When Alice came to The Marketing Lab, she was about to launch her new diamond couture business. Much of the hard work has been done - a stunning website, packaging, positioning, all of it. Alice knew what she wanted her brand to be but she needed some help working out how to best communicate regularly with her audience.
Herald is a very personal journey for Alice. It symbolises the culmination of her years as a jewellery designer. She is deeply passionate about her projects and clients.
We needed to find a way to communicate this with her audience.
Talking about stones, the quality of the jewellery and the design; posting pictures of flashy gems or beautiful people adorned with the jewels across social media, just wouldn't cut it.
Herald is different - it is couture, distinguished and distinctive. We needed to choose media channels carefully and construct messaging that would communicate not just the craft but the passion of the person behind that craft.
So what was the story?
Art. That was and is the story behind Herald Diamond Couture
Alice is an artist and jewellery is her chosen art form; the medium through which she expresses her ideas. The process through which she designs is based on a trigger point, an idea, a moment of inspiration from which a story is born.
The jewels are beautiful and impressive and of course those elements are important to communicate. Yet it is the story - the journey from concept to creation - that best expresses the Herald difference. Each piece has a provenance that when you understand it seems to somehow add to the craft, quality and sparkle of the jewellery.
How to tell the story
Finding your story is only one part of the process. Identifying the best channels to communicate that story through is the other.
We needed to assign different channels to tell the different parts of the Herald story.
Today, Herald uses Instagram - a visual platform - to showcase her personal journey. Here there are finished works, moments in her life and things that inspire her. This is where people get to 'meet' the artist.
Facebook is used to build the brand and drive awareness to new audiences.
A blog, the Journal, connects with existing clients and contacts, allowing them to be part of her evolution of an artist.
Newsletters are structured by audience; industry, client and prospects, ensuring each set is sent relevant content based on their current engagement with the Herald brand.
Marketing Lesson
Good content - relevant content - is a must in today's media-rich world. Finding your voice though, can be difficult.
However if you know your story, you can create content that will stand out and reflect your unique brand and business.
Understanding which part of that story is truly yours to own and which channel is best to communicate that message, that is the key.
Good content must be both meaningful to your audience and helpful to your business.
PS: The beginnings of Herald's story has been captured on video (credit: Flashworks Media).