High Level Thinking

These days, it’s easy to get caught up in thinking that the only thing that’s working in marketing is digital.

Here at High Level Thinkers, it would be nice if this were true since we’re a digital agency.

But the truth is, the top independent local jewelers are using a smart mix of digital marketing AND traditional, old-school marketing to produce the best results.

And that’s where today’s guest comes in.

James Porte has helped more jewelers create winning marketing campaigns than maybe any other person on earth. 

James is the best kind of industry veteran… He started Porte Marketing in 1989 & has served on every board, presented at every conference and contributed to every publication in the jewelry business.

And, his campaigns are still putting significant cash in jewelers' pockets even today.

So we’re super excited to have him as a guest on the show.

James Porte is the founder of Porte Marketing, a full-service marketing agency serving local jewelry retailers. Based out of Florida, James has a wealth of knowledge and experience about all facets of jewelry marketing, especially in the area of traditional, offline campaigns which are crucial to success.

Setting the Stage

What prompted this idea for an episode was getting yet another call from a local jeweler who told me they had pretty much given up on traditional marketing and thought digital was the only way to go.

And of course, digital does work, as that’s what we do.

BUT

I’ve found over the years that our clients getting the BEST results had a really nice mix of traditional, offline marketing in addition to their digital marketing.

In fact, I’d go as far as to say the “digital-only” approach really only works for online retailers. And even in those cases, they do a lot of offline marketing.

This episode of our podcast covers important questions like:

How does traditional marketing fit with digital marketing and what makes a good balance?

What are the foundational marketing programs that make a difference (flyers, phone scripts, mailers, private events)

What are some of your best campaign ideas that are still working really well today? (6-hour event, Valentine's Day Event, Inventory Reduction)

How do you create synergy between what you’re doing in your traditional marketing & digital marketing?

How important is it for people to get the same message across all their marketing channels?

What’s one piece of advice you could give local jewelers about their marketing?

This episode is loaded with helpful tips you can start using right now in your business.

If you’d like to get in touch with James Porte, you can reach him: