Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

I am a bit un-clear where you are positioned in the market. Is your store an official carrier of Cartier or Chopard?

No I am a different jewelry shop but I'm looking to have the image of Cartier and to be perceived by customers as one of the most luxurious jewelry retailers in the country, I al ready have 6 shops one of them for Gold whole sale and the other for diamond and gold retails, I work there as a marketing manager.

Well the gold wholesale store – at least in my opinion could not be the most luxurious jeweller in your country -- mainly because luxury is associated with prestige, location, and premium pricing. Wholesaling on the other hand is more of the sale of goods in large quantities, in most instances for resale by a retailer.

You could position the store as a premium product intended for sale to retailers, but is open to the public. This age old marketing trick has been utilised in America for many years but I feel the old trick is wearing off here because the market is mature and the public is on to this angle.

our whole sale store has a different management and owners, the owners are 5 brothers 2 of them looking for prestigious image and 3 of them working in the whole sale , all branches under the same name but the branches I work for are located in prestigious locations and sell in expensive prices , some of the customers do perceive us as a very luxury shops and some just cant forget that we did started as gold wholesaler, as im saying we are in the industry since 1975 as gold seller , but in the last 10 years we started to sell diamond and only advertised for diamond & very expensive pieces , but I need to send something to the public by advertising so I can convince them im different the quality I sell is the best (this is a fact), by the way im launching a new adverting campaign, which will hold the slogan *(classic remains fashion) because most of the styles I produce are classic and im old in the market but im updated and fashionable, what do u advice and comment !!

Perhaps you could give a free gift with purchase - I think something like a logo branded jewellery box, or something related to your core product, that will remind them of your company months, or even years on.

Here's an article on Gift with Purchase programmes you might be interested in reading:

Gift with Purchase – Trade Loaders – Incentive Programs

Good luck!

Jeremy

shouq Salameh - go for a particular market. Weddings for example. In that market you need to advertise in the relevant media (in our country, magazines) to pick up interest.

You will need a professional agency to create an image. Remember - the slogan 'Diamonds Are Forever' was not a quick campaign! Ian Fleming wrote the book years before the ads came out.

For example, your agency could try a picture of a bride on her wedding day, with a close-up of her diamond and gold ring. A full page colour advertisement would catch interest with a slogan such as 'Diamonds and Gold: Only the best lasts forever'.

And don't worry! Almost every bride will want the best!

Let me see the finished artwork!

Best wishes

Peter Hobday

Dear Shouq Salameh,

What I understand is that the family is having 6 shops (dealing in jewels ) at various locations in the country. One (or more ?) of the shops is for wholesale in gold jewels. Others are retail shops for diamond & gold jewels. The shop that you work for is dealing in expensive, prestigious diamond & gold jewels. All the shops are named the same. Now, your questions is how can you get the image of Cartier or other such brands as you perceive that you are as good as or better than Cartier, Chopard...

With nearly 5 decades of dealings in jewels you have created an image about your business (jewel shops). The image usually in such a long business is built up through your quality, price, variety, design, honesty, customer relations etc. You have to review and assess yourself on every aspect of your image by seeking feedback from your present customers. This could be done through a formal survey by asking your customer’s to fill up a simple questionnaire. List out these attributes (aspects) of the image. Also ask them to rate you in comparison to these particular brands (Cartier…) on “Design”, “Variety”, “Price”, “Quality”, “Customer Relation” etc. Also, get the profile of these customers. What is their age, profession, income range, hobbies etc.

Do you feel you are comparable to those brands? If yes on product related attributes but no on customer profile, then, it is the question of positioning.

You have mentioned that your particular shop is located at a prestigious location and priced high. Does all these qualify you to be rated at par with other premium brands ? May be, truly speaking, with such a superiority or parity in quality, variety, designing, pricing etc. But, the difference is in marketing. The target is high end - prestigious, status & distinction seeking- customers. Your marketing strategy should be woven around this target audience. The advertisements, displays, localities and associations and everything will be luxurious. Who are the models who sport these jewels ? Obviously, the highly rated celebrities.

Anyhow, don’t carry on the image of “Cartier” or anybody if you are not dealing in them. Create your own brand and build on it. But, as of today, if you don’t have such resources to take on these brands and if you feel comfortable with the niche you are operating on , continue to concentrate on building and strengthening the brand for this niche itself. May be, you need to engage a specialist / expert agency for building/ strengthening the brand.

Best Wishes,

kannan

Luxury image is built based on PR and not only on Advertising.

Have you ever think about builing a big fashion event? Like a jewelry catwalk, inviting high standard clients, media and VIP's?

In my point of view, an event can reaaly help you building the luxury and exclusivity universe you want. Take care of all details. Luxury is all about that. If you decide to build the event, the luxury you needs to be everywhere: from the invitation, to the venue, to the invited, to media kits and press releases, etc...

Hire a good PR agency and everything will be easier.

This is what I think.
Hope it helps,
Tiago

Thank you all for your valuable responses, but can you please advice which you find it much attractive slogan,

Diamond love classic, or Fashion love classic
I'm emphasizing on the classic because we produce classic products and not very modern classic, and because all the fashion is now representing the old/ classic fashion with some adjustment ....
So do you think it will attract customers and explain why we love classic and why they look for our classic models ???

Hi WAMMA hi Kathy...
Will maybe I didn't explain enough, but here is the exact case.
We did conduct a qualitative research through Ipsos research company, we did also conduct a market positioning research, we have done in-depth interviews it took nearly nine months to finish all the mentioned before, we have questionnaire that was filled by 500 of our customers regarding the advertisement locations and materials, we have set a plan to get back our old lost customers, we are building a new website( its under construction now), I do pre- testing and brain storming for every campaign before releasing it, we work on heavy P.R like sponsoring events for A class in our society, and special auctions where we donate all the auctions revenue for charity work. We are also fixing our data base information and enlarging it, we also do offer services that no one else offers it from our competitors.

After having all the results and finishing all the studies, we found out the customers in the market do perceive us as luxury brand but some times they get confused because of our adverting media, we used to use untargeted media channels (mass media channels) like local radio station also we did sponsor some b- class program or event (mistakes) we also provided insurance policy on all purchases from theft (which mean if any piece you buy form us get stolen form your house we compensate you on one condition you should bring us a police report of the stolen pieces)
Now... why asked about classic, because in Jewelry design its like fashion design every designer have his own style, and we produce classic styles that mostly are big and expensive, we do of course have a variety of every thing but our main products are classic with some modern adjustment, I need to attract the customers attention to that, it is fashion now, and it’s a beautiful styles and work of art pieces, I need him to perceive us as fashion creator , I'm competing with Cartier when I produce a piece worth $100,000 and ask the potential customer to come and pay for my piece instead of Cartier or any other brand piece.
And when I thanked you for your valuable responses it wasn’t because I just believe in it, it's because I did do most of it al ready and your answers showed me that I'm on the right track.
I will of course study and measure the effect of the slogan by conducting focus groups