Set Your Online Fashion Brand Apart with These Four Content Marketing Tips
You’ve spent countless hours designing and creating your range of apparel and accessories, and now it’s time to make your mark within the highly-competitive online fashion industry. Ask almost anyone who has managed to build a successful online fashion brand, the key elements to their success, and invariably the answer will be brand awareness. When it comes down to that all-important competitive edge, there is no doubt that brand marketing is king.
But how does one get to grips with brand marketing, especially if you’re just starting out? Baby steps are always good in the beginning but, at the same time, you don’t want to spend too long just getting your feet wet. You may even feel a little daunted, knowing that you’re more than likely going up against not only established brands but every other small entrepreneur selling T-shirts and other items online. While it may seem as though there just isn’t enough room for everyone, opportunities come to those who master the art of great content marketing.
It’s important to understand that today's fashion-conscious consumer is after more than just the items that you have in your range. They’re interested in your story, and in what your brand represents. Being able to provide them with this full and meaningful experience, will not only help you to sell your products but can also spread the word and drive more traffic to your site.
The following four great content ideas and marketing tips represent a good starting point for your foray into the world of fashion content marketing.
Get to Know Key Influencers within Your Sphere
Fashion is all about who, what, where and when. More specifically - who’s wearing what, where they are wearing it, and when they are wearing it. What drives the fashion industry is being seen by as many people as possible – worldwide. Could you imagine someone like a Kardashian wearing your latest apparel, and the world seeing it virtually simultaneously? The exposure from an event like that is phenomenal!
However, getting to that level takes some doing, and some serious upward momentum. So, how do they do it? Easy; they do it by knowing the key influencers within that niche. Influencers are essentially internet personalities that have managed to create and grow massive amounts of followers on their fashion blogs or vlogs on major social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram.
They possess a keen eye and an innate understanding of how to use content to push trends in any direction. By partnering with key influencers, you’ll be able to tap directly into the power that they possess over their followers, helping to expose your brand or message to a much wider and more attentive audience.
Unlock the Power of Sharing on Social Media
Sharing applications on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram are nothing new, and a wide variety of brands have been using them for years. These platforms can be a great way to share relevant content in order to show potential buyers what you have to offer. They can also provide a great way to build a loyal following, allowing you to share exclusive extras and freebies.
However, it is important to gauge your audience carefully as to the sort of shareable content that they may be interested in or enjoy. Since there are so many other businesses competing with you and sharing content on those same platforms, you’ll need to come up with great content that puts you a step ahead.
Add Value with Useful Guides and How-to’s
Fashionistas are a pretty dedicated bunch and have been known to devour every bit of interesting and relevant fashion-related content on the net. If you want to add value to your brand and make it the place to visit for all the best fashion-related content, why not consider creating useful style guides and how-tos?
Moreover, if your brand consists of a wide variety of apparel items and accessories, creating useful guides to how each item is designed to be worn, can be perceived as extremely valuable content. For many fashion shoppers, the experience goes well beyond merely looking at images of fashion items; they want to be as involved with the entire brand experience as possible.
In most instances, shoppers are looking for something trendy or a unique way of pulling off the latest fashion. A great example of adding value to their shopping experience is to create suggestions based on their particular preferences and style ideals. For example, linking a particular accessory such as a scarf or belt to the dress or blouse they’ve had an eye on, could well end up with those suggested items sealing the dealing, and being added to their cart.
Engaging with Your Customers on a More Intimate Level
We’ve already spoken about partnering with influencers to drive your brand forward, but you can also be your own influence - in a way. This tip is a popular marketing technique that has been used for years in various industries. The idea is to draw your customers in by directly involving them with your brand in a fun and exciting ways.
You may be surprised at how your customers will react to being included in your process, and not being treated as just another shopper. A great example of this is creating cool contests or fun giveaways of coveted items in your store. A good way to go about this is to get them to comment on a photo of a promoted item in your store. This gets them into the draw and sets up a buzz of excitement around that promoted item. You can also use this type of marketing to target a specific sector of your customer base, depending on which social media platform you decide to run your promotion on.