The Marketing world as a whole is getting even more fascinating by the advent of Content Marketing. Consequently, the fashion industry has not taken time to catch up and stay way ahead of the curve. It can be used as an ideal example of an industry where content has been projected incredibly smartly to build a brand, expand a social presence and get a hold of the search traffic.
Over 80% companies, blog on a daily basis to get positive ROI for their inbound marketing efforts. Leading fashion brands also have been at the forefront of blogging, posting excellent social content and encouraging widespread sharing of their content. With the vivid visual products that are showcased by stunning personalities automatically half the work is done right there, and the rest is solely in the hands of the content that creates engagement and conversations amongst prospective clients.
Fashions Digital Amalgamation
In the Fashion world presentation, emotion and uniqueness are the essence of the brand image created. The romance between the Fashion and Digital industries has now reached a level of maturity. Brands today are seen setting new benchmarks in social media success. If you are in the business of marketing luxury fashion brands then the content is the new black.
Reports from eMarketers suggest that the fashion industry has seen unprecedented growth in e-commerce activity in recent years with the use of new marketing technology, called digital marketing, generating huge amounts of sales. So what are the types of content that are seen working for this industry?
Reviews are among the top content types that have driven success for the industry. While many of these are user-generated, companies can also use content writers to create articles discussing the value of certain products. Additionally, content that discusses new trends in fashion will provide prospective clients with more information on some items.
Visual content is also a strong tool for businesses in the fashion industry. Prospects want to see how certain items look when included in different styles and look. Creating interesting content that discusses different styles, and which clothing suits different body types or personalities could provide a strong impetus to convert.
The Approach for Independent Fashion Brands
The single most important part of content marketing is making sure that is it valuable to the customer, and not focused on making the sale. Yet, this tends to be exactly where brands screw up most often and therefore the effectiveness of their efforts is lost.
Have you ever wondered why it doesn’t work out? Well, we’ll tell you why. What often happens is that the content created on the website of the brand is highly sales-oriented and does not help, educate or generate interest amongst its audience.
To stay away from this you must ask yourself a few basic questions:
- What on my website will make the customer want to come back?
- Is the information that exists on my website, only product oriented?
- Do I offer anything to the customer that goes beyond just making an attempt to a sale?
Well, if the answers to these questions are not up to satisfaction, you know it’s time for some change. Because today, with all the options that consumers have it is easier to find a designer or brand that offers something that you do not. Thus, you must create an experience for your customer when they visit your website. You must give them something beyond the product offering.
Content marketing is less pushy than other, more traditional methods. By engaging, educating, and/or helping your customers, you begin to gain their trust in your brand and make them feel as if you have more to offer them than just a product.
Nowadays, customers have started to expect your brand to have a creative content marketing strategy and if you’re not seen implementing them on your website, potential customers will start going elsewhere.
Guidelines for success
- The first thing to keep in mind when deciding on what kind of content to create is that it must make sense for your brand. Anything that feels forced or unnatural will come across in a negative way and work against rather than for you. In Other words, don’t just create but curate matter.
- Differentiate yourself with the content you share. Creating exclusive online products to outshine your competition is not it; you also need to generate content for that extra impact. Viral videos, lookbooks, and catwalk streaming are still strong. Celebrity endorsements are also creating an extra buzz online. Provide white background, and clean product images so that when images of your products are shared on other platforms they still look good and attractive. Consumers love to pin images of their favorite clothes or share them on Facebook with their friends.
- Collaborate and encourage sharing of your content. Fashion bloggers now have their own community using social search tools, creating their own trends and heavily influencing a customer’s shopping decisions. Also, don’t limit yourself to just Facebook or Twitter but include Pinterest, Instagram, Polyvore, Google+, Youtube, etc.
- You must spend some time thinking about your customer. What would he/she like? How does he/she spend their time? What motivates and excites her? Does he/she travel, entertain, cook, craft, or DIY? Create content that speaks to these other aspects of his/her world, beyond his/her clothing and accessory choices, and he/ she will identify your brand as the one with real value.
In the sections to follow we will talk about a few such great examples who speak to the customer about more than just their products. - Lastly, don’t forget to measure your efforts. Things like website traffic, time spent on site, engagement with content (commenting, sharing), and actual sales as a result of this engagement are all important things to note. As you learn what works and what doesn’t and adjust what you’re doing.
A Few Success stories from the Fashion Industry
The list below will tell us what some of the brands did and how they stood out from the rest. Also, it will throw light on the content marketing method or trend they shine out with and techniques you can follow for your startup brand or one that is already in the market.
Victoria’s Secret
Yes, it is a big name and yes, we all already know them, then you might be wondering why to talk about them as an example. So, let me tell you, my friends, that you just don’t make it to the top without a struggle. Also, it doesn’t take a minute for a big brand to hit the ground with bad marketing material. The secret all lies in the fact that how you choose to reach and capture your audience.
Much can be learned from Victoria’s Secret’s content and social approach. Their annual Fashion Shows have turned out to be a huge marketing event and generate an enormous quantity of shareable content. Using offline events to generate online content is a smart tactic to engage your audience.
Knowing their clientele in and out, Victoria’s Secret use customer insights to design their Fashion Show and then capture the action in a striking and glossy manner for a much larger audience on social platforms. Of course, it may be difficult to compete with Victoria’s Secret in terms of production budgets, but in your own way, it’s worth investing notable amounts of time and money into the look and feel of your content as it all comes down to visual content when it comes to market fashion products.
Rebecca Minkoff
Rebecca Minkoff’s RMEdit is a great example of a brand that believes in speaking to a customer about more than just her niche products. The innovative team has produced a space that, while always focusing on brand, extends past just bags and shoes, to highlight food, music, travel, arts, and culture, etc. Thus even while talking about other topics, they relate back to fashion and their own products, making it all resonate with their own tone of voice. How Brilliant!
Net-A-Porter
This online fashion brand takes content production to a new level, almost becoming a publisher first and retailer second. Their website and primary shop front appear like a magazine with lots of articles, features, and celebrity interviews. They then utilize their profoundly subscribed social channels to circulate their content and build a vibrant online conversation with their customers. They also showcase videos guiding clients on health issues, beauty secrets, and even yoga, making them relate to the brand even more.
These brands are well established in terms of Content Creators with budgets to match, but in spite of that, it’s apparent that there’s ample that other businesses, both large and small, can learn from them.
Conclusion
So put on your thinking hats, get creative, and dig deeper into how you can exploit content to build your brand today. Regardless of the industry, content marketing is all about connecting with your customers and discovering the basis of a conversation with them. Creating and curating content that makes customers return to you over and over again is challenging but building and getting to know your audience using strategies that work best for your brand and developing your voice is the recipe to success.
Like what you see here? Then do visit our other articles on marketing for various industries we have covered so far. Be sure to share your favorite content marketing success stories with us in the comment section below or connect with us on Facebook.
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