144 - Laryssa and Liz on Education as a Jewelry Marketing Strategy

Summary

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Success With Jewelry, Episode 144

Main Theme:
Laryssa Wirstiuk and Liz Kantner dive into how education can be used as a powerful jewelry marketing tool, helping designers foster consumer connection, build trust, and drive sales. They unpack what “educational content” means in a crowded, entertainment-focused environment and share actionable advice for brands to leverage their expertise authentically and effectively.

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1. Why Education Matters in Jewelry Marketing

• Establishing Trust & Connection:

  • Education shifts the buyer’s perspective by revealing the story, materials, craftsmanship, and care behind each piece.
  • “When customers understand the story behind your materials, the craftsmanship that goes into each piece, or even the basics of jewelry care, it shifts their perspective. Education builds trust, deepens appreciation, and helps people feel confident investing in your work.” – Liz (00:57)

• Bridging the Knowledge Gap:

  • Many customers simply don’t realize what goes into making jewelry or why it’s valuable.
  • Liz shares that before entering the industry, she had no idea about the materials or effort required (04:17).

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2. Making Educational Content Engaging

• Avoiding "School" Vibes:

  • Laryssa discusses how, in today's social media landscape, pure education can feel dull or “boring.”
    • “It just reminds me of sitting in like calc, pre-calc, looking at my watch, thinking, when will this end? You don't want people to feel like that when they consume your content.” – Laryssa (06:18)
  • The key: Blend education with entertainment, relevance, or emotional storytelling.

• Example from TikTok:

  • Liz references a compelling video from JPX Jewelry about how celebrity engagement rings, such as Taylor Swift’s, influence bridal trends.
    • “It was entertaining, it was about a relevant topic and it taught me something that I didn't know.” – Liz (05:39)
    • She recommends JPX Jewelry on TikTok for doing this well (06:38).

• Day-in-the-Life & Process Content:

  • “Day in the life” videos and behind-the-scenes glimpses humanize the brand and make craftsmanship visible and relatable (09:10–10:13).
  • These snippets don’t need to be flashy; even small personal touches (like showing your desk or creative space) can intrigue and endear followers.

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3. Tailoring Education to Your Audience

• Know Who You’re Talking To:

  • There’s a difference between audiences who seek out in-depth stories (like Liz) and those who may be less interested (like Laryssa’s calculus analogy). Choose your approach accordingly (07:27–07:45).

• Boundaries and Authenticity:

  • Not every detail is worth sharing; be deliberate about what you reveal, ensuring content feels curated but genuine (11:15–12:03).

• Highlighting What Customers Don’t Know:

  • “A lot of people in this industry…kind of take for granted the things that customers might not know so much.” – Laryssa (12:03)
  • Client or audience questions are a gold mine for content ideas, particularly those you might find basic or obvious.

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4. Practical Educational Touch Points

• FAQ & Product Descriptions:

  • Add robust FAQs and detailed product pages to your website so customers can easily find answers and context (13:22).

• Storytelling for the Long-Term:

  • Maintain a steady narrative over months (not just weeks) to nurture interest and trust, especially for higher-priced pieces:
    • “Storytelling for not just a week or a few weeks, but storytelling for a year to see the results.” – Liz (14:13)

• In-Person Events:

  • Direct-to-consumer shows or popups are prime opportunities to educate. People are drawn to learning about materials, stone origins, history, and unique features (14:58–15:40).

• Values & Process:

  • Use educational content to share your values (sustainability, ethical sourcing) and what’s special about your process (“I have a client who uses, like, a Roman hammer to create text. That's really intriguing.” – Liz, 17:09).

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5. Balancing Depth with Accessibility

• Don’t Overwhelm or “Demystify” Too Much:

  • Avoid bogging down customers with too much process detail or information—keep the experience aspirational and inspiring (16:00).

• Let Curiosity Drive the Conversation:

  • Invite questions from your community and use real-world interactions to shape your educational outreach (17:29).
  • “Let customers ask questions or take the questions that you get asked at direct to consumer events, or out in the world, and use that to help you create content.” – Liz (17:29)

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6. Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the purpose of education in sales:

  • “Education is a form of service. Sales is a service. It's not a hard sell. You are just giving someone more information to help educate them so they know more before they make their purchase.” – Liz (17:45)

• On showing personal touches:

  • “You don't know that about me because I don't share it. And maybe it would add context to, like, you know, what, who I am and what I do.” – Liz (10:30)

• On customer curiosity:

  • “People who maybe don't know as much about jewelry or the industry get very engaged with the materials and very interested in, you know, what the stones are, where did the stones come from, what's unique about that stone?” – Liz (14:58)

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7. Action Steps from Laryssa & Liz

• Inventory your touch points: Where can you add educational tidbits—website, product cards, emails, events, social?
• Review and refresh your product descriptions and FAQ sections for clarity and depth.
• Consider documenting and sharing “a day in the life” or behind-the-scenes looks (even if they seem mundane).
• Use genuine customer questions as inspiration for future content.

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8. Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:57 – Why education is crucial in jewelry sales
• 04:44 – Educational topics that build connection
• 05:39 – Education vs. entertainment in social media
• 09:10 – Behind-the-scenes and day-in-the-life content
• 13:22 – Education in the sales process: FAQ, product pages, and storytelling
• 14:58 – Using in-person events as educational opportunities
• 17:09 – Showcasing unique processes and values
• 17:45 – Education as a service, not a hard sell

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Final Note:
Laryssa and Liz stress that education is not about overwhelming your audience or turning your marketing into a classroom, but about making the jewelry purchase meaningful, relatable, and trustworthy. Even “simple” stories or details can build emotional connections and set your brand apart.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome to the Success With Jewelry podcast. Your go to source for real conversations about business marketing and what it actually takes to succeed as a jewelry brand.

[B]

Today, I'm Larissa, the strategist, systems queen and the one who finds joy in turning big marketing challenges into step by step plans that actually work. Email marketing and generating revenue through it is the specialty of my agency, joyjoya.

[A]

And I'm Liz, your creative compass and advocate for designers doing things differently. I live for brilliant brand storytelling, beautiful visuals, and helping designers confidently show up and shine. I founded the Stay Gold Collective to create community and support for independent jewelry brands.

[B]

Together, we bring you nearly two decades of jewelry marketing experience. And on this podcast, we're pulling back the curtain on everything we've learned. Whether you're just starting out or scaling to your next big milestone, you'll get honest insights, helpful tips, and maybe a few laughs along the way.

[A]

This is episode 144. Today we're talking about something that can change the way people connect with your jewelry. Education as part of the selling process. When customers understand the story behind your materials, the craftsmanship that goes into each piece, or even the basics of jewelry care, it shifts their perspective. Education builds trust, deepens appreciation, and helps people feel confident investing in your work. In this episode, we'll explore how you can use education to create stronger connections with your audience. Position yourself as an expert and guide buyers through their decision making with clarity and authenticity. And if you're an insider, we're continuing the conversation with a bonus episode where we'll share practical examples of educational touch points, from in store conversations to website resources and social media content that can lead to more meaningful and lasting customer relationships. Let's get into it.

[B]

Hey, Liz.

[A]

Hey, Larissa.

[B]

How you doing?

[A]

I'm okay. I'm okay.

[B]

Yeah, we're all okay.

[A]

We're here. We're all here.

[B]

We're doing it.

[A]

It's been one of those weeks. And I post it on the Stakehold Collective, private Instagram, and I was like, I'm having one of those weeks like anyone else. And I got lots of yeses.

[B]

Yeah, well, September, huh? Well, that's when we're recording this, everyone. I forget when this episode comes out.

[A]

But full moon could be affecting things.

[B]

Full moon. That's so true. Well, for me, all of a sudden, I just got deep into Black Friday planning this particular week. Like, everyone's like, all right, we need to figure this out. So it's feeling like Christmas.

[A]

That's so interesting. I'm working on 2026. Oh, okay. And you know, when you're creating content, you have to think so far ahead sometimes. And so I'm. I was kind of feeling a little disoriented yesterday, like deep in 2026 Q1 planning.

[B]

Yeah. Good for you. You're far ahead.

[A]

For one client.

[B]

For one client, Yeah. I mean, I would love to be planned through Q4 earlier, but you know, we can't always get everyone on the same page all the time.

[A]

Sometimes you need specific circumstances, like someone being pregnant and having like.

[B]

Yes, okay.

[A]

Things like that can help push it to get everything done faster. Or with 2026 planning, it's like, you know, when you're thinking about writing like long form blog posts or like recording podcast episodes and getting guests on and things like that, you have to do so much coordinating and planning and editing and things like that. So it's like you have to get ahead of it or you're not going to make it happen.

[B]

We're basically planned through the year, Liz.

[A]

We are.

[B]

I mean, we got to slot it in, but we got, we got concepts, we got ideas.

[A]

We're doing it. We have a rough, A very rough outline.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

So we're doing it.

[B]

So. But today, yeah, education, education.

[A]

And I think education's so important in general. Just putting that out there in general.

[B]

As a general concept, education's really, really great.

[A]

We should all be educated. Everyone should access education. But also when talking to your customers and in the context of marketing, it's really important. A lot of people don't really know what goes into making jewelry. And I didn't before I was in the industry. I had no idea how long it took to make a piece of jewelry because I just didn't think about it. So not just that, but like, what are the materials?

[B]

How do you care for this piece of jewelry?

[A]

Where's the inspiration coming from? Is there history that you want to share about the piece? All of that can help build a connection with the customer to the piece of jewelry you're trying to sell.

[B]

Such good points. I think in 2025, education as it fits in the context of marketing to me is really interesting because basically all social media and a lot of digital media has to be like entertainment to be engaging in some way, shape or form. And I think TikTok really like brought that forward. And so when you say education, it's like, that just sounds so boring. That's not interesting or entertaining. It comes with like its own baggage, you know. And so I would love to also explore that topic in the way of like, how can we make this engaging and entertaining to some extent or another.

[A]

I saw a great video about Taylor Swift's engagement ring which we talked about on the Insider episode a few weeks ago or last week, I don't remember. But anyway, we haven't talked about it here and when this comes out it's going to be like way, way. Maybe people still be talking about it. But anyway, I saw a great video that was talking about the importance, like how celebrity rings have affected, you know, design and engagement rings and bridal and I thought it was really interesting because it was entertaining, it was about a relevant topic and it taught me something that I didn't know.

[B]

Do you remember where you saw it?

[A]

I did and I can link it.

[B]

Awesome. Very cool. Yeah, it's nice to again because education, it just reminds me of sitting in like calc pre calc looking at my watch, thinking, when will this end? You don't want people to feel like that when they consume your content.

[A]

The content creator was JPX jewelry and they are great on TikTok in general, so I recommend checking them out. Lots of beautiful work but also educational content to go along with it, which is great.

[B]

But yeah, I, I guess I think.

[A]

About education a little bit differently than sitting in calculus. Although I, I, you know, didn't love school, but I love reading and sometimes it feels like to me, I think I'm kind of like in my older years, my, my mid life, I'm kind of like kind of a, a geek about education. Like I love learning stuff.

[B]

Well, that just makes me think too, you got to know your audience because if your audience is like Liz, well, then you know how to go about educating them. But if your audience is like me sitting in calculus, then you have to take a different approach.

[A]

Definitely. So where do we go from here?

[B]

I think we went off the rails.

[A]

We went off the rails. I got super distracted when I was going to find that content creator's name. But I think that education is interesting because if you present it the right way, it can be really compelling and there could be an emotional side to it as well because then you're helping clients connect with the meaning as well. So for example, like if you have a collection inspired by some antique design and there's a story behind this antique design and you're telling that story and it's something that connects with some, someone who's viewing this content, that could be something that makes them want to buy the piece or connect more deeply to that piece or even like the simplicity of like sharing a little bit about the process can help someone really understand the price or maybe just be more intrigued or more excited to wear your piece. There has been an interesting conversation, though, about sharing too much of the process. Like, you don't want to be like, oh, gosh, these pieces take so long. Look at all that goes into it, like, and make it kind of like a tiresome story. You want it to be like, this is cool. This is like. When I talk about how I entered the jewelry industry, I'm always like, I saw the flat piece of metal turned into a piece of wearable art, and that's always still exciting for me to think about.

[B]

Yeah, I think what you just said is kind of more what I mean with the entertaining aspect, you know, because there's, like, this trend of, like, experience my day with me. I forget what you call kind of video where, like, yes, I will watch them day in the life. Right.

[A]

And.

[B]

But they're, like, mostly compelling when they're done. Right. But probably if you actually, like, walked alongside this person for a whole day, there would be so much boring stuff in there, you know?

[A]

Yeah, that's. That's a good point, because you want to show, like, you know, bits of your day. I. I will watch a day in the life any day. I will watch anybody's day in the life. I don't know why. I think it's really interesting to see what someone's day looks like. Oh, you. You're sketching in the morning, then you're going to the diamond district, or, like, here's what the inside of your studio looks like, or, oh, hey, you have a dog. It just adds so much more context.

[B]

To someone for me, and I get, like, invested.

[A]

I like to know the people that I'm buying from, I think.

[B]

Yeah. But it's curated to some extent or another, definitely. So, yeah, definitely curate it.

[A]

And I think that there's a lot of ways to think about educating. So when Larissa is saying it needs to be entertaining, she's not saying, like, you need to, like, get on TikTok.

[B]

And dance or, no, no, no, no.

[A]

Do anything that feels out of character for you. It's just thinking about, like, you know, and I think this is hard because maybe you're going through your day, and I go through my day, and I'm like, this is tremendously boring. But someone else might be intrigued. Like, y' all don't know what my office looks like, which we said before we were going to share our desk photos of our desk, but I have, like, these Lego sunflowers and I have, like, oh, cute postcards, and I have some, like, earrings ready for a zoom meeting. And I have a new spider plant. Anyway, I don't know if anybody cares about any of that, but it, like, just, you know, you don't know that about me because I don't share it. And maybe it would add context to, like, you know, what, who I am and what I do.

[B]

And the trick is realizing the value in that too. And I think both you and I can improve on it because we literally are like, oh, nobody cares about, like, this mess of whatever on my desk. But if I found a way to tell that through a certain lens, it probably would be interesting.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I mean, because I want to.

[A]

See a jeweler's bench, I'm always. I'd love to see a designer's notebook and see some of their sketches. I'm always engaged and intrigued by that. And I think it's harder to do for yourself because you're, like, very in it. It's also, I find challenging to decide, like, what people don't know, what you feel like an expert on, that you want to share, and creating boundaries around what you don't want to share.

[B]

Yes. I think a lot of people in this industry, just because we're in it, kind of take for granted the things that customers might not know so much. I mean, I see this so because I'm inside seeing questions, customers and my clients and what people have issues with. And I'm like, oh, I never would have thought someone, like, wouldn't know that. Not because I'm, like, think I'm better than them, but just because I'm used to, like, wearing jewelry, knowing about jewelry, you know, so we forget that other people don't have that knowledge.

[A]

And if you're out doing direct to consumer events, really pay attention to what people are excited about and what people are asking. Because I think that that's where I. I'm most intrigued is when I'm chatting with people outside of the jewelry industry about jewelry, about what I do or the jewelry I'm wearing and telling the story about the piece. People tend to be pretty interested.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But. And this. Go ahead. Sorry. No, go ahead.

[B]

No, the side benefit of all that, too, back from when we talked to Holly and had her as a guest on the episode. It's like, as we're thinking about, unfortunately, optimizing more for AI being like, answering questions in a human way, which is, I think what you're talking about is going to give you an edge with your content.

[A]

So education, Education Fitting into your sales process. You want to think about your FAQs. Like, websites should have FAQ pages. If you don't, I would add that. Also, product descriptions. It's so important to add context to your product description page. And we've said this before, but if you aren't, if you're like, you know, skipping some steps when it comes to your product descriptions or you're just trying to get it up there, that's not good. You want to put all of the information that somebody might want before they add that piece to their cart. Also, on social media, making sure you're telling a story, people do very much care about the story. They come along with you. And another thing that Holly said, because you mentioned this interview like, you know, storytelling for not just a week or a few weeks, but storytelling for a year to see the results. Because. And I think putting this into context for people is like, you know, how much does it take for you to decide to buy a $5,000 thing from someone and adjust that, like, number to like, what you might purchase? For me, it's like in a $1,000 thing, like, that's a big purchase for me. That's something I would have to take a lot of thought about and I would probably purchase from a person that I felt really confident about. So thinking about, like, what you might want to know or need to know.

[B]

Before you buy something. Yeah. And feel connected too. Also. Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Also, you know, I've done in person events before and for high end jewelers and something that's interesting to me when we're talking to direct, direct to consumers. So people who maybe don't know as much about jewelry or the industry get very engaged with the materials and very interested in, you know, what the stones are, where did the stones come from, what's unique about that stone? Like pointing out like the golden rutiles in a rutilated quartz, like that might seem obvious to you, but to somebody who maybe doesn't know what to look for, you know that your. The opal you use, like, has a pink flash when you. It catches the light the right way. Like, those are really interesting things for people to learn about.

[B]

That's so true. Even when I was at New York now, like talking to designers. And again, I'm someone who has a reasonably large amount of knowledge about jewelry. I think I learned like at least 10 things where I was like, oh, my God, that's so cool. Thank you for like telling me about this.

[A]

Yeah, I love talking to designers because you always learn something new and cool. Yeah. But I think it's also balancing, which we kind of mentioned before, but balancing. You don't want to overwhelm people with information. You don't want to show too much of the tedious steps of the process. You still want it to make it feel like luxury and inviting and not like, hey, this thing takes a really long time, kind of, you know, especially when you're talking about the craft or with education, you want to always filter it through this lens of, you know, someone who maybe doesn't know as much as you and kind of talk to someone who maybe has no experience with jewelry. Also, you can use education to highlight your values, like sustainability, like where you're sourcing things from. Maybe you use fairmind gold. I always. I've heard the story about Fairmine Gold before. I know what it is, but I'm always intrigued when a designer's telling me about it and why they choose to use it. Your. Your process, like, being handmade. Like, you know, I have a client who uses, like, a Roman hammer to create text. That's really intriguing.

[B]

Always.

[A]

I love seeing pictures of that Roman hammer and, you know, paired with the piece where she's, you know, with the texture. That's super interesting. And also let customers ask questions or take the questions that you get asked at direct to consumer events or out in the world and use that to help you create content.

[B]

By Roman hammer, do you mean, like, from the Roman Empire?

[A]

Yeah, ancient. Ancient Roman hammer.

[B]

Wow. See, even I'm like, wait, tell me more of this story. What?

[A]

It's very cool.

[B]

I'll send you a picture after this. Yeah, okay.

[A]

And also remember, like, education is a form of service.

[B]

Sales is a service.

[A]

It's not a hard sell. You are just giving someone more information to help educate them so they know more before they make their purchase. I love that. All right, do you educate your customers? Let us know. Visit successwithjewelry.com and if you love the podcast, we'd love to hear from you. Send us a message or leave us a review. Thanks for being a part of our community.