Marketing Tips for Fashion Businesses

Are you in the fashion industry?

Do you want to make more people aware of your killer brand, sell more of your gorgeous products, and ultimately become a fashion business powerhouse?

The fact is that competition in the fashion industry is fierce, so if you’re going to stand out from the crowd, you absolutely need a pro marketing strategy. With the right strategy and execution, you can get yourself in front of the right eyes and if you’re really lucky and you play your cards right, you might even go viral.

With the right fashion business marketing plan, you can grow and scale your business like never before. As expert digital marketers with extensive experience in the fashion industry, we’ve got some of the best marketing tips for fashion businesses to share with you.

Show Off Your Brand with a Professional Website and Convert Browsers into Customers

Who is your target market? Here’s something important to think about:

The number of potential customers in the fashion industry is projected to grow to over 1.2 billion people by 2020 and the majority of these new consumers are 16 to 34 years old. Those aged between 18 to 24 spend the highest percentage of their income online, but even 24% of people who are 45 to 54 years old shop online.

The moral of the story? Everyone in all age groups are moving towards online shopping so you need a professional website that beautifully conveys your brand and that has a smooth and inviting user experience.

Your Website Matters… A Lot

Your website acts as your 24-hour storefront and a quality website is a lead-generating machine. Your website represents the first real interaction with you, your brand, and your business for all your potential customers. The old saying, “You never get a second chance to make a great first impression” is extra true for any website in the fashion industry.

We can’t stress enough the importance of a stellar website as a marketing tool. A high-quality website will tell your brand’s story, create trust, and convert browsers into buyers. It needs to feel fresh, clean, and professional. You want your potential customers to trust your brand and feel confident buying your fashion styles.

And don’t forget to make sure your website is mobile responsive, easy to navigate, and on-brand.

Grab & Hold Attention

You also need to remember that you only have a few seconds to grab your potential customer’s attention, so the user experience needs to be flawless. Have a clear call to action right on the homepage; this will better guide your prospects to the products they’re looking for.

Pro Tip: Research has found that Canadians enjoy purchasing clothing and accessories online so much that a staggering 92% have said that even if a retailer has a brick and mortar store, they should also make their products available online. Therefore, by adding a way for your customers to purchase your items directly on your website, you’re sure to convert more prospects into paying buyers.

Get Serious About Influencers

These days, there is no better way to get your fashion brand in front of the right eyes than by engaging influencers to help get the word out about your brand. There are influencers with extremely large followings like celebrities, YouTube stars, and professional bloggers and there are also “micro influencers” who aren’t as famous, but still have solid followings and more intimate circles of influence.

The kind of influencers you choose to work with really depends on your budget and also your goals.

Big Fish, Little Fish

Big celebrity influencers and bloggers can be very expensive to work with. There might be smaller influencers that better suit your budget and can still do wonders for your brand. We’re fans of micro influencers because sometimes the content they share can feel more sincere than when it comes from someone who is constantly plugging products. Micro influencers are more affordable but can be just as effective to work with. The key is to find people who share your sense of style and values.

Some influencers will have very set plans and guidelines for creating partnerships while others might be more flexible and open to seeing what you have to offer. There’s nothing quite like working with a budding influencer who is just so excited for free swag that they’ll either vouch for your product for free or charge very little, but most established influencers also require some form of payment.

Evaluating Influencers

When deciding on if an influencer is offering you a worthwhile arrangement, first consider how big of a following they have. How many followers on Instagram? YouTube? Do a bit of checking to make sure that they haven’t purchased fake followers. (Yes, it’s a thing.) Anyone American, Canadian, European, or Australian brand that has too many foreign followers (especially from countries like Russia or India) might have purchased fake followers. If you browse through their followers you should be able to get an idea pretty quickly as to whether or not they’re authentic.

For bloggers, ask to see their website traffic. A serious blogger should be able to produce Google Analytics to show their website traffic.

What Do You Want in Return?

Next consider this: What do you want from the influencer in return? In exchange for free product and also probably some other form of payment, what will they provide to you? Make a specific arrangement. Here are some examples of what you might ask for as part of your partnership:

• Instagram story unboxing the product (should include a tag or swipe up)
• Instagram and Facebook post with beautiful photography styling the product/giving a review, tag, and link (link on Instagram should always be in the bio)
• A blog post with a link to the product
• A YouTube video reviewing or featuring the product

You wouldn’t necessarily ask for all of these at once. It will depend on the kind of influencer you’re working with. Always get the arrangement put in writing.

You Need a Social Media Presence

It’s no surprise that social media is important for the fashion industry and Instagram in particular is continue to skyrocket in popularity. Though Facebook advertising (which also syncs with Instagram) is still the most powerful advertising tool for paid ads, your Instagram strategy should be strong and active.

There are over 3 billion active users on social media and that means one of your top priorities for your fashion business marketing strategy should be maximizing your social performance. Not only is social media an excellent way to boost your brand’s presence but it’s also ideal for managing your company’s reputation, providing excellent customer service, and drawing in new clients.

Make it Social, Not Salesy

Once again, your content shouldn’t only be sales. In the fashion industry, beautiful photography is key. Sharing photographs and reviews from your existing customers is also a great way to strengthen your content.

In today’s ever-changing digital landscape, it’s not enough to simply post on social media. If you want the algorithms to work for you, you need a blend of organic content with paid ads. Plus, you need to share original, valuable content, but you also need to engage in active outreach. How? By joining Instagram pods and Facebook groups, commenting on and liking other people’s posts, and following and engaging with active hashtags. One of the best ways to garner more interest on Instagram is to ask relevant questions about other people’s content.

Show Off Your Brand with an Active Business Blog

One of the best things of a good blog is that it’s not a sales page.

That’s critical to understand when it comes to both your business blog and your social media content; your main focus shouldn’t be selling. Instead, your objective is to build a trusting relationship with your target market by offering valuable information that engages your audience and establishes your expertise.

Your fashion blog is where you can show off your sense of style and your commitment to quality while projecting knowledge, expertise, and foresight in the world of fashion.

The Beauty of Selling Without Selling

When you create the right value-added content, your fashion items will basically sell themselves. The point is to use your blog posts and news articles to relate to your target audience in a way that’s useful, engaging, educational, or entertaining for them. In doing so, you’ll appeal to your niche readers in a way that establishes familiarity and trust. This relationship helps your target market feel more confident purchasing fashion from you.

Always keep in mind that if you aren’t producing value-added content, all you’re doing is selling and no one likes to be sold to or told what they want.

You can use your blog to disseminate any news or updates you have like introducing new styles with high-quality images. You can also announce sales. Maybe set up a Fashion Watch to feature style trends and celebrity lookouts. Or why not help your audience with some style guides for each season. You might also invite influencers to be featured in your blog, which will help broaden your audience and reinforce trust.

Once Again Consider Influencers

Many fashion brands join forces with other popular fashion bloggers, which relates to the topic of influencers. Having popular bloggers include your fashion in their outfit-of-the-day posts is great for exposure and brand positioning. This will help generate interest in your brand because your readers will love seeing how your clothing looks on real people.

Moreover, your blog posts give you excellent content to share on social media, which will help you build credibility with your followers and stay active on each platform. For instance, every blog post will help your audience find your business, and an active fashion blog is full of keyword strings that Google will pick up to improve your SEO results.

Updating your website frequently through your blog posts and news updates not only keeps your target audience engaged and excited to visit your website, but Google will love you for it, and it’ll help your website rank higher on Google’s home page. The more Google loves you, the better! And blogging is a great way to win Google’s favour.

Leverage the Power of SEO, so Your Target Customers can Find You

Everything we’ve talked about so far is really important but ultimately, there’s one source of approval that’s extra critical: Google. The internet has transformed the way people search for products, and almost all customers will turn to the internet. That means it’s essential for your fashion business to appear in the first three listings when people perform a relevant search.

Having a stellar website, engaging influencers, having a robust social media presence, and posting frequently with an active business blog that’s chock full of valuable and relevant content will all help lay a solid foundation for your Search Engine Optimization. However, SEO is a complicated beast with several behind-the-scenes technical approaches to optimizing your website that’s best left in the hands of SEO professionals. (We can help with this if you need, just ask!)

DIY What You Can, Outsource the Rest

But, there are still some things you can absolutely do yourself to help with your Google rankings. In addition to maintaining an active business blog, we highly recommend that you claim your local listing with Google My Business. Create a personalized profile by adding photos of your business and updates. Always ensure that your listing is live, accurate, and up to date. This will help local customers find your business more efficiently.

Barker Social Can Help

These marketing tips will work together to really boost your fashion business, but as you can see, it takes a lot of time and a professional touch to implement a strategy and execute all of the actual work. Fortunately, investing in professional marketing services like Barker Social really pay off!

Our team is made up of social media experts and professional copywriters who know exactly how to craft engaging, valuable content that’ll hook your target audience and position your fashion business as a top desirable brand. From your website to content writing to social media to SEO, we work with fashion businesses just like yours to bark your brand and grow your business.

So contact us today for a FREE consultation and find out how we can work with your fashion business on a marketing strategy that gets real results!