The fashion industry is a competitive one, and it's changing every year. In order to stand out from all the other competitors in the market, you need a strong marketing plan that adapts to the current trends of the fashion industry. Nowadays, having a beautiful store or showcasing your collection at fashion shows is not enough—you have to think outside of the box in order to reach your customers.
One of the best examples is fast-fashion brand Shein. The company has collaborated with celebrities and micro-influencers all over the world to promote their brand and attract new customers. The influencers, also called 'Nova Babes', post themselves wearing Shein's clothes on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. This has gained Shein many followers on social media.
You can also grow your fashion business by following similar strategies that are employed by some of the biggest fashion players in the world. So, now that you have done your background research on how to market your fashion business, don't look back.
Keep reading to discover six marketing strategies that will help you grow your fashion business above and beyond.
Get a website:
According to Statista, revenues in the fashion industry are increasing. However, according to Women's Wear Daily, 1875 stores closed last year. Even though these facts seem to contradict each other, the cause is actually quite simple: the shopping habits of people are changing. More and more people now prefer online shopping from the comfort of their homes instead of visiting physical stores. In particular, after the pandemic, people now prioritize online shopping since it is safer and more convenient.
With this change in shopping trends, it's important for you to have a website. An online store will help you reach more prospects according to their convenience of place and time. Apart from increasing sales, a website will help you create brand credibility and control what you want to convey to your customers. Having a website is a win-win situation because, on the one hand, it helps to gain more customers, and on the other hand, it is less expensive than opening a physical store.
Use social media:
An average user spends 142 minutes per day scrolling through social media. What’s more, 74% of these users rely on social media for making purchase decisions. These numbers show you why it’s important to market your fashion brand on social media.
Social media allows you to create an image for your brand. Customers can find out what your brand stands for directly from you, helping you improve brand recognition and stay above the competition. Compared to print ads, social ad-targeting technology can also target a specific group of customers who intend to buy rather than showing ads to everyone.
Moreover, social media allows you to engage directly with your customers so that you can give the best customer support to them. You can respond to questions, comments, and reviews through your social media channels.
Partner with influencers:
We discussed how social media could be used in your marketing efforts. One of the most successful strategies that fashion brands can use on social media is influencer marketing. The global growth of fashion influencer marketing sector is expected to rise by 35% from 2020 to 2027.
Fashion influencers dominate the social media marketing channels because their followers (who are your customers) trust their opinions. Consumers often look to social media personalities as sources of information, inspiration, and entertainment. These influencers can 'influence’ the way consumers make buying decisions. By collaborating with influencers, you can reach new audiences and gain an advantage over your competition.
Personalize Everything:
SmartHQ's research shows that 80% of frequent buyers only shop from brands that provide a personalized experience. Personalizing your interactions with customers can help you meet their needs, improve the customer experience and boost sales.
You can add personalization to a variety of things, like customer service, customer experience, email marketing, product offerings, product features, notifications, and more. You just have to re-work your process and move from being a product-centric brand to a customer-centric brand.
This will help you move from being a commodity to being differentiated, which is what customers want. If they can’t tell the difference between your product and another brand’s product, they’ll probably just go with the cheapest option. But if you can provide something that stands out from the crowd, customers will flock to you.
Host a contest or giveaway:
According to Hubspot, contest marketing campaigns attract 34% of new audiences for every contest. Contests and giveaways are an excellent way to attract a new audience and engage with existing ones. You can host contests and giveaways for a new product launch, festivals, brand anniversaries, and other occasions.
Contests and giveaways have both short-term and long-term advantages for your marketing efforts. In the short term, your brand will create a buzz among your prospective customers. In the longer run, these contests allow you to collect the email IDs of your prospects, analyze their behavior on social media, and eventually use this data to create a marketing strategy down the line.
Remarket to old users:
According to eMarketer, 60% of American buyers notice only the ads of brands they already know. The users who already know about you are more likely to convert than those who have no idea about your brand. Therefore, if you are not using ‘remarketing’ in your marketing strategy, you are losing customers who are most likely to convert.
Using online tools, you can remarket to customers who have visited your store or website, left shopping carts in their virtual aisles, read your blog, or searched for specific items. Then, you can entice them back via push notifications, ads, or emails.
It can be hard to grow a fashion brand, but if you are doing the right things, you will surely end up selling out of your products!
Author Bio:
Shivani Sehta is a marketing enthusiast and content writer at World Fashion Exchange, a leading Apparel ERP Software and PLM software company for fashion. She specializes in writing content about the latest technology trends.
