Advertising benefits

Patania, Advertising is an interesting and absolutely vital necessity
if you are to grow your business in any market. We tried for years
to do it without advertising and while we grew up to a point,
eventually we weren’t pulling in enough new business from our
immediate area. During the last recession ten years ago we began our
advertising campaign and in three years we doubled our sales (during
the recession). It is not necessary to point out other jeweler’s bad
points for advertising to work. What is important is that you create
an image for yourself that people begin to recognize over a period of
time. It will not happen fast (actually we spent the first year of
advertising, every other week in the Sunday magazine section of the
Boston Globe, watching our money disappear with virtually no
response–it was in the second and third years that not a single day
went by that someone didn’t come in and buy something because of the
ads). It will be expensive. It must be consistent. It doesn’t
matter so much what image you choose to project (inexpensive pricing,
custom work, unique designs) but you must maintain the same image
over a long period of time. Think about those golden
arches–immediately recognizable, unable to be confused with any
other logo or images virtually throughout the world. Take a look at
what the really big guys do and do it on a scale you can afford.
Also you might want to read the books Guerilla Marketing and Guerilla
Marketing Attack. Probably a little dated by now but still providing
a good base to work from.

I second Daniel’s response to advertising. I saw Spirer Somes’ ad
every week and blame him for all the trouble I have gotten myself
into ; )

But seriously, we spend about $700 a month advertising in movie
theaters of all things. We have an ad with a guy banging away on a
bracelet wearing our Metalwerx apron. In the background is another
student wearing her apron, and subtle touches of red and black which
lead to our huge black and red logo. We sell our beginning classes
for $150 including materials. Since we sell these classes out, they
still make money for us, although not much. This strategy is called
“loss leader”. But the quality and seduction of that image is very
strong. Our brochure is the highest quality that we could afford to
print.

Our work aprons are a big hit. I thought of tee shirts and then you
get into problems of sizes. Hats were fun, but not everybody wears
hats. The aprons are the best, because you can BBQ or cook or
whatever. My instructors get a free apron. When they teach other
places, they wear our apron and people say, “Oh, do you teach at
Metalwerx”? It is the best $1500 I ever spent.

Very occasionally we would see a person who saw our ad, and we were
wondering if the ad was working. It has taken about six months, but
sure enough, now people are signing up for classes. The website hits
were astronomical, so I knew that people were checking us out.

Looking forward to meeting you,

-k

Karen Christians
M E T A L W E R X
10 Walnut St.
Woburn, MA 01801
Phone:781/937-3532
Fax: 781/937-3955
http://www.metalwerx.com/
Accredited Jewelry Instruction