In the Loupe

Store traffic can ebb and flow throughout the seasons and years. It can be exhilarating when traffic is up and your marketing efforts are paying off, just like it can be demoralizing when traffic is down and you feel like things aren't going according to plan. The Punchmark Marketing team is here to walk you through some strategies on how to get your traffic back on track. Learn more about Pu...

A business doesn't stick around for over 100 years if they aren't doing things the right way. Craig MacBean is the 4th generation President of Ostbye, and shares some of the key differentiating factors when it comes to standing out in the crowd of bridal vendors, his views on lab-grown diamonds, and teases some new products that are going to be coming to a jewelry retailer near you! Lear...

Smiling Rocks are a new lab grown diamond & jewelry business with a focus on giving back. Their jewelry has been worn on the red carpet by celebrities and influencers, but the most beautiful part of their jewelry is the 3% of every purchase that goes to charity. CEO & Co-Founder Zulu Ghevriya created this business with environmental impact as a focus, and have made strides to minimize thei...

A background in retail jewelry is a great way to find out exactly what most irks a jeweler. One of those is ordering a specific piece for a customer, paying for shipping insurance, and building up the moment just for the customer to feel like it misses the mark and to having to send it back. Tanya Nisguretsky, CEO and Founder of Virtual Diamond Boutique, seeks to provide a solution and allow retai...

The fastest growing social media platform is made to feel authentic, unpolished, and fun. However, all of these adjectives contrast starkly with how many business owners try to portray themselves online. Most business owners want to be seen as professional, trust worthy, and intelligent, and it can be intimidating to let go and embrace the fun of making a TikTok! But don't worry, The Smithee...

Perhaps you are familiar with the phrase, "If it can't be measured, it doesn't matter"? Or maybe you've heard this one: "You can't fix what you can't measure." If either of these adages rings a bell, then you've probably also heard of the Edge Retail Academy and their tremendous work utilizing your POS data. We speak with Sherry Smith, Director of...

In the Loupe originally began under the name The Jeweler's Survival Kit, a podcast dedicated to coverage of the Pandemic's impact on the Jewelry Industry and how to adapt to an increasingly online retail space. We made the pivot towards e-commerce techniques, strategies, and tools, so that we could better educate jewelers and pull the industry forward. 100 Episodes later... and we still...

Malyia McNaughton found her jewelry and lifestyle brand in 2014 to fill a gap in the market that she identified when she was searching out the perfect body chain for a music festival and came up empty. Rather than end her search there, she decided to try her hand at creating her own jewelry, which has grown from a small Etsy to eventually being worn by superstar Lizzo while hosting SNL! Malyia has...

Alex Schlindwein is the Marketing Director and former General Manager of Kiefer Jewelers, but you might know her as @_diamond_diaries, her Instagram influencer alias she creates engaging and eye-catching content under. Mike spoke with Alex about what drove her to create content, what her goals are with the platform, and what easy content ideas she believes are winners.   Follow Alex on Instagram:...

The misfit of the social media sphere, LinkedIn has long served as the primary place for humble brags about promotions. However, Megan Crabtree believes there more to the platform than Help Wanted ads and Bragging. LinkedIn allows users to have an authentic professional voice, something rare when compared to other social platforms, and Megan explains exactly how to amplify what you have to say. B2...

Jennifer Markas, the Executive Director of the Women's Jewelry Association joins us this week to talk about the impact WJA is making in the industry and the exciting initiatives the organization has coming up. Jenn shares in detail the difference that the community of WJA has on one another, the future of sustainability in the industry, and how we can all get involved to make a tangible impac...

You know them as brilliant minds behind one of the most transformative pieces of technology in jewelry e-commerce, the GemLightbox, but do you know their story? Their team is full of talented individuals, brilliant minds, and a 30 under 30 member. Michael sat down with Kevin Saw, Director of Finance and Operations at Picup Media, about their impact on the industry, making a splash with the GemLigh...

Preparation is the key to success, and also the key to a successful in-store event. Megan Crabtree has helped a number of jewelers take their in-store events from the $300,000 range to the $1m+ realm. Targeted advertising with big payoffs, arming your sales representatives with data and incentives, and most importantly, learning from what goes well and what doesn't. It's all part of Mega...

If you're listening to this, chances are you already know that there's a lot more to running a jewelry store than just buying jewelry to sell to customers. The B2B2C model holds an incredible amount of nuance and space for exploration and trend-setting. In this episode, we interview Scott Stambaugh from Stambaugh Jewelers in Defiance, OH, about hiring a bench jeweler, upgrading your in-s...

Earlier on In the Loupe, we made some predictions (you might call them "educated guesses") about what was going to happen in 2022. So, were we right? Or did we lead you astray with some perhaps aspirational-but-not-realistic foresight? We are super excited to dive back in to some of those predictions and see if a career in fortune telling is in our future, or if we should stick to digita...

JCK, the biggest jewelry show in the Wester Hemisphere just ended last week, and Michael wanted to hear how it was so he invited Stuart Blessman, Director of Digital Marketing at Punchmark, to recap how the show was, what the buzz was about, and which parties he thought were best! If you didn't get to attend this year, you'll get a full recap here! Send us Fan Mail  Send feedback or lear...

Say, do you remember that Christmas ad Apple made a few years back that made everyone cry? Here's a secret: it doesn't matter which one you remember -- they come out with a new one every year, and they're mostly all tear-jerkers. These emotion-inducing ads are forms of impact-based advertisements. Impact-based ads do more than sell a product. They sell a company, its ideas, and its...

Selling jewelry to men isn't the exact same process as selling jewelry to women. There's a different cadence to the sales transaction, with a focus on detailed specifics. Many jewelry stores are hesitant to jump in and start carrying men's jewelry in earnest, so we decided to speak with a jeweler who has cracked the code when it comes to selling jewelry to gents. Amanda from Nelson&...

What's in a business name? It can mean everything to you, a banner that you and your employees rally around, and gives purpose and value to your business. For others, it can be as simple as appearing having a business name that appears in the front of the phone book so that more people call. And yet again, it could be as simple as the name of the owner(s). Mike interviewed a few business owne...

Imagine trying to convince your grandma to buy a nice pair of diamond earrings online - chances are she'll be skeptical at best, and potentially horrified at the thought. But the data shows that even if Grandma might not be hopping on the bandwagon, many consumers are. Luxury e-commerce has grown significantly over the past few years, aided by pandemic shut-downs and consumers who see a well-...

At some point in the year, you will probably be tasked with creating a marketing campaign. Regardless of whether it's for Black Friday, Christmas, or Valentine's Day, your goal should be the same: drive traffic to your brick and mortar showroom, and your digital showroom (aka, your website). Instead of starting from scratch for the hundredth time, listen to this episode for tips on how t...

You can't fix what you can't measure, so you need to be measuring everything! The state of play for online marketing is constantly shifting and adapting to the will of the Google Algorithm, and it is a full time job staying on top of what is working and is not. Mike speaks with Stuart and Hope about where things stand, how they've changed in just last few months, and what they do fo...

2021 was one of the best years ever to be a jeweler. After the relative loss of 2020, most stores had record years last year and are continuing to see that success grow. Is this you? If you're considering expanding to a second or third location in the near future, there are some things you'll want to know about how to keep your business unique and thriving throughout multiple locations....

Jewelry organizations are an important part of the jewelry ecosystem, providing a valuable mediation between vendors and retailers, and hosting annual trade shows where retailer members can experience valuable face time with the vendors they wish to carry in their store. Michael spoke with three board members of one of the biggest jewelry organizations in the world, RJO. RJO is unique in that it&a...

The essence of "luxury" defies reason and instead pulls at an emotional connection. Jewelry is the quintessential luxury item -- does anyone actually need those beautiful pieces? Logic tells us we can exist without them, yet jewelry is one of the oldest forms of adornment. So what does that tell us? It's even more important to foster an emotional connection between the jewelry and y...