The most enjoyable aspect of running your own jewellery business is getting to design and create the pieces you sell. But the fact of the matter is that if you own a jewellery business, you are responsible for managing the business side of things. Continue reading for our top five suggestions for operating a prosperous jewellery business.
Everyone’s idea of what constitutes a successful jewellery business is likely to be unique. But for the majority of individuals, the objective will be to create jewellery of which they are proud and to sell it to customers who like it, all while ensuring that they have enough money to live comfortably.
In order to accomplish this goal, you not only need to create your exquisite jewellery, but you also need to begin the process of constructing a company plan.
1. Establish Your Business as a Recognizable Brand
If someone sees your jewellery in person or online, they should be able to easily recognise it as being one of your creations and give you credit for it. This is accomplished through the use of branding.
Branding allows your jewellery to stand out from the myriad of other handmade jewellery businesses now available on the market (and there are a lot of them).
Your company’s brand should make it easier for you to connect with your target audience and demonstrate to them that you have same interests. Your company’s identity ought to be conveyed in a number of different ways.
To begin, develop a reputation for your brand via the designs of your jewellery. Your brand’s personality need to be reflected in each of your collections. Make sure your personal beliefs and company mission statement are reflected in the unified collections you design.
The next step is to ensure that your marketing effectively communicates your brand. Begin with the aspect of your marketing that is immediately identifiable to customers, such as your logo.
Because your logo will be present everywhere, including on your website, on your packaging, and other places, you need to ensure that it accurately represents your jewellery brand. In addition to this, the material that you post across all of your channels should reflect your brand in some way.
Your potential consumers will evaluate your jewellery based on what they see in your images, videos, and text when they are considering whether or not to make a purchase from you. Don’t be afraid to let your customers see both your brand and your personality!
Make it possible for your consumers to get to know you as part of your branding activities. Transform your artist biography into a tale about your jewellery.
This is your opportunity to connect with your audience and to share the story of how you first became interested in producing jewellery with them. Tell them the story of how your brand evolved into what it is now.
Last but not least, etch your initials onto your jewelery. When a consumer wears one of your pieces of jewellery, they will be constantly reminded of your company thanks to the addition of unique branding tags.
2. Be Aware of Your Intended Audience
If you try to sell your jewellery to everyone in the globe, you will wind up squandering your money, your time, and your effort. The fact that your jewellery won’t appeal to each and every person is a given and unavoidable reality.
If you are trying to advertise anything, it will enhance your efforts if you have a good idea of who your target audience is.
Consider not only your own personality but also the personality of your brand and the kind of customer you wish to attract.
Are you making jewellery for women who are focused on their careers or the corporate world? A citizen of the world? Are you someone who enjoys being outside? Is it more probable that you bought your jewellery for yourself or did you receive it as a present?
You should, ideally, be able to pinpoint a few aspects about your consumer, such as the following:
A certain age range or a certain occurrence in one’s life, such as being between the ages of 35 and 45, becoming a mother, etc.
A handful of hobbies, such as travelling, shopping in the city, engaging in outdoor activities, etc.
There is a significant gap in one’s disposable income depending on where they are in their careers, whether they are just out of college or have been working for many years.
Where they are physically – an office setting, remaining at home, or going out with friends; or if you create a line of jewellery that is particular to a geographic place, you may want to put extra effort into targeting that area.
Where they are online – Instagram, TikTok, Facebook – some of this will be depending on the age of your population, so make sure you understand the demographics of each social media platform they use. For example, Instagram has a younger demographic than Facebook.
These are simply few things to keep in mind moving forward. Invest some time and effort into determining exactly who it is that you want to reach out to with your marketing.
3. Familiarize yourself with your rivals.
Never assume that there is no other jeweller in the world that creates jewellery for a clientele or style that is comparable to yours, even though your pieces are original and frequently one-of-a-kind.
Everyone competes against one another. Investigate who can be found on Etsy, Google, and in your immediate neighbourhood by looking about. For instance, if you design jewellery with a mountain theme, you might conduct a web search for that topic and compile a list of all the other jewellery makers that specialise on the same subject.
Once you have an idea of who else is out there, the next step is to determine how you differ from those other people. Do some of them solely work with gold, while you specialise in working with sterling silver? Or perhaps some of them are employed in the production of basic metals.
Do they place an exclusive emphasis on the same kind of design style as you do, or is it just one among several? Is there anything that you do that is in any way superior to what they do? Is there anything that you can do better than they did compared to other things?
Examine the company’s prices, its branding, its website, and its method of making a purchase (you don’t have to buy anything, but you should go through the processes to get a feel for how it operates).
Even if the price is somewhat more, customers will still purchase the identical piece of jewellery from a website if it has a more aesthetically pleasing design and is simpler to navigate.
If you have a storefront in the area or are planning to place jewellery in a boutique storefront, you should research the businesses that are your local competition.
Knowing who you’re competing against for local purchases may help you identify where your jewellery should go in order to reach the correct market. Their work may not have the same aesthetic as yours, but knowing who you’re competing against can assist.
4. Develop Pricing Strategies and Tactics
Inquire with any seasoned jeweller about the aspect of their work that is the most straightforward. There is a significant likelihood that the solution will not consist of precisely valuing the individual elements. Many manufacturers set the selling price at a simple multiple of two to three times the cost.
This isn’t always the wisest course of action to take. You’ll need to think about things from a more strategic perspective if you want your company to be successful and if you want to earn enough money to support yourself.
A sound pricing plan will not only help you ensure that all of your business expenditures are covered, but it will also provide an income for you so that you don’t need to worry about taking on a second job, and it will expand along with your company.
In addition to the cost of your raw materials, operating a jewellery business comes with a plethora of other little and major expenses. Some of these costs are more or less constant, such as the monthly rent for the studio, the price of the software or professional service, the cost of the supplies and equipment, and so on.
If you have any other employees, the salaries of those employees would also be included in this total. All of these aspects need to be taken into consideration when formulating an effective pricing strategy for jewellery.
Do not be afraid to set the price of your jewellery at a level that reflects its true value. Just make sure that you are promoting it to those who have the financial means to buy it from you.
A wonderful post on pricing your jewellery was written by Hilary, and it includes both an interactive pricing guide that will assist you in determining your own rates and a webinar in which she will lead you through the guide.
5. Develop a strategy for your company.
Before beginning work on a new piece of jewellery, you frequently engage in careful planning of its design. I don’t understand why your company doesn’t deserve the same. Plan ahead if you want your jewellery business to be successful.
How will you know whether your business is successful if you do not have a goal or a strategy in place to achieve it?
If you started producing jewellery as a hobby, you could decide to transform it into a company at some point in the future. If you decide to start selling on Etsy or your own website, you will need to think strategically about how to run a jewellery business.
At first, you may just sell a few pieces here and there to friends and family. However, if you decide to start selling on Etsy or your own website, you will need to think strategically about how to run a jewellery business.
Or, perhaps you have a background in metalsmithing and have been gaining experience in the jewellery industry while working for others with the hopes of one day running your own enterprise.
It is time to start thinking about all you’ll need to accomplish in order to be successful, and there is a lot to consider.
A well-thought-out strategy for the future of your company should be your first priority. Check out our resource for establishing a jewellery business plan to get you started in the right direction.
This will assist you in determining the goals for your company, what has to be done in order to achieve those goals, and how those goals may be expanded upon as your company develops further.
The following sites should help you find answers to some of the most pressing concerns regarding your company.
Where do you want to sell your items exactly?
Naturally, you’ll want to sell your jewellery at fairs and events so that clients can examine your items up close and in person. This is the best way for them to do so. However, if you want your jewellery business to be successful, you need a strong online presence.
Many jewellers decide to offer their wares on a variety of online marketplaces, including Etsy, Amazon, and their own websites.
How do you plan to sell your jewellery to customers?
It takes a combination of creative thinking and strategic planning to successfully market your jewellery.
Your marketing materials should have a stunning appearance and make your jewellery look as if it were lit from inside, but the decision of where to promote your jewellery and what materials to develop should be made in accordance with your audience and the locations at where they may be found.
Do you have high-quality pictures and videos of the jewellery that you sell?
If you want to sell your jewellery online, having nice images of it is really necessary. You can either hire a professional to take the photos for you or give it a go yourself. Because your customers won’t be able to examine the item in person, you need to ensure that they have a clear mental image of how it appears.
Photos taken against a white background are ideal for showcasing the item, while photographs of models are useful for giving clients a sense of the item’s proportions.
Since video has been increasingly popular over the past few years, you need to make sure that you intend to use some video material to sell your jewellery as well as your brand.