how do you start a jewelry brand i've
got the answer with nine tips to get you
started today
make sure that you stick around till the
end because tip number eight
is to think outside the box way to get
your business off the ground
right when startup brand finley jewelry
launched they got 15 000 orders and they
did it by giving away
real gold and silver jewelry away for
free and yet they still remain
profitable
so we'll talk all about that and how to
market your business in tip number eight
hi i'm your host michelle bally and in
this video you're gonna learn how you
can start your own
jewelry business this video is perfect
for people who have never started
any type of business before and need
needs step-by-step instructions so
if you have a passion for jewelry and
want to turn it into a profitable
business then you're in the right place
grab a drink get settled because this is
going to be a complete guide
we're going to go from top to bottom
from finding your manufacturers
to running the financial side of your
business and then we'll look at
effective marketing strategies
i was one of the first hires at findlay
so i'll uncover what the day-to-day is
actually like
working for a startup jewelry brand and
what you can expect when you're starting
your own jewelry company
define who you are as a brand so you're
going to want to define your brand story
with the amount of choice that consumers
have you can't really get away with not
having a brand story
your brand story will make you memorable
and it will build an emotional
connection with your audience
so for example finley's brand story is
centered around ethics
and sustainability the jewelry industry
can be pretty nasty where the
environment and workers are exploited
so finley's brand story hits three main
points people
product planet they're good to their
people they sell superior products
and they take care of the planet super
simple ask yourself these questions to
get you
thinking about what your brand story
could be is there something interesting
about the way that i've started or will
start my company
maybe you have a story about how you
realize that the world needed your
products
ask yourself do i stand for a specific
cause a portion of your sales could go
towards building schools for example
and ask yourself can my products solve a
problem maybe you make replica diamonds
that stay sparkly and shiny forever
ask yourself these questions and stick
to one idea sticking to one main message
will make it very easy for your consumer
to understand your values
decide what kind of jewelry you'll sell
after figuring out your brand story
you'll be able to narrow down
what kind of jewelry you'll sell family
for example focuses on delicate and
dainty pieces
so start by thinking about the design do
you want to sell everyday pieces or
cocktail party style pieces
also consider the material do you want
to sell gold plated jewelry
or solid gold jewelry you can even play
with other materials like pearls
beads and silver which by the way are
all on an upward trend during the time
of filming this video
you can also look at google trends to
identify any upcoming styles that you
might want to capitalize on
to do this just visit trends.google.com
and type in a keyword to see how many
people are searching for it
in different parts of the world define
your target audience
having a good understanding of your
target audience and creating messaging
around what they can relate to
will exponentially increase the amount
of sales that you make and how well your
marketing campaigns perform
so you don't want to miss this step with
finley for example our audience values a
good deal
our emails that go out surrounding a
sale make thousands of dollars whereas
emails with product drops don't really
perform as well
step number one is profiling your target
customers by looking them up on social
media
you can literally use instagram stories
to find out what your target audience
lives are like
so look at what they do on a day-to-day
basis what kind of homes they live in
where they spend time and what music
they listen to you want to be as
in tune with your target audience as you
are with your close friends
that way when it comes time to make a
decision like dropping a new collection
or featuring an influencer you'll know
exactly what they want to see
you can also look on reddit to see what
people are talking about as it relates
to the jewelry industry
just did a little peruse myself and saw
that people are interested in matching
jewelry sets
jewelry cleaning tools and wedding rings
reddit is a gold mine of honest
information because people feel safe
enough to express their true opinions
and converse with each other so by doing
those two things
you'll have an idea of who your audience
are as people and their feeling towards
certain aspects of the jewelry industry
create your visual identity unless
you're a graphic designer i would
recommend that you work with someone to
do this step
with you your visual identity includes
your logo the fonts that you use
and your brand colors check out fiverr
freelancer upwork and behance
these are platforms that are going to
connect you to a graphic designer look
at password and make sure that they
understand your vibe
ask them to create a style guide and a
logo a style guide is a document that
outlines what your brand looks like
work with a designer by communicating
what you're going for but in order to
stay unique
try not to rely too heavily on visual
examples
otherwise you might just end up looking
like every other brand
let's look at sourcing your products
starting with the materials 101
so let's go through a crash course on
materials so that you understand the
price point and the quality of each
solid gold or 24 karat gold is the most
pure gold
however you can't use this in jewelry
because it's too soft and it'll get
damaged
so gold is mixed with other alloys like
silver and copper
the higher the carrot the higher amount
of gold in the piece
the most common types of carrots are 10
14 and 18 karat gold the more gold in
your piece the richer the color and the
more expensive
gold vermeil is sterling silver that's
been gold plated this is a good option
for businesses that want to provide an
affordable piece
but keep in mind that these don't hold
well in water and they can tarnish
so if you're selling gourmet pieces make
sure that you have a care section on
your website to avoid any customer
complaints and returns
gold-filled jewelry contrary to the name
is not actually filled with gold
rather it's a thick layer of gold that's
bonded to another metal like brass
gold filled is more expensive than
vermeil but if it's taken care of
it can last as long as solid gold and
won't tarnish wearers who have sensitive
skin can wear it without worries of an
allergic reaction
silver and stainless steel are trending
metals in street wear
these metals are affordable for
businesses that are just starting out
and they're durable unlike other metals
like copper brass
and aluminum silver and stainless steel
will never turn your finger green
find a manufacturer or a supplier when
you're finding a manufacturer or
supplier there's three ways that you can
go about this
you can go directly to the manufacturer
you can buy wholesale
or you can work with a local artisan to
work directly with a manufacturer check
out alibaba
dhgate and aliexpress so right now we're
on alibaba.com
type in a keyword i'm going to pretend
i'm selling initial necklaces
now when we find something that catches
our eye we're going to want to do some
vetting
check out reviews and actually read them
take a look at the prices and the
minimum order quantity
i recommend starting with no more than
10 pieces of each style
you want to test the market before tying
up all your funds and inventory
the price of shipping will change
depending on what your order is so take
this figure with a grain of salt
look at the response rate there's
nothing more frustrating than not being
able to get in touch with your
manufacturer
if you have to change an order or if you
have questions about a product
also look at their on-time delivery rate
there's nothing more frustrating to the
customer
than not getting their order on time
take note of the badges you want to make
sure that your suppliers have badges and
good ones
click on the icons to find out more
about what they mean also take a peek at
their return policy
the next step is to send them a message
and let them know that you're interested
take this opportunity to ask as many
questions as you need
ask them about the factory working
conditions confirm lead times and
basically
everything you need to know that you're
making a good decision take this time to
assess how responsive and attentive they
are
if they're taking three days to respond
to you it might not be the best fit as
their service will probably reflect this
in the future
now is also the time where you would
want to negotiate minimum order
quantities and price per unit so
request a sample first and then wear it
for two months to test the quality
if it passes the test then you can go
ahead and place your full order
hot tip right here indonesia is known
for having really good
quality jewelry manufacturers at
affordable prices so try filtering the
location when you're doing your search
finding a wholesaler outside of alibaba
use google to find wholesalers type in
keywords like jewelry wholesale united
states
to start doing your research this
process will require a lot of digging
and prepare for it to be time consuming
however this step is crucial
because if you don't do your research
now you can lose a lot of time and money
having chosen the wrong manufacturer
be responsible by being informed about
the ethics of your supply chain
one of the most important things for
finley is that their products are made
ethically and sustainably so our
manufacturers carry prestigious and
coveted certificates like the sa-8000
and we ensure livable wages and best
environmental practices
ask your suppliers what certifications
they have before working with them
finding a jeweler you can find an
independent jeweler through instagram
google or upwork
the advantage of going with an
independent jeweler is that the
communication is tighter
you're supporting local independent
talent and you can customize your pieces
however when you start to scale up it
makes more financial sense to go with
manufacturer
artisans can be pretty pricey so you'll
have to position yourself as a luxury
brand to be able to maintain a
sustainable profit margin
in summary the top things to look for
when choosing a jeweler or a
manufacturer
are ethics and sustainability lead times
shipping costs
minimum order quantities cost per unit
and quality and design of the jewelry
as well as ease of communication keep in
mind that a lot of businesses will go
through a couple of manufacturers before
finding the right one
so if you're dissatisfied with lead
times or the communication there's
really nothing wrong with pivoting
designing custom jewelry depending on
your manufacturer's capabilities and the
type of relationship that you have with
them you might be able to design some
custom pieces
so i'm definitely not a jewelry designer
but even i was able to communicate my
design ideas and bring them to life
for finley i went into adobe illustrator
and i did outline drawings to scale of
the designs that i wanted to launch
on the spec sheets i was very very clear
about the measurements and the materials
and i also showed the pieces at four
different angles for clarity
i wanted to be able to provide enough
information so that the manufacturer
wouldn't have to come back with any
questions
that's the main goal this was a totally
mickey mouse makeshift solution but the
designs turned out super well
so what i'm trying to say is as long as
you can clearly communicate your ideas
you can design custom pieces
and if you're not well versed in
illustrator sketch your designs out and
use reference photos
set up your online presence sign up for
a domain name and a professional email
using godaddy
you can get started for as little as
three dollars a month for the first year
also be sure to clean your social media
handles if your handle's already taken
you can reach out and ask if they'll
sell it to you
however the perfect social media handle
and url is not going to make or break
your business
so don't get too caught up on this now
it's time to make your website
start by choosing a theme go to
themes.shopify.com
and search by industry there's literally
a section just for jewelry so you can
find one that matches your brand look
and feel
add your products include product shots
on a white background and shots of a
model wearing your jewelry
as long as the photos are well lit and
visually pleasing you don't really need
to drop a ton of money on a photo shoot
if your jewelry comes in different
variations like silver gold and rose
gold
you'll want to make sure that you have
pictures for all the variations
having clear photos that showcase the
product at different angles will help
you make the sale
in-depth product descriptions also
encourage shoppers to make a purchase
your website navigation should include a
new shop about collections and contact
section
you'll also want to make sure that you
have clear shipping and return policy
page
linked in the footer if you're launching
with a ton of different styles include a
search box with an auto complete
function
that avoids frustration and your
customers leaving your site your
homepage should communicate a clear
value proposition so finley for example
uses a section that speaks to its ethics
and its sustainability
your homepage should also feature
collections new items
and best sellers have buttons
strategically placed for people to
browse and add to their cart
accept payments easily with shopify with
shopify payments you're automatically
set up to accept all major payment
methods
as soon as you create your store your
card rate is based on your shopify plan
and you can change plans whenever you
want
organizing your financials one of the
first things you want to do is register
your business with
the government the advantages of this
include limiting your personal liability
and setting yourself up to potentially
pay less tax
just google register business and the
appropriate website will appear to
register within your country
next you want to open up a separate bank
account for your business this will
organize you and separate your personal
finances from your business finances
when you're starting out make sure that
you're choosing an account with the
lowest fees
keep track of your business expenses by
using a separate credit card this will
make your life
and your account's life a lot easier
during tax time speaking of which
working with an accountant that
specializes in small businesses will
help save you time
and money in the long run and investing
in an online software like quickbooks
will make your life a lot easier when it
comes to bookkeeping
packaging and shipping when choosing
your packaging consider how the consumer
will open the box
and what that experience will be like
this is especially important with mid to
high-end jewelry
the perception of its value can be taken
down 10 notches with an inexpensive
looking packaging
with finley we only have one type of
packaging we have
one box with a foam insert that has
slits to accommodate both earrings
necklaces and bracelets
the more simplified and less steps your
packaging has the easier it will be to
fulfill a large amount of orders
you could cut down on costs by choosing
boxes that can accommodate several items
so for example we put earrings and
necklaces in one box and the
presentation looks beautiful
multi-functional packaging also reduces
your environmental footprint
here are a few places to get customized
jewelry packaging noblepak.com
eco enclosed alibaba zacka canada etsy
and amazon the mailer which is the outer
packaging can be bought at uline for
example and it actually has some nice
options
grounded packaging is an eco-friendly
alternative and it's
slightly more expensive but i do
recommend choosing a mailer that can
accommodate up to three boxes so that
you don't have to send separate packages
if a customer makes a bigger order
however if your mailer is oversized then
you're gonna have to consistently pay
for a larger mailer on smaller orders
so strike a balance here a focus on
reducing packaging waste is especially
rampant in the fashion industry
so keep in mind that customers will
appreciate a less is more experience
that still feels chic and polished
avoid styrofoam peanuts and include
biodegradable and recyclable packaging
monitor your packaging supply if you get
an influx of orders with not enough
boxes
you'll have to wait until your boxes get
customized and shipped over to you
which can upset customers now let's talk
shipping you can charge the customer for
full shipping
you can split the amount of shipping by
lowering your product prices
or you can offer free shipping over a
certain dollar amount setting up
shipping in your shopify store is
super easy just click the settings
button in the bottom left-hand corner of
your dashboard
click shipping and start by setting up
your packages area
put the weight and the dimensions of
your shipment without the weight of the
products
because the weight of the products are
calculated on the product level
then you choose your carrier options you
also have the option to set a default
package
that's used to calculate the shipping
rates let's go up into shipping profiles
to manage rates
your products will already be there and
will be updated as new ones get added
set the details of where you're shipping
from to get accurate rates
and then you can set types of services
available and customize the costs
here's a lesser-known trick i would
recommend checking out e-shipper
e-shipper is a shipping brokerage that
is free for you to use and for your
customer to use
they get inexpensive shipping rates in
bulk and then they do mark it up
slightly to turn a profit
but it's still significantly less than
the rates that are available to the
public
build your team if you're just starting
your business you'll likely be a
solopreneur or have a partner
but as you grow you're going to want to
be thoughtful and be careful about who
you let into your energy field as a
business
steve jobs said that the number one rule
of building your team is to choose
people that are self-managing
they understand the problem and they go
figure out how to solve it
look for this quality when choosing your
first few hires and your freelancers
as you start to grow your core group
will include a manufacturer or a jeweler
an accountant a graphic designer or web
designer a content creator like a
photographer and a videographer
a marketer a salesperson and a lawyer
the perfect mix of character types that
have been proven to make a business
explode are as follows
so in your c-suite you're going to want
to have one leader one culture tapping
expert
an industry nerd a creative and an
analyst
market your business once you're all set
up and running most of your energy
should be dedicated to marketing your
business
in your first few years of operating so
let me walk you through what my day
today was like when working with findlay
the main thought that i kept in the back
of my mind is how can i make finley
money
with that i focused on marketing tactics
that i saw were working for us
this included influencer partnerships
email marketing and ads
and i would recommend you do the same
only really focus on one two three
tactics instead of spreading yourself
thin we grew our email list mainly by
running contests we partnered with
like-minded brands such as encircled and
codily
and we were able to tap into each
other's email lists from there we would
continue to nurture those new
relationships through email which got us
new customers consistently
if you're curious on how you can build
your email list make sure to check out
this video right here for step-by-step
instructions
we also reached out to local influencers
and offered them products in exchange
for a post to their feed
we saw 3x return on investment so that
was a tactic that we continue to utilize
when choosing which influencers to work
with check out a tool called dovetail
it's an extremely robust platform to
help you find influencers based on
specific keywords
locations niches and audiences you can
even send influencers messages straight
from dovetail
which will save you a ton of time i have
no personal affiliation with dovetail
but i just wanted to share this tool
because you can find the exact type of
influencer that you're looking for
really quickly instead of scouring
through instagram that relationship can
be as simple as just
reaching out introducing yourself
sending the product
and monitoring what kind of return on
marketing investment each influencer has
that you're working with now let's talk
about ads finley has been fortunate
enough to work with an ad agency to run
facebook ads
and we see a significant increase in
sales the ad agency that we worked with
is called acquire agency and they are
phenomenal
however if you're just starting out work
with a freelancer who has a proven track
record of high return on marketing
investment
freelancers will be more cost effective
taking less commission and charging
lower hourly rates
if budget doesn't permit you to hire a
specialist though we do have an entire
video dedicated on how you can get
started with facebook ads
now for the juicy part here's a little
think outside the box marketing tactic
that you could apply to your business
so as finley launched their company they
launched a genius marketing campaign
that gained them fifteen
thousand orders here's how it worked for
the price of shipping which costed
around eighteen dollars
fintly send you a choice of ring earring
or choker for free
and you could also purchase all these
three pieces for forty dollars
most people opted in for the 40 option
which made this campaign a success
it was a great way to introduce a new
brand to the market
and it got press coverage from
publications like glamour magazine
launching a shocking campaign that
accommodates an eye-catching headline
is a great way to get written up and to
expand your reach
pricing your products once you have a
good idea of how much money you're
spending in marketing
how much each individual product costs
how much money you're spending on hiring
out talent
and the cost of operating your business
you'll have a better idea of how much
you should price your products to still
remain profitable
we're going to include a spreadsheet in
the description box below to help you
calculate this
holistically here's a word of advice so
in my experience i've noticed that
pricing jewelry higher than you would
normally think
actually pays off in the end it's funny
how the mind works people actually want
to pay more for jewelry because they
feel like they're getting something of
value
so you might start to raise eyebrows
when you're only charging twenty dollars
for a gold plated necklace
even if that does still leave room for
healthy profit margins your efforts to
run your business become more scalable
with higher pricing because you'll be
hustling equally as hard
to make the same amount of sales and
when you price your products higher
you'll be gaining more capital to grow
your business
so if you've made it till the end of
this video that's gotta mean that you're
super invested in starting your own
brand
and at shopify we love to empower
dedicated entrepreneurs
this should give you a solid foundation
to get your jewelry business started
if you're planning on starting a
business or you already have one rolling
let me know in the comments down below
what your business name is
and you can also feel free to drop a
link to your website so that we can all
check it out
lemon shopify is a channel dedicated to
small business owners with big plans
so make sure that you're hitting that
subscribe button thank you guys so much
for watching and i will see you in the
next one
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