adminser It can be challenging to brand jewelry. I’m a small business owner and went through the branding process. Today, I’m sharing what I learned.
Why branding your jewelry is important
No matter what media an artist uses, they must have an online presence. This Forbes article shows an 8.8% increase in conversion rates and a 129% growth in U.S. e-commerce over the previous year.
Online stores are becoming more popular. Shopify currently has more than 1,000,000 merchants. This number is likely to rise.
Many artists create similar art to yours. How can you make people remember you? How often have you heard “I bought this on Etsy” instead of “I bought this from artist Sally Smith, who has a shop on Etsy.” Although buyers know Etsy well, the artists’ names are not known.
Branding can help your jewelry business stand out in a sea of competition.
A brand or brand identity refers to a “set of elements or tools used by a company to create a brand image.” You use it to make your brand distinctive so buyers can remember you.
I decided in January that my current brand needed to define the essence of my jewelry and was not reaching my ideal customers. In rebranding, my goals were to make my website speak to my target customers regarding messaging and user experience.
It took me several months to get my brand together, and I am beginning to see positive results.
Here are my four steps to rebranding.
Who is the ideal customer for your jewelry? Your ideal customerAlthough there are many buyers, it is essential to design your products and your business around one type of buyer. A conversation I had last year with a woman who bought earrings from me at an art show helped me to define my ideal customer. I asked her why she enjoyed art fairs and how they made her feel. I asked her why. She said it was impossible to get a person’s stories, passion, and heart if you buy mass-produced jewelry. She enjoyed connecting with artists.
My ideal customer loves handmade jewelry and has a personal connection with the artist. They desire to be seen as an individual with their style, not just wearing the same jewelry as everyone else. When designing my pieces or my website, I consider this customer.
Donald Miller’s Building A Story Brand is a great book. He discusses how to create a story centered around your ideal customer. How can your product solve its problem?
I worked with Karen Martin, a certified story brand expert from KNM Consulting, who helped me create my brand story script. This script is used in all of my communications. This script makes extracting words, statements, and feelings easy to communicate with my ideal customer.
Your brand colors and fonts will appeal to jewelry buyers.
Next, I needed to choose colors and fonts that appealed to my ideal client. This was a difficult task. Choosing the right color gemstones for my jewelry designs was difficult. However, it was easy to pick a brand look.
I chose to work with Kristen, a creative graphic designer, and a highly successful jewelry designer. She designed my brand colors, fonts, and overall look. Two guides were also created for her. These guides are my freebies, which I give to people who sign up for my email group, the CSJ Insiders.
Concerning fonts, she asked me if I wanted serif fonts. I like the fonts to reflect my minimalist jewelry. She offered me several font options. I was convinced that a serif font for headings would make a great contrast to a non-serif typeface. The final decision was to choose the Cormorant Garamond font for headings and Muli Regular for body text. They work well together.
Your website should be branded.
Shopify is my e-commerce platform. There are many templates available for free or paid. The Atlantic theme by Pixel Union is what I used to build my site. This theme was updated to the most current version a few months ago to gain more features. The website was redesigned using my brand colors.
The website should be inviting and sophisticated. The design features prominently feature my brand colors and fonts. My homepage features critical phrases taken from my brand script.
I updated the website as often as possible, then hired Alexander Design to tweak some pages and improve the user’s experience.
Your brand can be carried to other communications.
It is crucial to convey your brand in all communications, including email, newsletters, and social media posts. Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest).
This was a challenging but rewarding process. This process taught me much about branding, marketing, and website design. I also learned many other aspects of marketing/business that I needed to learn or remember. You should take the first step to determine if your website and copy speak to your ideal customers. Start the journey now and have fun!
