Introduction to
Marketing and Selling Jewelry

a review by Rena Klingenberg

Introduction to Marketing and Selling Jewelry
workbook and audio CD
by Dr. David Weiman

Dr. David Weiman, "The Jewelry Marketing Doctor", has put together a self-assessment program that helps jewelry artists create their own best marketing strategies for selling their work.

The program consists of a 19-page workbook and an accompanying audio CD that guide jewelry artists through a series of exercises designed to help you define what deeply moves and inspires you in your jewelry art and business.

Once you've pinpointed that passion, the program then shows you how to tap into the energy of that enthusiasm to create your own unique, successful jewelry marketing plan.

It's about working to your strengths, which makes sense. And if you do the exercises and then apply what you discover, it really works.

I recently worked through the exercises in this Introduction to Marketing and Selling Jewelry program - and I was surprised to discover that I had never really consciously chosen and defined some of the core aspects of my jewelry business. Taking the time to consider and understand these elements has been a good centering activity.

I find that having done this groundwork really pays off. Now I'm focusing my marketing activities into more effective efforts, and I'm also using what I learned in this program to re-define my jewelry line to hone in on what I most enjoy in my art.

This lesson covers other useful information too, such as using a variety of media to deliver your message to your specific customers, and common business mistakes made by jewelry artists.

Dr. Weiman includes some additional helpful jewelry business coaching bonuses along with this program. Two of these bonuses are:

• A second audio CD titled "Selling Handcrafted Jewelry for Home-Based Jewelry Makers".

  This hour-long bonus CD covers practical solutions to many of the issues that jewelry artists have to deal with, such as pricing, developing confidence in your work, generating publicity for your business, selling your work online, displaying jewelry, building your brand, and more. After your first listen, this CD and the one that accompanies the workbook are both good to replay occasionally while making jewelry, driving, preparing for shows, etc.

• A supplemental section of the main workbook, titled "Overcoming the 3 Big Obstacles to Jewelry Sales Success".

  For anyone whose confidence wavers when it comes to selling their work, these exercises work you through your personal self-limiting beliefs that are holding back your jewelry business. You'll learn to recognize these negative beliefs, and then replace them with a set of self-promoting beliefs that enable you to achieve your own unique success.

I found the exercises in Introduction to Marketing and Selling Jewelry to be helpful in focusing both my work and my marketing approach so that they play to my unique strengths and preferences.

Although I think these self-assessment exercises would be useful to most jewelry artists who sell their work, this program would be especially helpful to jewelry artists who aren't seeing much profit from their efforts, those who are just starting to sell their work, and those whose lack of confidence is holding their jewelry business back.