solitairePRO

The Language of Jewellery

By Kirk J. Bentham
Article published in January / February 2005 issue

When you work with jewellery there is a lot of time spent looking at it, looking at pictures of it, inspecting it, reading about it, and a lot of time talking about it. It’s inescapable, and while certain attributes will always stand out and fall naturally into your vocabulary, how often do you take time to examine the intricacies of the language of jewellery?

These days to increase your potential for success, it’s more important than ever to take time considering “your” language of jewellery. With so many jewellery companies now becoming effective with branding, combined with the myriad of well marketed fashion and luxury products all competing for the same disposable income, it’s vital that you get your language right, especially in print or on the web.

So how do you go about effectively communicating the real message, the marketing message, the Money Message - in a concise, genuine, and inconspicuous written communiqué that’s both convincing and assuring. It’s not as easy as one might think.

Next time you’re admiring the pristine luster of meticulously crafted precious metal, brought to life by the dazzling play of light from brilliantly cut gemstones and diamonds, try writing an enticing yet subtle description and you’ll find out exactly what I’m talking about.

Your main objective is to accurately depict the beauty and value of what you hold in your hands, in a way that would motivate someone to pull out their credit card and buy it. To guarantee that your description isn’t missing anything that some buyers would find important, be sure to cover all the key features and benefits, such as: gem variety, origin, total carat weight, cut, setting types, metal type, design attributes and fashion purpose. Then make sure that you have argued a good case for how beautiful and luxurious the piece is and how special it will make the wearer feel while wearing it. Finally, you want to provide a good reference point for what a great value it is. Seems like a lot to squeeze into a few sentences... Let’s not forget that it probably should be delivered in a flowing, elegant and fashionable sound bite.

Most experienced jewellery people (regardless of their specialty) should be able to offer basic functional descriptions for any given piece. Gracefully mix a few flowery adjectives describing beauty amongst carat weights, cuts, setting types, design styles and wearing-occasions and now you’re talking like a sales professional. Identify a target audience, objectives, features, benefits, emotional triggers and superior value positions; cleverly craft them all into text which sounds richly sophisticated, accessible and informative, and you’re now talking like a marketing professional. Put together over-the-top, superlative greeting card copy that ends with something like “your earlobes will quiver with anticipation” and you’re talking like a self-indulgent copyeditor who chose jewellery writing because he couldn’t get a novel published. Or someone entirely unexpected, like the boss.

Just spend some time looking at jewellery websites, catalogues, point of sale materials and print ads and you’ll see what I’m talking about. There are many great references available to you for enhancing your effective use of the language of jewellery—and heaps more of ineffective uses. Even for experienced wordsmiths, copywriters, marketers and sales professionals, crafting effective communication that sells jewellery is not always an easy task, especially if there are multiple and similar pieces to talk about. One of the main difficulties is that over time, many of the most appropriate adjectives used to describe jewellery have been so over-used and miss-used that today they end up sounding clichéd and no longer hold much meaning. Yet many still insist upon using these exaggerated, fluffed-up descriptions.

This isn’t to say that without breaking products down into calculated dialogues or sound bites you’ll never make sales or generate leads. Understanding specifically which words will make a greater impact on the customer and which ones just get in the way is of paramount importance. One of the fundamental activities of marketing is determining a product’s “superior” value position from the perspective of the customer and then effectively communicating it. Sound scientific? That’s because it is. For marketing professionals anyway. As your sales goals continue to be come more competitive, a more linguistic oriented consideration of language is necessary to compete in a marketplace with a rapidly evolving understanding of socio/psycho linguistics.

So how do you become innovative, original, or accurate for that matter—and most importantly effective—when describing products whose primary role is to be beautiful? It’s difficult, especially when the most appropriate synonyms and adjectives are: gorgeous, elegant, spectacular, radiant, dazzling, brilliant, magnificent, and stunning. The likes of these have made their rounds in every conceivable combination and as such have lost much of their meaning.

Don’t use them would be the easy answer, but probably not the best, so when you do, at least measure their benefits.

Similar to art, much of the attractiveness of jewellery is subjective, so people often n eed it to be pointed out to them and then reinforced in a subtle, yet convincing manner. So herein lies the marketing challenge. The very nature of jewellery lends itself to embellished descriptions of beauty.

So should we try writing descriptions of jewellery similar to the way salespeople speak about it with customers? Well, that would seem like a good solution but try having a salesperson write a product description for you and see how that turns out. I’ll bet you end up right back at square one; technically informative, but slightly over-done, flowery and sugarcoated. That’s because crossing over from spoken to written doesn’t always yield the best results.

Well then, what about taking on a marketing perspective and before you begin to write, create an outline listing all the important aspects of the piece and its superior value positions? That’s generally how wordsmiths and marketing communications professionals ensure that they stay on track to achieve their objectives.

So what are all the important aspects that you need to cleverly weave together anyway?

The introduction:

  • 18K white gold sapphire and diamond promise ring
  • Tsavorite and white sapphire14K gold pendant
  • Art Deco style pink sapphire and diamond 18K rose gold drop earrings (if a design style is a draw card then use it in the introduction).

The technical specifications:

  • Gemstone origins (if significant i.e. Mogok Ruby)
  • Carat weights
  • Type of cut
  • Setting types
  • Clasp types

The design aesthetics:

  • Tapered shank for increased comfort
  • Intricate hand-engraving
  • Milgrained edges
  • Delicate filigree
  • Laser welding

The features:

  • Pavé set diamonds
  • Micro-set
  • High shoulders
  • Accents
  • Illusion settings
  • Gemstone colors

The benefits:

  • Sturdy design, great for everyday wear
  • Play of light
  • Intensity of the fire
  • Precision cut
  • Celebrate commitment
  • Showcase your personal sense of fashion or style
  • Put the finishing touches on your ensemble

The Price:

  • There is not a lot you can do with this part other than try to weave it in with some sense of relevance to the rest of the description.

So once you’ve created an outline covering all the important details, it’s time to go to work crafting it all together into something that will have impact, create a sense of value and take the reader from want to need to have to have it!

Perhaps something that comes out sounding like this:

Celebrate commitment with this vintage-inspired Edwardian style pink sapphire and diamond 18K white gold engagement ring.

A sturdy prong setting holds the cushion cut 2.0 carat Ceylonese pink sapphire safely in place while rows of pavé set white diamonds drop gracefully down the shank’s broad shoulders highlighting the radiance of one of the world’s most romantic jewels. Intricate hand-engraving and filigree bring out the timelessness of this vintage design offering an additional touch of subtle elegance best enjoyed by the wearer.

At $2500.00 this ring is the perfect way to capture the essence of style and your commitment.

Or, on the other hand, it could come out sounding like this:

This superbly elegant wedding set design has been inspired by the jeweler to the stars. This amazing band features a stunning emerald cut pink sapphire center with dazzling micro pavé set stones around the impressive center stone and also on the luscious bezeled gallery and the shank of the solitaire. The exquisite matching band is a perfect fit that adds that extra touch of class to an already classic design. Just looking at this adorable set will make your fingers quiver with excitement.

You do the math...