The Smart Lab: 5 Reasons Why You Need a Digital Marketing Strategy
Here’s how the new mediums can help grow a jewelry business, according to Smart Age Solutions CEO Emmanuel Raheb.

It doesn’t matter if it’s traditional or digital media, you need to be able to answer these questions:
-- Who is your audience?
-- What is your message?
-- Where does your audience live?
-- When should you run your campaigns?
-- Why should your audience choose you?
-- How will you know your advertising is working?
These questions have always been the bedrock of traditional marketing and still apply even today with digital marketing.
Remember, there’s more to digital marketing than social media—pay-per-click, display ads, re-targeting, SEO, and content marketing are also critical components of the digital marketing mix.
Here are five reasons why you need a well-planned digital marketing strategy.
1. It’s how your jewelry store gets noticed.
Everything today is digital. With the average person spending three to four hours a day online (and that’s just during their leisure time), we live in a digital-first world.
The time spent online is even greater when you consider working hours.
Your audience isn’t flipping through magazines or watching traditional television anymore—it’s all about scrolling through social media feeds and binge-watching streaming shows (without advertising).
If you’re jewelry store isn’t in front of your audience where they “live” every day, then you don’t exist. You must break through!
2. It’s measurable and easily tracked.
Traditional media (due to lack of measurement) has always struggled to answer basic marketing questions.
As newspapers, magazines, and even billboards crumble and go out of business, gone are the old ways of advertising. Their power has eroded significantly.
But digital marketing—with real-time results and accessible analytics—easily outperforms even the most aggressive traditional marketing campaign. Knowing your numbers is critical to your success.
3. It’s how relationships are built with the “new” jewelry consumer.
Digital marketing is a two-way medium: it’s conversational, especially on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. You can get feedback from your customers and instantly answer any jewelry questions they might have.
You’re also no longer shouting your message at them. You’re helping them choose styles that match their taste or helping them shop for a gift for a loved-one, and you’re able to fully understand the latest jewelry trends and what your audience likes.
You get to intimately know them just as they get to know you! You build trust and relationships.
4. It builds your jewelry store’s brand identity.
When you grow your digital marketing, you’re growing your jewelry store’s brand. The more times you can get in front of your audience, the more they’ll remember your name, especially when it comes time to buy an engagement ring or even for a self-purchase to reward oneself.
Half the battle in sales is name recognition. If someone visits your jewelry website, you can easily re-target them with digital billboards, always keeping your name front and center.
You want to be top of mind when someone thinks of buying jewelry.
5. It’s scalable and can grow as big as your dreams.
Digital marketing is infinitely scalable to whatever your business goals are. The only limitations are your knowledge and your budget; both can be easily solved.
You have to invest in your marketing, and you have to invest in the right experts who know how to get the results that you’re looking for.
If you don’t have a lot of money to begin with, you can start small and grow your digital marketing campaigns as you increase sales. Really, the only limit to your success is your own desire. Your marketing should pay for itself.
Even if you think you know digital marketing and have dabbled a bit online, chances are you’re just skimming the surface.
Yes, most people intuitively know how to use Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest, but there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to learn how to run effective ads on these platforms or keep your costs low. And you surely don’t want to overpay.
Remember, every dollar saved is a dollar earned, which you didn’t have to go out and replace.
No matter what stage you’re in—from beginner marketer to digital marketing expert—there’s always more to learn. Your digital strategy should be the driving force of your business.
Digital marketing has come a long way over the past 20 years, and it’s not done yet. As younger generations come of age, it will only grow to become even more prominent and critical to your jewelry store’s success.
The Latest

More than 250 gem, jewelry, and mineral companies are expected to exhibit, including the American Gem Trade Association.

This year’s Design Atelier is full of gems.

They’re a testament to the power of excellent design.

The most trusted diamond report, available in print or the GIA App.

This year’s honorees include one of Florida’s largest independent jewelers and two multi-store independents in the Chicago and New York areas.


The industry’s most influential contemporary designers are showcasing their latest jewelry designs.

Created by Maitri Lab-Grown Diamonds and graded by IGI, it’s slightly bigger than the record-setting lab-grown diamond GIA just examined.

Navigate origin determination with Continuing Education seminars offered by the GIA Alumni Collective™.

The marketing agency has integrated its first C-suite.

The jewelry trade show also will debut educational content centered around social media.

Luxury kicks off today, with the full show in swing on Friday.

One of the three new collections was inspired by the legend of a woman who traded her mansion to Cartier for two strands of natural pearls.

Rob Ballew will be tasked with communicating the jewelry giant’s plans and financial performance to investors.

With the app, customers receive a 15-day insurance offer on new purchases while their coverage needs are being evaluated.

It is in House of Showfields, a bazaar-style retail space in the borough’s Williamsburg neighborhood.

From consumer trends to retail technology, these are the JCK Talks sessions that should be on attendees’ radar.

Signature pieces from Cartier and David Webb will appear in the June jewelry auction.

They will be celebrated at the annual dinner dance and gala in the fall.

Gemologists have long used machines in diamond grading but technology has made it possible for them to “learn” how to do it on their own.

Supplier Spotlight Sponsored by IGI

Watch retailers Jeffery Bolling and Bobby Bengivengo discuss employee training, customer education and the sticky subject of future value.

The company has plans to revamp the Movado brand and offer less expensive watches this year.

Set with a 118-carat unheated Sri Lankan sapphire, it just sold for $3.4 million at Phillips jewelry auction in Hong Kong.

Sponsored by Noam Carver

As cybercrime incidents threaten the industry, jewelers need to know what they’re up against and the best ways to protect their businesses.

The Pittsburgh jeweler is redoing the lighting and showcases, and adding a full hospitality bar as well as new shop-in-shops.

The Yurman Family Crystalline Pass is inside the museum’s brand-new Richard Gilder Center.