6 marketing strategies for fashion brands that grab new customers

The world of fashion has always been competitive, and with between 12-24 million online fashion retailers operating at the moment, that competitive edge is set to get sharper. It’s no longer enough to strut your stuff on the catwalk; you now need to find your fashion flare on screen, too. 

Luckily, we’ve got six suggestions for a fashion brand marketing strategy that will help you do just that. So, let’s jump into it to find out what you can do to stay ahead into next year and beyond. 

#1 - Put your socials to good use

Social media has been a fashion must for years now, but the importance of these platforms only looks set to increase. Now, the vast majority of consumers find and connect with brands on Facebook and Twitter over organic search engines. What’s more, 1 in 4 of them follow brands they intend to purchase from. This is fantastic news. All you need to do is work out how you can use it to seal deals at last.

The best thing here is to remember that social media works because it creates personal connections. This is something Tiffany & Co realised and harnessed to become the highest-ranked fashion business in terms of responsiveness and engagement. Join them by offering personalised single-use promotions that are unique to your social following. This alone will build upon that social-based loyalty, as well as encouraging first-time buyers to invest. Pair this with a socially integrated online store, and your clothes should soon be shooting off the (metaphorical) rails.

#2 - Leverage tech

Technology is now key to successful business, and by that, we don’t just mean standard computer operations. Instead, we’re referring to the latest tech advancements, including AI-led analytics, and automated software. 2019 has been a bumper year for integrations like these, and your 2020 online promotion strategy relies on your ability to grasp their value. 

Of course, tech like this doesn’t serve as a fashion brand marketing strategy in itself, but it can work wonders when paired with other promotional efforts. Automated email generation can, for instance, see unique emails and offers sent directly to consumers for promotions with effortless power. 

Equally, AI-led analytics can lead to consumer insights that you’d never reach otherwise. You can then use these to tailor your promotions and online presence towards ongoing customer happiness that even your competitors will struggle to compromise.

#3 - Always personalise

There’s also now huge promotional importance in personalising everything you do online. Social media may have kickstarted a need for personal focus, but generalised ads now fail to appeal on an internet-wide scale. Instead, 73% of consumers value brands that offer personalised messages, while 79% of modern audiences are only likely to connect with promotional offerings tailored to them. 

Luckily, using the tech mentioned can help you to provide personalised efforts without increasing workload. You just need to utilise those big data insights to really tailor your efforts. That way, you can always be sure to advertise clothing or collections that appeal. 

This effort could start with your Facebook ads, where listing unique consumer searches and interests could lead your efforts to brand new audiences with high chances of conversion. Then, use that same software and personalised focus to provide offers, follow-up emails and even shopping cart abandonment targeting techniques that help your fashion brand to flourish. 

#4 - Work with influencers

Along the same lines, influencer recommendations and discount codes are fast becoming business staples, especially where fashion brands are concerned. Personal recommendations have, after all, always taken the edge, garnering the trust of as many as 90% of consumers. And what better personal recommendation than that of an online influencer who can help you to attract millions of new customers?

Influencer and brand collaborations are fantastic for business, and they can work on whatever footing you feel suits. From a fashion standpoint, something as simple as letting influencers wear your stuff could see new sales streaming your way. Or, you might want to take this further using unique code generation for each influencer you work with. 

The right promo code software allows you to distribute single-use, unique promo codes that can also track the success of each influencer campaign at any time. That could see you tailoring your efforts here even further, and finally appealing to the 40% of millennials who feel their favourite YouTubers understand them better than their friends. 

#5 - Remarket where you can

While your focus here is solely on acquisition, retention also plays a part in promotional success. By this, we don’t mean that you should remarket to existing customers, although creating evangelists has benefits of its own. Instead, we’re referring to remarketing your efforts towards conversions that haven’t quite worked in your favour. Simple techniques like shopping cart abandonment can see you increasing final conversions a great deal. In fact, 58% of shoppers state that a personalised email after abandonment could convince them of sales, especially if it addressed leading causes of abandonment such as unexpected shipping costs. 

Even in cases where potential consumers have simply browsed before leaving, follow-up targeted emails can be incredibly useful for remarketing. Pair these with personalised discounts based on their brief browsing stint, and conversions should soon increase. All you need to do is remember the importance of capturing email addresses as soon as possible when interacting with new consumers.

# 6 - Host a giveaway

Lastly, consider hosting fashion-focused giveaways. Promotions like these provide fantastic appeal for old and new customers alike. They also have the benefit of working for a range of reasons, from promoting new clothing through to celebrating holidays. 

Do note that generalised giveaways could lead to consumers questioning product value, so it’s vital you approach this in the right way for the conversion-boosting benefits you’re after. Focusing giveaways around a specific theme as mentioned can help with this, as can unique codes and gamification-focused entries in exchange for newsletter signups, social media shares, etc. Even if they don’t win the prize, you should find that brand new customers become aware of your products off the back of these efforts.

Keeping up with the customer-grabbing fashion

For fashion retailers, as for anyone, the online market is an increasingly tough egg to crack. By taking care of these six critical marketing strategies, you‘ve got a much better chance at standing head and shoulders above the crowd. To recap, these six areas of focus are:

1. Social media
2. Technology
3. Personalisation
4. Influencers
5. Remarketing
6. Giveaways

Ultimately, personalised offerings and promotions are at the heart of each of these, as is a focus on the technology you need to make each possible. Get this right, and your brand will be strutting down the online catwalk in no time.