In the jewelry industry when you talk about diamonds, there are 4 c’s to remember; color, cut, clarity, and diamond weight (aka carat). Working in jewelry PR there are also 4 c’s to remember: create, connect, communicate, and clients.
When working with emerging brands you have to create opportunities. A lot of people probably haven’t heard of your products. Find fun ways to pitch and introduce tastemakers to your brands. For example, one of our clients hand draws all their designs, so we invited editors to draw their own jewelry that we would then make to help demonstrate the manufacturing process to them. Try to figure out what makes your brands stand out.
Instead of going straight to the fashion director or the senior accessories editor, try making a connection with the associate accessories editor or even the fashion assistant. If you are reaching out for the first time and aren’t sure if you have the right contact, be honest and ask if they could maybe connect you to the right person. Also, think about the all different ways people might wear your jewelry. Do you have pieces that could work for weddings? What about personalized pieces for Mother’s Day? The great thing about jewelry is that there are lots of opportunities for media inclusion that might not exist with apparel.
Remember that you work for them. They are entrusting you to represent their brand and get them placements that will lead to sales. Positive client testimonials will lead to future business, so treat every client as a big brand. Try to answer emails and calls from clients in a timely manner. Update them at least bi-weekly on what is going on. Brainstorm ideas with them of fun ways to pitch their products. Make them feel like you are working for them 24/7.
Unlike clothing, jewelry is usually a last minute decision. You want to make sure when a stylist or editor pulls they have all the necessary information they need. Normally when you lend you would send a pull sheet with item names. With jewelry images work MUCH better. Whenever we have a pull we send the stylist images of the pieces they have, the client names and social media tags and the prices of the pieces if it is important to the pull. We also make sure that editors know we have hi-res images available for their use. You want to try to figure out what they might need before they have to ask.
Photo Credit: veryliciousness
