December 17, 2024 • 34 mins
Mike sat down to chat with Hope Bellair, Punchmark's Digital Marketing Manager, exploring the booming resurgence of event-based marketing and the domination of short-form video content. As TikTok's fate hangs in the balance, we consider the clever strategies jewelers can adopt to pivot their marketing efforts while staying ahead in the digital game.
They also dive into the art of strategic planning for 2025. Hope shares insights on the significance of knowing your unique selling points and understanding customer connections while setting SMART goals to ensure success.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome back everybody to In the Loop.
What is up everybody?
My name is Michael Burpo.
Thanks again for listening toIn the Loop this week.
The penultimate episode.
Great word we're going to betalking with Hope Belair, the
digital marketing manager atPunchmark, and we're talking
about 2025.
(00:21):
And what we're going to do withthis episode is talk about some
trends that we are predictingboth in marketing and in jewelry
, and again, take these with alittle bit of grain of salt, but
it's based on the channels andcommunication that we monitor,
so we like to think that we'reinformed, but use your best
judgment on these.
And we're also going to betalking about some New Year's
(00:42):
resolutions and goals that wehave.
And we're also going to betalking about some New Year's
resolutions and goals that wehave and we're going to change
about you know ourselves and ourstrategy at Punchmark going
into next year.
I think it's a fun talk.
It's really lighthearted.
I hope you enjoy, and next weekwe will have our best of the
rest, or best bits episode, andthat will be the end of season
(01:03):
five, our best bits episode, andthat will be the end of season
five.
So be on the lookout for thatone.
It's coming out on the 24th andwe will see you in season six.
Take it easy.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Enjoy.
This episode is brought to youby Punchmark, the jewelry
industry's favorite websiteplatform and digital growth
agency.
Our mission reaches way beyondtechnology.
With decades of experience andlong-lasting industry
relationships, punchmark enablesjewelry businesses to flourish
in any marketplace.
We consider our clients ourfriends, as many of them have
(01:35):
been friends way before becomingclients.
Punchmark's own success comesfrom the fact that we have a
much deeper need and obligationto help our friends succeed.
Whether you're looking forbetter e-commerce performance,
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punchmark's website andmarketing services were made
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It's never too late totransform your business and
(01:57):
stitch together your digital andphysical worlds in a way that
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Schedule a guided demo today atpunchmarkcom.
Slash go.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
And now back to the show.
Welcome back everybody.
I'm joined by Hope Belair,digital marketing manager at
Punchmark.
How are you doing today, hope?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I'm doing well.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (02:24):
I'm doing so well.
We're going to be talking about2025.
It's actually the middle ofDecember right now, so we're a
little bit early, but I thinkit's about time we start talking
about what next year is goingto bring.
We try to use these episodes tobe a little bit speculative, so
everybody who's listening thesetrends are going to be
(02:44):
different depending on where inthe country, in the US, in the
world, you're listening from,also, what your clientele and
demographic is.
But I'm kind of more interestedas a terminally online you know
soon to be 30 year old I amkind of trying my best to see
from the aerial view what trendsare working when it comes to
(03:08):
e-commerce, digital marketing,but also jewelry.
I can only imagine you probablyare staring at jewelry all the
time and you handle themarketing for well over 50
clients for us at this point.
Just from an aerial view, whatkind of marketing trends did you
notice really this year andwhat are you expecting for next
(03:29):
year, in 2025?
Speaker 3 (03:31):
So this year, I think , was, at least for our clients,
a lot more events based.
I think, post COVID, this waskind of the year that, all right
, we're buckling down, we'regoing.
We're going to either Antwerpsince the first time in 2019, we
are hosting events in store.
Now we're doing all the things,um.
So that's definitely somethingthat I saw, especially between
(03:54):
2023 and 2024, 2025, I think, isgoing to be a lot more of that
same thing, with a little bit ofincreased events in store and
like, let's say, trips toAntwerp, trade shows, et cetera,
really getting out there andjust physically promoting your
business in that way.
Digitally, of course, we alwayshave the videos that are just
(04:16):
performing the best.
There is nothing better than ashort snippet video, and that's
really what catches everybody'seyes.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
I know I'm like man, bring Instagram back to just a
square image.
I know, I know Instagram iscompletely different than what I
remember in 2010.
I think it's complete.
It's all about video contentand, honestly, all of the
platforms are now all aboutshort form video.
(04:47):
I mean YouTube.
They are heavily invested in,you know.
I guess YouTube shorts andthey're moving away from, like,
the long form videos, which is,I think, a really too bad of a
thing, because I think in 20years or 30 years, I do think
YouTube is going to be around.
I think it's going to be thelibrary archive for the internet
(05:08):
.
However, I don't know if I cansay the same for TikTok, which,
as of recording this December11th, tiktok is slated to shut
down on January 20th.
Odds are very, very even onwhether or not it's going to
actually happen.
I am moving away from evenencouraging anybody to put their
eggs into the TikTok basket.
(05:30):
Do we have any jewelers thatare like decent at TikTok, or is
it still a little bit like wehaven't really made it over
there?
Speaker 3 (05:38):
There are a few for sure.
I mean, what I always recommendto my clients that want to
maybe start TikTok or getinvested in that platform is do
what you're doing on Instagramas far as videos and just
translate it right over so that,if it is actually shutting down
on January 20th whichpersonally my fingers crossed, I
(05:59):
hope it doesn't, because thatis a great marketing platform
just to get awareness out, butjust so that you're not making a
bunch of effort towards aTikTok video and saying, well,
now all of my videos are gone, Ican't do anything with it
anymore.
Definitely make it a hybridtype of situation.
Tiktok and Instagram videosshould be pretty much synonymous
(06:24):
across the board when you'regoing on branding for your store
.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
I'm with you and I think that there I think it's in
man.
I wish I would have preppedthis.
I think it's in TikTok you canedit your videos in the builder
and then download your editedversion with that before you add
any trending sounds, becausethe trending sounds will get
muted.
(06:48):
So, or you know, if you'reusing copyright free music, you
could just take those as welland then you could upload them
onto all the vertical videoplatforms.
I am kind of moving away fromthe idea that people need to be
channel agnostic and be hittingeverywhere, because I think it
can really spread you a littlebit too thin and I think that
(07:12):
you should pick one and be greatat it, and then you should pick
a second one and be pretty goodat it.
I think for Punchmark, ourchannel that we're the best at,
I think, is probably Facebook,which is kind of crazy to think
about, but we do have thecommunity, we have our public
page, we integrate into a lot ofdifferent communities, so I'd
(07:33):
probably say that's our best one.
And then now we're on Instagramand I think our Instagram is
great brand awareness.
But I just I mean, we tried toget into TikTok and we tried
getting on YouTube and it's kindof a lot unless you have a full
team.
Yeah, I think that's kind ofwhere I'm at with it.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
No, I agree, and you know one of the marketers and I
guess my marketing only spaceKatie McKeever.
She has this great advice whenyou're, you know, either
starting your business orpromoting your business in a
certain way, you definitely wantjust one singular channel and
again, like you said, be reallygood at that singular channel
(08:13):
first and then branch out.
So, especially for jewelers, Iknow Instagram is the most
visual and just general used, Iguess just under Facebook, but
the most visually appealing forsure.
So if you get good at Instagramand then you decide, okay, my
second one is going to beFacebook, maybe for events focus
(08:34):
, like I had said before, orthen move over to TikTok if it's
still here come January 20th,then definitely do that.
I would agree for sure.
Definitely pick one to startand then, once you've got it
down pat, you can tackle more.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
I agree.
I mean, the episode before thisone was going to be is called
the marketing symphony and wetalked to all about our next gen
marketing campaign, where wetry to hit every single channel,
and we did that really just tokind of test the space, and I
think in next year, I thinkPunchmark is going to kind of
dial in a little bit more ourmarketing.
(09:13):
One of them is through emailand the other one is I think we
just got to.
This is like more internal talk, but I think we just got to
send more emails.
I think that we are very polite.
We just got to send more emails.
I think that we are very polite.
We used to be a lot moreaggressive back in 2018, 19,
when it came to sending a lot ofemails.
We sent out, I think, three aweek for a while, and now we
(09:35):
send out like one every othermonth, especially only around
the trade shows, and it's likeyou know what.
Let's get after it again.
Let's start being in there,because I mean I could probably
just speak for myself, but I getso many emails from marketing
companies.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah, absolutely, and I mean I get it too.
I'm absolutely on board withPunchmark internally getting
more emails out there.
I know I was talking to our CTO, Brian, about that yesterday
and definitely something we wantto go move forward with.
I know we've actually gotsomething in the works this
month for the start of the year,so we'll be keeping an eye on
your inboxes, guys.
(10:10):
But anyway, no email marketingfor sure is just.
Honestly, I know it's nervewracking and you don't want to
sound salesy, you don't want tosound pitchy etc.
And you feel like everybody'sgetting bombarded with a bunch
of emails.
But if you have a client, say,that's been there for five to 10
(10:30):
years, that client has a brandloyalty to you.
So even if you are coming outand saying, hey, I've got a sale
this week and then another salenext week and then an event the
following week and you'resending out two to three emails
to that client, it's not theworst thing in the world,
especially since they do havethat brand loyalty.
They like you, you have thatrelationship.
(10:50):
They're more apt to open upthose emails anyway and with the
amount of stores that we workwith, it seems to be that those
interpersonal salesrelationships are the best way
to go.
So definitely don't be afraidto send an email or two, and I
know we've got a few marketingprograms now where we also send
a sweet number of three emailsper type of event type of thing.
(11:14):
That's kind of the sweet spotwe've noticed, especially with
going for awareness, generalawareness, rsvps etc.
Stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yeah, what about jewelry trends?
So we were just talking aboutmarketing trends.
I want to talk about jewelrytrends and this again is going
to be probably a little bit moremissed than it's going to be
hit for us, but I love jewelry.
I've started wearing a lot morejewelry and I started following
trends a lot more and inspeaking to jewelers, especially
(11:44):
leading up to the holidayseason, but in the middle of the
year as well, speaking at ourroundtables I am pretty invested
in I think that gold is goingto be the hit.
I mean, I know, talk about asafe prediction.
I think that gold hoops andchains man, I think that they're
just going to be timeless.
I think that gold hoops andchains man, I think that they're
(12:05):
just going to be timeless.
I think that right now, peopleare like a little bit unsure
young and millennial to say butI do think that, like Bitcoin
(12:26):
hitting 100k is like sometimespeople are like what is that
about?
And I think it is connected tothe price of gold in certain
certain instances, and I thinkthat people see buying gold as
like a pseudo investment, whichyou know it can be.
Do you have any idea when itcomes to jewelry trends?
Or, like in your conversationswith retailers.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
So, based on my conversations with retailers, it
definitely depends on wherethey are in the country.
If they're in New York, thereis a certain type of thing
that's going on.
That's better than, let's say,florida and California.
One thing, if I can make aprediction, just because I'm
seeing this trend generallythroughout all of my socials, is
(13:11):
that a lot of, I guess, peopleour age, let's say, 25 to 35,
are looking for capsules,capsule wardrobes and just
keeping things that are nevergoing to go out of style, which
is timeless and stuff like that.
So I can have a hot take I thinkthat lab grown diamonds are
going to continue to a littlewell, maybe not continue, I
(13:33):
don't know.
I think they're on the downfalland I think natural diamonds is
going to just kind of resurge,because I think a lot of people
are looking for that timelesstype of thing and, um, I think
we'll see a little bit more ofthat come, come 2025.
I'll be interested and I'd behappy to be wrong, I guess you
know too, but I'm interested tosee what that does.
(13:53):
But of course we have, we haveour, you know, just general
trendy things.
Permanent jewelry, I know, evenlocally here in Charlotte, is
still pretty big here.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Still pretty big.
I had it on my, I had it on mypredictions last year.
I thought I was going to dieoff this year and just earlier,
during Black Friday, I saw apromotion.
It's like book your time nowfor our December permanent
jewelry event at the localjewelry store and I was like
holy crap, that's still going on.
Let's go.
Good for them.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
It is.
Yeah, I mean, all the smallbusinesses are looking to.
You know kind of I mean forsmall business.
Saturday my hairstylist had apermanent jewelry person over at
their salon.
Yeah, yep, so it was like youknow, I think a lot of those um
pop-up type things.
We're still seeing thosepermanent jewelry, farmer's
(14:44):
markets, stuff like that, anycommunity events.
It's just easy to pop up andget something um relatively
cheap and get you in the door.
So I think that's absolutelygoing to be something.
And if I actually also had tomake a prediction, women,
younger women specifically,might go more towards like
actual watches versus like aFitbit or an Apple Watch, based
(15:07):
on, again, the algorithms that Iobserved.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Well, you know, on the topic of watches, I mean,
there was a time when I thoughtI was going to buy a Rolex and
then I bought a house, so theRolex is out of the question for
a little bit.
But one thing that's beenreally fascinating is so the
price of Rolexes or I guess it'sthe secondary market of Rolexes
is falling from I think it was.
(15:31):
It hit an all-time high in 2022, and I think in 23 as well, but
it is starting to fall or comeback, more like come back to
earth, but the, I guess theother watches so there's Rolex
and Tudor, but if there's therest of the field, like Seiko
and Citizen seem to beincreasing in demand.
(15:52):
I especially think that Seikoand just seem to be increasing
in demand.
I especially think that Seiko,and just like Grand Seiko in
general is just has such a greatbrand.
I think that they have done agreat job with signing
spokespeople Right now.
They have, you know, shoheiOtani.
They also have I think it'sTanaka.
I also, I mean another baseballplayer.
They have just like these greatspokespeople from Japan that
(16:15):
are kind of in the limelightright now and you know, again,
I'm a baseball fan, so I'mseeing it a lot and it seems
like it's having like a realpush.
And because of the price Ithink it's more of a within
reach reach as opposed to likean ultra reach when it comes to
people our age not going to sayagain.
I don't think Rolex is reallyever going to go away.
(16:37):
I think that the brand is setin stone, but I do think those
secondary man I hate sayingsecondary those other watches
are going to really have theirmoment.
That's my prediction for a 25at least.
That's my prediction for 25, atleast.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Yeah, I would agree with you.
I mean, I know I've seen too,just over like the year,
specific brands definitelygetting more recognition other
than Rolex.
And I mean maybe it's alsobecause I look at jewelry
websites and jewelry marketingall day.
But I'm like, oh man, let'spromote the Shinola, let's
(17:11):
promote the Cycle, let's promotethe Citizen Michelle, all of
those other brands.
I'm like, oh man, let's promotethe Shinola, let's promote the
Cycle, let's promote the CitizenMichelle, all of those other
brands.
I'm like Rolex speaks foritself.
It really does, and itdefinitely is a nice high luxury
price point.
But for everybody else I guessour age that wants to kind of
dip their toes a little bit intothe jewelry industry, those
other brands are the way to goin my opinion.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
A very hot take and I love it.
Hope we're going to take aquick break and we're going to
come back let's talk about whatwe're going to be doing
differently in 2025.
So, everybody, stay with us.
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(17:55):
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(18:18):
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Learn more at punchmarkcomslash email dash marketing.
Again, that's punchmarkcomslash email dash marketing.
And now back to the show.
And we're back.
(18:39):
Everybody.
We're still talking with HopeBelair, digital marketing
manager at Punchmark.
So Hope we're going to be doinga couple things different next
year.
And one of the things that Ithink Punchmark has gotten
better at in the coming up oneight years of me working here
(19:00):
is we are starting to planfurther and further out, which I
really appreciate.
We used to do everything, likeyou know, week before, two weeks
before and then the next year.
We did, like, you know, a monthbefore and now, like we started
planning this year's clientworkshop like as soon as the
last one ended, and we alreadyhave the trade show already
picked out.
And I think that that is one ofthe things I would encourage
(19:22):
more of our clients to do is addevery year, add an extra week
of planning to every singleevent.
Just extend your timeline andit's.
Nothing is better in life thanhaving every all the hay in the
barn and being able to have aweek before the event to relax.
I know that's pretty, that'spretty redneck, but that's just
(19:43):
what we say up here.
One of the things that's so nice, for example, is we're trying
to have I'm working on this dripcampaign and just to kind of
give people an idea, I've beenworking with Ross for the past
month or two on a drip campaignfor when people become a hot
(20:04):
lead with us.
So there's a couple differentthings that can qualify you as a
hot lead, which is someone thatis very interested in our
product, and one of the thingsthat we're doing is we're
creating a series of emails thatwill I use the term chase but
or follow, but it's going to besomething that will, you know,
drip to them on a predeterminedschedule, so in the beginning
(20:27):
it'll be a lot faster.
So it'll be, you know, everyday or two or three after they
qualify as a hot lead, and thenit'll, after the first, I think,
three emails, it'll turn toevery week and then, after like
a couple more emails, it'll beevery two weeks until it runs
out, and then they are no longerdeemed a hot lead.
They become a lead or a cold ora prospect.
(20:48):
And one of the things that'sreally quite interesting about
that is we actually came up witha concept behind our drip
campaign and the concept is themarket of free.
So we're doing everything isabout free, awesome educational
information that is platformagnostic, and so our whole thing
(21:10):
I mean talk about skin in thecat a lot of different ways.
I have written the same content10 times different ways and
that's kind of what a lot of oura lot of what marketing is is
you need to be writing the samething to appeal specifically to
(21:31):
your target clientele ordemographic or prospects or what
have you.
And I think that with a dripcampaign, it's really taught me
a lot more about marketingespecially about Punchmark's
product than a lot of otherthings have Really staring in
the face, what is our buy nowreasoning.
(21:52):
You know what is our product,differentiating factors, you
know what makes us better ordifferent than our competitors,
and when you start kind ofreally boiling it down to the
bare bones, wow, I feel like Ilike looked in the mirror for
the first time and realized whatPunchmark has versus what other
(22:12):
places have.
Have you ever done somethinglike that or like, did they
speak about that when you werelearning digital marketing and
how you can, like, become newlyfamiliar with your own products?
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Yeah, I mean.
So as far as like internally,of course, absolutely you can
always take an internalreflection of you know different
, different things, um,marketing wise, and what you
could be doing better for sure,especially if you're running
those campaigns and it's, youknow, for your, your company,
(22:44):
right.
As far as like marketing onbehalf of someone else, I would
say to the jewelers for sure,absolutely take that internal
look and see what doesdifferentiate you guys, because
ultimately, the marketing teamisn't able to be there
physically with you all the time.
So you know, if I have a storeover in California, as much as I
(23:08):
would love to see those beaches, sometimes I can't make that
trip.
So definitely like kind of thesame thing that you were saying
with those drip campaigns andseeing what differentiates you.
I think it's an awesome way tostart off every year, especially
since we are running towardsthat finish line of 2024 into
(23:29):
2025.
That first week, really take ahard look at your business and
what it is that you want toachieve, of course, in 2025,
what you could have done betterin 2024.
And what does differentiate you?
What did your customers reactto?
Was it the increase in events?
Was it the sales rep you had onthe floor?
(23:50):
Was it the display cases andwhat you positioned everything
in?
It's amazing to go into thatpsychology and see what it
actually is that entices someoneto again, like you said buy now
, right.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Is it?
Speaker 3 (24:04):
because that they saw the tennis bracelet in the
window that they came in andthen they saw the pendants one
row over, or you know.
Really taking a look at yourbusiness like that is super
beneficial, Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Yeah, but, like you know, I'm going to ask you in
just a second what yours are.
But the one thing thatPunchmark employs and we do this
across the entire company we dothis from when we publish an
issue of the Vendor Vault, ourmagazine, or when we do a
campaign like the NextGencampaign that we wrapped up
earlier this year.
When it comes to, like epicproduct releases, we use the
(24:41):
term epic to measure things.
Sometimes, when we do any ofthose things, we always have
what's called a post-mortemrecap or a retrospective is
another term for it, and what wedo is we talk about what worked
and what did not work.
And with the post-mortem forthe next gen, we talked about
(25:03):
what worked.
It was, you know, we had greatcontent and we felt like we had
great, you know, assets and copyand things like that.
What didn't work?
You know, maybe we didn't havea great posting schedule or we
didn't have clearly definedroles.
At times, because it was ourfirst time and I would recommend
our clients have thosepostmortem meetings I think that
(25:26):
you're going to be sprinting tothe end line and a lot of times
it's like you want to catchyour breath and then a lot of
times you come back for the newyears and then it's like, okay,
let's get back into likeplanning stuff, and it's like,
okay, no, take a second, talkabout what worked and didn't
work.
Have that meeting with yourself, with the other stakeholders,
(25:47):
and also I would include as manypeople as you can, at least at
some point, and talk about whatworked and what didn't work, and
not in a negative way, it'smore like an analytical way, and
at Punchmark we do it all thetime, because one of the and I
take notes for it and we publishthe notes and we talk about it
every single time.
Here's what worked, here's whatdidn't work, and it's not
(26:10):
negative, it's just constructive.
Here's what didn't work, andit's not negative, it's just
constructive Hope.
What are you going to try tochange in 2025?
Speaker 3 (26:17):
So 2025, super excited, of course, for all of
our marketing efforts going into2025.
I think that it's going to be agreat year for Punchmark as
well as for our clients.
I'm very optimistic about it.
But as far as what I'm going totry and change, as far as
strategy for some of our biggerclients is definitely like we
(26:39):
had said just moments ago, where, in January, we're going to be
taking a broader look at theyear what do we have going on,
what needs to get done so thatwe can pre-plan and we're not
scrambling the week of, let'ssay, black Friday Like oh no, I
forgot, I'm running thispromotion XYZ, I need this
(27:02):
landing page.
Hopefully we won't be doing that, and I want to take a kind of
bird's eye view of everybody'splans and what they plan on
coming achieving and what theirgoals are, whether that be more
followers on Instagram, moreengagement on the website, more
(27:23):
e-commerce sales, and how we canbuild up to something like that
.
I think that is a big stepbroad view of what I'm going to
be trying to do with themajority of our clients, as well
as general like.
All right, well, you know,maybe we get a little bit into
the design aspect too.
A lot of our clients createtheir own content to send over
(27:44):
for, let's say, facebook andstuff like that.
Maybe we do a little bit ofconsulting here and there.
Again, big year for punch mark.
I have a lot of big aspirationsfor our department here, so I'm
stoked for it.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
It's gonna be great.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
But yeah, definitely definitely looking to get bigger
and make our clients bigger andjust continue growth.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
For sure.
You know one of the things it'sso funny that we're talking
about.
We might talk about New Year'sresolutions, but one thing
that's fascinating is have youever heard of the term SMART
goals, s-m-a-r-t.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
I haven't actually no .
Speaker 1 (28:21):
So it's an acronym, and they always say that the
best New Year's resolutions areSMART, which means specific,
measurable, achievable, relevant, time bound.
So, as a result, new Year'sresolutions are always time
bound, it's usually for one year, and then specific.
It's like a lot of times theyrecommend that you just write
(28:43):
them down, because then they arevery specific, but I think it's
the other parts that are soimportant, like measurable.
So it's not I want to read morethis year.
It's I want to read 10 booksthis year.
Suddenly, it's measurable howmany books are you going to read
?
Well, the line is 10.
If I read nine, I didn't meetthe goal, but I did more.
(29:04):
But if I did 11 or 10, then Ihit it.
But also achievable and makingthem like within reach.
I always refer to it as becauseyou don't want to be stressing
yourself out about someimaginary self-imposed goal,
some imaginary self-imposed goal.
I think that it's about setting, drawing a line in the sand for
(29:24):
yourself that you would like toget to.
I do it for In the Loop everysingle year and I, you know, I
say, hey, I want to get thismany downloads and I want to
gain our followership by thisand I want to do one special
event, whether that's anin-person show or whatever have
on a great guest, and I thinkthat our retailers I recommend
(29:47):
doing that as well.
A lot of the times they'rebusiness goals, but I would also
probably recommend maybe doinga couple of other ones that are
more peripheral.
So like, hey, I want to do anevent that we've never done
before.
That is also a smart goal, Ithink that.
Or hey, we want to open up amarketing channel that we have
(30:08):
let languish in the past ornever used.
Maybe that's email marketing,because you've heard about like
it being productive and you wantto use it.
So let's turn that faucet on,and a good time for it is in
January.
Or we want to open up a newvendor line because you know,
what we've had has been whatwe've had for the past couple of
(30:29):
years.
Let's add something in to kindof, you know, add a little spice
.
I would probably recommend thatpeople take a look at setting
some goals.
Now is a great time to do them.
I'm going to encourageeverybody at Punchmark to
consider setting some smartgoals for themselves, maybe for
each of the departments, butalso just for themselves
(30:50):
personally.
Hope, are you a New Year'sresolution kind of person?
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Yeah, I go by quarters Yep.
Wow, quarterly resolutions rare.
Yeah, I go by quarters, yep Wow.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Resolutions rare, yeah Well.
So again, like I mentioned I Idefinitely look at the year as a
whole but I'm like, alright,what do I want to do in quarter
one?
What do I want to accomplish bythis time?
And then quarter two what do Iwant by this time?
And definitely nice to hitthose goals when, when they come
in, like I mean, I think I'vealmost hit all of my goals for
(31:25):
this year.
I just need my diploma to beshipped, but we'll be good for
me, I uh, I always do it inreverse.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
I like um, is it retrofit, I think, is the term I
always retrofit a New Year'sresolution to an end goal that
I'm trying to achieve.
So for me, at the end of lastyear, I think I was pretty sad
and I realized that I justwasn't getting outside enough.
I was doing my hobbies and mywork.
Both involved me being indoors,so, as a result, I just needed
(31:56):
to go outside more, and one ofthe things I identified is, if I
take 5,000 steps in a day, I amgenerally happier.
So I made a smart goal, but aNew Year's resolution for myself
.
That was I'm going to walk5,000 steps every day for the
entire year and, with theexception of January, slow start
, if we're being honest.
(32:16):
I've hit that and my average isnow above that, which is great,
and I've done this in pastyears, and I think what I love
about New Year's resolutions isyou can't pick something.
It's not a good New Year'sresolution if you can achieve it
in January, and all of the onesthat I've ever done require you
to, you know, kind of buckle upand be in it for the long haul.
(32:40):
In the past I've done I wantedto run a certain number of miles
in a year and I would never beable to run that number in
January, but I kind of likehaving to you know, have to
build towards something.
Yeah, I think this upcomingyear, I do one of the ones that
I'm going to add.
I'll give everyone a teaser.
This has nothing to do with Inthe Loop, but think this
upcoming year one of the onesthat I'm going to add.
I'll give everyone a teaser.
This has nothing to do with Inthe Loop, but at this point,
(33:02):
just chatting, I'm going to addsomething because I want to be
healthier, and one of the thingsI'm going to add I'm going to
try to floss every single day.
Right now, I floss probablytwice or three times a week and
I just want to get into thehabit.
I'm going to do it every singleday.
That's going to be my nearestresolution.
Try to build that in.
(33:24):
Why?
Because I just want to behealthier.
End goal, boom.
There you go, hope Marino.
I really appreciate your time.
Thanks so much for joining me.
And you know what?
Let's have a good 2025.
We're going to have a good timeand I can't wait to see what
(33:46):
you do with the digitalmarketing program, can't wait to
see where where punchmark is inin one year.
I think that we have a lot ofreally cool things in store and
everybody, I hope, in the loopis around this time next year
We'll do a same recap and seehow we look back and what we
achieved this year.
So everybody, thanks for beingwith us.
Hope, thanks for joining me.
We'll be back next week, tuesday, with our final episode of
season five.
Thanks everybody.
See you soon.
Bye, all right, everybody.
(34:09):
That's the end of the show.
Thanks so much for listening.
This week's guest was HopeBelair, the digital marketing
manager at Punchmark, and thisepisode was brought to you by
Punchmark and produced andhosted by me, michael Burpo.
This episode was edited by PaulSuarez with music by Roz
Cockrum.
Don't forget to rate us onSpotify and Apple Podcasts and
(34:30):
leave us feedback atpunchmarkcom.
Slash look, that's L-O-U-P-E.
Thanks, and again, we have onemore episode this season, so be
on the lookout.
Next week, tuesday.
Cheers, bye.
Welcome back everybody to In the Loop.
What is up everybody?
My name is Michael Burpo.
Thanks again for listening toIn the Loop this week.
The penultimate episode.
Great word we're going to betalking with Hope Belair, the
digital marketing manager atPunchmark, and we're talking
about 2025.
(00:21):
And what we're going to do withthis episode is talk about some
trends that we are predictingboth in marketing and in jewelry
, and again, take these with alittle bit of grain of salt, but
it's based on the channels andcommunication that we monitor,
so we like to think that we'reinformed, but use your best
judgment on these.
And we're also going to betalking about some New Year's
(00:42):
resolutions and goals that wehave.
And we're also going to betalking about some New Year's
resolutions and goals that wehave and we're going to change
about you know ourselves and ourstrategy at Punchmark going
into next year.
I think it's a fun talk.
It's really lighthearted.
I hope you enjoy, and next weekwe will have our best of the
rest, or best bits episode, andthat will be the end of season
(01:03):
five, our best bits episode, andthat will be the end of season
five.
So be on the lookout for thatone.
It's coming out on the 24th andwe will see you in season six.
Take it easy.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Enjoy.
This episode is brought to youby Punchmark, the jewelry
industry's favorite websiteplatform and digital growth
agency.
Our mission reaches way beyondtechnology.
With decades of experience andlong-lasting industry
relationships, punchmark enablesjewelry businesses to flourish
in any marketplace.
We consider our clients ourfriends, as many of them have
(01:35):
been friends way before becomingclients.
Punchmark's own success comesfrom the fact that we have a
much deeper need and obligationto help our friends succeed.
Whether you're looking forbetter e-commerce performance,
business growth or campaignsthat drive traffic and sales,
punchmark's website andmarketing services were made
just for you.
It's never too late totransform your business and
(01:57):
stitch together your digital andphysical worlds in a way that
achieves tremendous growth andresults.
Schedule a guided demo today atpunchmarkcom.
Slash go.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
And now back to the show.
Welcome back everybody.
I'm joined by Hope Belair,digital marketing manager at
Punchmark.
How are you doing today, hope?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I'm doing well.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (02:24):
I'm doing so well.
We're going to be talking about2025.
It's actually the middle ofDecember right now, so we're a
little bit early, but I thinkit's about time we start talking
about what next year is goingto bring.
We try to use these episodes tobe a little bit speculative, so
everybody who's listening thesetrends are going to be
(02:44):
different depending on where inthe country, in the US, in the
world, you're listening from,also, what your clientele and
demographic is.
But I'm kind of more interestedas a terminally online you know
soon to be 30 year old I amkind of trying my best to see
from the aerial view what trendsare working when it comes to
(03:08):
e-commerce, digital marketing,but also jewelry.
I can only imagine you probablyare staring at jewelry all the
time and you handle themarketing for well over 50
clients for us at this point.
Just from an aerial view, whatkind of marketing trends did you
notice really this year andwhat are you expecting for next
(03:29):
year, in 2025?
Speaker 3 (03:31):
So this year, I think , was, at least for our clients,
a lot more events based.
I think, post COVID, this waskind of the year that, all right
, we're buckling down, we'regoing.
We're going to either Antwerpsince the first time in 2019, we
are hosting events in store.
Now we're doing all the things,um.
So that's definitely somethingthat I saw, especially between
(03:54):
2023 and 2024, 2025, I think, isgoing to be a lot more of that
same thing, with a little bit ofincreased events in store and
like, let's say, trips toAntwerp, trade shows, et cetera,
really getting out there andjust physically promoting your
business in that way.
Digitally, of course, we alwayshave the videos that are just
(04:16):
performing the best.
There is nothing better than ashort snippet video, and that's
really what catches everybody'seyes.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
I know I'm like man, bring Instagram back to just a
square image.
I know, I know Instagram iscompletely different than what I
remember in 2010.
I think it's complete.
It's all about video contentand, honestly, all of the
platforms are now all aboutshort form video.
(04:47):
I mean YouTube.
They are heavily invested in,you know.
I guess YouTube shorts andthey're moving away from, like,
the long form videos, which is,I think, a really too bad of a
thing, because I think in 20years or 30 years, I do think
YouTube is going to be around.
I think it's going to be thelibrary archive for the internet
(05:08):
.
However, I don't know if I cansay the same for TikTok, which,
as of recording this December11th, tiktok is slated to shut
down on January 20th.
Odds are very, very even onwhether or not it's going to
actually happen.
I am moving away from evenencouraging anybody to put their
eggs into the TikTok basket.
(05:30):
Do we have any jewelers thatare like decent at TikTok, or is
it still a little bit like wehaven't really made it over
there?
Speaker 3 (05:38):
There are a few for sure.
I mean, what I always recommendto my clients that want to
maybe start TikTok or getinvested in that platform is do
what you're doing on Instagramas far as videos and just
translate it right over so that,if it is actually shutting down
on January 20th whichpersonally my fingers crossed, I
(05:59):
hope it doesn't, because thatis a great marketing platform
just to get awareness out, butjust so that you're not making a
bunch of effort towards aTikTok video and saying, well,
now all of my videos are gone, Ican't do anything with it
anymore.
Definitely make it a hybridtype of situation.
Tiktok and Instagram videosshould be pretty much synonymous
(06:24):
across the board when you'regoing on branding for your store
.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
I'm with you and I think that there I think it's in
man.
I wish I would have preppedthis.
I think it's in TikTok you canedit your videos in the builder
and then download your editedversion with that before you add
any trending sounds, becausethe trending sounds will get
muted.
(06:48):
So, or you know, if you'reusing copyright free music, you
could just take those as welland then you could upload them
onto all the vertical videoplatforms.
I am kind of moving away fromthe idea that people need to be
channel agnostic and be hittingeverywhere, because I think it
can really spread you a littlebit too thin and I think that
(07:12):
you should pick one and be greatat it, and then you should pick
a second one and be pretty goodat it.
I think for Punchmark, ourchannel that we're the best at,
I think, is probably Facebook,which is kind of crazy to think
about, but we do have thecommunity, we have our public
page, we integrate into a lot ofdifferent communities, so I'd
(07:33):
probably say that's our best one.
And then now we're on Instagramand I think our Instagram is
great brand awareness.
But I just I mean, we tried toget into TikTok and we tried
getting on YouTube and it's kindof a lot unless you have a full
team.
Yeah, I think that's kind ofwhere I'm at with it.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
No, I agree, and you know one of the marketers and I
guess my marketing only spaceKatie McKeever.
She has this great advice whenyou're, you know, either
starting your business orpromoting your business in a
certain way, you definitely wantjust one singular channel and
again, like you said, be reallygood at that singular channel
(08:13):
first and then branch out.
So, especially for jewelers, Iknow Instagram is the most
visual and just general used, Iguess just under Facebook, but
the most visually appealing forsure.
So if you get good at Instagramand then you decide, okay, my
second one is going to beFacebook, maybe for events focus
(08:34):
, like I had said before, orthen move over to TikTok if it's
still here come January 20th,then definitely do that.
I would agree for sure.
Definitely pick one to startand then, once you've got it
down pat, you can tackle more.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
I agree.
I mean, the episode before thisone was going to be is called
the marketing symphony and wetalked to all about our next gen
marketing campaign, where wetry to hit every single channel,
and we did that really just tokind of test the space, and I
think in next year, I thinkPunchmark is going to kind of
dial in a little bit more ourmarketing.
(09:13):
One of them is through emailand the other one is I think we
just got to.
This is like more internal talk, but I think we just got to
send more emails.
I think that we are very polite.
We just got to send more emails.
I think that we are very polite.
We used to be a lot moreaggressive back in 2018, 19,
when it came to sending a lot ofemails.
We sent out, I think, three aweek for a while, and now we
(09:35):
send out like one every othermonth, especially only around
the trade shows, and it's likeyou know what.
Let's get after it again.
Let's start being in there,because I mean I could probably
just speak for myself, but I getso many emails from marketing
companies.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah, absolutely, and I mean I get it too.
I'm absolutely on board withPunchmark internally getting
more emails out there.
I know I was talking to our CTO, Brian, about that yesterday
and definitely something we wantto go move forward with.
I know we've actually gotsomething in the works this
month for the start of the year,so we'll be keeping an eye on
your inboxes, guys.
(10:10):
But anyway, no email marketingfor sure is just.
Honestly, I know it's nervewracking and you don't want to
sound salesy, you don't want tosound pitchy etc.
And you feel like everybody'sgetting bombarded with a bunch
of emails.
But if you have a client, say,that's been there for five to 10
(10:30):
years, that client has a brandloyalty to you.
So even if you are coming outand saying, hey, I've got a sale
this week and then another salenext week and then an event the
following week and you'resending out two to three emails
to that client, it's not theworst thing in the world,
especially since they do havethat brand loyalty.
They like you, you have thatrelationship.
(10:50):
They're more apt to open upthose emails anyway and with the
amount of stores that we workwith, it seems to be that those
interpersonal salesrelationships are the best way
to go.
So definitely don't be afraidto send an email or two, and I
know we've got a few marketingprograms now where we also send
a sweet number of three emailsper type of event type of thing.
(11:14):
That's kind of the sweet spotwe've noticed, especially with
going for awareness, generalawareness, rsvps etc.
Stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yeah, what about jewelry trends?
So we were just talking aboutmarketing trends.
I want to talk about jewelrytrends and this again is going
to be probably a little bit moremissed than it's going to be
hit for us, but I love jewelry.
I've started wearing a lot morejewelry and I started following
trends a lot more and inspeaking to jewelers, especially
(11:44):
leading up to the holidayseason, but in the middle of the
year as well, speaking at ourroundtables I am pretty invested
in I think that gold is goingto be the hit.
I mean, I know, talk about asafe prediction.
I think that gold hoops andchains man, I think that they're
just going to be timeless.
I think that gold hoops andchains man, I think that they're
(12:05):
just going to be timeless.
I think that right now, peopleare like a little bit unsure
young and millennial to say butI do think that, like Bitcoin
(12:26):
hitting 100k is like sometimespeople are like what is that
about?
And I think it is connected tothe price of gold in certain
certain instances, and I thinkthat people see buying gold as
like a pseudo investment, whichyou know it can be.
Do you have any idea when itcomes to jewelry trends?
Or, like in your conversationswith retailers.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
So, based on my conversations with retailers, it
definitely depends on wherethey are in the country.
If they're in New York, thereis a certain type of thing
that's going on.
That's better than, let's say,florida and California.
One thing, if I can make aprediction, just because I'm
seeing this trend generallythroughout all of my socials, is
(13:11):
that a lot of, I guess, peopleour age, let's say, 25 to 35,
are looking for capsules,capsule wardrobes and just
keeping things that are nevergoing to go out of style, which
is timeless and stuff like that.
So I can have a hot take I thinkthat lab grown diamonds are
going to continue to a littlewell, maybe not continue, I
(13:33):
don't know.
I think they're on the downfalland I think natural diamonds is
going to just kind of resurge,because I think a lot of people
are looking for that timelesstype of thing and, um, I think
we'll see a little bit more ofthat come, come 2025.
I'll be interested and I'd behappy to be wrong, I guess you
know too, but I'm interested tosee what that does.
(13:53):
But of course we have, we haveour, you know, just general
trendy things.
Permanent jewelry, I know, evenlocally here in Charlotte, is
still pretty big here.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Still pretty big.
I had it on my, I had it on mypredictions last year.
I thought I was going to dieoff this year and just earlier,
during Black Friday, I saw apromotion.
It's like book your time nowfor our December permanent
jewelry event at the localjewelry store and I was like
holy crap, that's still going on.
Let's go.
Good for them.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
It is.
Yeah, I mean, all the smallbusinesses are looking to.
You know kind of I mean forsmall business.
Saturday my hairstylist had apermanent jewelry person over at
their salon.
Yeah, yep, so it was like youknow, I think a lot of those um
pop-up type things.
We're still seeing thosepermanent jewelry, farmer's
(14:44):
markets, stuff like that, anycommunity events.
It's just easy to pop up andget something um relatively
cheap and get you in the door.
So I think that's absolutelygoing to be something.
And if I actually also had tomake a prediction, women,
younger women specifically,might go more towards like
actual watches versus like aFitbit or an Apple Watch, based
(15:07):
on, again, the algorithms that Iobserved.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Well, you know, on the topic of watches, I mean,
there was a time when I thoughtI was going to buy a Rolex and
then I bought a house, so theRolex is out of the question for
a little bit.
But one thing that's beenreally fascinating is so the
price of Rolexes or I guess it'sthe secondary market of Rolexes
is falling from I think it was.
(15:31):
It hit an all-time high in 2022, and I think in 23 as well, but
it is starting to fall or comeback, more like come back to
earth, but the, I guess theother watches so there's Rolex
and Tudor, but if there's therest of the field, like Seiko
and Citizen seem to beincreasing in demand.
(15:52):
I especially think that Seikoand just seem to be increasing
in demand.
I especially think that Seiko,and just like Grand Seiko in
general is just has such a greatbrand.
I think that they have done agreat job with signing
spokespeople Right now.
They have, you know, shoheiOtani.
They also have I think it'sTanaka.
I also, I mean another baseballplayer.
They have just like these greatspokespeople from Japan that
(16:15):
are kind of in the limelightright now and you know, again,
I'm a baseball fan, so I'mseeing it a lot and it seems
like it's having like a realpush.
And because of the price Ithink it's more of a within
reach reach as opposed to likean ultra reach when it comes to
people our age not going to sayagain.
I don't think Rolex is reallyever going to go away.
(16:37):
I think that the brand is setin stone, but I do think those
secondary man I hate sayingsecondary those other watches
are going to really have theirmoment.
That's my prediction for a 25at least.
That's my prediction for 25, atleast.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Yeah, I would agree with you.
I mean, I know I've seen too,just over like the year,
specific brands definitelygetting more recognition other
than Rolex.
And I mean maybe it's alsobecause I look at jewelry
websites and jewelry marketingall day.
But I'm like, oh man, let'spromote the Shinola, let's
(17:11):
promote the Cycle, let's promotethe Citizen Michelle, all of
those other brands.
I'm like, oh man, let's promotethe Shinola, let's promote the
Cycle, let's promote the CitizenMichelle, all of those other
brands.
I'm like Rolex speaks foritself.
It really does, and itdefinitely is a nice high luxury
price point.
But for everybody else I guessour age that wants to kind of
dip their toes a little bit intothe jewelry industry, those
other brands are the way to goin my opinion.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
A very hot take and I love it.
Hope we're going to take aquick break and we're going to
come back let's talk about whatwe're going to be doing
differently in 2025.
So, everybody, stay with us.
Punchmarket is so excited toannounce the launch of our email
marketing campaigns craftedspecifically for jewelers.
(17:55):
Take your jewelry store'smarketing to the next level with
Punchmark's email marketingservice.
We created tailored,data-driven campaigns that will
not only engage your customersbut also boost your sales.
Whether you want to be hands-onor prefer a fully managed
service, we deliver everythingyou need to stay connected to
your audience and increase yourROI.
Let's grow your businessthrough the power of strategic
(18:18):
email marketing.
Learn more at punchmarkcomslash email dash marketing.
Again, that's punchmarkcomslash email dash marketing.
And now back to the show.
And we're back.
(18:39):
Everybody.
We're still talking with HopeBelair, digital marketing
manager at Punchmark.
So Hope we're going to be doinga couple things different next
year.
And one of the things that Ithink Punchmark has gotten
better at in the coming up oneight years of me working here
(19:00):
is we are starting to planfurther and further out, which I
really appreciate.
We used to do everything, likeyou know, week before, two weeks
before and then the next year.
We did, like, you know, a monthbefore and now, like we started
planning this year's clientworkshop like as soon as the
last one ended, and we alreadyhave the trade show already
picked out.
And I think that that is one ofthe things I would encourage
(19:22):
more of our clients to do is addevery year, add an extra week
of planning to every singleevent.
Just extend your timeline andit's.
Nothing is better in life thanhaving every all the hay in the
barn and being able to have aweek before the event to relax.
I know that's pretty, that'spretty redneck, but that's just
(19:43):
what we say up here.
One of the things that's so nice, for example, is we're trying
to have I'm working on this dripcampaign and just to kind of
give people an idea, I've beenworking with Ross for the past
month or two on a drip campaignfor when people become a hot
(20:04):
lead with us.
So there's a couple differentthings that can qualify you as a
hot lead, which is someone thatis very interested in our
product, and one of the thingsthat we're doing is we're
creating a series of emails thatwill I use the term chase but
or follow, but it's going to besomething that will, you know,
drip to them on a predeterminedschedule, so in the beginning
(20:27):
it'll be a lot faster.
So it'll be, you know, everyday or two or three after they
qualify as a hot lead, and thenit'll, after the first, I think,
three emails, it'll turn toevery week and then, after like
a couple more emails, it'll beevery two weeks until it runs
out, and then they are no longerdeemed a hot lead.
They become a lead or a cold ora prospect.
(20:48):
And one of the things that'sreally quite interesting about
that is we actually came up witha concept behind our drip
campaign and the concept is themarket of free.
So we're doing everything isabout free, awesome educational
information that is platformagnostic, and so our whole thing
(21:10):
I mean talk about skin in thecat a lot of different ways.
I have written the same content10 times different ways and
that's kind of what a lot of oura lot of what marketing is is
you need to be writing the samething to appeal specifically to
(21:31):
your target clientele ordemographic or prospects or what
have you.
And I think that with a dripcampaign, it's really taught me
a lot more about marketingespecially about Punchmark's
product than a lot of otherthings have Really staring in
the face, what is our buy nowreasoning.
(21:52):
You know what is our product,differentiating factors, you
know what makes us better ordifferent than our competitors,
and when you start kind ofreally boiling it down to the
bare bones, wow, I feel like Ilike looked in the mirror for
the first time and realized whatPunchmark has versus what other
(22:12):
places have.
Have you ever done somethinglike that or like, did they
speak about that when you werelearning digital marketing and
how you can, like, become newlyfamiliar with your own products?
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Yeah, I mean.
So as far as like internally,of course, absolutely you can
always take an internalreflection of you know different
, different things, um,marketing wise, and what you
could be doing better for sure,especially if you're running
those campaigns and it's, youknow, for your, your company,
(22:44):
right.
As far as like marketing onbehalf of someone else, I would
say to the jewelers for sure,absolutely take that internal
look and see what doesdifferentiate you guys, because
ultimately, the marketing teamisn't able to be there
physically with you all the time.
So you know, if I have a storeover in California, as much as I
(23:08):
would love to see those beaches, sometimes I can't make that
trip.
So definitely like kind of thesame thing that you were saying
with those drip campaigns andseeing what differentiates you.
I think it's an awesome way tostart off every year, especially
since we are running towardsthat finish line of 2024 into
(23:29):
2025.
That first week, really take ahard look at your business and
what it is that you want toachieve, of course, in 2025,
what you could have done betterin 2024.
And what does differentiate you?
What did your customers reactto?
Was it the increase in events?
Was it the sales rep you had onthe floor?
(23:50):
Was it the display cases andwhat you positioned everything
in?
It's amazing to go into thatpsychology and see what it
actually is that entices someoneto again, like you said buy now
, right.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Is it?
Speaker 3 (24:04):
because that they saw the tennis bracelet in the
window that they came in andthen they saw the pendants one
row over, or you know.
Really taking a look at yourbusiness like that is super
beneficial, Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Yeah, but, like you know, I'm going to ask you in
just a second what yours are.
But the one thing thatPunchmark employs and we do this
across the entire company we dothis from when we publish an
issue of the Vendor Vault, ourmagazine, or when we do a
campaign like the NextGencampaign that we wrapped up
earlier this year.
When it comes to, like epicproduct releases, we use the
(24:41):
term epic to measure things.
Sometimes, when we do any ofthose things, we always have
what's called a post-mortemrecap or a retrospective is
another term for it, and what wedo is we talk about what worked
and what did not work.
And with the post-mortem forthe next gen, we talked about
(25:03):
what worked.
It was, you know, we had greatcontent and we felt like we had
great, you know, assets and copyand things like that.
What didn't work?
You know, maybe we didn't havea great posting schedule or we
didn't have clearly definedroles.
At times, because it was ourfirst time and I would recommend
our clients have thosepostmortem meetings I think that
(25:26):
you're going to be sprinting tothe end line and a lot of times
it's like you want to catchyour breath and then a lot of
times you come back for the newyears and then it's like, okay,
let's get back into likeplanning stuff, and it's like,
okay, no, take a second, talkabout what worked and didn't
work.
Have that meeting with yourself, with the other stakeholders,
(25:47):
and also I would include as manypeople as you can, at least at
some point, and talk about whatworked and what didn't work, and
not in a negative way, it'smore like an analytical way, and
at Punchmark we do it all thetime, because one of the and I
take notes for it and we publishthe notes and we talk about it
every single time.
Here's what worked, here's whatdidn't work, and it's not
(26:10):
negative, it's just constructive.
Here's what didn't work, andit's not negative, it's just
constructive Hope.
What are you going to try tochange in 2025?
Speaker 3 (26:17):
So 2025, super excited, of course, for all of
our marketing efforts going into2025.
I think that it's going to be agreat year for Punchmark as
well as for our clients.
I'm very optimistic about it.
But as far as what I'm going totry and change, as far as
strategy for some of our biggerclients is definitely like we
(26:39):
had said just moments ago, where, in January, we're going to be
taking a broader look at theyear what do we have going on,
what needs to get done so thatwe can pre-plan and we're not
scrambling the week of, let'ssay, black Friday Like oh no, I
forgot, I'm running thispromotion XYZ, I need this
(27:02):
landing page.
Hopefully we won't be doing that, and I want to take a kind of
bird's eye view of everybody'splans and what they plan on
coming achieving and what theirgoals are, whether that be more
followers on Instagram, moreengagement on the website, more
(27:23):
e-commerce sales, and how we canbuild up to something like that
.
I think that is a big stepbroad view of what I'm going to
be trying to do with themajority of our clients, as well
as general like.
All right, well, you know,maybe we get a little bit into
the design aspect too.
A lot of our clients createtheir own content to send over
(27:44):
for, let's say, facebook andstuff like that.
Maybe we do a little bit ofconsulting here and there.
Again, big year for punch mark.
I have a lot of big aspirationsfor our department here, so I'm
stoked for it.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
It's gonna be great.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
But yeah, definitely definitely looking to get bigger
and make our clients bigger andjust continue growth.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
For sure.
You know one of the things it'sso funny that we're talking
about.
We might talk about New Year'sresolutions, but one thing
that's fascinating is have youever heard of the term SMART
goals, s-m-a-r-t.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
I haven't actually no .
Speaker 1 (28:21):
So it's an acronym, and they always say that the
best New Year's resolutions areSMART, which means specific,
measurable, achievable, relevant, time bound.
So, as a result, new Year'sresolutions are always time
bound, it's usually for one year, and then specific.
It's like a lot of times theyrecommend that you just write
(28:43):
them down, because then they arevery specific, but I think it's
the other parts that are soimportant, like measurable.
So it's not I want to read morethis year.
It's I want to read 10 booksthis year.
Suddenly, it's measurable howmany books are you going to read
?
Well, the line is 10.
If I read nine, I didn't meetthe goal, but I did more.
(29:04):
But if I did 11 or 10, then Ihit it.
But also achievable and makingthem like within reach.
I always refer to it as becauseyou don't want to be stressing
yourself out about someimaginary self-imposed goal,
some imaginary self-imposed goal.
I think that it's about setting, drawing a line in the sand for
(29:24):
yourself that you would like toget to.
I do it for In the Loop everysingle year and I, you know, I
say, hey, I want to get thismany downloads and I want to
gain our followership by thisand I want to do one special
event, whether that's anin-person show or whatever have
on a great guest, and I thinkthat our retailers I recommend
(29:47):
doing that as well.
A lot of the times they'rebusiness goals, but I would also
probably recommend maybe doinga couple of other ones that are
more peripheral.
So like, hey, I want to do anevent that we've never done
before.
That is also a smart goal, Ithink that.
Or hey, we want to open up amarketing channel that we have
(30:08):
let languish in the past ornever used.
Maybe that's email marketing,because you've heard about like
it being productive and you wantto use it.
So let's turn that faucet on,and a good time for it is in
January.
Or we want to open up a newvendor line because you know,
what we've had has been whatwe've had for the past couple of
(30:29):
years.
Let's add something in to kindof, you know, add a little spice
.
I would probably recommend thatpeople take a look at setting
some goals.
Now is a great time to do them.
I'm going to encourageeverybody at Punchmark to
consider setting some smartgoals for themselves, maybe for
each of the departments, butalso just for themselves
(30:50):
personally.
Hope, are you a New Year'sresolution kind of person?
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Yeah, I go by quarters Yep.
Wow, quarterly resolutions rare.
Yeah, I go by quarters, yep Wow.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Resolutions rare, yeah Well.
So again, like I mentioned I Idefinitely look at the year as a
whole but I'm like, alright,what do I want to do in quarter
one?
What do I want to accomplish bythis time?
And then quarter two what do Iwant by this time?
And definitely nice to hitthose goals when, when they come
in, like I mean, I think I'vealmost hit all of my goals for
(31:25):
this year.
I just need my diploma to beshipped, but we'll be good for
me, I uh, I always do it inreverse.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
I like um, is it retrofit, I think, is the term I
always retrofit a New Year'sresolution to an end goal that
I'm trying to achieve.
So for me, at the end of lastyear, I think I was pretty sad
and I realized that I justwasn't getting outside enough.
I was doing my hobbies and mywork.
Both involved me being indoors,so, as a result, I just needed
(31:56):
to go outside more, and one ofthe things I identified is, if I
take 5,000 steps in a day, I amgenerally happier.
So I made a smart goal, but aNew Year's resolution for myself
.
That was I'm going to walk5,000 steps every day for the
entire year and, with theexception of January, slow start
, if we're being honest.
(32:16):
I've hit that and my average isnow above that, which is great,
and I've done this in pastyears, and I think what I love
about New Year's resolutions isyou can't pick something.
It's not a good New Year'sresolution if you can achieve it
in January, and all of the onesthat I've ever done require you
to, you know, kind of buckle upand be in it for the long haul.
(32:40):
In the past I've done I wantedto run a certain number of miles
in a year and I would never beable to run that number in
January, but I kind of likehaving to you know, have to
build towards something.
Yeah, I think this upcomingyear, I do one of the ones that
I'm going to add.
I'll give everyone a teaser.
This has nothing to do with Inthe Loop, but think this
upcoming year one of the onesthat I'm going to add.
I'll give everyone a teaser.
This has nothing to do with Inthe Loop, but at this point,
(33:02):
just chatting, I'm going to addsomething because I want to be
healthier, and one of the thingsI'm going to add I'm going to
try to floss every single day.
Right now, I floss probablytwice or three times a week and
I just want to get into thehabit.
I'm going to do it every singleday.
That's going to be my nearestresolution.
Try to build that in.
(33:24):
Why?
Because I just want to behealthier.
End goal, boom.
There you go, hope Marino.
I really appreciate your time.
Thanks so much for joining me.
And you know what?
Let's have a good 2025.
We're going to have a good timeand I can't wait to see what
(33:46):
you do with the digitalmarketing program, can't wait to
see where where punchmark is inin one year.
I think that we have a lot ofreally cool things in store and
everybody, I hope, in the loopis around this time next year
We'll do a same recap and seehow we look back and what we
achieved this year.
So everybody, thanks for beingwith us.
Hope, thanks for joining me.
We'll be back next week, tuesday, with our final episode of
season five.
Thanks everybody.
See you soon.
Bye, all right, everybody.
(34:09):
That's the end of the show.
Thanks so much for listening.
This week's guest was HopeBelair, the digital marketing
manager at Punchmark, and thisepisode was brought to you by
Punchmark and produced andhosted by me, michael Burpo.
This episode was edited by PaulSuarez with music by Roz
Cockrum.
Don't forget to rate us onSpotify and Apple Podcasts and
(34:30):
leave us feedback atpunchmarkcom.
Slash look, that's L-O-U-P-E.
Thanks, and again, we have onemore episode this season, so be
on the lookout.
Next week, tuesday.
Cheers, bye.
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