Navigating the fashion industry requires more than a keen eye for trends; it demands a mastery of marketing that keeps your brand not only visible but desirable. The pace at which consumer preferences shift has accelerated, driven by social media trends and global influences.
It’s no longer enough to follow—you must lead. Understanding this dynamic, we’ve crafted five innovative strategies tailored to make your clothing brand thrive in this competitive landscape.
First, we recognize the power of social media but suggest a shift towards newer platforms and content formats that resonate with today’s audiences. From TikTok’s dynamic scenes to Instagram Reels that capture fleeting attention, these tools are not just about showing your collection but creating a narrative that viewers remember and follow.
Each strategy optimizes these platforms optimally, turning every post and update into a potential viral moment that elevates your brand’s profile.
Moreover, we’ll explore how to harness your brand’s visual impact through modern technology. This isn’t just about high-quality photos; it’s about engaging interactive experiences that can set your brand apart.
Whether through AR fittings or real-time styling advice via live streams, these strategies focus on creating a deeper connection with your audience, making your brand a part of their daily lives and style decisions.
As we unfold these strategies, remember that the goal is to blend creativity with analytics, ensuring every move is strategic, and every effort enhances your market presence.
Case Study: With this Indian fashion brand, we created a superb brand strategy, brand name, tagline, brand identity, and website design. As you can see the tagline is catchy and positions the brand away from the competition.
Idea #1: Create A Catchy Tagline
The one thing that you can do right now and create a differentiation factor for your brand is to come up with a tagline, slogan or rallying cry that would connect emotionally with your target market. For example, if you are targeting a female audience who loves to travel, you can think of ideas to rally them on a common cause. This could be freedom in travel. Or perhaps the empowerment that one gets by traveling around the world. So something like “Travel With Attitude” or “Wear The Power” could be a great tagline that is catchy and also add a different dimension to your core brand. Brainstorming tagline ideas is as important as working out brand name ideas for the success of your online clothing brand. In fact, your brand name is critical for any fashion marketing strategy.
Here are some examples of great tag-lines of clothing line companies:
Levi’s – A Style For Every Story
A great example of a clothing business talking about stories and storytelling. With this slogan, Levi’s is tapping into the fact that every one of us has stories in our lives and they have a style to match each one. It is tough to market such abstract brand messages but Levis has done is quite well due to their legacy and history. Even if you are starting out, you should focus on the stories of your customers and their world view.
Alexandra – Clothes that mean business
Alexandra is a brand that specializes in workwear clothing. And their tag-line points that out in no uncertain terms. You want to mean business, wear Alexandra! However, the logo design may seem to be misaligned as the font used is very relaxed and there is nothing business like with it.
Jantzen – All girls are gorgeous in Jantzen
Swimwear pioneers, Carl Jantzen, Roy, and John Zehntbauer started Jantzen in 1901 and did not have a strong slogan till the 1960s when they launched their “Just Wear a Smile and a Jantzen” campaign. They followed this with another gem – “It Must Be Magic” in the 1990s and then the latest one “All girls are gorgeous in Jantzen” which is a sublime slogan that positions them neatly into the noise market. You can see their logo design is also very vintage and whimsical with a cartoon like icon. Check out their website to learn more about the brand history.
Diesel – Be Stupid
“Be Stupid” is a campaign launched by Diesel in 2010 that encourages consumers to take risks and move beyond the smart and sensible track for life. This is an evocative slogan and would only suit brands that use negative marketing as their go-to strategy. Clavin Klein tried in a marketing campaign in 2016 where they had a tag line “I _____ in my Calvins” which did not bode well due to lack of creativity or wit. Evocative marketing requires creativity.
Calvin Klein – Nothing comes between me and my Calvins
A humorous slogan that also connects distinctly with the audience. On the one hand, it makes one nod their head and think that is true how they feel and on the other, they make one think that perhaps they too should feel like that about their Calvins! Brilliant marketing strategy. As mentioned above, not all Calvin Klein campaigns or slogans work. In fact, after the Brook Shields adverts and the later sleazy campaigns, most of Calvin Klein’s marketing campaigns have diminishing returns.
Lee. The jeans that built America
Here we see the concept of brand heritage come into play as Lee announces to the world that Lee jeans were what almost everyone used to wear as they built the American railroads, towns, cities and more. Heritage branding is very powerful but should be done very carefully. The message should be crystal clear and focus on communicating the power of heritage in the modern world.
Idea #2. Use Cutting-Edge Visual Tools
In the visually driven world of fashion marketing, harnessing the latest digital tools can significantly elevate your brand’s presence and engagement.
This section explores how to effectively use cutting-edge visual tools such as Canva, Adobe Spark, and Augmented Reality (AR) filters to create dynamic and immersive content that captivates your audience.
Harnessing Graphic Design Tools
Tools like Canva and Adobe Spark democratize the creation of professional-looking visual content, allowing even those with minimal graphic design experience to craft compelling imagery.
These tools offer extensive libraries of templates, photos, and icons that can be customized to fit your brand’s aesthetic. Using these resources, you can create consistent, visually appealing social media posts, online ads, and other marketing materials that reflect the latest design trends.
Regular updates to your visual content can keep your audience engaged and make your brand look current and relevant.
Implementing AR for Virtual Try-Ons
Augmented Reality (AR) is transforming the fashion industry by allowing consumers to visualize products in a highly interactive way.
For instance, AR filters on Instagram can enable potential customers to see how they would look wearing your clothing without leaving their homes.
This technology enhances the user experience and significantly aids in the decision-making process, potentially reducing the likelihood of returns and increasing customer satisfaction.
Developing an AR Campaign
To tap into this innovative technology, consider developing an AR campaign that integrates directly with Instagram Stories, where users can easily access and use your AR filters. This campaign can allow users to try on different outfits virtually, mix and match styles, or see how a particular garment fits without physically trying it on.
❇️ Action Tip: Launch an Interactive AR Experience
Start by creating a series of AR filters that showcase your most popular items. These filters can allow users to change the garments’ colors, patterns, or styles.
Promote this interactive experience through your social media channels, encouraging your followers to try on your clothes virtually and share their looks with their followers. This engages your existing audience and extends your reach as users share their experiences with their own networks.
Enhancing User Experience with Visual Innovations
Integrating these visual tools into your marketing strategy makes your content more engaging and plays a crucial role in how consumers perceive your brand. Adopting these technologies positions your brand as a forward-thinking, customer-oriented entity in the competitive fashion market.
You can dramatically enhance how your brand engages with consumers by leveraging graphic design tools for consistent, high-quality visuals and integrating AR technology for a more interactive shopping experience.
These tools help attract attention and convert interest into loyalty by providing a memorable and personalized shopping experience.
Idea #3: Use Social Media To Tell Your Story
Social media remains an indispensable channel for fashion brands seeking to enhance their visibility and engagement with consumers. The evolving digital landscape demands that brands participate in and innovate on these platforms.
Here, we explore how to leverage emerging social media trends, particularly the burgeoning influence of TikTok and Instagram Reels, to keep your brand at the forefront of the fashion industry.
The Rise of Video Content: Why TikTok and Instagram Reels?
Video content dominates social media because it conveys messages quickly and engagingly. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels offer unique opportunities for brands to create immersive and memorable content.
TikTok, known for its viral nature and highly engaged community, is a playground for creativity and spontaneity. Similarly, Instagram Reels provides a platform for brands already familiar with Instagram to tap into a new form of short, engaging video content without starting from scratch.
Creating Compelling Video Content
The key to successful video content on these platforms is to keep it authentic and relatable. Videos that show real people using your products in everyday situations or creative, eye-catching ways tend to perform better than overly polished and unrelatable advertisements.
For example, showcasing your clothing line through a “day in the life” series or behind-the-scenes looks at fashion shoots can provide a personal touch that resonates with viewers. Additionally, integrating trending music and challenges related to your brand can increase visibility and engagement.
Encouraging User-Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) is a powerful tool for marketers. It acts as a peer endorsement highly trusted by new customers. Encouraging your followers to create content for your brand fosters a community feeling and amplifies your reach.
Creating brand-specific challenges or hashtags can motivate users to participate in your campaign, turning your audience into brand ambassadors. Given its grassroots nature, this type of content is invaluable as it is both authentic and influential.
💡 Action Tip: Launch a Weekly Reel Series
One actionable strategy to fully take advantage of these platforms is to start a weekly Reel series. For instance, you could feature different customers each week styling your clothes in their unique ways. This would highlight the versatility of your clothing line and build a community around your brand as customers look forward to seeing new ways to wear your products.
Also, it encourages other followers to participate and share their styles, potentially leading to a weekly trend that keeps your audience engaged and coming back for more.
Maintaining Authenticity and Relatability
Maintaining authenticity as you leverage these new social media trends is essential. Authentic content builds trust and fosters a stronger connection with your audience. Show real-life applications of your products and let your brand’s personality shine through every post and video.
Remember, social media is a two-way communication channel; listen to your audience, respond to their comments, and adapt your content based on their feedback and preferences.
Here are a few examples of great brand stories by some popular fashion brands:
Everlane – Know your factories. Know your costs. Always ask why.
This brand tells the story of ethical factories, the finest materials, and radical transparency. Many fashion brands claim they use the finest materials, but most do not talk about the factories they use, the conditions in those factories, and possible exploitation. This is where the story of radical transparency comes out, and Everlane uses this story to position itself squarely in the minds of the ever-growing percentage of people becoming eco-conscious and looking for sustainable and responsible commerce.
This is what they say on their About page about their differentiation:
“We spend months finding the best factories worldwide—the same ones that produce your favorite designer labels. We visit them often and build strong personal relationships with the owners. Each factory is given a compliance audit to evaluate factors like fair wages, reasonable hours, and the environment. Our goal? A score of 90 or above for every factory.”
Warby Parker
This eyewear brand was created to fight the status quo of expensive eyewear and how one company held a monopoly over the market. This is what they say in their own words about their value proposition:
“By circumventing traditional channels, designing glasses in-house, and engaging with customers directly, we’re able to provide higher-quality, better-looking prescription eyewear at a fraction of the going price.”
They continue this story by supporting the non-profit organization VisionSpring and distributing one pair of glasses free for every pair sold.
Chubbies Shorts
Let’s look at a brand that differs from the above ones. Chubbies sells shorts. It is a very quirky and fun brand with a fun brand story that does not take itself seriously. Chubbies believes in a lot of things, but you can get an idea of how quirky they are when they say, “We believe in our fathers – they led the way; we are but revolutionaries standing on the shoulders of amazingly mustachio’d giants in proper length shorts”. Their social media posts are also quirky. They post famous people in funny little shorts.
Idea #4: Launch Your Brand With A Giveaway Campaign
Giveaway campaigns are very powerful and, if done properly, can result in a ton of exposure for your clothing website or shop during the first four weeks of launch. This critical initial period is all about gaining brand exposure.
Most businesses look for sales and do not think of the bigger picture. Don’t get me wrong. Sales are important, but brand exposure should trump short-term sales during launch and even later on.
Come up with unique ideas for giveaways. These could be your products or other prizes. To boost your fashion brand marketing, promote the giveaway campaign heavily on your website, social media channels, and other PR.
Simple Giveaway Contests
A good example of a simple giveaway contest that does not require too much prep work or inventory hassles is the #buckswinyouwin campaign by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Essentially, customers got free shipping if the Bucks won the game. This is a simple yet very effective campaign to create a conversation and give away something clear and understandable.
User-Generated Content
Some brands create campaigns that are so complex that you would need a college degree to understand them. Here is a campaign by Back Country with the hashtag #goatworthy.
Unless you are an ardent fan of the brand, it is hard to make what the contest is about is and why they are giving away what they are. Make your giveaway campaign related to your brand offering while keeping it simple enough to garner user participation and user-generated content.
Investing in campaigns that give you user-generated content, such as comments, photo posts, etc, is worth its weight in gold. It creates the buzz needed and helps your brand shine through the platform algorithm.
Idea #5: Find A Promotional Partner
Forging meaningful partnerships is a dynamic strategy that can amplify your brand’s reach and infuse fresh energy into your product lines. This approach leverages the strengths and audiences of different entities to create a synergistic effect that benefits all involved.
Below, we explore how your clothing brand can develop these partnerships, collaborating with lifestyle brands, artists, and local businesses to capture new interest and engage audiences innovatively.
Exploring Partnerships with Lifestyle Brands
Aligning with lifestyle brands with a similar ethos or target demographic can open up your products to a broader audience that might not have been accessible otherwise. This could involve co-branded efforts where each brand contributes its best elements, creating compelling products to the followers of both brands.
For example, a partnership between your fashion label and a well-known sports brand could result in a trendy athleisure line that appeals to fitness enthusiasts who also value high fashion.
Collaborating with Artists to Infuse Creativity
Artists bring a unique creative perspective that can transform ordinary apparel into extraordinary art pieces. By partnering with popular local artists, you can create limited-edition collections that reflect local culture and current fashion trends, tapping into the community’s pride and the artist’s following.
This type of collaboration garners attention and positions your brand as a patron of the arts and a leader in cultural trends.
Engaging with Local Businesses for Community Impact
Partnerships with local businesses can foster community and support for local economies. For instance, collaborating with a local coffee shop to launch a line of branded merchandise can attract coffee lovers and fashion enthusiasts, creating cross-promotion opportunities that benefit both businesses.
This strategy can enhance your brand’s local presence and customer loyalty, which is particularly effective in building a dedicated consumer base.
❇️ Action Tip: Launch a Capsule Collection with a Local Artist
Identify artists whose style and audience align with your brand’s image. Collaborate on a capsule collection that incorporates their artwork into your designs. This collection should reflect both the artist’s signature style and your brand’s aesthetic, creating a product line that is both unique and marketable.
Promote this collaboration through both parties’ social media channels, at local events, and through press releases to art and fashion publications.
Promotional Strategies for Collaborative Projects
When launching a collaborative project, consider hosting joint events or pop-up shops where customers can experience the collaboration firsthand. Interactive marketing campaigns that involve storytelling elements about the partnership’s background and process can deepen customer engagement and appreciation for the collection.
Benefits of Strategic Collaborations
When executed thoughtfully, these partnerships do more than broaden your market—enhance your brand’s narrative and authenticity. They tell a story of community, innovation, and mutual growth that resonates with consumers on a deeper level. Collaborative efforts are about sharing resources and co-creating value that benefits all stakeholders, including the consumer.
Your brand can enjoy renewed interest and increased sales by strategically choosing partners and crafting collaborative projects that resonate with your audience. These partnerships allow you to leverage the strengths of others to create something new and exciting that stands out in the competitive fashion market.
Bonus Idea #6: Expand Your Influence with Micro-Influencers
Expanding your influence through the strategic use of micro-influencers is a nuanced approach to influencer marketing that can significantly amplify your brand’s reach while maintaining authenticity.
Micro-influencers, often defined as individuals with followers ranging from 1,000 to 100,000, tend to have highly engaged audiences and a deep, personal connection with their followers.
This section explores how to effectively leverage micro-influencers to enhance your brand’s presence and credibility in the market.
Understanding the Value of Micro-Influencers
Micro-influencers typically boast higher engagement rates than their macro or celebrity influencer counterparts. This is because their audiences often view them as more relatable and trustworthy, akin to a friend recommending a product rather than a celebrity endorsement.
These influencers excel in niche markets, from eco-friendly fashion to streetwear, offering brands a direct line to specialized consumer market segments. Utilizing their credibility can help your brand achieve a more focused impact, targeting the right demographic.
Strategies for Partnering with Micro-Influencers
To effectively utilize micro-influencers, it’s crucial to select individuals whose brand values and aesthetics align closely with your own. This alignment ensures their endorsements feel organic and genuine, resonating more deeply with their audience.
Once suitable influencers are identified, brands should build long-term relationships rather than one-off campaigns. This fosters a genuine partnership and allows the influencer to become a true ambassador for your brand.
❇️ Action Tip: Foster Authentic Collaborations
Begin by identifying micro-influencers with a genuine affinity for your products and ethos. Engage them in creating exclusive content that showcases your products in a way that complements their existing content style and appeals to their audience.
This could include sponsored posts, featured stories, or even behind-the-scenes content at events, providing a deeper look into your brand through the eyes of someone they trust.
Leveraging Content Across Platforms
Once you have partnered with micro-influencers, maximize the content’s reach by encouraging cross-platform sharing. Allow influencers to share their content on their primary platform and other social networks where they maintain a presence.
Additionally, integrate this content into your marketing channels, such as your website, social media, and email newsletters. This increases the content’s visibility and adds authenticity to your brand’s messaging.
Measuring the Impact of Micro-Influencer Campaigns
To truly understand the effectiveness of your micro-influencer campaigns, it’s essential to track specific metrics such as engagement rates, traffic to your website from influencer links, and conversion rates.
These metrics can help refine future campaigns, allowing for better targeting and improved ROI. Tools like Google Analytics and social media analytics platforms can provide comprehensive insights into how influencer partnerships drive your brand’s goals.
Denim partnered with Jenn Im who has over 2.7 million followers on Youtube to create a video on the diverse line of Denim jackets. With almost half a million views, this video is an advertisement for Denim in he guise of fashion advice.
Fundamentals Of Marketing Campaigns
Unless you have a huge marketing budget, it would be safe to assume that the best place to begin your brand marketing journey would be online. With some guerilla marketing techniques and some old-fashioned hard work, you can really reach your target market and generate enough interest in the brand to create a snowballing effect.
BUT before getting in the juicy details of how to market your clothing brand online, let us look at some fundamentals that need to be carefully addressed to ensure your marketing campaigns bear fruit during launch and later.
These fundamentals include the following which will be explained in more detail below:
1. Determine Business Goals
2. Select Campaign Media
3. Identify Target Audience
4. Competitive Positioning
5. Online Channel Creation
6. Content Creation
7. Online Engagement
Determine Business Goals
Before you begin any marketing, it is critical that you figure out and identify your business goals. It is not enough to simply know that you want the business to take off, get a lot of customers and make a ton of profit. You will need to dig deep and have a very detailed and specific list of business goals that are laid out on a reasonable and doable time scale.
Depending on your business goals, there are different kinds of marketing campaigns you can undertake. Here are a few examples:
Generate new leads
To generate new leads you can look at generating targeted traffic from Google and Social Media.
Qualify leads
To better qualify and rank leads so you can segment them and then follow up based on their timeframe and their likelihood of buying.
Nurture existing leads
To communicate with leads that are in the pipeline but may not be ready to buy or to take the next step; a nurturing campaign reminds them of your value and provides information that can help move them along.
Direct sales
To close deals within a short period – a campaign to encourage people to “buy now.”
Up-sell existing customers
To encourage current customers to upgrade their existing product to increase the quantity or frequency of their purchases.
Nurture existing customers
To communicate with existing customers and reinforce the value you provide.
Generate referrals
To encourage customers or prospects to supply you with qualified referrals.
Branding
To increase awareness of your company, product, and/or people in your market; to communicate the value you provide and what you stand for.
Select Campaign Media
Once you have established the list of business goals you have and identified the marketing campaign ideas, it is time to select your campaign media. This includes both online and offline media channels.
For generating new leads for your clothing brand, here are a few channels:
1. Online advertising
This channel involves running adverts on targeted websites or through email newsletters. The advantage of this channel is that it is targeted and measurable and it is easy to test and improve. However, since you are driving them to your site and the site has to convert your website needs compelling messages and great conversation optimization.
2. Email campaigns
You can either buy or rent a subscriber list or use an in-house list to send a short but compelling email. This is about building an awakened brand recall and trust with your target market. The advantage is that it is very targeted and measurable and easy to test and improve. However, again since you are driving them to your site, your website has to convert and this should be implemented through an email service provider.
Here is a primer on email campaigns for your online shop.
3. Organic search
This is one of the most popular methods of getting traction online. You would need to “Optimize” your website so it ranks high in search engine results for your targeted keywords. This method is extremely timely and brings qualified prospects straight to you and can generate a lot of traffic to your site. However, the website needs to be carefully designed and updated regularly. You will also need to use other Internet marketing techniques to raise your profile. It can be quite difficult to rank for anything except very targeted words.
4. Viral campaigns
By using social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram to post entertaining videos or memes that relate to your clothing company, you can create interest online and if you can make it viral, then you are guaranteed sharing and traffic. With this method, you can reach a wide audience in a very short period of time. However, the campaign needs to be very creative and catchy. You also need good offers and a good website for visitors who take action.
Here is an ecommerce guide to going viral.
5. Blog & Social Media
Creating compelling posts on a brand blog is the fundamental way to ensure you get traction online. By having a frequently updated blog and using social media to promote your blog posts, you can reach targeted audiences and establish credibility and position your company as a leader in the industry.
Identify Target Audience
Identifying your target audience is more than just an exercise in market research—it’s the cornerstone of your marketing strategy. Without a clear understanding of who you are selling to, even the most innovative clothing designs and top-quality materials might not reach their potential.
Below, we discuss the steps and considerations in pinpointing your ideal customer and how targeted marketing can steer your small business toward greater success.
Step 1: Conduct Market Research
Begin by gathering data through both primary and secondary research. Primary research involves direct interactions with potential customers through surveys, interviews, and focus groups. This helps you gather firsthand insights about their preferences, buying habits, and pain points.
Secondary research involves analyzing existing data and studies relevant to your market, which can help identify broader trends and customer segments.
Step 2: Create Customer Personas
From the data collected, develop detailed customer personas. These are fictional characters that represent your ideal customers. Include demographic details like age, gender, income level, and psychographic information such as lifestyle, values, and interests.
For instance, if you are selling eco-friendly apparel, a persona might be “Eco-conscious Emma,” a mid-30s urban professional who values sustainability and is willing to pay a premium for environmentally friendly products.
Step 3: Analyze Competitor Tactics
Understanding who your competitors are targeting and how they approach these customers can provide valuable insights. Look at their marketing messages, platforms, and the types of promotions they run. This analysis can help you identify gaps in the market or areas where your brand could differentiate itself.
Step 4: Refine Your Value Proposition
Refine your brand’s value proposition based on your understanding of your target audience and how your competitors are operating. This should succinctly explain why your target audience should choose your brand over others.
For example, if your target market values unique designs, your value proposition could focus on the exclusivity and originality of your collections.
Step 5: Test and Iterate
Test your marketing strategies with a defined target audience and a clear value proposition. Use small campaigns to see what resonates with your audience and doesn’t. This could involve A/B testing with ads, experimenting with different messages on social media, or trying out various promotions. Based on the outcomes, refine your approach continually.
Seek Expert Guidance
If identifying your target audience and aligning your marketing strategies seems overwhelming, it might be beneficial to consult with a branding expert. These professionals can offer deeper insights into market dynamics and help tailor your branding and marketing efforts to meet your target market’s needs better.
Understanding your target audience is not just about knowing who they are but also about aligning every aspect of your marketing and product development to meet their expectations and preferences. Doing so enhances your potential for success and ensures that your marketing resources are used efficiently, driving your business in the right direction.
Competitive Positioning
Competitive positioning is vital when launching a clothing line, as it distinguishes your brand in a crowded market. It’s essential to articulate what makes your products, services clearly, and overall brand uniquely valuable compared to others.
Many businesses struggle to define their unique selling proposition (USP) convincingly. At SpellBrand, we specialize in helping clients identify and articulate how their offerings stand out.
This involves more than just creative branding or a catchy name; it’s about defining a clear market position your brand can own.
By understanding and defining your competitive edge, you set a foundation for all marketing and operational decisions, ensuring that every aspect of your brand aligns with and supports this positioning. This focused approach helps deliver on your brand promises effectively, securing a distinct place in your customers’ minds.
Online Channel Creation
Online channel creation offers small businesses an invaluable opportunity to compete with larger, more established brands without the need for extensive resources.
In today’s digital landscape, the right strategies and a clever approach can effectively level the playing field, allowing smaller brands to capture significant attention and market share.
Here’s how small businesses can optimize their online presence through strategic digital marketing:
1. Embrace Out-of-the-Box Creativity
Creativity is the cornerstone of effective digital marketing for small businesses. Without the massive budgets that large companies might use for widespread ad campaigns, smaller brands need to innovate to capture consumer interest.
This could mean developing unique, attention-grabbing content, leveraging emerging social media platforms where competition might be lower, or creating viral marketing campaigns encouraging user interaction and sharing.
2. Dedication to Consistent Branding
Consistency in online branding is critical. Every aspect of your digital presence, from your website design and social media profiles to your content and advertising, should reflect your brand identity. This consistency helps build brand recognition and trust with your audience.
Small businesses must ensure their brand message is clear, cohesive, and consistent across all online channels. This dedication to maintaining a unified brand voice helps solidify their market position and make their business easily recognizable.
3. Proper Brand Presentation
The way a brand presents itself online can significantly affect how it is perceived by potential customers. A professional-looking website, high-quality product images, and well-crafted content can elevate a brand and make it appear more credible and trustworthy.
Investing in good design and user experience for your online channels can greatly enhance customer interaction and satisfaction. For example, a user-friendly website with fast loading times, mobile optimization, and easy navigation can keep potential customers engaged and reduce bounce rates.
4. Leverage Targeted Digital Advertising
Digital advertising offers precise targeting options, allowing small businesses to reach their specific audience effectively. Platforms like Google Ads and Facebook Ads provide tools to target users based on demographics, interests, behavior, and more.
By investing in targeted advertising, small businesses can ensure that their marketing budget is used efficiently, reaching those most likely interested in their products or services.
5. Measure and Adapt One of the greatest benefits of digital marketing is the ability to track and analyze the effectiveness of your efforts. Using analytics tools, small businesses can see real-time results of their marketing campaigns and make adjustments as needed. This flexibility allows for continuously improving strategies based on what works best, optimizing your marketing spending, and maximizing ROI.
By focusing on these key strategies, small businesses can create powerful online channels that stand out in a competitive market. Digital marketing doesn’t just open doors to new audiences; it also provides the tools to engage them creatively and cost-effectively.
Click Here to read about some neat ideas on social media channel creation.
Content Creation
Content creation is fundamental in engaging and retaining your target audience. Whether you choose to produce content in-house or hire professionals, the key is to generate material that resonates deeply with your audience.
Here are some core strategies to consider:
DIY Content Creation: Start by leveraging your team’s insights and expertise. Encourage members from different departments to contribute blog posts, videos, or social media content. This diversifies your content and brings authenticity and varied perspectives to your brand narrative.
Hiring Freelance Writers: If creating content internally is not feasible, consider hiring freelance writers. Freelancers can offer the writing skills and content creation experience your internal team might lack. They can work closely with you to understand your brand’s voice and craft content that aligns perfectly with your marketing goals.
Content Types: Depending on your audience, you might want to explore different types of content, such as blogs, infographics, podcasts, or videos. Each format has its appeal and can be used strategically to reach different segments of your audience.
Content Distribution: Once your content is created, focus on distribution strategies that maximize your reach. Utilize your website, social media channels, email newsletters, and other platforms to ensure your content gets seen by your target audience.
By combining internal efforts with professional expertise when necessary, you can develop a robust content strategy that engages your audience and enhances your brand presence.
Online Engagement
Online engagement, especially on platforms like Facebook, is a crucial element of digital marketing that can drive significant customer interaction and business growth. To effectively leverage Facebook for your business, consider the following strategies:
Targeted Advertising: Use Facebook’s robust advertising tools to target specific demographics. These tools allow you to tailor your ads based on interests, behaviors, location, and more, ensuring your message reaches the right audience.
Engaging Content: Post content that engages your audience—ask questions, share insights, and respond to comments promptly. This interaction boosts your visibility and fosters a community around your brand.
Facebook Groups: Create or join Facebook groups relevant to your industry. These groups are a great way to connect directly with potential customers, share your expertise, and increase your brand’s exposure.
By focusing on these strategies, you can transform Facebook from a social platform into a powerful business tool that generates real customer engagement and conversion.
How To Start A Clothing Brand
With over 25 years of branding building experience, I am writing a new series called “Launch Your Brand” where I explore the various steps involved in envisioning, creating and launching a brand in a particular market segment. The series will also examine the aftermath of the launch and delve into the promotion, marketing, traffic, conversions, and profit facets of the equation.
In this first series, I take up Clothing & Fashion lines and labels. The reason I chose to start with exploring how to create and launch a clothing line is that over the years I have worked with many clothing brands and helped them launch to success. It is an exciting process and my agency has become somewhat of an expert in this field.
Ultimate Guide: How to start a clothing Brand
Creating and launching a clothing brand can be quite daunting but if it is done right, the potential of success, profits and satisfaction is tremendous. Most entrepreneurs who decide to start a clothing label have a lot of passion and conviction in the power of good clothing. It goes beyond making money and into the realm of contributing something to this world. This passion attracts me to work with and help launch such brands.
Brand Value Proposition
When the seed of germination of the idea to launch a clothing brand takes hold of your imagination, the first step of the process should be to think about the “Brand Value Proposition“. It would take discipline to not jump ahead. Not having a clear idea of what your Brand Value Proposition is will hugely influence the success of your brand and your bottom line.
The intersection of the garments you plan to offer and the target customer needs is the sweet spot of the value proposition. If you do not clearly define how your proposed clothing line would appeal to the market that you target, then the rest of the process of the launch would be an uphill battle.
You have to ask the question: “what will make your clothing line valuable?”. Your clothing line will not be successful if people do not understand why they should pay attention to your brand. At this point, you are probably thinking that this kind of thinking should come at a later stage. Believe me when I say that nothing can be farther from the truth. Understanding what will set your brand and your product/service offering apart from the competition is a crucial step that many startups either ignore or not aware of and end up paying the price later on.
Example: Suppose you want to sell premium hats starting at $120. Your target market can find similar hats in the stores starting at $50. The reason you believe your hats should be priced premium is because of the premium quality material you use and the high quality of your hats. If you simply launch your brand and then expect people to come buying your premium hats, it will not work. You can not simply communicate the high quality of your product because all brands claim the same. You would need to identify a value proposition that goes beyond just the high quality. You would need a story that connects with your target audience that makes your hats appealing and desirable so that they would pay a premium for them.
Picking A Brand Name
For some pointers on why the right brand name is important, I would suggesting going through this article. For a clothing company, your brand name is an asset that can really help your brand make an impact. Picking the right name can be tricky but the best advice that I can give at this stage is to put your personal preferences aside and pick a name that matches your core values, your brand value and the worldview of your potential customers. Think ahead to how your brand name would be received. Ask yourself these 6 questions. Also, make sure you understand the dos and don’ts of brand naming.
Once you pick a name, make sure it does not infringe on any copyright or trademark both locally and nationally. Check with your local chamber of commerce to make sure you can register it as a company name and that there are no other companies with the same or similar name. Conduct a federal trademark search with the USPTO database too. Read this article if you need help with trademarking logo design.
Example: Consider the name “Lambeewear”. The client’s second name is Lambert and he decided to call his company Lambeewear which is a stylish word and also ties back to the owner in a very stylish and effective way. The first line of accessories that Lambeewear launched were hats and these were called “Lambeenies”! Now that is good branding!
Creating a Brand Identity
I will not really talk about this point because there are many other articles on this site about brand identity and the importance of the right kind of branding etc. Read this article to understand the difference between a simple logo design and branding. Also, read some basics of branding and some key terminologies related to branding which you help you understand it better.
It is critical that your brand has a logo that matches its purpose and message. It is not all about aesthetics. The impact your logo and brand colors have on the target market is vital.
When you start with the question of how to start a clothing business online, the first thing that comes to mind is the brand identity of the brand. Please do not ignore this part of your journey as the look and feel of your brand will decide how it is perceived by your target audience and ultimately to sales and revenue.
Website & Online Store
After your have created your brand identity, it is vital to invest in getting a professional website to be the face of your brand. Every day I see companies with websites that are so poorly designed that I wonder what the stake holders were thinking. When your prospects would visit your website make sure you present to them your best face. Design standards are high up in the clouds these days and people are easily turned off by bad design. This is even more true if you are trying to sell your clothing line online.
For a static website where you are not selling cloths and accessories online, the minimum you would need are:
1) An elegant website design that matches your brand. It has to be customized and never ever go for free websites that are available through some hosting companies such as Godaddy.
2) High quality royalty free stock photos should be used in the web design. Do not let your web designer use photos from a Google search since the images may be copyrighted and this could result in a law suit down the line.
3) High quality photos of your products and garments. This single point can make or break your brand value. Unprofessional and low resolution photos of your garments will not create the right kind of impact and your sales will suffer.
4) A CMS (Content Management System) with your hosting so that you can manage and edit your website by yourself. If you want to create new pages or post some content on the website to keep it fresh, it would cost you quite a lot in the long term to keep going back to a design firm. Instead, you should invest a little upfront to get a website that has a CMS.
For an ecommerce website or online store, here are a few items you need to be aware of:
1) Go for a website and online store that you can own outright. There are several online solutions where your online store sits on their proprietary hosting system and links into the various e-commerce modules. If you decide to move your website down the line to a different hosting provider, you will find that you can take the design and the static pages but not the store. Of course, you can export all your products and orders and if the new system permits, you can import them back but it is not straightforward.
Ideally, if you budget permits, it is better to have a store that is created for your business and is hosted on an account that you own. This can usually be done with the WordPress platform.
2) Make sure that your eCommerce store provider does not charge a percentage of all sales transactions. This could be a killer. Typically such services offer a nice store for a low set up and possibly low monthly fees which makes it very attractive. In the beginning, you may feel that you will have fewer sales and hence the percentage commission would not be that significant. But you will quickly realize that when sales start picking up, you are paying up to 10% of every sale to the store provider!
3) Sign up for a payment gateway that charges a relatively low percentage per transaction. A good example is PAYPAL which is quite competitive. If you get a PAYPAL business account, your online store developer can hook it up to the website to accept credit card payments seamlessly.
4) Make sure that you online store website has social media integration to ensure people share your products and accessories on Google+, Facebook and Pinterest. This will give more visibility to your clothing line and will help with building brand recall and eventual conversions.
Promotion & Marketing
Actually this dovetails into the previous point and overlaps quite a lot. As a small clothing brand and with limited budgets, your best bet is to focus on online marketing to get the word out there. At the same time, also think of some unique ideas for offline marketing locally. This could include ideas such as:
1) Participating in local events and giving away t-shirts with your branding
2) Giving away garments or accessories to local celebrities to try out
3) Participate in local charity events and exposing your brand
4) Organizing min fashion shows at your local restaurant or community center to show off your latest line.
5) Tie up with local businesses and offer to give discounts to their customers
However beware of overzealous marketing!
and more…
Pricing & Sales
Pricing is the biggest challenge for most small businesses and especially so for a clothing label. There are different methods of setting your prices but I would caution against arbitrarily setting prices. I would also not recommend relying to heavily on taking cue from the competition. If you have established your Brand Value Proposition clearly, you should be able to price your garments and accessories based on the value your clothing brings to the customers. If the story is told right, then you can charge premiums.
As a start up, it is very tempting to price low. When I talk about increasing prices or setting higher prices, many of the clients that I work with balk and shake with fear. That is because they look at pricing as an arbitrary thing. Pricing depends on the value you create for your client. If you do not make your clothing brand appealing or desirable, then you will have to participate in pricing wars with competitors. Instead focus on establishing a story that life your clothing line above the noise and makes it much more appealing.
Your sales don’t necessarily have to be tied to the price. Many business owners believe that lower prices will lead to more sales. This is true when you are dealing with a commodity such as sugar or salt or petrol. But you have to raise your brand above the commodity status. You can not afford to have people think of your brand as just another clothing provider. In fact it has been proven that if done with the right context, raising prices and charging a premium actually increases sales!
Example: A clothing brand that we helped create and launch approached the market by being an exclusive members only club. Even before the launch of the brand, invites were sent to the leading online social media elite and media personalities along with 5 invites to give away. A couple of months before the launch, the invites were at a premium an people were begging to get in. The premise of the club is that fashionable clothes for gentlemen would be created as limited editions and would be only available to members of the club.
This formula was used most effectively by Google when it launched it’s Google+ network.
Profits & Expansion
Finally always be thinking of profit margins. I have worked with more than 200 brands in the past 5 years, helping them create and launch brands and in all this time the single defining thing I have noticed is that business owners are not really clued into how profit works. They tend to always look at the revenues and cash flow and enter a rat race to generate more and more revenue with out proper consideration to the profit margins.
Every business needs profits to sustain and grow. Having large revenues but relatively low profits keep businesses in a vulnerable position. If things go wrong or the economic climate changes, they are in for a shock. With out healthy profits there would be no money invested back into the business to improve the process, quality of the product or even infrastructure. This in turn leads to disaster if there is a decrease in revenue.
With out going overboard, always make sure that every garment or accessory you sell has a healthy profit margin attached to it. But do not consume the profits for personal sustenance and life style.
1) Plough the profits back into the business.
2) Improve your supply chain.
3) Hire better people.
4) Invest in making your website and the buying experience better.
Do not use profits for your personal life style. Have discipline in terms of paying yourself just enough to sustain – at least initially. I have seen many entrepreneurs who have launched clothing brands get some measure of success and then go off spending money on fancy homes, clothes, vacations and other personal expenses only to find that when sales decrease or they target market changes, they are left with an unhealthy brand that then suffers and sometimes simply dies!
Keep tuned for more advice and suggestions in this series. If you would like to talk to me about your brand, call me on 646 568 5583.
Social Media Setup & Strategies
As a clothing and fashion company, social media is your best friend. With out a well thought out social media strategy and implementation, you are literally leaving money on the table. In fact, you will not be able to garner any significant sales with out the power of social media propelling your website. Social media works both directly and indirectly to convert prospects. By generating traffic to your website and by increasing your brand engagement, social media can help you quickly market your brand with relatively low budgets.
For a clothing line, Facebook and Pinterest are the major winners. Here are 5 simple rules for branding on Facebook. Pinterest is fast becoming a very effective sales channel for the fashion industry. At the very least, spend time and effort to set up your brand channels on these social media outlets and make sure that they are branded properly.
Also be sure to read my other article, how to market a clothing brand on Instagram which goes through strategies, tips, and tricks.