I just noticed your question had been languishing as I was tidying
my Orchid folder. I hope in the meantime you found some info and the
following is redundant, or at least are well rested for some $s and
market research 101. Welcome to my day job
The reason you haven’t received any replies (on list at least) is
these types of answers usually require $10K-$100K of custom market
research. The range is dependent on the strategies you use and
statistical validity you require–at least as many specs and choices
as FL or VS and Platinum or 18K. Anyone who already has detailed
industry info in hand will likely be your competitor or know the
value of what they’re holding onto.
You may be able to track down a syndicated retail/wholesale jewelry
study (such as JD Powers does for auto, or Nielson for TV). The
trade-off with syndicated research is you don’t always get all your
questions answered, and the reports are still anywhere from a few
hundred to few thousand.
A big piece of that custom research cost I mentioned isn’t the
consulting, but simply bribing the respondents–who in your case will
be low involvement consumers. That will be unavoidable even if you
have the experience to design the survey methodology, questionnaire,
and reporting yourself, so it’s usually where my first time market
researchers get hit with their worst sticker shock.
If this is all new to you, I’d start with the first article on
sampling, and then the one on panels which explains how they work.
However, backing up a step from all of that, why do you need
answers to those questions? Demographics are usually much less
interesting than opinions in the grand scheme of things, and while I
can see potential for some of the overall it feels a
little like a checklist.
For example, 1. Income–it matters because… I’m guessing you
either: (a) Assume that people in certain income brackets will buy in
certain ways. A caution here–raw household income is of limited use
without knowing qualifiers such as Zip code, relationship and
dependents to essentially infer a virtual “disposable” income which
gets analytically messy and debatable (more consultant $). Or you can
take a whole alternate path of psychographics related to brand/
shopping viewpoints. (b) Have an advertising vendor who will allow
you to target by that demographic or plan to screen your ad sources
based on ones best matching your profile, so you want to collect it
in your research simply as a demo.
The reason I say to step back is so often folks will laser in on a
topic and stick at “We need to know income.” Instead what works best
is to brainstorm as much as possible and stay open to the
nuances–whatever yours may be–thinking “We need to know
(a)/(b)/(x), and to get that, the best questions to ask are
income…” That way you’re less likely to overlook an essential
qualifying question as (a) requires, and occasionally you’ll
discover that your product strategy could be better answered by
something else entirely.
BTW, in case you haven’t discovered it, the government collects some
surprisingly detailed info at times. Might hit a corner or two of
interest: http://www.census.gov
They were all, very useful. I did identify certain category of
buyers of diamonds.
They are diamond traders themselves
a. They lookout more on price point.
b. They are very easily indentified
Everyone Buy Jewelry at some point of time.
a. They buy jewelry for sure when they are about to marry.
b. People buy gold as an investment. These people generally buy
when they have money in surplus.
c. Women specially have lot of liking for jewelry, much more
then men. Infact men buy jewelry to gift that to a women.
Now, the question that come across is, how can a business be
available just at the time someone is eagerly seeking to buy jewelry.
Now, that is the point when the iron is hot.
Thanks Ganesh! I try to write perennial articles, so I’m glad they
were helpful.
Now you’re into the wide, wide, wide world of marketing–which when
done properly, it’s an exchange of value. Even advertising, at its
best, is well targeted, informative, non-intrusive, and
entertaining. Unfortunately, they’re not all Superbowl grade and
we’re not always shopping for everything we’re being shown, but you
get the idea. So, if you’ve got ideas about marketing being nasty,
ditch them. Also, if you’ve got ideas about marketing ending at
some point in the process or being limited to some department, ditch
them. It’s done by everyone in an organization at every moment, from
ShippingDoof at a jewelry supplier who sandwiched my sterling between
lumpy objects and a 2# mallet, to ServiceDoof who offered an
idiotically token credit–less than a latte within a $400 order–to
ServicePerson who actually helped after I got ticked (yeah, I’ve go a
button about service quality ;-).
There are two fundamental elements that interweave in Product
Marketing, though one will have more emphasis than the other at
different times in a product cycle. While both are essential, and a
person can do them both, like introvert/ extrovert we all have a
default mode and it’s too easy to let the other lapse–even company
cultures as a whole sometimes do this. So for best results, try to
hunt up someone in your company–or even a coach or friend–with
strength in the other area to help keep you balanced.
The first element is branding/positioning. It doesn’t end at the logo
and tag line, it’s all the nuances that encompass that image
including the range of merchandise and price point. It’s the
absurdity of the dog water bowl outside Tiffany’s being their
signature blue and the delightful fact that they fully wrap packages
even when they know it’s “just” for the person standing across the
counter. It’s that Nordstrom only has 3 sales a year and you can
barely tell their people are on commission, vs. Macy’s who carries
similar merchandise but has eroded their own prices and atmosphere
with almost constant sales–to the point some customers have been
known to haggle. It’s whether you go top-of-the line with matching
top tier call center staff who answer in the first 3 rings and take
back merchandise free s/h no questions asked. Or if you compete by
price with “All sales final,” “Value” the by-word, and a
deliberately Spartan look to your website and letterhead even though
the designer could make it look lush for the same price.
The second element is promotion/sales. Based on your branding,
you’ll have a promotion plan and sales message that then reaches out
to the world–your “how can a business be available just at the time
someone is eagerly seeking to buy jewelry.” The most expensive way to
do it is building a pervasive brand image like Coca-Cola or Nike, so
that you’ll pop into people’s brains. A classic approach is to sell
through distribution channels, so you only have to position and sell
to the wholesalers. These days you have alternatives, such as putting
yourself into a larger central marketplace like Etsy. Or keyword
advertising via something like Adwords. And newsletters, or
co-marketing, or box inserts when shipping, or… Note Sales not the
same as Marketing either in function or the types of people who
flourish in the roles. Many businesses will have a dedicated Sales
team, but for an online biz the group may be small to non-existent,
and even if you do have one, you as a marketer will be working with
them to provide messaging/support. You’ll also be selling your
products and firm to other audiences such as partners or channels,
which is why marketers need to be familiar with the tactics.
Couple launching links:
However, my best advice is to head to the nearest large chain or
university bookstore and troll the shelves for what resonates.
Branding, positioning, promotion and sales are all core areas and
there should be some great books to get you grounded vs.
hop-scotching links. Biz books can be as embarrassingly faddish as
diet ones, so an author who holds shelf space into a second edition,
for several years past release, or with multiple books is generally a
good sign.
“The” positioning book–see reviews to decide if still current
enough, or use as launching point for related topics:
A couple other authors (first 2 real characters) to scope:
Link is to his site for the 2010 $50 edition. My pro says the
algorithms have moved so much in 4 years that using the cheaper print
edition can cause damage.
Steve Krug on Web Usability:
“Don’t Make me Think” is one I recommend to folks I teach Web survey
classes to, even though much of it relates to e-commerce–your arena.
Great quick read, and likely to be in the bookstore. Haven’t seen his
new one yet.
