How to Make a Name for Your Handmade Jewelry Locally: Part One

Many of you would like to know how to make a strong name for your jewelry line locally. To give you some ideas, I thought I'd do a series of articles on this topic, giving you one idea in each article. This will give you time to think about the idea and how it might help your handmade jewelry business. Hope this will be of help to you. After completing this series, we'll move on and cover some other areas, particularly how to make a name for your jewelry line in the online world.

I'm going to assume that you have a jewelry line already established and are looking for ways to reinforce your jewelry designs in the minds of your buyers. In other words you're looking for ways to brand your jewelry line in your local community. One of the best ways to do this is to display and sell your jewelry at as many local events as you can. I'm sure you already sell your jewelry at craft and jewelry shows in your area, but there are likely a variety of other art related events in your area where you could potentially sell your jewelry. These could include such events as local art exhibits, sidewalk shows, trade shows, bazaars, and festivals. To find out about these events, get on the mailing list of your local arts council and join your Chamber of Commerce. Read local city magazines and journals that list upcoming events in your area. Mark these on your calendar and follow up by getting more information about selling at these events. Not every event will be appropriate for your style of jewelry, but you won't know until you've tried it at least once.

One word of caution, when choosing your events, you want to promote a positive image for your jewelry line which means selling at a flea market or other similar venue might not be in the best interest of your jewelry business. Use your best judgement as to whether an event might be an appropriate market for your type of handmade jewelry.

I would also recommend doing as many trunk shows as you can for upscale fashion boutiques in your area. By doing this, your jewelry will become associated with upscale, higher end clothing fasihons which should reinforce the name as well as the quality of your jewelry designs.

The more times people see your jewelry line and are exposed to your marketing message, the more your jewelry design will be ingrained in the minds of people in your local community. You can create quite a loyal following in your local community alone by creating quality designs and displaying them at high traffic events in your area.

Start keeping a calendar of local events in your area and, if appropriate, sell at these events at least once. If sales are good at a particular event, you can sell at them the following year. If not, you'll at least have gained some local exposure.

In our next article, we'll talk about more ways to achieve a higher profile for your jewelry business locally.

Thanks for reading. :-)

Kristie