wirejewelry's Tip #4 for a Successful 2009!

Well, we’re more than half way through our tips for a successful 2009! Have you had the opportunity to begin putting into practice the previous tips I’ve shared with you? The most important thing to remember is that each of these tips is relatively low-cost, but each has the potential to be highly effective if used correctly.

If at any time you have questions about how to implement the things we’ve been discussing, please don’t hesitate to email me at brandonh@wirejewelry.com . I’d be more than happy to discuss different ideas and thoughts pertaining to your specific business.

As mentioned in my previous email, today we’re going to be discussing another approach to bring in new business. This method is one that I don’t see being used by very many home jewelry makers, even though it has the potential to bring in an enormous amount of business!

The practice of sending direct mail marketing materials to potential customers has been used for many years now. Most of the time when you open your mailbox you’ll have some sort of direct mail piece mixed in with your regular mail. Direct mail can be any number of things. Direct mail includes, but isn’t limited to: letters, postcards, flyers and pamphlets. Now, don’t confuse this with junk mail…. Junk mail is direct mail marketing sent to a demographic not related to the product.

That’s what we’re going to focus on today - How to reach your target market through direct mail marketing.

Direct mail if correctly done can bring in as much business as you’d like. One the other hand, if not done correctly, you have the potential to lose a lot of time and money and come away with not much more than you had when you first started.

One of the best benefits about direct mail marketing is that you can be very specific or very general in who you send the marketing materials to. Let’s say that you have a very small jewelry making business and you’re looking only to add a few clients a month, you can limit the direct mail to a few zip codes that are located close to your home. On the other hand, if you run a large jewelry making business and are looking to bring in as much business as possible you might focus on a large surrounding area.

The important thing to remember here is to segment your list to focus on your target market!! I can’t stress this point enough; if you don’t focus your marketing towards your target market you will waste a lot of money trying to recruit new business.

So, who is your target market? That will vary greatly among different jewelry making businesses depending on your location, the size of the business, as well as the type of jewelry you’re making. A good way to determine who your target market is would be to take a look at your sales for the last year. Think about who you sold your jewelry to.

Were they between the ages of 21-30 or 31-40? Are the majority of your customers male or female? Are your customers buying jewelry for themselves or for a significant other?

These types of questions will help you determine who your target market is. Once you know who your ideal customer is, you’ll want to make sure to use a mailing list that is targeted towards that demographic. For instance, if you’re located in Chicago and are trying to market towards the age group of 21-25, you won’t want to get a list for retirees in Florida! I know that this may seem elementary to most, but again if this part of the direct mail marketing isn’t looked at closely and done properly you have the potential to lose out on a big chunk of business opportunity.

Once you have a good handle on your mailing list and you’re certain that the list is targeting the correct market it is now time to design your mailing piece.

As mentioned in previous emails, the most important thing to remember here is BENEFIT. What benefit are you offering to your potential buyers that will make them want to read the remainder of your advertisement? You get lots of direct mail marketing don’t you? Do you sit down to meticulously read through every letter if it is of no interest to you? The answer is NO! You need to make sure to grab the reader’s attention right off the bat!

I would follow the same direction here as we discussed in our last email regarding flyers. Make sure to list out as many benefits as possible at the beginning of the email. Also, offer them some sort of discount or something for free if they act now. You can offer 10% off if they contact you by a certain date. You can offer them a free brochure about wire sculpture jewelry and how it’s different than other jewelry. Some sort of call to action item that they’ll receive if they contact you by a certain time. Don’t be afraid to put an expiration date to the offer. Your potential customers are more likely to call if they know the offer is expiring soon!

The last thing I want to mention about creating your direct mail piece is that you’ll want to be very specific and detailed in your letter. Automatically assume that the person reading your marketing piece is completely clueless and has no idea what the next step is. Tell them exactly what to do and how to do it.

For example, say “Call 888-888-8888 between 8am-5pm EST to receive XXXX” or “Email us at example@example.com in order to receive XXXX”. The more detailed you are the better response you’ll receive.

That’s all for today’s tip. We talked a lot about recruiting new customers the past few tips. I’m sure that if you follow these suggestions to gaining new customers that you’ll be able to grow your business exponentially.  The question isn’t if there are people out there willing to pay money to purchase jewelry, the question is who are those people and how are you going to effectively communicate to them? There are always people looking to spend money, regardless of what the economy is going through, you just need to reach out there and let them know that you’re there!

During the remaining tips we’re going to focus on two very powerful marketing techniques that will bring in hoards of new customers without you even lifting a finger!

See you soon!

Brandon Hutchins
wirejewelry.com