Digital Marketing for Fashion Brands

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It’s full speed ahead at the 2018, London Fashion Week. Watch closely how runways can impact digital marketing.

Digital marketing can make a huge impact on a number of things; however, as London Fashion Week has just ended, it is relevant to discuss how fashion and digital marketing wed well together.

First, let’s ask, was online shopping too farfetched 20 years ago?

Yes, it was almost unheard of. Women and men had to see, touch and try on the clothes they were about to buy. It just wasn’t the norm to buy online in the 2000s. The founder of Net-a-Porter, Natalie Massenet, saw potential in the forever growing digital industry, and thought that there was a market to start selling high fashion items online. Massenet has now created an empire, which Forbes reckons is worth $170 million. Net-a-porter is an example of how an online presence can become something extremely successful with a huge turn over.

Being Found: How to start promoting and selling products online

Net-a-porter is a solely online business, where luxury high fashion items are sold directly from the distributor much like one of their competitors, Far Fetched. Imagine a new fashion brand. It is on a par with brands such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Prada etc, BUT will only be sold online! How will people know you even exist? It is easier for the brands which are already established, with loyal customers and fabulous reputations, but what about the newbies? The answer is simply – Paid Search (PPC). The most beneficial and statistically profitable way to create a presence online is by using pay-per-click.

How does PPC work?

PPC is a complex model, which works in partnership with Google. To put it as simply as possible; it is a way of advertising your website, by putting it in strategically based places when searching online, for example the first few results you see when you search on Google might have an ‘AD’ sign, this means they made a bid to be at the top of the page when certain keywords are triggered. It is important to have great keyword searches which relate to your website in order for you to make the absolute most out of PPC. One of the brilliant things about PPC in relation to fashion, is that it is extremely measurable, meaning you can see the buying trends and habits of your consumers which could result in adapting to maximise sales.

Reaching the Right Audience by using Social Media

Social Media is a (not so) secret weapon for B-2-C companies. By now, everyone must know that having a social media account is hugely important in 2018 in order to create brand awareness/reputation. An Instagram account creates the essence of the brand in pictures. (I am 100% sure, if the idea of Instagram was pitched 20 years ago, maybe even 10, it wouldn’t of been taken seriously. It was all about print!).
For fashion, a great way to reach your target audience is by using influencers via social media platforms like

  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Snapchat
  • etc.

Ever heard of Zoella? A lifestyle, beauty and fashion YouTuber with an Instagram following of 11.1 million. Obviously there is a HUGE amount of potential here for her to have the reach far bigger than planned. However, the twist is – influencers can bill you anywhere from £500-£100,000+ to wear something that you’ve sent them, for them to post it on their feed. The pricing is rather high because of the effect it WILL have on the ROI.

A Case in Point

A really important case study to mention is another infamous celebrity – Kim Kardashian-West. This celebrity created three perfumes, which she advertised via her media platforms, where she has hundreds of millions of followers. She revealed that the perfumes wouldn’t be available in stores, only online. But it’s a fragrance, how is that going to work with no samples? The answer is the power of social media. One of the perfumes sold out in hours, and the other two were completely sold out in a matter of days. This was groundbreaking in the digital marketing world, where something almost always brought in person to test out, and in a way kind of a personal thing, was suddenly becoming an online phenomenon? Could perfume be this centuries Net-a-Porter?

To Summarise;

Digital marketing holds a lot of power. We have almost seen a revolution in the digital world, and the best part, IT’S ALWAYS CHANGING! PPC, SEO, and Social Media find the best insights possible in to the brains of the users of the other end, which allows us to adapt accordingly. Fashion is one of the many things which can be affected by PPC and social media on huge scales, it is definitely an area to keep an eye on…
Learn more about Digital Marketing for your brand by contacting the team.

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