Recently, I have posted multiple blogs encouraging jewelry marketers to consider the benefits of social networking and Facebook.  For those marketers who have successfully introduced social networking as a marketing strategy I want to offer another media strategy: location-based marketing.  This marketing approach can improve store level traffic which is absolutely critical for retail jewelry stores. Now jewelers can communicate with customers online while drawing more customers into the store.

Let’s start at the beginning; learning about this new technology. Jewelry customers can check in whenever they go places using global positioning satellites (GPS) which locate users and determine what venue shoppers might physically be at and then provides options to select a location or create a new listing. Jewelry customer check-ins allow their friends to know where they are currently, or where they frequently go. Jewelry stores can announce special promotions through location-based applications sho when users check in they receive notifications of nearby offerings. A few platforms to review include Foursquare, Gowalla, Google Latitude and Facebook Deal. Most social networks have iPhone, Android and Blackberry applications and support check in via desktop and mobile web browsers.

Location-based marketing is superior to Twitter because it is more interactive for customers. Social media can promote personal engagement and relationship building with a jewelry audience. Location-based marketing can combine video, audio, images and text. Of course jewelers will need to get customers to opt in and share privacy policies with targeted customers.

One jewelry company that has reported success with location-based marketing is Teichman Fine Jewelers located in Beverly Hills, California. The jeweler uses double opt in request messaging to communicate more relevant messaging and to provide more motivation for shoppers to respond. The company found that location-based marketing enhanced viral buzz among local customers.  By targeting younger customers and building an opt in database to generate new sales. The company tracked redemption rates to measure return on investment. Location-based marketing helped the jewelry company more effectively differentiate it’s offering from local competition and web-based competition. Customers were instructed to show the short message service (SMS) messages to gain a 25% discount at point of sale on all in-stock items.

Consider how location-based marketing can enhance a jewelry store’s ability to draw in customers at peak selling holidays by sending out alerts and offering advice on jewelry gifts. The key is to understand the technology and to build a database of opt-in customers.  Location-based marketing offers jewelry marketers a universal marketplace of hundreds of millions of GPS enabled Smartphone users and the ability to more effectively entice store traffic, motivate more customer referrals and communicate with more relevant offerings. The concept of check-ins is just beginning and bridges the gap between online and offline and allows consumers to engage with friends, meet like minded individuals and discover new things.

JCK