely taking over your email marketing, content writing and publishing, and a success roadmap as well as much more. Too much to talk about here. Visit jewelrybrandincubator.

com for the full rundown of what would be included if you get this grant. Additionally, that's not all. New this year we're not only offering that but for five finalists in addition to the grant winner they will be getting six months free of the mid-tier membership to Joy Deck.

Joy Deck is a new platform that we have soft launched this year. It's an all-in-one marketing support platform that provides accountability and direction, a personalized plan, confidence and assurance, real-time progress monitoring, accessible marketing expertise and more. So five finalists will get that membership which is a $3,600 value in total.

There's a whole rundown and more details at jewelrybrandincubator.com and also that's not all. Hey, should I be like an infomercial salesperson? So all entrance, yes.

Everyone who enters and applies for this grant, regardless of whether you get it or not, you will receive three free months of the entry-level subscription to Joy Deck and that focuses on accountability and support for your marketing. If you feel like you're very much emerging and you feel like you're on the brink of something big but need guidance to take that leap then this is the place for you. It's for the bold, the dreamers and those hungry for growth and that literally everyone who enters will get a $300 value and all the details and the explanation of what that means is at jewelrybrandincubator.

com. Why are we doing this for free? We want you to be our next best case study. Also, I would love for the recipient of the grant to share their business and marketing journey alongside us on the podcast just as if you remember Hilary Fink last year who was the 2023 recipient of this grant who is now actually a full client of ours shared her story and we want to have someone else also share their story and we love giving back to the industry here at Joy Joya and we've already had so much success with the past two grant programs that we've run so it makes me super excited to offer this new one and as I mentioned the only requirements are that you have an active jewelry business with an e-commerce presence and if you're already a fan of this podcast and you feel aligned with my approach to marketing well that's a bonus so again visit jewelrybrandincubator.

com to apply and get all the details applications closed Friday July 12th at 1159 p.m pacific time. Okay let's get into today's episode my sparklers first I want to give my jck vegas recap I honestly think this jck was one of the most fun and invigorating I've experienced it just always feels so good to actually be in person with so many people from the industry and feel that amazing energy that comes from the jewelry space there's something so special about it but there were a few specific things that stood out to me that I want to share with you so I did give three different talks one of which was about integrating offline and online experiences and I want to say that as I was at jck this is kind of meta because I'm giving this talk about offline and online experiences and I think that the jck event itself was one of the most shining examples of that integration of the offline and online and there's so much to learn from the event more than ever before I think they really implemented ways to bring that in-person experience to people all over the world who weren't able to attend as well as to just create content to encourage people to attend in the future and one way that they did that was this very heavy emphasis on elevating their influencer partners so they treated their influencers like they were royalty calling them out on social media spotlighting them highlighting them making them an official part of the press giving their giving them opportunities to share their personalities and jewelry style picks and I like how they utilize the influencers as true ambassadors to connect the in-person experience of jck with the online world and obviously you listeners out there you are not running trade shows but I still think there's a lot that can be learned about the ways that the influencers are used here to connect and bridge the offline and online experience for truly the audience also activations wow they put a lot of thought and effort into activations this year those are like little events or delightful little surprises throughout the show they had an Elvis impersonator a puppy playground fun backdrops to take selfies a photo booth even more things that I think I didn't even get a chance to see and the focus here was to encourage attendees to share online installer one of the exhibitors also had an activation it was really cool it was a love lock activation where you could get a free lock engraved with whatever you wanted and then they had a little fence that you can make a wish and put your lock on it and then at the end of the show come get your lock and that was in the service of promoting their new laser engraving technology which you could also see demoed in real time but I thought it was such a cute interesting way to draw attention to something that's not necessarily fun sexy or exciting so I really appreciated that and then another thing I noticed was the tech and essentials section of the show I overheard from my friend Jillian who was at the unbridled AI booth at the tech and essential section that this part of the trade show has really grown and there are more vendors being included in it and it really goes to show you that more technology solutions have entered the market to service jewelry businesses and I think jewelry brands need to at least be aware of all the changing technologies and emerging solutions many of which incorporate AI to potentially give them a leg up in the industry also when it comes to education at the show I don't think jck is just a trade show where people come to buy and sell at least not anymore I think it's also a place for people to educate themselves on this rapidly evolving industry that we're in and the trade show organizers invested so much time and energy into planning and executing all of the talks and panels this year and it showed and the attendance for all the talks was also amazing it really shows interest that people at the trade show are hungry for knowledge I love to see it and I can really see jck evolving into the forefront of education for the industry as well anyway when I go I wear a press badge because of this podcast and also I'm a speaker and in some past years walking around with a press badge I did get a weird dismissive kind of attitude from some vendors like they immediately don't care don't want to talk to me because I'm not a buyer and they don't feel like there's any reason to talk to a member of the press but there was something about this year that there seemed to be a different vibe about that and people manning the booths were really excited to see that I was a member of the press and to talk to me and tell me the stories of their brands and I think the openness to share the story is so important even if it's not resulting in a direct transaction right then and there so something about this year just felt more open in general I can't put my finger on it but overall I love that energy I love that collaborative open feeling and again it just brings us all closer in the industry and gives us opportunities to share and improve all together so I want to know were you at the show did you come to my talks if you're on youtube leave me a comment or DM me on instagram what did you like best about jck this year all right so the other thing I wanted to talk about in this episode is tips for a mid-year course correction now that it is about the middle of June I think this is a time especially we're coming back from this trade show or this trade show vibe in the industry you probably feel a little bit tired maybe you've hustled for the past few months of the year and now you're just like ugh so do you feel like you've fallen behind often we start the year with a bang we're motivated we're excited for all the things we're going to accomplish and then life gets in the way customers get in the way production gets in the way what have you so I want to share five tips for giving your brand that mid-year course correction that you may need one this is something that I've actually started doing this year because I'm so guilty of like just going super gung ho for months at a time and then getting burnt out and kind of losing track of where I even am and so I recommend and I'm following my own advice setting up a non-negotiable goal check-in meeting with yourself about once a week and actually make it a recurring meeting on your calendar I want you to make yourself accountable for it put a reminder and at your first meeting whether it's just with you or with a team member or multiple team members you're going to revisit the goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year and track your progress on each one so what can be done at this point to get you back on track maybe you set up some sub tasks for yourself to kind of get the ball rolling on things where are you excelling where do you need some extra help and have that meeting every week so that you are fully aware of what you want to achieve and you're not sitting down at the end of 2024 and doing your goal reflection there when it's too late to make that progress until next year number two I want you to refocus on your target audience so this is the time to reevaluate your target audience make sure your campaigns are all still aligned with their preferences and behaviors use insights from your analytics whether that's social media analytics or google analytics or even direct customer feedback to refine your audience personas number three it's the time to update your content calendar if you are not great about updating it regularly I want you to play catch up and I want you to go as far out through the end of the year as you can if it's possible go through December 31st for the remaining months of the year plug in those upcoming holidays those key dates those seasonal trends those new products you're going to be launching the promotions that you're going to be having for your store anything that is a big deal for your business plug those in work around those milestone dates and have that clear plan through the end of the year don't wait till September okay speaking of moving through the rest of the year maybe holiday feels like a dirty word right now because hey it's June but I'm gonna say it plan for the holidays okay start planning your holiday marketing campaigns early and now even if it's just like a twinkle of an idea or a concept or some like longer term to-do list items that are fresh in your head and maybe this is the time that you look back on 2023 what did you like about holiday what didn't you like what inspired you from other businesses what do you want to try like wrap your head around things wrap your head around insights from the past maybe you're thinking about production calendars maybe you're already thinking about your gift guide preparing those photo shoots those marketing materials in advance and that early preparation will ensure you're ready to capitalize big time on the holiday shopping season and my last tip for today this is the time to make improvements on your website if there are ongoing to-do list items related to your e-commerce site I want you to take June July and August to ensure that your website is up to date you have high quality images they're consistent you have detailed product descriptions you have an easy to navigate layout it's all optimized for mobile that it loads quickly that your user experience is chef's kiss it's better than do this now than when you're also ramping up to the holiday season and focus more on the marketing and promotions for that so how are you feeling this June are you burned out are you ready to get back on track have you been on track have you been a perfect student of marketing let me know in a comment on youtube or DM me on instagram i'd love to chat about it all right let's get into the gold mine this is a segment of the podcast where I get personal and share insights on entrepreneurship mindset success growth and all things business and I get to share things that are closer to my heart well all of this podcast is close to my heart let's be honest but maybe I get a little bit more personal with you anyway in this week's gold mine I want to share a conversation I had at jck so I had the chance to attend a levion press preview and I was chatting with Megan who works for the sales team and also she hosts live shows on levion's instagram page and we discussed several topics as she was just showing me jewelry walking me through levion's trend book that really inspired me and I want to share it with you so first Megan told me that levion VIPs get invited to this VIP Vegas experience every year and that allows top spenders with the brand to see have first looks at unreleased items and they get to attend the annual fashion show just imagine for a second I thought this was so cool because you out there me over here we are all big fans of at least one brand out there in the world it doesn't have to be jewelry whatever it may be maybe you like a certain brand of socks or something or chocolate whatever and you spend a lot of money on it because it's really worthwhile to you it's like your favorite treat imagine that business inviting you you big spender to a VIP experience at like their factory or their headquarters wouldn't you feel valued spread the news with your friends feel inclined to spend even more than you already do I loved this idea and I came away from that meeting feeling encouraged feeling inspired to encourage you to find ways to pamper and reward your best customers it doesn't have to be a fashion show because you don't want to be copycatting levy on anyway of course but what would feel so special to your customers your best customers what could you do for them that would make them just so delighted and I want you to make it a priority to figure that out in this mid-year reset time that you're doing also megan told me more about this fashion show that levy on does annually at jck so she said that some people in the industry they kind of look at levy on weird for having this fashion show because it is so out of the box and no one else is doing it and they take it so seriously and they're really approaching the concept from the fashion industry perspective so they're using it to set color and other trends obviously this is something different they're doing something unique and this year I noticed the show got immense press and social media coverage it dominated my feeds on instagram even on linkedin they hired tiktok and instagram influencer at jewels with jewels as the red carpet host and she livestreamed it to her massive audience just imagine the reach of an event like this especially when they are consistently committing to it year after year to the point where if levy on didn't do a fashion show we'd be like wait what it has become one of their signature marketing activities and it garners significant coverage whether you like it or not and in your mid-year marketing reset I want you to think about what you can implement that may seem a little bit kooky a little bit risky but still feels authentic to your brand I want you to consider something that you can commit to that will help you stand out in the marketplace even if other jewelry businesses don't understand it so meditate on this and your homework is to try to come up with an answer anyway I'm excited to see what you come up with I want you to inspire me let me know in an instagram dm or youtube comment I would love to hear your thoughts did you have any questions about today's episode you can always email me lorissa that's laryssa at joyjoy.

com if you love this podcast please share with a friend who'd appreciate it and don't forget to subscribe as well as leave a review on apple podcasts if you're completely new to digital marketing then you'll want to purchase and read a copy of my book jewelry marketing joy visit joy joy dot com slash book for more information