|
Where it all began…and where it’s going
By Beth Bond, Crown Diamond Marketing Director
The internet. When I first started working with Crown Diamond, the jewelry industry wasn’t even ready to hear about the internet. It was still an unknown entity and still needed to be defined. How would it affect the industry? Once the online players came on board there was a lot of fear and worry. And although they have changed the way you sell diamonds, they have not changed a majority of clients needs to have human contact when making one of the most important purchases of their lives.
Fast forward a couple of years…well maybe more than a couple of years…and here we are. Not only has the internet affected our daily lives and how we communicate and live but also how we conduct business. Yes, even most of the traditional jewelry stores have jumped on the band wagon and understand that they better figure out how to utilize the internet if they want to stay in business.
Here’s what you need to know. In a large percent of consumer’s eyes now, you are not considered a legitimate business unless you are on the internet. Period. In fact you can have a massive internet presence and a small office and you are more legitimate than someone who has a beautiful store and no internet presence at all.
In metropolitan areas the number one way people find information about interests is via the internet. For all essential purposes the Yellow Pages in big ole books is dead. Take that money that you used to spend on yellow pages and spend it on a decent website and reserve a little of that money for internet marketing. We’ll have a blog dedicated to that later on. Yes…you have to check back.
Other trends to know about are video aka “webisodes”, mobile technology, FaceBook, My Space, blogging and Twitter. Each one of these will also be addressed but with the proliferation of the ways to communicate on the internet there is no going back.
Yes, it’s not simply about a website anymore. There’s a lot to learn. Hopefully, I can make it easier for you and if you have a question please let me know. I will be more than happy to answer it, if I can. beth@crowndiamond.com
|
Marketing Blogs
Where it all began…and where it’s going
Vocabulary Lesson Your Website should be yours
The Do’s and Don’ts for your website and PDA users
Industry
Trade Sites
A Diamond is Forever
The
Diamond Promotion
Magazines
InStore
Mid-America
Jewelry News/Southern Jewelry News
Independent
Laboratories
GIA
EGL
IGI
Web
Applications
Inventory-Link
ISendIt
LogoWorks
|
