Perhaps the smartest thing jewelry marketers can do in 2010 is to learn how to properly market their brand. Develop informative and memorable brand messages, which will require more content than most ads deliver. Educate customers and don’t rely so heavily on graphics to convey brand messages. Here are six brand-building strategies to help you make the most of 2010.

1. Expect a more value-oriented brand customer in 2010. Today’s value-oriented consumers must have a strong reason to make a purchase. Make sure they understand your brand promise. This will help support a value-oriented shopper’s need to make a luxury purchase.

2. Brand image isn’t everything—it’s the only thing. Brand value is the sum total of perceived benefits derived through giving, receiving, owning, and wearing jewelry. Know how to sell the value of your branded jewelry for each of these buyer motives. Brand image is a way to engage jewelry shoppers and retain loyal jewelry customers. It’s also a source of word-of-mouth referrals. Customers want authentic brand experiences that add to their compulsion to make a jewelry purchase. Jewelry marketers must be able to articulate a unique brand experience to jewelry customers.

3. Differentiation is not about being different. Differentiation is created when a customer develops a preference for a particular brand. Differentiation leads directly to customer loyalty. Why should a customer purchase your brand over all the other options they have available to them? When you can answer that question you’re on your way to effectively differentiating your brand. Brands must answer that question while relating the superior value that today’s value-oriented customers demand. It’s not about being different or unique; it’s about having a perceived superior value proposition that commands customer loyalty.

4. Brand identity is more than name recognition. Take away the top 10 jewelry brands and there are literally thousands of indistinguishable brands that make up the jewelry industry. Brand identity includes knowledge about what makes the brand more valuable. Consumer awareness means customers can call to mind the value of the brand promise.

5. The only constant is growing customer expectations. Consumers want to buy from brands that understand their needs, wants, demands, and desires and cater to their expectations. They want to be educated, not just pitched products by marketers. Consumers also want to identify with brands with authenticity, so explain how the brand’s originality—the creative approach to its design, style, and use of materials—is the essence of its authenticity.

6. Digital marketing is ready to take over. Lots of brands have consumer awareness and too few sales. Develop digitally driven marketing. Catch targeted consumers where they’re hanging out online. Expand brand advertising from intrusive media coverage to include permission marketing. Think about tempting international shoppers, too.