As jewelry designers and artists we design because we need to create and work at our passion because it’s… well… it’s in our blood to do so! It’s like the air we breathe we need that form of creativity as part of our daily lives. And we want to make a living doing it! Great exposure can do that for us!
As business owners we create for our ‘market’… the people who will purchase and love wearing our designs as much as we love creating them! By doing what we love and doing it to the best of our ability we can and do make a living as jewelry designers- and the more exposure we receive the more sales we get! But getting exposure in the press and T.V. is not always easy but I found a few ways that helped me and I think it can help you too.
Being a designer we want to see our designs being worn! And being able to see your work on a celebrity or television show definitely has its rewards! I’ll be honest here- the first time I and my team saw a necklace of mine being worn by a television star on Entertainment Tonight and then seeing the end credits with my name… It was beyond exciting! We felt pretty darn special that day!! In our excitement the following days we wanted to share the news!! We broadcast our exciting news to local papers (PRESS RELEASES) Local television shows… stores and boutiques we wanted to sell to- and of course all our current customers. And in doing all of this we succeeded in even more exposure- most of it all free which equals more sales. And sales will keep us out of the “Starving Artist” category that we all started out in.
Some ideas that worked for me and my jewelz that I recommend trying are:
~Getting into boutiques and galleries; you can spend thousands at trade shows and I recommend this if you have all that extra cash- but if you are starting out or want to be in select stores or galleries- consider sending as a gift a piece of your jewelry to the owner or buyer with a letter introducing yourself/Bio . This worked for me 9 out of 10 times and in the end really sparked my business. I received orders and repeat business. A whole lot less expensive than the travel and expenses tied up with trade shows!! I am going to try this next with a few certain catalogs I want to sell my designs to. I’ll let you know how it goes in a future blog but I’m very confident …
~Local Celebrities & Charities; This could mean anyone from television news anchors to the people that are well known in your town or city for their charities. You want people who know people or are on the telly themselves!! By offering your jewelry at special pricing- not full retail, to local city news anchors- it’s a win-win. They get fabulous jewelry at fabulous pricing and you get that T.V. exposure. I recommend always being involved in a favorite charity too- give and feel good about it! Women love bidding at silent auctions for a great piece of jewelry and the exposure is wonderful for your business! Another win-win- great exposure= great sales.
~Find a great product placement boutique agency. Google it now! Not a big PR firm but a smaller creative one. I was working a show with another designer when I first started out and she had done some product placement and loved the results. I gave it a try. Product placement is never cheap but can really pay out in the long haul. Once you find a boutique agency to work with they can help you secure magazine-T.V. shows- and top celebrities. Its not guaranteed that a celebrity will wear your work or a T.V. show will give you a guest spot but it all gets amped up if they do! After one placement on Entertainment Tonight in Hollywood- I ended up seeing my jewelry on that show almost daily for years with screen credits because the star who hosted the show fell in LOVE with my designs. That one placement really paid off in the end!!
~ Be sure and follow up with any placements and exposure you receive- both paid and free. Remember to do a Press Release!! AND Of course post it to all of your social media and your website! Think as much exposure as you can and the results will astound you in sales. It does take work and sometimes just thinking outside that box to get the results you want to see in your jewelry sales but I promise you its all worth it in the end. Drop me a note and let me know how it works out for you!
A guest spot on EXTRA! Here is a host wearing my designs and talking about them for 1.5 minutes of precious airtime!
Hillary Duff… Both she and her Mom bought my designs while we participated in a Charity event in Beverly Hills!
Samantha Harris wearing my designs on the RED Carpet!
Celebrities wearing my jewelry!
The show Entertainment Tonight’s screen credits!
Chicago News!
Lori Frantz-Koenig 