The Most Important Jewelry Marketing Decision

The most important jewelry marketing decision you will make is the market in which to sell your jewels.

There are several markets available for the home jewelry designer, both offline and online. Of course you do not need to decide on one and only one, you can try several - but be careful not to spread yourself too thin as each will require a different type of effort. Don't forget that in addition to deciding on a marketing venue for your jewelry, you will also have to spend time on the appropriate displays for the venue and of course - make the jewelry! Below are some of the ways that you can market your own jewelry,

whether you want to turn it into a huge business or just sell a few pieces for pin money, it's up to you to decide how much effort and what type of markets to sell in.

Jewelry Parties

These are a great way to get together with friends and make some money too! It works kind of like a tupperware party where someone hosts the party (it can be hosted by the jeweler (that's you !) or someone else) and a small number of invited guests attend.

They usually last 2 or 3 hours and include a little snack and beverage. One nice marketing tactic is to offer the host an incentive - a free piece of jewelry or so much off if X amount is sold, that way you'll have her pushing people to buy as well!

You will need to buy some nice jewelry displays to show off your creations and don't forget to bring a large mirror so that people can see how great your jewelry looks on! It might be helpful to buy a good traveling jewelry case that has removable trays so that you can organize the jewelry so that you can easily find the piece you want and everything won't get all tangled. They key here is to put out just enough jewelry but not too much. You can bring extras, though and if someone wants something in a different color you'll be ready to sell it to them!/p>

One of the pitfalls of these types of parties is that you are selling to family and friends and it may be hard to charge full price. You should decide on a price ahead of time and don't waver. If you want you can offer a 10% (or whatever) discount for everyone so that everyone feels like they are getting a good deal. It's nice to give friends a good deal, but you need to get paid for your time and the money spend on supplies.

Craft Shows

Marketing your jewels at craft shows is a good way to reach a large audience that is ready to buy. Like a jewelry party, you will be setting up so you will need a nice set of displays and some tables. Some nice black tablecloth will work wonders to disguise an ugly folding table and highlight the beauty of your jewelry.

When selecting a show to sell at, you want to make sure you pick one that has the same quality items. It is good if you can go to the show beforehand to see what other people sell - if it is a weekly or monthly event you can simply attend to see if you think your work would fit in. You don't want to attempt to market your high end stuff and a fair with cheap stuff, nor do you want to attend an artisan show if you sell common inexpensive jewelry.

Some people at the show will want to haggle over price so you should be prepared to give a bit of a discount on each item. You can mark the prices a little higher in anticipation of this if you want.

Galleries and Boutiques

If you don't want to sit around all day at a fair or travel around to parties in the evening, you can market your jewelry at galleries and boutiques. This takes some legwork up front to contact the galleries and get them to want to take your work in for sale. Typically they will sell on consignment so they will be getting a cut of the final sale. Once you have an arrangement, it does free up your time quite a bit as you load up once and then bring fresh merchandise to the shop weekly. Look for cute boutiques in your local area that you think your jewelry might fit in at, walk in and ask them if they want to make a deal!

Online Marketing

If you decide to market your jewelry in the online world, you will need a computer, a high speed internet connection and a digital camera. You have 3 choices in online marketing - an online mall, your own site or an online auction. Each requires that you learn how to take excellent photos of your jewelry and write adequate descriptions as well as a minimum of computer knowledge so that you can find your way around the site and get your items uploaded.

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