Clothing designers are part of a beautiful world of creativity but also face many challenges along the way. Ever-changing trends are difficult to determine and forecast while striking a balance between creativity and producing commercially viable designs. Part of making it viable rests on the shoulders of your marketing efforts and talking to your target customers. Due to the nature of the work done by clothing designers, digital marketing can play a very impactful role in driving new business.
Splitting responsibilities between focusing on your core business and marketing what you offer can become challenging and often harm the business. Shifting that focus to satisfying constantly changing consumer preferences with your creative abilities is often time well spent. Addressing other challenges like material sourcing and manufacturing while also protecting your intellectual property is an unavoidable part of your business.
Unfortunately, understanding these issues doesn’t necessarily make you closer to being seen by the right people…
The meteoric rise of e-commerce and social media has caused serious digital disruption in the industry, changing the way that most industries conduct business.
However, it does also create a window of opportunity in a number of ways. Analyzing successful competitors in the digital space and their approach to digital marketing becomes easier. The visual components of clothing design also open up multiple opportunities for photos and videos through social media.
People will be looking for what you offer in several ways. Retail outlets might be looking for suppliers, while consumers might be looking for what you offer and want to buy from you online.
The importance of a successful online marketing approach will consider where these individuals spend their time online.
Here is a quick rundown of the respective channels that will work well:
The visual appeal enables you to grow a following on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok and others. On some of these channels, you could grow your following organically quickly if you approach it correctly. Others might take a bit of time.
Social media channels also offer paid placements. These are great for increasing your following and driving brand awareness and sales. The most significant upside is that you could target a particular audience based on their interests and demographic data.
The goal of paid ads is to target people searching for what you offer. If you are focused on selling to retailers versus running an online store, the focus of these ads would be different.
In both instances, the goal will be to target what people are searching for. In the case of selling to retailers, the focus will be more on text-based ads in Google and Bing. For online sales, the focus would be on shopping ads. Those images appear at the top of search listings, showing the product and the prices, which will take a visitor straight to the product page.
However, search engine optimization (SEO) should form the cornerstone of a digital marketing campaign focused on what people search for. Through consistent and correct optimizations, you will start featuring more and more relevant keywords in Google’s search results.
These results will drive a steadily increasing number of visitors to your site while you invest the same amount in the campaign every month. It does take a bit more time to accomplish, but it offers consistent returns in the medium and long term.
Acquiring new customers takes a lot of work. Companies, however, often neglect the retention side of the business. Email and SMS marketing are exceptionally effective communication tools that make it easy and cost-effective to stay in contact with existing customers constantly.
Sharing interesting information about designs, news on new trends, and tips on putting together different looks will strengthen your brand identity and reputation.
Staying front of mind in an age of information bombardment is vital to any company’s sustained growth.
