In the Loupe
In the Loupe
How Jewelers Should Be Marketing for Q4 This Year
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Mike sits down with Hope Bellair, Digital Marketing Manager at Punchmark, to get real about why Q4 marketing feels stressful and why starting in August is often the difference between getting seen and getting drowned out. We share a practical plan for jewelry store holiday marketing, from Meta ads and email strategy to SMS and event tactics that actually drive people into the store.
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Welcome And Q4 Starts Early
SPEAKER_01Welcome back everybody to In the Loop. What is up, everybody? My name is Michael Burpo. Thanks again for listening to In the Loop. And this week, I'm joined by Hope Belair, the digital marketing manager at Punchmark, and we're talking about, yes, Quarter 4 marketing. I know it's August. But now is the right time to be talking about Q4. We start earlier and earlier every year, and it always seems like it comes around a little bit too soon. But I'll go through with Hope on how you can start preparing for your Quarter 4 marketing, what that looks like if you're gonna have a specific event, and how many email blasts and campaigns you should be doing. Just a little bit of a lay of the land kind of situation. Hope is great on the mic. I hope you enjoy. And check out Punchmark's new digital marketing packages that are gonna be available for Q4. We mention them all at the end of the episode. Cheers. Enjoy.
Sponsor Message From Punchmark
SPEAKER_00This episode is brought to you by Punchmark, the jewelry industry's favorite website platform and digital growth agency. Our mission reaches way beyond technology. With decades of experience and long-lasting industry relationships, Punchmark enables jewelry businesses to flourish in any marketplace. We consider our clients our friends, as many of them have been friends way before becoming clients. Punchmark's own success comes from the fact that we have a much deeper need and obligation to help our friends succeed. Whether you're looking for better e-commerce performance, business growth, or campaigns that drive traffic and sales, Punchmark's website and marketing services were made just for you. It's never too late to transform your business and stitch together your digital and physical world in a way that achieves tremendous growth and results. Schedule a guided demo today at punchmark.com slash go. And now back to the show.
Why Q4 Gets Louder
SPEAKER_01What is up, everybody? My name is Michael Burpo. I'm joined by Hope Belair, digital marketing manager at Punchmark. How are you doing today, Hopi?
SPEAKER_03I'm doing so well. How are you, Mike?
SPEAKER_01Doing all right. So we're in the middle of August, and you know what that means? We're already thinking about Christmas, which is just the worst thing in the world. I someone was talking about how they were like already starting to uh listen to Christmas music. I was like, dude, you're missing like three holidays on the way. What are you doing? But perfect for us because we're gonna be talking about Q4 marketing. What do you think about uh Q4 marketing and what actually changes, Hope, when you shift into Q4 versus Qs one, two, and three?
SPEAKER_03When you shift into Q4, it's definitely just more competitive across the board. So thinking about the cadence of emails and social posts and ads and ad spend, all of that kind of needs to have a game plan and an increase. Whether it's you're scaling down right now, saving a few bucks to go more towards the November, December months or what have you. Um, it's definitely just a more competitive landscape across the board. Everybody wants your money.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It gets more competitive, but I think that it's just I always use the term louder. It seems like it's everybody is talking all at the same time when it comes to October, uh, November, December. And as a result, it's harder to be heard. And what we see in e-commerce, at least in the I get this report every month and I kind of dissect how our e-commerce is doing. We saw that uh Qs one and two uh were excellent, very, very strong performances uh for e-commerce this year. However, Q3 is looking about on par with last year, 2025. However, that actually means it's down across of according to the year, because Q1 and two really kicked kicked a lot of butt. Um, when should people start actually focusing on Q4? Do you just kind of cut, not cut your losses, but like do you ignore Q3 and go right for Q4 and try to try to double or two and a half X your revenue in Q4?
SPEAKER_03Well, I mean, if they're anything like me, they'll be thinking about Q4 in May. But that's also just because obviously we have clients and I need to get their Q4 stuff kind of figured out. Q3 is not a lost cause. So I think um quarter three specifically is a really good, just kind of you know, late fall estate type of event type of date. Um, weddings, um, excuse me, not weddings, engagement rings and engagement. Weddings too. Well, yeah, for sure. I mean fall weddings, but by that point, hopefully they've already done the wedding bands and all the rest. So Q3 is not a total loss. I think it is a nice time to plan. It is that kind of you know, universal back to school type of feeling across the board. So having a lot of um planning sessions, getting everything organized and ready for ultimately what always ends up being the chaos of of Q4 is is kind of the premise, I think.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
Q3 Opportunities And Planning Rhythm
SPEAKER_01You talk about estate stuff. Um, we just had a sponsor, we had uh Stratus um estate buyers on as a sponsor, and they were a guest as well. I wonder if that would probably be pretty strategic because then you'd have like a Q3 um kind of cash injection for your client base, and then maybe they come back and they are able to spend the money with the space because they do that whole like buy back the check for like you know, a little bit of extra money on top of it, 110% or something sometimes. And I don't know, it's just Q4, it's just so competitive. And this year in particular, I am actually going to be taking a big shift away from e-commerce. I'm gonna try my hardest to buy stuff in person. Um, just trying to support more local. And in years past, I've done so much of my shopping on, like, you know, Amazon Day or whatever it's called, and like, you know, doing the whole Black Friday thing. I think I'm gonna actually try to focus more on um, I'm not really buying things my family needs anymore. It's more I'm buying stuff that makes me think of them. And I think that shift has made it so that I'm doing less like buying them a speaker from uh Amazon and more like, hey, I saw these socks at this gift store and they are funny and they made me think of you, that kind of thing, you know?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. I think honestly, too. I mean, I know we talk about this some, but especially with the the rise in AI and AI search, there's just something in the air for I think folks in general to step out of the house, you know, touch some grass, possibly, and then go shop local. Yeah, be in person and talk to humans. Um, not to say that, of course, AI is a bad thing. I I you know, we use it and it's it's a great tool, but definitely as a as a form of um, you know, connecting with your neighbors in a way, definitely shopping local, which would be great for all of our independent jewelers.
AI Search And Shopping Local
SPEAKER_01So it's a way so just on the topic of AI. So I uh I was using Google the other day, and I I went to the state, uh the county fair, and I was trying to find all this information about like what time is it, what's the exact address, uh, you know, how much are tickets, all this kind of stuff. The thing that's so weird, I don't know if you've like actively used Google beyond just one search, like beyond, you know, what was the score of the Yankee game today? If you go beyond that and you start like kind of doing compounding questions, Google is essentially just an AI chat search at this point. It's very strange because I remember Google, it used to be like you ask a question and then it would serve you results, and then you would ask a different question, it would serve you different results based on the way you formatted your questions. Now it's like it takes it, and then you can ask a follow-up question on top of that, and it kind of remembers this search, um, not just history, but more like the search cadence of it. Have you have you kind of experienced the the new Google lately?
SPEAKER_03For sure, yeah. I mean, it is funny because now it seems like Google and just AI um in general is trying to interpret a little bit more. It's trying to, it's not just like, oh hey, you plugged in XYZ, let me only, you know, focus on XYZ type of thing. It's giving it more personalized um answers, like, I think you should focus on you know, ABC instead of whatever, you know. So definitely a little different, a little bit more um interpretation there, getting all into the semantics of everything, fun stuff.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
Meta Versus Google Ad Spend
SPEAKER_01I guess at the same time, it's so kind of pits the two against them is there's two different big players in this. There always has been. It's that Google versus Meta conversation. I can't believe I'm actually using the term meta. For a long time I have avoided using it, but it's Facebook. Uh so Google versus versus meta. Uh, what do you think that people are gonna be spending their dollars with? Because man, I have been I got got by a lot of uh Instagram ads this year, which is embarrassing. But at the same time, it works, and especially because my Apple Pay is linked to my uh Instagram account, but it is not linked to all of my accounts, which is probably for the better, because Apple Pay is you just stare at your phone, you double click that that lock button, and boom, you bought it, and it just shows up when you least expect it, like two weeks later. You know what I mean? What are you thinking when it comes to Google versus meta right now?
SPEAKER_03Definitely more meta-heavy, um, depending on the client.
SPEAKER_01Meta heavy. Wow, I did not expect that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. I'm a big proponent. Honestly, I mean, just for jewelers in general, it's more visual. Google's a little bit more reactive, where Meta is proactive. And I know if you guys have listened to previous podcast episodes where I'm on that, I beat that drum all the time. But yeah, Meta, Instagram specifically. Facebook is a little bit, you know, older generation. If you want to get, you know, the 55 plus crowd to an estate sale or something like that, that's where we advertise. But if we're going for engagement rings, we're going for um diamond pendants, diamond studs, etc., for the holiday season, Instagram's your your girl.
SPEAKER_01Are you running like a post that's boosted as a result? Or how are you getting like the actual what do those look like, those ads?
SPEAKER_03So
Boosts Versus Evergreen Campaigns
SPEAKER_03it can be a combination of a couple things. Boosting does really well for let's say a high-performing reel or a post that is doing promoting something like this weekend. So, for example, we actually had Falls Jewelers. I was on the phone with him yesterday, and he has a pop-up going on at um a coffee shop in Concord somewhere. Um, and they did a cute little reel on Instagram. And I asked him yesterday, I said, Hey, do you want to like let's let's go ahead and boost that? And that's not necessarily make it a campaign, but for the next couple of days, just to get more views and more interaction um with the post and hopefully thereafter um on their pop-up, let's go ahead and boost it. And he was all about it. But as far as our general um thesis, I guess, for Q4 is evergreen campaigns are going to be the best. So let's say that we go ahead and sign you on for a Q4 package, right? October 1st, boom, we're started. By the next week, we've got you set up, campaign is launched, etc. From there, what we're gonna be able to do week by week throughout quarter four is optimize that campaign to make sure that conversions are actually happening on the site.
SPEAKER_02Whereas right.
SPEAKER_03Like a boosted post, it's just kind of like, hey, I want to spend, let's say, $10 a day for three days just to boost this post. It's not going to be optimizable after you hit publish type of thing. It's just going to be a one quick hit, call it a day, wrap your hands of it, and uh, you know, see you next time. Whereas a campaign is like, oh, okay, well, hey, this creative isn't doing as well as this creative. Let's put more spend towards this, tweak the messaging a little bit to broaden the reach, etc.
SPEAKER_01Do you what do you find when it when you tweak the messaging? I always wonder about this because I definitely spend the least amount of time on the caption and description of my content than I do in all the other parts of it. The filming, the editing, like the actual publishing, what the what the storytelling of like, you know, reels are. But then it comes to the description. And a lot of times I write that like in three seconds, and then I hit publish because it is the last step. It's kind of like the email subject line uh for in for an email blast. And for the longest time, Punchmark had a hard time with this too, because we would spend all this time building out a beautiful email, and then it's like, all right, but what's the subject line? And it's just like, I don't know, just throw one in there. That's like one of the most important steps, and also like, yeah, the description for like some of these these emails. When you say you tweak them, is it just like making it be more excited or changing the tone? What is it that you're actually working on?
SPEAKER_03Um, more likely the tone. So, like, depending on the demographic that we're reaching, if we're going more towards Gen Z, we'll pick up a super trendy, you know, cutesy saying to start to just kind of grab their attention because it's all about that hook. As soon as you subconsciously see something that you can resonate with, you're gonna pay attention to it. So um, let's say, even if that natural diamond tennis bracelet is out of your budget, if we say, and I'm gonna sound so millennial right now, even though I'm Gen Z.
SPEAKER_01Go for it. I love it.
SPEAKER_03I'll be like, oh, this slaps. And I hate that that I just said that because I am Gen Z and I know we wouldn't say that. However, that's the only thing that came to mind. But if you're like, oh, that's slaps, right? Now you're paying attention to it because it's like, oh, what slaps? And then you're like, oh, that diamond tennis bracelet. And I might not be able to afford it, you know, as is right now, since I'm in my 20s. But maybe this is something that, you know, my boyfriend or husband XYZ can finance over 48 months or something like that. So yes, excuse my millennial language.
SPEAKER_01Um just cringe a little bit, a little bit more. I definitely gotta kill the part that can cringes. I I feel you. Um, I guess, and just one more thing on the on the topic.
Writing Hooks That Convert
SPEAKER_01Uh, I've been making a lot of reels lately for my own content. And what I found, um, I used to always put a trending sound on my or like a you know, a favorite song, like my song of the summer. And I'd make these reels about my going out painting. And what I've actually noticed is that it's for me, it's better to not put a song on my reels because when you have a song on there, you can't cross-post to Facebook as easily. And you also can't boost your post because you have uh if it's a a paid or if it's like a major song, you know, if you use circles by Post Malone, um, you can't put it on Facebook because there's probably different licensing, and you also can't pay to boost it, but if it has no uh paid audio on it, then you can. And I've just stopped using uh yeah, music. And then as a result, it just shows up as audio original. Um I don't know. That's just one of those side notes.
SPEAKER_03Well, it depends on what platform you're on. So, like Instagram, I don't think the trending sounds are too important, specifically on Instagram. That's where TikTok comes in. And you know, the trending sound that has actually lasted for longer than I thought it would is the saxophones getting louder. Everybody's heard it at this point. There's no way you haven't. If you're on social media, you have heard this sound, I promise. But that has lasted for months, right? And now, if you use it, it's been trending for so long that it's actually on the downturn. If we were looking at a graph, let's say it's peaked, it's coming down. So TikTok is actually the one where you want to grab those little trending sounds as they're on the up and up, because as you use it, especially if you're on that upturn, as the sound gets more popular, you're going to get more views, more interactions, more likes, more engagement. So that's where I'd say the the sound comes in. As far as Instagram goes, it's kind of a little bit the Wild West. Some sometimes you can have, you know, nothing but nature sounds in the background and you just talking to the real and it's all great. And sometimes you just need just music in the background, and that's all I need, you know? No talking.
SPEAKER_01So I
Sounds And Native-Feeling Ads
SPEAKER_01guess at the same time, let's let's talk a little bit more about ads. Um, it's kind of interesting because I feel like the game for ads is so cyclical. It started out, ads used to be extremely overt, and it they like did not fit the the environment, and then they became so native feeling that it was like I mistake content or ads for content all the time, especially on Reddit and especially on Instagram. It's like, man, they they just they make the posts look like posts and they make it really feels native. And then now I kind of almost feel like it sort of comes out of it, and now it's like, no, we can be a little bit more fun and people will have like a better sniff detector uh for an ad and they can kind of sort of tell, and as a result, they don't wanna they wanna be more overt. Do you find that like that cyclical nature is is coming around on all platforms, or are they all still kind of having their own kind of uh tracks?
SPEAKER_03For sure. I think it's coming around. So specifically, I see folks get called out for undisclosed ads on TikTok all the time. They get you in with the hook, they get you in with a story, and then they're like, oh, and you know, XYZ company or I use XYZ app to find this out or whatever, you know. It gets really messy, people don't like it, and then it ultimately makes the business look bad in a way, whether they meant you know, the ad to be undisclosed or what have you. So um I think just as a general rule, it is good to know that it's an ad. Um definitely with jewelry specifically, especially if we're we're promoting your your brand in your store, it's not necessarily something that is super prevalent in undisclosed. Obviously, it's it's kind of like, hey, you know, this is an ad. This is a this is a review or you know, what have you for your store. Unless if you have someone that has, let's say, 10,000 followers on Instagram or TikTok saying, oh my God, I just went here. I promise this is an ad, isn't an ad, but look at this beautiful ring that I just got. Um, that seems more authentic because in the long run, you're not getting any kickback in any way, or they're not getting any kickback, but it's just an honest review. So I honestly kind of think of it as um, not to go off on a tangent, but like um Google reviews, you know, how people will give reviews for your store, say five stars. Oh my gosh, this salesperson was the best to work with. They walked me through everything, blah, blah, blah. Same kind of thing for let's say a TikTok. Um, it's just kind of a video review. So I don't know, it's a combination of all of the above. And as far as ads, yes, it is good to have it say this is an ad. And like you said, I mean, on Instagram, you've been targeted with ads and it's they got you. So if you if you're if you're getting the right audience, it's good.
SPEAKER_01I honestly sometimes don't I don't even get mad when they recommend me say the only thing I will say is I feel like the the content I've been advertised, it used to be crappy, like cheap stuff that a lot of times like ships from China and they don't tell you it ship ships from China because it looks nat uh like looks like it's it's local or like handmade, but then you know it takes like two months to arrive at your door and you're like, oh, it shipped on a shipping contain uh container from like Guangzhou or something like that. Uh but I will say the stuff that I've been getting advertised is made in the USA, but it is so expensive. I had this um this super cool floral like marigold shirt that had writing on it, uh advertised me to me. It I like looked at it, I was like, oh, I'm gonna buy this. It was a hundred. $175 t-shirt. And I was like, yikes, that is an expensive
Influencer Marketing Without The Cringe
SPEAKER_01one. But maybe on a kind of a different note, for a long time we had talked about influencer advertising. And I think that the term influencer is not a positively received one uh term anymore. It's definitely very cringe for a lot of people. And I think it has to do with like people walking around with you know selfie sticks and just being very again overt and kind of uh cringe. But at the same time, here's like a quick, you know, like anecdote. There is a jewelry maker who's a member of uh my my guild that I share my uh uh the gallery I'm a part of. And she actually took the uh she is you know became friends with this barista, kind of a younger barista, uh at you know the popular coffee shop and gifted the barista a pair of earrings, like very, very cool handmade earrings that are you know very fitting for this barista, and just asked, hey, if you um, I'd love for you to wear them when you work for the next couple of months. And if anyone asks, just let them know that you got them at the artist guild. And I thought that was like the most straightforward influencer marketing that you can do, where it's like nothing written down, very just a casual, like what is the cost of that? It's the cost of the material for that thing and also the opportunity cost of not selling that item in the shop. But let's just say you convert one person, suddenly it's suddenly it's worth it. And I thought that that kind of very natural transaction felt like something that uh like the most healthiest uh advancement of influencer marketing I've I've heard of.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. It's just it's that is like the most wholesome, authentic way to say, hey, just help, you know, help us out.
SPEAKER_01You want to promote us?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, pretty much, you know. So, and that's kind of, I guess, you know, boots on the ground, if you will. That's that's in real life. That's not even on social media, so that's good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. All right. So let's do a little hypothetical hope. I am running a ladies' night in December.
SPEAKER_03All right.
SPEAKER_01Um, what does the digital campaign look like? So this is December. This is we're in the middle of Q4. So let's just say December um 12th is gonna be my ladies' night. That gives us enough time to convert. Um, walk me through like a really good digital marketing campaign uh for that event. When do we start? What do we send? How does that work?
SPEAKER_03So
Six-Week Plan For December Event
SPEAKER_03that is going to start about six weeks out with messaging. So, first two weeks, we're looking at an awareness campaign, just getting feelers out there, any leads, interests, etc. Hey, we've got a ladies' night happening in six weeks. Um, you know, if they've interacted with your ad, all that fun stuff. Great. After those initial two weeks, your first email goes out just saying, hey, four weeks until our ladies' night, here's our special offer. Enjoy uh hors d'oeuvres, champagne, the store is yours. Then as the weeks get closer to that awareness campaign switches to a traffic campaign for two weeks. We're sending them now to a landing page with a countdown timer, let's say, and then saying, preview some of the pieces that will be at Ladies Night that you can see and touch and feel in real life on that landing page. So awareness turns into traffic for two weeks. So now we're a month in. Two weeks out, we're hitting them hard with retargeting for two weeks. That email cadence goes up. So within the first four weeks, you've sent maybe two or three emails. And then in the last two weeks, we're going to hit them hard with emails and text messages. Oh the biggest thing in 2026, and honestly, in years past too. However, it's a little bit more prevalent this year than anything else, is if you're not doing text messages to your clients or to the folks that have subscribed and maybe aren't in your client base yet, but are in your subscribe list, hitting them with a few text alerts will help bring people to the ladies' night. Because honestly, I don't know about you, but my inbox just stays around 3,000 unread.
SPEAKER_02Yes, I understand why.
SPEAKER_03It's just no matter how many times I go and delete chunks of emails, it's going to, it's gonna stay there. So being top of mind, so far, people aren't getting bombarded um on SMS as far as marketing goes, not yet. I hope to never see that day because then I might just go back to a flip phone, if honest. But um, those last two weeks, we're hitting them hard with retargeting, we're hitting them with a cadence of three every three to four days, sending out that, you know, text message, email reminder. And then as it comes closer, let's say to Wednesday the night, we say, Hey, we're so excited to see you this Saturday. Um, you know, here's what to expect, X, Y, Z. And then Saturday morning hitting them with today is the day, we're so excited to see you from five to nine or whatever hours you have. Um, but to be clear, with all of that campaigning, so we have three different meta campaigns, let's say, going. Google isn't so relevant here just because it is more of an event, but emails, SMS, meta, we have about four different campaigns going. And then with emails, let's say eight, magic number. Um, we'll say eight emails and five text messages would probably do the trick. Spacing that out and the cadence of it all is obviously up to your discretion or your marketer's discretion based on best practices. But it is a lot. It is, you know, to get the word out there and all the rest. And then, I mean, obviously the physical side of it, your, you know, your sales people picking up the phone and calling your clients and saying, hey, here's our, you know, our formal personal invitation versus the digital portion of things.
SPEAKER_01So you've got eight emails, five text messages. And this would hypothetically, if we're having this ladies' night on December 12th, that would all kind of start firing off, I guess, the first week of uh of November, more or less, or last week of October. But that means that your creative for it has got to be starting in probably like September, most likely, because how quickly can you write eight emails and five text messages? I need a little bit of a little processing time or at least someone else to do it for me. Uh when do how long does does that kind of lead up take?
SPEAKER_03Well, so for me and my team, let's say, I mean, because our next big thing is um Antwerp happening in October. So we have campaigns obviously that do have about eight emails each and all the rest. We start planning for that first trip is I think October 4th. So we actually we did start last week just building out those emails, and we'll probably by next week send out the first one. So with us, it's it's two weeks, but obviously that's you know something we expect and prepare for long in advance. We kind of know the messaging that needs to go out. Um, but yeah, if you're if you're trying to do it all yourself and run a store and manage your employees and all the rest, I would say, you know, as an example for this Antwerp thing, you would probably start slowly incorporating it in June or designing it in June.
SPEAKER_01Man, that it's just so much, so much lead up, so much work. But at the same time, uh, I had seen this kind of in effect. Uh, there was this uh this grassroots kind of music uh festival. It was it was a rave, but it was electronic music. It happened out in the woods. It was a pretty cool event, uh, but pretty official. Um, but it was organized by this guy. And one thing I I noticed that I thought was really interesting is that he would leverage his community to help promote it. And what I thought was really kind of cool was he turned each person again, I hate this term, influencer. He turned each person into kind of like a micro influencer because they were kind of, you know, the the event was called Dewey Dubs. It was like Dewey Dubs on our on our chest, like, you know, kind of rep rep the the the brand. And what I thought was really kind of cool was every time they would have these major uh beats to like the promotion campaign, you know, they weren't doing emails, they were doing these social posts. But every time they would send one, what I thought was kind of cool was he would obviously take it and he would share it to like all this this list or this roster of micro influencers, you might say, and have them be like, hey, uh, and I'm sure he wrote the same message to every single one of them. Hey, uh, if you could put this on your uh on your story, it would really be helpful. And he would share it with all of these people. And as a result, you would go through your your followings and you would see that same post shared across a lot of different posts, and it became very effective. I'm sure that their reach was, you know, very impressive uh comparatively. So they weren't really relying on followers, they were just relying on general awareness. And I think that kind of ties into sort of how I want to wrap this kind of topic up is like, what are these metrics that you should be paying attention to? Because when I have parties, I have anxiety that no one is going to show up. What can you start to? I mean, like everybody says, oh, I'm gonna go, but like, what can you start to pay attention to that is going to say, oh, this is gonna be my ladies' event on December 12th is going to be very successful. Uh, what is gonna indicate that it actually will be a success?
SPEAKER_03So
Metrics That Predict Attendance
SPEAKER_03for new clients, let's say that they have never been to your store before, lead form fill outs is going to be one. And then hitting them the week of with another, let's say, little form saying, Hey, we're so excited to have you. Um, tell us a little bit more about yourself or what you might be looking for in this ladies' night. If they have filled out both forms, then that is a pretty strong candidate to okay, they're gonna come.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, it's mainly pointments, RSVPs. I mean, because you know, like every party, you wanna get a feel for who's gonna be there.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01I know. It kills me when people show up and they didn't RSVP. I'm like, come on, guys, I needed to know how much food to buy.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I know, right? So it sounds um perhaps cliche, but like, you know, an RSVP, hey, say save the date and an RSVP. Honestly, same like a wedding, you know? Like save the date, here's the date. And then, oh, are you coming? And you know, what even if you're having hors d'oeuvres, do you have a nut allergy? You know, something like that that that just signifies they're taking the extra step and they're thinking about it as they're coming.
SPEAKER_01As an active thought, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Right. Like, oh, okay, well, what do do I want out of this lady's night? Or um what am I looking for specifically for you know, jewelry? And even if you don't know yet, that's fine. You know, maybe you're like, I'm not sure yet, I'm just gonna go browse. That's still something that you're thinking about. So with that, and that's you know, new clients. The same can also be said for returning clients. Returning clients are uh uh, you know, obviously a little bit more loyal, have a little bit more um stake in your store. They, you know, they've spent XYZ amount there. So, you know, if they say they're coming, generally you want to say, okay, they're coming. And then you can say, I picked out this piece specifically for you. Let me know if there's another style, whether it be ring, pendant, bracelet, etc., that you want me to look for, but I picked you out this necklace specifically. But if you're in the market for a bracelet, let me know, type of thing. So just that thinking aspect of it. You don't want it to be so subconscious that you forget about it. Um, but just being like, this is personalized to you, both old and new customer.
SPEAKER_01Now, Hulk, I know that we just said that a successful campaign is gonna take uh six months of of campaigning, but then also a month of uh design and copywriting. That
Q4 Packages That Set It Up
SPEAKER_01sounds like a lot for a store owner. And I don't know if I always say store owners are, especially in the jewelry industry, are doing maybe too many roles for their store. I get like a lot of these stores. I've got some of our friends that are clients that are just three-person stores. They've got one employee, it's the you know, the husband and wife, and one employee that kind of helps it so that they can maybe occasionally go on vacation. Uh what can how can Punchmark assist in Q4 promotion if they want to maybe just set it and forget it when it comes to the promotion aspect for their uh their Q4?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so that's I mean, unshameful plug here.
SPEAKER_01That's where our Q no un A. That's what we're doing. We're promoting. That's what they're doing, also. Let's promote to the people that on how to promote. I get it.
SPEAKER_03There. No, that's where our Q4 marketing packages come in. So um basically, like let's say you have events from October to December, and you do your marketing all year round yourself, but obviously quarter four just becomes so hectic. That's where we can come in. It's a short-term contract, three months, October 1st to December 31st. We cover all of the above, depending on you know how much you need. Um let's say, right, we hop on a call next week and say, hey, hope, you know, I've been thinking about this Q4 marketing package. Can we just walk through what that might look like as far as events X, Y, Z? Absolutely. So let's say they start what's today? As of recording, it's the 12th. If we get a schedule or a meeting on the books on the 19th, and I go, hey, okay, um, here's what it would look like. Here'd be the cost. But obviously, you know, the first invoice wouldn't be until October 1st. We then have all of September to lay down the groundwork and plan so that when October 1st comes, we're ready to hit the ground running. So that's going to help you guys, obviously, because that's our job. All we do is market. So meta campaigns, Google campaigns, whatever you need email marketing-wise, um, that will be handled by us. And it will just be kind of a set it and forget it thing. Now, of course, if you want to check in in the middle of Q4, if you have the time, absolutely. We can go over numbers, metrics, X, Y, Z, see how things are going. Um, but I do find that most jewelers at least go dark around November. Yeah. First week of November. And we don't hear it, they don't pop up again until until January.
SPEAKER_01They do not want to be talked to, and I understand that. And I it's always 10 years into this thing, and I always laugh. It's not them being rude, and it's not us being neglectful. It's just, we'll see you on the other side.
Pricing And How ROI Pencils Out
SPEAKER_01So uh Hope, what what do these these packages actually start at? I know that we're, you know, talking about prices sometimes a little weird, but what can people expect when it comes to actually like getting into a package?
SPEAKER_03Sure. So minimum per month does um it is $7.50 a month. And then if you did want to just pay up front, um, it is discounted 10%. So let's say you wanted to do the the starter package at $750 a month, paid in full if you wanted to do that, it would be $2,025 with that 10% discount. Um, and that's for the the whole three months. So, and then our biggest package, obviously, if you need the works and basically our whole team to kind of look at you every day and send out emails every day. Um, we're looking at $5,250 a month or 14,175 paid in full. Now there are obviously packages in between, but just to kind of give you the min and max of what our packages are for Q4.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's like one tennis bracelet. It sure is in my brain.
SPEAKER_03And you know, if if it's a natural diamond tennis bracelet, I was going for a lab a lab tennis bracelet. But hey, I mean, think about it this way, right? If you get into our elite package that is a um about $14,000, and because of the marketing that is done in your on your behalf, um, and you get a $20,000 natural diamond tennis bracelet sale out of it, well, there you go.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01And I do
VIP Outreach And Closing Thoughts
SPEAKER_01what's funny is I actually think that there's the marketing, and then there's almost like counter-marketing or anti-marketing that I think can be done in coordination with this. I've been thinking a lot uh since last year, I talked with um Anna Barnett, and she does like a VIP, almost like tour around like December, where she like picks out a bunch of pieces and then she goes to her VIPs, and then she sells like and has like in-house like consultations essentially with like or private consultation with, you know, the man or the woman or both. And but just for you know, her whales or her VIPs. And I I think that's almost kind of like like anti-marketing, like you have this one like run-of-the-mill, like you're promoting emails, uh text messages, but then it's like, hey, um, by the way, sorry about all the emails, like I know it can be a lot. Uh, what do you think? We just set up like a little private thing, we can like, you know, just kind of talk it out. We can have like a little glass of wine and just kind of have this moment. And then she also does like this really nice marketing where she like gives them little accoutrements, I think it's chocolate or something that goes along with it. That's the kind of stuff I think. Then it really sets the bedrock and then it allows you to go above that for your your VIPs, which you can't really do unless you sort of set what the what the standard is. So um, just something I've been thinking about more.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. And you know, Anna Barnett is one, the Barnett's are one that started Q4 marketing last year and they continued on.
SPEAKER_01Let's go. We love that.
SPEAKER_03We love Barnett and and Oscar.
SPEAKER_01Good guys.
SPEAKER_03And Oscar, of course. That's why I said Barnett.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01Um, hope. Anything in in in wrap-up um as we're heading in, it's so funny. Q4, I always kind of get like a little anxious because it's so important. And this year for e-commerce, uh, we've seen just an awesome, awesome performance in the weirder months, you know, January through I think April, best performing um four months in a row for us that are not, you know, October, November, December. I'm sort of like holding my breath because I would love for us to say this is a record year. Uh, but the truth is, if these last three months sort of flop for us, it won't be a record year. We kind of need them to be strong. So it's a little, a little nerve-wracking, but at the same time, what about what about for you? What are you thinking about as we sort of wrap this up?
SPEAKER_03I mean, I'm just honestly thinking about I, you know, that anxiety I completely get, right? I think everybody gets a little anxious around this time of year because we know it's coming. And um, you know, the focus for me and my team is just to make the clients that we've got really have a successful Q4. Um, and for any clients that we might have jump on for Q4 marketing, you know, same thing. So yeah, I mean, just getting that planning and execution ready. We're we're ready to go, whether it be e-store or e-commerce.
SPEAKER_01I think that having your planning done a little bit early is always better than having it done a little bit late or like, you know, at the last minute. I I think it's okay to have it sit for an extra week or two or three um before you execute on it, but maybe that's just me. I'm a bit of an overplanner sometimes. So I really appreciate your time. This is super interesting. I'm really excited to see how our clients do. I think it's gonna be a really good year. I think we got a lot of things, um, sort of uh a lot of momentum coming for the jewelry industry, and I really appreciate that. Um, thanks again for joining me.
SPEAKER_03Lane, thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_01All right, thanks everybody. We'll be back next week, Tuesday, with another episode. Cheers. Bye.
Final Thanks And Listener Requests
SPEAKER_01All right, everybody. That's another show. Thanks so much for listening. My guest this week was Hope Belair, digital marketing manager at Punchmark. Be sure to check out our digital marketing packages at punchmark.com. This episode was brought to you by Punchmark and produced and hosted by me, Michael Burpo. This episode was edited by Paul Suarez with music by Ross Cochran. Don't forget to write the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and leave us feedback on punchmark.com slash loop. That's L-O-U-P-E. Thanks, and back next week Tuesday with another episode. Bye.
