Update: Our Sorority Jewelry Line Now Drives Over 50% Of Revenue
This is a follow up story for mazi + zo. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published about 4 years ago, check it out here.
Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.
Hi! I’m Lizzy Klein, and I’m the founder of mazi + zo, an NYC company that’s all about effortless fine jewelry. We design and handcraft 14k gold and sterling silver necklaces, earrings, and threader earrings and also offer a line of licensed sorority fine jewelry.
Our deceptively simple pieces work for both minimalists and “more is more” types like me thanks to thoughtful design and our focus on sustainability. You can find my earlier posts here and here.
Tell us about what you’ve been up to. Has the business been growing?
Since April, we’ve had quite a few wins:
- Our licensed sorority jewelry line continues to grow in popularity and now drives over 50% of our revenue (we were thrilled to be namechecked by two of our rush crushes in this 2022’s #bamarush wave on TikTok (Shelby and Abby).
- We made our first foray into the wholesale channel.
- And maybe most importantly, in response to the growing threats to reproductive rights, we partnered with Stix to provide emergency birth control to people in need. For every purchase from our Venus for Restart™ collection, we fund a dose of the morning-after pill that the amazing Stix team distributes free-of-charge with total discretion and no questions asked.
Specific Tactics:
Our search engine optimization investments are paying off and the majority of our sorority sales come directly from organic search results, which is gratifying. That said, it’s always difficult to determine which specific SEO tactics have the most impact. What we’ve done so far:
- Improved Speed - code-related stuff, images, removed an app,
- Optimized Image names, meta titles, meta descriptions
- Added content to collection pages
- Continued to solicit customer reviews
Building on this, I’m about to engage an SEO agency to focus on technical SEO, content strategy, and--once I create the right content-- quality backlinks.
What have been your biggest challenges in the last year?
Forcing myself to “be the brand” on social media.
I understand that creating Instagram reels and TikToks is fun for a lot of people. It’s challenging for me and I find creating videos that feature ME torturous.
For the first two years, mazi + zo was in business, I created the IG posts featuring jewelry with props or cute Canva-created images with relevant quotes. When I could, I showed jewelry to customers and models but that got harder with COVID.
In March 2020, I became my primary model, but I used only zoom shots of the earrings or necklaces I was wearing. I never showed my face because a) I don’t enjoy having my photo taken, and b) I wasn’t confident my college-aged customers (the sorority business) would connect with someone who’s old enough to be their parent!
My content wasn’t getting any traction, making it hard for me to continue prioritizing the effort, but I wasn’t ready to give up: I solicited feedback from some pros and concluded that my IG felt “amateurish” for a brand of high-quality fine jewelry which in turn could be damaging mazi + zo’s credibility (and sales conversion.)
In November 2020, I hired an agency to give my IG grid a more sophisticated vibe and increase my follower count and the agency upgraded the content (still no Lizzy in the posts.)
However, my IG audience growth was near zero, and I didn’t see any sales via that channel. After five months, I couldn’t justify the agency’s monthly retainer and we (amicably) terminated our contract.
I took back mazi + zo’s IG reins in Q2 2021 and after five months of consistent posts (squares and carousels, not video,) I finally started to engage new followers which encouraged me, but still no sales-- and I still wasn’t showing myself online.
After reading tons of social media pros’ posts about the importance of founders sharing their personalities and values on social media, I gritted my teeth and made my first reels and TikToks starring ME in August 2021. It was excruciating. I didn’t speak in the first ones, just showed off the jewelry I was wearing, and even that reached hundreds of viewers who weren’t following me. Jackpot!
Naturally, this motivated me and I kept at it and am slowly getting more comfortable being on camera and speaking directly to my customers. Social is still not a huge sales channel, but I do see site traffic coming in directly from IG and TikTok and social media indirectly influences conversion as well.
For what it’s worth, my top IG reels and TikToks all feature me, so I plan to continue listening to the pros, even when it makes me cringe! It’s difficult for me to imagine that I’ll ever feel as at home on camera as so many seem to be, but I’m hoping to require fewer takes, at least!
I’m proud that I faced this challenge head-on (literally!) and my next step is to create a playlist of styling tips as these tend to engage more viewers and collect backlinks. These require more talking, so it’s another personal challenge!
What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?
My immediate priorities are to:
- Continue to invest in SEO - engage professionals!
- Create content aligned with a keyword strategy
- Develop more wholesale relationships with shops near schools where Greek Life is big
- Land group sales with individual sorority chapters
- Identify pop-up shop opportunities at schools where Greek Life is big
What’s the best thing you read in the last year?
Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America by Dahlia Lithwick
I’ve loved Dahlia Lithwick’s insightful (and funny!) writing for Slate so was excited to read her book about the role women attorneys are playing in the fight to preserve democracy. She highlights heroism displayed in the field of law, one that most think of as a pretty tame profession. I’m inspired by the courage these women demonstrate and reading the book helped me remember that “we can do hard things.”
Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?
Try to learn something from every sales pitch. Whenever I speak to an agency or freelancer, I try to ask at least one specific question about how they’d approach something in my business.
The question goes beyond standard vetting questions and is more like “Traffic from [this source] converts better than any other right now, but I can’t figure out why so I can lean in. Any ideas?” I don’t expect the agency to work for free, but often the answer is immediately evident to them (as experts) and they recognize it reflects well upon them to show me that they know their stuff. Win-win.
Where can we go to learn more?
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
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