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How To Sell/Market Your Handmade Jewelry to Your Favorite Celebrity© by Cheryl Coccaro www.cherylcoccaro.com
It's all in the presentation: Ok, now you know how to make some jewelry and you want to sell it and make some money. Who doesn't? Well I wish there was a magic button and you could push it and POOF!! you are famous and the celebrities are mentioning your designer name on the red carpet. Actually it does not happen that way. You first need to give your pieces to a celebrity and pray that they wear it. This means you make nothing...zero. Once your celebrity has worn your piece and loved it, he/she will want more, after all they can't be seen wearing the same piece again and again. This is where your packaging and marketing is important. You will need a few things like a press release and a website so they can see what you design, even a line sheet. All of the above will cost you money. This is an outlay before you reap any benefits. Having a website full of products to sell from is ideal. Here the celebrity stylist, editors and magazines will have your name in print or to look at. If there is no merchandise to buy or select from, you have little or no chance of making more sales. You will appear unprofessional and be considered a light-weight designer who is just starting out and is less known. Who do you send your first piece to? You should choose a celebrity that wears you type of jewelry, or wears pieces that compliment your line style. If your line specializes in hip styling, then choose a young pop star. Should you design dramatic jewelry, then choose a celebrity who it will compliment. You want to appeal to the ones that will actually WEAR your pieces. Press Release:
You will need to create a press release that will help others have a way to contact you. This is how you help spread the word that you create jewelry for the stars. If you can afford it you may consult a marketing consultant who has the contacts needed to get your piece into the hands of the most popular stylists. This will create the buzz talk that gets your jewelry into the celebrities hands, neckline or ears. Fashion and Runway Shows: The fashion shows always gives away gift bags and party favors to the celebrities attending. You should have promotional materials with your giveaway that will bring them back for more and your line sheet can be that way. You could include a coupon or discount code for your website so they can spend a little time on your website. Consignment Selling: For those just starting out, or for those of us who have a one-of-a-kind pieces you should consider bringing your items to a consignment shop as they are frequently visited by these stylists. If your style matches what they are looking for the stylist will buy it and their celebrity will wear it. Many stylist shop consignment shops looking for the unique and unusal and this could be one of your pieces. Line Sheets: Ok, for those who want to know more about a line sheet here is the skinny: First, what is a line sheet? A line sheet is a document designed to assist buyers in the placement of their orders. It’s a sales tool which is not to be confused with a marketing tool. As such, clothing line sheets show styles in flat, black and white sketches. Jewelry line sheets should be of your jewelry category pieces are should be in color. These line sheet should not be confused with “look books, which is another option. Your Product Brochure: A line sheet is simply a sheet of paper that shows your products (line) on one page along with all of your contact information. Your name, address, telephone number, fax number if available, your web page address and your email address. Photos: Your sheet should have some images of your jewelry designs in color. These photos should be clear and with close-up views with most of the background removed. This means either having a professional take your photos, or doing them yourself using the macro mode on your camera. Normally line sheets do not have photographs but jewelry related sheets should and the colors should match the upcoming colors of the season. Minimum Order: It’s a good idea to put your minimum order amount on the page as well. For example:
My Latest Collection Pricing: Prices should be given for each design and your line sheet should state whether the prices shown are wholesale or retail. If it is wholesale I would recommend that you have a separate sheet for your wholesale pieces and not combine the two. Lastly, a line sheet needs to be functional more than it needs to be artistically pleasing. Your look book and photographs generate interest, but your line sheets is a tool for the buyer to order. Planning Your Line Sheet Design: What you need to think of when laying out a line sheet is how easy it will be to write an order based on the information you have presented in the layout. Terms of Service: We all have heard or seen TOS, which stands for Terms of Service. This is your policy of how long it takes to produce. Shipping& Returns: You should also list your shipping charges and your return policy and if you will accept a Net 30 on repeat orders. This means that you will be paid within 30 days after your items have shipped. Most companies make their purchases on a Net 30, something that most handcrafted designers would not be comfortable doing. Bio: I have seen line sheets that also include your biography and the general technique used in making your pieces, even the history of your company and any publications you have been mentioned in. Website Landing Page: If you are doing a website line sheet, it can be a separate page with photos of each style of jewelry you create with clickable links to larger views and products. This page is meant to be a landing page, and if more information is desired they are able to view items in more details. Remember that your line sheet is not a "look book". Your great photos should take care of that. Layout: Your design layout should be done in a horizontal layout rather than vertical one. The sheets will be filed in a folder on their side, so you want the viewer to have ease of viewing. They might remember one piece from your line, but the ease of finding is a key. Flipping through horizontal pages in a folder is easier and quicker. Everyone is pressed for time, so you want to make it simple for them to find you and order. No Staples: If mailing to a potential customer, never staple your sheets together in the upper left hand side of the page. Individual pages are fine as long as your contact information is entirely repeated on each page. Collections: If you have different lines such as Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall, this should be noted in the extreme upper right hand side of each page. Each image should be of the style of the type of jewelry you make. It is important that the photos be clear and sharp and that they represent your item properly. Remember to crop out excess backgrounds. Item Numbers: Using a mix of number, and a mix of letters or a combination of both shows planning and style. Make your numbers easy to remember both for you and the buyer. Pricing: List the wholesale price of your jewelry if this is your wholesale line sheet. If not, list the range of the prices. Your wholesale price should be half of what you expect the pieces to sell at a retail level. Materials: Don't forget to list the type of metal used and the gemstones you have chosen. If other gemstones and metals are available list those, too. Order Form: It is also helpful to have an order form to encourage a purchase. Most important is to keep everything in the same font keeping a standard format. Don't switch fonts and make everything uniform. Everything should look the same and not be cluttered. If your style numbers are below and left of the photo, keep them there. If your delivery dates are in the top right hand corner, keep them the same. When you are creating your line sheet you do not need to make it look pretty, just functional and easy to navigate. Now you know a little more about how to present you and your product... Just Do It!
Samples of Line Sheets
This line sheet is vertical. Although most people are used to reading file and papers in this view, image this sheet in a file folder in a cabinet. To see it completely one would need to remove it to view, rather than flipping through the horizontal view shown below.
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