Here Is Fran's Story and the Lessons Learned From Lezzeri Jewellery so Far...
Can You Please Tell Us About Lezzeri Jewellery and What Sparked Your Journey Into Starting It?
My journey began with a search for things to keep my mind busy during a dark time in my personal life. I came across a silversmithing workshop and from there I fell in love with making jewellery!
With a background in design, I was naturally drawn to colour and quickly made the connection of how wearing something cheery can inspire you to feel better and help you take control of your day. Sharing this with others became a priority. I was looking for a career change at the time, so the cogs started turning.
How Did You Shape and Establish Lezzeri's Unique Brand Image?
Oh gosh! Some of the first branding mock ups were..interesting! Firstly, it took me quite a few months to settle on a brand name, I had lists and lists of options, it drove me mad! My Grandmother’s family name ended up being perfect since she was Italian and I work with Italian glass.
Once I had a name, I started looking at fonts that I liked and had drawn some floral illustrations to go with it. Although I loved the illustrations, it was all very fussy. The more I read about branding, the more I acknowledged that your brand image needs to be fairly clean and easy to read.
I knew that I wanted to market myself as a brand rather than a person or using my own name, so I started researching what high-end designer branding looks like and found a blog article showing the evolution of some well-known logos.
In so many cases, the designer logos started out with pictures and calligraphic font, evolving to then use bold, clean block text instead. It just made sense, so I got to work on a second draft. By this point, my packaging sample was coming in with a logo that I had ‘settled’ for but wasn’t in love with.
The most important thing about design is to not be afraid to start again.
So, I got to work on a third draft. I used the calligraphic font to create a simple emblem which could be used with or without the text branding.
It was clean but creative, and gave me options. My packaging had to go to production with the new style which was scary!
I’ve put together a couple of key pointers that I think will help others who are looking to name their new business.
Make It Relevant
You might like the name, but what is it telling your customer?
CHECK DOMAIN NAME AVAILABILITY
The last thing you want to do is register a new company and then find out that the website is already taken, so definitely check this first.
I got burned with this one in the early days and had to register a change of business name!
Also, if there are similar business names out there with a similar business model to you, you risk diluting or losing your web traffic to them.
For example, jewellery is a highly saturated market and very difficult to find a unique name for, so the chances are that googling many of the brand name options I had drafted would lead to another jewellery brand, or even an Etsy store.
This might seem obvious to some, but for those who have never set up a business before, it’s new information and there’s already so much else to think about at the time!
Something else that has protected my brand:
Buy More Than One Domain
I bought both the .com and .co.uk domain names and have one redirect to the other. This means that somebody else can’t buy the other domain with your brand name on it and confuse incoming web traffic. In the scheme of things, it doesn’t cost much to have a second domain, and it’s so worth it for brand identity and uniqueness.
What Guides Your Decision-Making in Choosing and Adding New Pieces to Your Collection?
Most guidance for my new designs just comes from the soul and what inspires good feelings. Now that I have stockists, I’m trying to create cohesive collections, whereas in the past I would just trial and create new themes as I wanted to.
Analysing what has sold both online and at markets is a good indicator of what people like, and helps to direct future launches.
Keyword research then comes in when I need to write product descriptions and meta titles and descriptions, which helps to get some click throughs from search engines.
What Marketing Techniques Have Worked Best for You?
I’m still very much in my early days, but definitely having a strong social media presence and on-brand website has been what seals the deal on a sale, especially if somebody has seen and liked your work in person.
All of the online promotional work you do can feel like it’s going nowhere, but I have learnt to look at the long game now and not expect immediate results.
It’s more of a showroom for ‘keeping face’ until you’ve built up an audience.
When I’m setting up new product listings, I spend a lot of time using a combination of Google Keyword Tool, Ubersuggest and Semrush to find high ranking keywords to help get some extra web traffic and better page rankings.
How Important Is Email Marketing in Your Promotional Strategy or Is This Part of Your Future Plans?
Emails are a great way of keeping yourself in the front of people’s minds. They may not be looking to buy now, but when they need to find a gift etc, that shiny little number they saw on your email will come to mind!
Capturing emails is a must. Welcome discounts get people to join your mailing list and abandoned cart emails remind people of what you already know they liked and added to their basket. They’re just little things which could seal the deal when the time is right.
It was hard in the beginning, since I don’t have a pushy personality or like to bother people. The best thing you can do is separate yourself from this personally and just be natural. If salesy isn’t your comfort zone then be more authentic and people will love you for it!
What Major Obstacles Have You Faced in Your Business, and How Did You/ Continue to Tackle Them?
My biggest obstacle has been confidence and comparison.
When you’re not making sales, or it doesn’t feel like you’re being seen on social media, your head starts to tell you that you’re not good enough.
I try to remember some examples of successful business people and the hard work they had to put in to get where they are. I think to myself:
Would WILL.I.AM have sacrificed his creativity because some people out there may not have liked it? Perseverance is key!
Are There Any Specific Shopify Tools or Apps You Consider Crucial for Your Website?
I highly recommend the Quikify smart menu app. This allows you to create a dynamic menu bar with categories and images for a very small monthly fee.
If you run a booking system, Event Ticketing has been incredible for my husband’s appointment-based business also.
Next, I plan to implement a few small upgrades such as product image hover and one-click buy to help the user experience.
Having Worked With You for Many Years, I Know How Exceptionally Talented You Are in Design and Photography - What Are Your Top 3 Tips for Business Owners in Product Styling and Photography?
How lovely of you, thank you so much Lee! Here are my top three tips:
1) Envision yourself as the customer and what ‘help’ they might need. This could be what product bundles work well together, or how to wear certain items together and with what colours/outfits. People always love style advice!
2) For photography, choose natural perspectives and wherever possible natural lighting. These things will help the onlooker feel at ease and part of the scene. Angles which tend to work best are those you would see with your own eye. For example, if you were sat at a table looking at the product, put your camera around that area.
3) Avoid things that don’t make sense, like putting jewellery in a cup or on food. As tempting as it is to get creative, using natural, life-like scenes makes it easier for your potential customer to imagine owning your product rather than wandering what the heck is going on in your photo!
Knowing What You Do Now, Would You Change Anything If You Were to Restart Lezzeri?
I would definitely tell myself that it’s a long-game and no business was made without huge amounts of hard work and support behind the scenes.
Looking back, I most likely would have invested in a mindset mentor or continued with counselling, just to keep my head in a good place and guide me through those mental dips.
What Steps Have Been Instrumental in Growing Your Business, and What Advice Do You Have for Others Looking to Scale Their Ecommerce Ventures?
Getting out and doing fairs and markets has definitely transformed things for Lezzeri. This goes hand in hand with your online presence. I tend to have a QR code on my table for people to scan, which takes them to my instagram.
Having a curated look to your website and a social media with regular postings helps to instil trust in a prospective buyer. I had a few people get in touch after a Christmas market to buy what they had seen on the day.
What Are Your Future Plans for Lezzeri?
I would love some more stockists and to do many more markets this year!
Anything Else You'd Like to Include or Give Advice for Other Shopify Owners..?
Just keep going, it’s easy to quit. If it were easy starting/running a business then everybody would be doing it!
