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How Are Your Products Out of Sync with the Value You Communicate?

I struggle with the naming process and definitely on my website it's better than but it's still a little dull to me s o I really liked the concept of going back to naming a collection because I might not necessarily want to name each individual style of hoop a name yes exactly I think I would like to name that like core classic collection after something that really um oates the feeling of this beautiful iconic classic woman wearing the jewelry every single day exactly right? And I think you did that really well with you had your base layer wearing one of them wearing line right today during one of the reasons I thought that was a really great example of naming where you were like this is my base layer it's the first it made sense but it was kind of a funny place as we think of bass players really utilitarian yeah that's a great example of a really strong, you know, clear kind of emotional product name but I agree with you especially when you have a really big product lines and it star...

ts to feel overwhelming naming a collection is a much easier place to start because they want some questions about the name thing I'm glad you asked about the fact that you are because it is it's totally I I'm gonna give you buy the opposite rules of what everybody else tells you to d'oh but I only give them to you because I know they work all right, so then are you categories in your product in a way that enhances or diminishes its value? What are you calling it? How are you actually describing it? So some things are like a ring is a ring is a ring, right? But look at the language that people are using, so a statement ring is different than a cocktail ring is different than a you know what? I was launching my contra collection, I googled every possible combination of ring here's something really beautiful money because a little trick right now when you're thinking about names and categorization, go to pinterest and search and what's great about pinterest is they give you suggested search so like you can type in ring and you might say like statement cocktail for gois whatever and then you can click on those kind of subcategories see what kind of images come up that is a market research that tells you what your customers expect when they hear specific words if it doesn't feel like your product, you're using the wrong language, so that makes sense. That's super important to test look, I'm not going to call this a cocktail ring because people expect blini fancy like opry sad party giant emerald right called a statement ring because that makes sense for people's expectations you want to look at that kind of make sure that you're matching that up on dh then can you shift categories so can you right move yourself more into art jewelry and as opposed to another category can you basically re categorize any products there's a really good example that I like from the book called we've called difference by young me and I can't think of her last name right now but she tells the story of one sony decided to launch didn't remember that little sony aibo robotic dog it was like the early two thousand's and they were like we want to launch a robot but we're not quite ready so what they did is they didn't position as a robot because it was super glitchy they position it as a pet and so what happened then is that all of the things that it didn't d'oh people were like oh how cute it's ignoring me expressing its free will it stopped working you wanted two thousand dollars robot and it's not working that's the power of category positioning right so can you shift how you're positioning the category of your product and then are you describing your product in a way that communicates value to the customer so not my material they're going to deteriorate but you seemed this from the landfill sorry brian I'm just going to pick on you all day about that one because it's just such an obvious example e it, I would not be surprised even though you don't say it, having that anxiety come out in the way that you're presenting the product to people, so we want to know I'm just gonna drill you on because we're going to shift your if we shift your perspective, then we're going to shift the way you write about and talk about your product and that's going to make a big difference. So what can you change in your description? So I literally just put the les mis shortest description there, but like thinking about how you can talk about it in a way that communicates the value to the customer so nowhere in here, I think I'm three four paragraphs down before I talk about how it's made I'm talking about what it looks like, and I'm using really evocative language because that is also higher end. So I have links the steel cascade toward links of bronze in a two tone hombre effect that sure to pop it's words, right? But those words sound fancy, do they not? It sounds fancy, and it makes sense then, with an expensive necklace five cents at some two tone chain totally different, right and and again, here is a classic example of like you have to think about it like this because you don't want it to come out when you're talking about it so I just want to use that kind of language I'm so make sure that you're presenting your work in the best light so there I know it was something that you kind of mentioned how do you communicate the material so how are you describing just very descriptive with what the actual product is made out of its it's doing thea end pieces first and I actually have a story behind every single image the each collection has a story on the bath okay on dive started putting that story along with the description yeah um and I think that that helps a little bit I still don't think and I think stationary or art it is a difficult thing to show in a photograph like that online because it's such attack tal right product but I think that's where I like the story here is still trying to sell on you tell like attacks on a utility that we can bump it up to emotion that's a stronger polls telling that story first you know and so like when I'm selling the contra collection I'm talking about how I discovered these stones on my trip to area that immediately gives you this kind of really emotional story and makes you feel like that's so cool like I want a piece of her trip to india so that is how you that power of story really comes to play so you might be trying to actually sell it the wrong way ok, you're emphasized the utility always always simulation first okay yeah utility should come in at some point certainly describe that but hit emotion first because here's the other thing people have three seconds of attention span online if you're lucky right utility description that does not hook you know emotion and story that's what hooks you and keeps you reading right? Right guys, the troopers were doing god all right, so now talk about increasing about you for packaging now this one I think in the grand scheme of things is not probably the highest place where you're gonna put your energy for two reasons one it's probably not going to make the initial sale. We're going talk about why it's important but it's not going the initial sale and unless you're selling a certain type of product, if you're selling to a store there actually use their own packaging that's a question that comes up a lot, so three other I don't ever send packaging to my stores they all have their own branded boxes they all their own aesthetic most prized or like that if you have stationary or saying that obviously you're going celo sleeve or whatever makes sense, but for the most part this is, I think, a lesser thing but it can help in terms of thinking about repeat business and also managing customer expectations so when I sell a three hundred eighty dollars necklace there's an expectation right I've had an expectation of a certain level of quality of kind of where that's positioned and I used to ship this necklace there was a ribbon around the box too three hundred eighty dollars why? Because that's what the chief matte black boxes in rio benefits in a bubble rapper there was no it's dry with it was black that was a strategic decision it was the brand the color that was it and to be fair I don't in the beginning I wasn't dealing a packaging lied because I was working with my stores and the irony of that a lot of my stores still use these boxes that kind of drives me that's actually the like cotton phil and then one day I was like this is awful I can't send out a three hundred eighty dollars necklace like that so I bought these boxes that open and then there's a nice little just cover with a sticker and then you on box it well ideally wearing your contra collection rig e I'm doing product placement within product placement within this class this feels like a three hundred eight holer necklace yes this box is not cheap this is like this is like a dollar box and I think this is like a seven dollars box I'm telling them that goes for three hundred eighty dollars I could eat seven dollars, right? So what I'm doing again is I'm just changing the expectation I want them to get it and feel like they're three hundred eighty dollars was a bargain was a value so that's where packaging really comes into play I still buy these from rio grande a still got him for my same supplier I just order less of amount of time because they're a little more expensive but it's fine that's such a better presentation and so bad. All right, so the other thing to keep in mind with your packaging is that it doesn't always have to be up level so I was working with so I was consulting with another jeweler and she was like, you know, megan she's like I hate packaging like it's you know, I really want to be eco friendly my brand it's it's really important to me and I get that like maybe I packaging should feel more high end but it feels off brand so this is when we think back to the value for the customer. So what? Her night brainstorming her price points lower than mine is that she was going to send and sell to her stores her necklaces on basically a postcard that her customers could then mail to somebody else so she was playing with this idea of reusing her packaging and that's also up leveling because that resonated with her customers and made sense for her brand so you don't have to go for the fancy box it doesn't make sense, but you should think about how the packaging communicates value to the customer they won't see it there an opportunity for change in their own brand with the packaging, what do you think? I had something that I came up with? Um, I would come out of shows that I've done with, like big piles of promo cards, you know, yeah, I had never been used, and I would, uh, fold them up and make little clam shell containers that then I could at the show or when I'm sending things out, I could slide it in, you know, playing a little card, saying, this is how this was made, where it came from and there's the story that goes with it and put it in a bubble, miller and it was up cycle that was, you know, I had my branding right hard anyway, you know, yes, that's perfect that's a perfect example of how your packaging just supports the value that you're providing with the brand anyone else? Yeah, so obviously you want to put your three hundred eighty dollars necklace in this box because for many reasons, but if you also sell an eighty dollars necklace, you're not going to put it in this box, are you? Are you so I put my one hundred forty dollars necklace in that box because I hope that someday they will also buy the three hundred eighty dollars, necklace. There is a a smaller version of this box that the little less expensive but still has this same unfolding. Nice dust cover quality that I use from eighty dollars, necklace. So about the only thing that I still use this box for is I have a few things that are, like sixty dollars or on leather core. They're sort of the hit a different target audience. I still use this box for this, but there are, like, three different sizes of this box, and I use it on a lot of different products that that moves around if it doesn't have something to keep it going look exactly like that. But this is still one hundred this's only show this is a shallow box. For the record, this is not deep. Think this folds right on top of the necklace. There's no there's, not space there. Okay. Yeah. There's not face there. And it's still gonna look a hundred times better than that. It looks a thousand times. I directly that in terms of keeping it from being scratched or anything like that when you mail it. You can run this necklace over with a truck I don't worry about scratches okay you till you don't run over with a truck, but you could at least drop it on the ground and step on it, and I'll be fine. You question devaney? My thought was is differentiating my product lines, so doing a solid gold line versus sort of some other pieces, right? Utilizing packaging, teo, express the value that ok, you bought these hoops and they probably, you know, my gold hill hoops don't look different my solid gold hoops, but you want to, like, give that value. So so I'm curious if it's a good idea to use the packaging for the higher end pieces to give it that higher and feel like this luxe line. Yes, or if I should just be transitioning all my packaging over into that luxurious feel so everybody feels every piece of special you should definitely try those in the highest pieces, but I think you could actually get away with it and all of your pieces, because I think that you have you want that kind of luck feel for your brand, even if it's not actually the gold piece, I think they're just there's a quality to your brand that I think you want their make everybody feel the same way, everybody, right? Yeah. Ok, because I think that's part of your thing is that you do want people to feel kind of special, and I think that's the thing when we look at the motivation behind why, why women buy jewelry and why people buy things for themselves, really it's because they want to treat themselves, they want to feel special, and something we really have to acknowledge is that your customer, even if they're just spending eighty dollars that's eight dollars, of their hard earned money that they're using to treat themselves, and so if you can give them something that makes that treat feel even more special. It's going to increase the value and it's one of those where it's not going to maybe make the first sale, but it's going to help you increase word of mouth it's going to help people talk about it if you could do really great packaging. There's a whole thing on youtube, where people make videos of on boxing, that's, that's the thing on youtube where people just opened their boxes, we'll get this and the more layers and the more fun, and so the more you can do that, the more it just creates this experience that builds momentum in your branch, andi, I think it helps to for repeat customers, and it signals you if you were doing this. And they bought something made by something else that comes in this is that signify, like she's? That brand is definite up, right? Like something's going, right? Yeah, but also tells your customers that things were going well, all right, so we've got one more on your products, and that is the price itself, and the price itself does give people clues. So obviously we won all those other supporting clues as well. But at any price where I'm ending this with a nine, ninety nine thing it's telling people that I'm trying to be some kind of discount bargain, big box that's all that communicates, I'm not I'm trying to be something high end, so I'm ending with a zero we even end with a couple of zeros if I can swing it depending on where that you know, how can you add, you know, make that price look really just more high end and, you know, it's really funny and in my head, I just want to like, how can I add another zero? Like, what? Three thousand eight hundred dollars version of this product, maybe it's in gold, right? So this is literally what you could do is you could actually start with a price and ask yourself what you would need to do to get there, and this is actually something for you guys. When you tune into our product line strategy class, we're gonna talk about that more, actually designing to price, but, you know, okay, I want an extra zero there. What does that have to look like? So that's something else to think about as well, and then can you anchor this product with others? So can you add the five hundred eighty dollars necklace? You know, can you add the higher and art prints? So, you know, for sarah, maybe you're selling your prints. Are you selling your prints of multiple sizes right now? No, but I have the intention of doing that. I'm starting with a certain size, and I've had questions about what other sizes are available and you want to do three. Yes, and knowing you're probably sell the middle on the most, so keep that in mind as well.