Breaking into the fashion industry is easier said than done.
It’s competitive, it’s challenging, and it takes so much more than just creative talent and an eye for style. But take heart, emerging designers. Because with the right online marketing strategies in your corner, you too can build up a strong identity for your fashion brand and take center stage!
So, whether you’re just getting into the game or you’re looking to revamp your existing efforts, today’s blog is bringing you our top 10 fashion marketing tips designed to help newbie designers like you navigate the complex world of fashion marketing, connect with your audience, and set you on the path to success!
Let’s get started!
What Makes the Fashion Industry So Hard to Break Into?
Being a new designer in the fashion world is tough!
Here are some of the factors new designers will find themselves up against:
- Limited Budget — New designers are often low in funds when they start out, making it difficult to afford the marketing strategies they need.
- Brand Recognition — New brands are untested and establishing a brand presence in a crowded market isn’t easy and takes time.
- Market Competition — Competing with established brands requires some seriously innovative strategies in order to stand out and get noticed.
- Resource Constraints — Low budgets mean limited access to the resources necessary for success, like professional models, photographers, and high-quality materials. All of this can affect your marketing efforts.
- Supply Chain Issues — Managing production and distribution while keeping your products top quality is a challenge.
- Consumer Trust — Building trust and loyalty among consumers is challenging even for proven brands. For brands without a track record yet, it’s a huge hurdle to overcome.
- Staying Relevant — Keeping up with fast-changing fashion trends and pop culture requires constant innovation and staying on your toes!
10 Fashion Marketing Tips for New Designers
But despite the challenges, having the right marketing strategies in your pocket can help you rise above and make your mark!
Here are our top 10 fashion marketing tips for new designers to help you stand out in the crowd, reach your target audience, and hit your ultimate goal of building a memorable brand that your customers will love!
1. Understand Your Target Audience
Before you start crafting any kind of marketing campaign, you’ll first need to narrow down who your target audience is and what it is they’re looking for from your fashion products.
Consider creating detailed user personas to help you pinpoint their wants, needs, pain points, and preferences to help you better understand where they’re coming from.
If you aren’t sure what a user persona is, it’s a fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and data from your existing customers. User personas typically include important aspects about your audience members, like demographics, shopping behavior, interest, and any challenges they might face, making it easier to refine your messaging and your marketing efforts to rise to those needs.
If you need help developing user personas, then check out this blog on how to create user personas to get started!
2. Develop a Strong Fashion Brand
Think of other big-name fashion brands out there: the Guccis, the Pradas, the Diors.
They all have a distinct style, a special something, an identity that comes to mind as soon as you mention their names or their products.
And that’s exactly what your brand needs too.
Your brand is your identity in the fashion world and in order to make your mark, you’re going to have to develop it from the ground up, including elements like your logo, your web design, your packaging, and the tone of voice you use in your messaging.
Consider investing in professional branding and logo design services to help you build a strong, cohesive brand that conveys your unique story, aligns with the lifestyle you want to convey, and helps build trust and recognition with your customers.
3. Social Media is Your Bestie
It’s 2024, friend, and everyone is on social media.
Influencers showcasing their latest friends, fashionistas sharing their look of the day, and brands trying relentlessly to promote their clothing and accessories to interested fans and followers.
So, why not you?
Social media puts your new fashion brand in front of millions of new eyes a day, making it the perfect platform for reaching and engaging your audience. Consider using social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Pinterest to:
- Showcase Your Designs — Post high-quality images and videos of your latest collections to grab your potential customer's attention and spark interest in your brand
- Share Behind-the-Scenes Content — Give your audience a glimpse into your unique creative process, from sketching designs to fabric selection and final production. This builds a deeper connection with your followers, humanizes your brand, and makes you more relatable.
- Offer Fashion Tips and Tricks — Provide the value your audience is looking for by sharing styling advice, trend forecasts, and fashion hacks. This positions you as an expert in your field and provides your audience with highly shareable content they love.
- Engage with Your Followers — Respond to comments, host live Q&A sessions, and run interactive polls to keep your social feed fresh and build up a sense of community around your brand.
- Collaborate with Influencers — Partner with fashion influencers who are popular among the demographic you’re trying to target to amplify your reach and boost your credibility.
4. Collaborate with Influencers
Teamwork makes the dream work, friend.
These days your potential and existing customers’ social media feeds are filled with different influencers, vying for attention and doing their best to shape opinions and promote different brands.
And if they’re promoting other brands, then there’s no reason they shouldn’t be promoting yours! Partnering with the right fashion influencers is a way to amplify your brand’s reach, boost your credibility, and build more trust with your audience.
A successful partnership can look any way you’d like it to, whether it’s having the influencer share sponsored posts, host giveaways, create content with you, or co-design an exclusive collection.
To make the most of these collaborations, just be sure to choose influencers whose followers line up with your own target market and whose style and personality best complements your brand.
5. Visual Storytelling
Visuals speak louder than words, especially in the world of fashion!
To effectively tell your brand’s unique story, be sure to use high-quality photos, videos, and other media elements. Visual assets like lookbooks (more on that in a bit!), behind-the-scenes footage, customer testimonials, and content featuring your story and your employees are great ways to convey your brand’s values, aesthetics, and the lifestyle you want to promote.
It also helps to make your brand more relatable and human, making it easier for your customers to connect emotionally with your brand.
6. Attend Fashion Events
If you want to make your mark on the fashion industry, it helps to be present!
Participate in events like fashion shows, trade fairs, and pop-up events. Not only is this an excellent way to get your name out there, but in-person events give you a valuable opportunity to network with other big names, prominent fashion companies, and influential people. It also gives you a chance to rub elbows with potential future customers as well.
And even if you’re just watching from the wings, it’s still a great opportunity! Attending events like these gives you a chance to gain some inspiration, knowledge, and insights into the latest trends, all of which will help you with your strategies down the road.
7. Build an eCommerce Presence
A digital presence shouldn’t just be limited to your website and social media.
If you want to reach a wider audience, give your customers more opportunity to convert, and make your brand more accessible, then an online store is what you need.
You can use platforms like Esty, Shopify, and WooCommerce or, even better, invest in the services of a professional web designer and developer to get you a user-friendly, mobile-responsive, and visually stunning website to sell your products.
Once you have your eCommerce website, be sure that it’s optimized for search engines by providing detailed product descriptions, high-quality images, and a super straightforward checkout process. This will not only keep your customers happy but boost your visibility and drive more organic traffic to your new eCommerce site.
8. Invest in Media and PR Outreach
Social media and SEO can get you more visibility, sure. But if you really want to grab attention and get your new fashion brand out there, you need to invest in a winning media and PR strategy.
Start by sending out press releases that tell your story and capture the spirit of your brand. Pitch your story to fashion magazines, influencers, industry publications, and bloggers — any platform where your audience can be found and your brand put in front of the right eyes.
Connections are everything, especially in fashion, and building relationships with journalists and editors is key! Whether you connect at networking events, through social media or email marketing efforts, or through pitching platforms like Cision (formerly HARO) and Muck Rack, building relationships with the right connections can lead you to valuable media coverage and increased visibility for your brand.
9. Gain Cred from Established Designers
Sometimes, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
There’s no shame in riding the coattails of another brand’s popularity, especially when you’re just starting out. Networking and collaborating with other established brands and designers offers you a golden opportunity to boost your brand’s credibility in the industry and opens you up to new opportunities you may not have been offered on your own.
It also gives you a chance to glean what you can from your partners' experience and insight in the industry and soak up invaluable knowledge to help you succeed.
10. Lookbooks
We can’t think of a better way to showcase your collections than a good lookbook.
Lookbooks are collections of high-quality photographs designed to give your customers a peek at everything your brand has to offer from new collections to the latest offerings and styles. They provide a visually appealing presentation of your designs and can be easily distributed a digital content through your website, landing pages, and social media, or as physical copies at events and in stores.
Flipping or scrolling through your brand’s impressive and beautifully designed lookbook can help your customers visualize how your pieces and accessories would look as a part of their wardrobe and lifestyle, influencing their purchasing decisions and helping you drive more sales!
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The Best Fashion Marketing Tip for Emerging Designers
And if you’re eager to get started implementing these tips into your fashion marketing strategy, only you lack the manpower, the resources, and the know-how to get it done, then don’t let that stop you.
Because Designity has all the digital marketing expertise and creative talent your new fashion brand could possibly need.
Designity is made up of the top 3% of all of the creative talent who apply each year, meaning that your creative team will be comprised of the best of the best in fields like graphic design, digital marketing, social media management, copywriting, email marketing, and more — every moving piece necessary to create the stunning digital and physical assets you need for effective marketing strategies that grab attention and get your brand noticed.
Each account is also led by a designated Creative Director, a design and fashion marketing expert, who not only manages and sources your creative team but guides your strategies and takes charge of all aspects of your account, letting you focus on what you do best.
If all of that sounds like a plan, why not check out our fashion marketing services page and portfolio and see how Designity’s innovative Creative as a Service platform has been the answer for fashion brands just like yours?
If you like what you see (and how could you not?!) then go ahead and book your demo call so we can get you started with your two-week, no-obligation trial. Test drive any of our 100+ services, get a feel for how we do things, and then see for yourself why Designity is the only creative marketing partner a fashion brand could ever need!
Is your fashion brand ready to make its mark?
