The fashion industry is the fastest growing in the U.S., and for good reason! No matter your age, gender, or occupation, everyone needs clothing and wants to look their best. If you’re wanting to start a fashion-based business, now is the time to start. If you already have a fashion-based business, now is the time to step up your digital marketing game.
With fashion being one of the fastest growing industries in the U.S., you’re also facing a lot of competition, and digital marketing will help you stand out from the crowd.
We understand that the world of digital marketing can look a little daunting. What really makes a difference? Where’s the best place to start? Take a look at our top 20 ways to use digital marketing to grow your fashion brand.
1. Focus on keyword research and website optimizations
Combining in-depth keyword research and effective website optimizations is one of the very best ways to get the right people to your website. Keywords are what helps Google understand what it is that your website has to offer, and in turn, sends interested people to your website. Take some time to get a good understanding of what keywords you’re ranking for and then implement them on your website. You’ll want to take care to implement these keywords in a way that looks and sounds natural to the reader. Start with your category pages and product pages. Put them on your home page. Write blog content and include them there, as well. It will take time. And it will pay off.
2. Create optimized product feeds and take advantage of the Google Shopping Network
Google is king, and understanding and taking advantage of the different options available for businesses is going to be an important part of your digital marketing strategy. Google Shopping is going to be especially effective for your fashion brand. Google Shopping gives you the ability to showcase your products and gives your target audience another way to find your site and what you have to offer. When you have products listed in Google Shopping, they also have the possibility of showing up in a regular Google search, another plus. Do some research to see how you can best utilize the Google Shopping network in your marketing strategy.
3. Run Collection ads on Social Media
Source: The Next Scoop
Running ads on social media has proven to be incredibly successful for many eCommerce businesses, and collection ads are a fantastic option for fashion brands’ digital marketing plans. Collection ads are formatted with one large photo or image on top with four smaller images below. It gives you the opportunity to showcase multiple products in a single view. Collection ads are populated from a product catalog, this makes it so Facebook will optimize the most effective products to show in the collection ads. This increased focus on optimization is beneficial to your overall ad performance. Once someone clicks into the ad, there is an option to visit the website. This is great for you because it eliminates quite a few steps that the consumer would otherwise have to take in order to get to the product page on your website. Run these ads on both Instagram and on Facebook so that you can reach as many people in your target market as possible.
4. Make good use of Rich Pins on Pinterest
Perhaps one of the most commonly pinned items on Pinterest is clothing. There are literally hundreds of thousands of fashion-based boards on this social media site, and any eCommerce fashion business should be putting some effort into the platform. A rich pin is a pin that has a little extra information attached to it. Where a regular pin is just an image, a rich pin allows you to include additional information, such as pricing, the name of your business, and even a short description of the product. We can’t stress enough how important it is for fashion brands digital marketing plans to focus on Pinterest. So, you’ll definitely want to include this in your digital marketing strategy.
5. Run a consistent and quality blog to educate and nurture potential customers
Having helpful and informative content on your website is a great way to drive more traffic and become a valuable resource for your target audience. Make good use of your blog. Use to educate site visitors and drive them to explore more of your website. Make sure you’re creating content that applies to your products. For example, if you run an outdoor clothing company, put together some blog posts on what to pack for a camping trip, or what the difference is between varying styles of coats and jackets. Blog posts are another opportunity for incorporating keywords, so be sure to take advantage of that easy opportunity!
6. A/B test landing pages to improve conversion rates
If you’re running ads on Google or social media, you’ll want to implement landing pages to accompany your campaigns. These landing pages make it easy to the conversion rate of your campaigns, which definitely makes them worth your while. Taking advantage of A/B testing gives you the opportunity to run different kinds of landing pages to see which one is driving more success. Give it some time and see which landing page is working well for you and is appealing to your site visitors – using this aspect of conversion rate optimization will give you a better handle on how to connect with your target market and build out your website to better accommodate them.
7. Remarket everywhere and on every platform
Source: i.workana.com
We’ve all experienced it – someone comes to the website, browses around a bit, maybe even puts something in their cart. And then they leave. UGH! Putting in some effort to help get them back to your website and their cart is definitely worthwhile. Remarketing gives you the ability to send targeted ads and messages to these individuals to help them back to your website. This could include showing them the products they were looking at or even offering them a discount code to help them get closer to making that purchase. Don’t let these people fall through the cracks – implement remarketing so that you can act quickly once they’ve left your site so that you can help them get back!
8. Create a user-friendly referral system to help raving fans and customers spread the word
Your best marketing tool is a happy customer sharing their experience. Think about it – when you go to a new restaurant that you love, you want to share it with your friends and family so that they can experience it too. It’s the same for people that purchase something from you and fall in love with it. Implementing a user-friendly referral system on your website will drive the right kind of traffic, and is much more likely to convert into sales. You might consider including an incentive as part of your referral program. For example, if someone refers a friend, they receive a discount on their next purchase.
9. Do joint collaborations with similar and complementary brands
We do better when we work together. Seek out brands that exist in your same space and see if they’re open to doing a collaboration with you. It could be a company that caters to the same target audience, or if you’re a small local business, you could reach out to other locally-owned businesses in your area to discuss a collaboration. In addition to establishing good relationships with other businesses, you’ll easily increase your following and get your products in front of a much larger audience. People who wouldn’t know about your business otherwise will be guided to your website and social platforms.
10. Use video to show potential customers the product on someone
Creating content that appeals to your audience’s preferences is key to driving more traffic to your site. In addition to writing blog content and sharing quality posts on your Facebook and Instagram, you’ll want to produce video content as well. Use this as an opportunity to educate your audience about your products. What is it about them that sets you apart from your competition? Are there some items or collections that could use a step-by-step guide? What if you made a video detailing the various ways that one skirt or blouse could be worn? We can almost guarantee that this will spark someone’s interest and at least get them to consider the item.
11. Partner with well-known fashion bloggers to feature and promote your product
Influencer marketing has been absolutely explosive in the last ten years, and for a very good reason – it works. These individuals with their significant followings have established reliability and people trust what they have to say. Partnering up with some well-known fashion bloggers and influencers is a fantastic way to drive traffic to your site that will convert into sales. It could be as simple as sending them a few items of clothing, free of charge, and asking them to share some pictures and write a good caption about it, or perhaps they could share about the products in their Instagram and Facebook stories. You’ll see a serious boost in exposure, gain a few more followers on social media, and ultimately see more sales from this one effort.
Working with Brand Collabs Manager, brands can create specific permissions in project briefs so influencers can create new branded content that is effective and collaborative.
12. Launch a social contest
We’ve all seen them – the posts on social media that allow you to enter a giveaway to win some free product. All you have to do is follow the account, like the image, and tag three friends. You know the ones I’m talking about. It’s hard to pass up an opportunity to win some free stuff, especially when it’s so easy to enter the contest! They get a chance to get some cute clothes, and you in turn get more followers on social media. As more and more people enter and tag their friends, the opportunities for you to get additional followers grow. Consider combining this with tip #9 and do a giveaway with another business to up the prize (and the number of potential new followers!).
13. Instill deal/discount FOMO as often as possible
Like we said before, it’s hard to pass up a good opportunity! Everyone loves to see a discount code, and when you couple it with a time frame, individuals are more likely to make that purchase from fear of missing out. Whether it’s an exclusive discount code for newsletter members, your social media followers, or people on your SMS list, sending out opportunities to take advantage of deals and discounts is a great way to get good traffic to your site. Send out reminders as the window of time to take advantage of the deal starts to close, instilling that ever-important FOMO.
14. A/B Test ad copy, email subject lines, and other content
Source: OptinMonster
Trying a variety of options is always a good idea, and this is especially true for ad copy that is written for your business. You can use A/B testing (part of conversion rate optimization) for things like ad copy, email subject lines, and other content so that you can see what is driving the best results. Once you’ve found which variation is working best, you can either implement that across the board or test it out against another option to see if there is something that could work even better and speak more effectively to your target market. Finding the right words and proper phrasing to connect with your audience is key to finding success as an eCommerce business, making A/B testing absolutely crucial to generating success.
15. Run a local fashion show or pop up shop
Perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of eCommerce for fashion businesses is that your audience rarely sees your products in person. Being able to touch the material and try it on can be a major game-changer for someone considering the purchase. This is why running a local fashion show or doing a pop up shop in your area is something that you’ll want to consider. Not only will it give people a chance to see, up close and personal, what you have to offer, but it also creates a sense of urgency for them. Both of these events are one-time things, helping the visitors understand that, if they want to make an in-person purchase, now is the time to do it.
16. Capture emails by offering discounts for subscribing to email newsletters
Everyone loves a deal, and you love to build an email newsletter list. Easily build up an email list with individuals in your target audience by offering a one-time discount to your shop. It’s all about simplicity – a pop up on their phone or desktop offering a discount and all they have to do is enter their email address? It’s hard to say no! Speaking of which, you’ll want to make sure you’re making it simple for them. Keep the process easy and quick and they’re more likely to sign up. Additionally, it makes it that much easier for them to peruse your site to find something cute to use their new discount code on!
17. Create compelling and helpful email workflows for new subscribers and customers.
We can’t stress enough how lucrative it will be for you to create content that is helpful and engaging. When it comes to creating email workflows, take care to make them compelling, interesting, and easy to digest. Avoid lengthy paragraphs – keep it short and include links to various product and category pages. Educate your email subscribers about any potential rewards or referral programs you have, and keep them up to date on current discounts that they can use. Like we said in tip #13, you could even send out a discount code that is exclusively for your newsletter subscribers. Use your email workflows as an opportunity to deepen your relationship with those receiving them.
18. Test different social ad creative types, layouts, and colors
Social media ads are tried and true. They’re a fantastic way to connect with your target audience, and we highly recommend that you put a good amount of effort into creating the right kind of ads. This means testing out different options and seeing what works best! This could include trying out different kinds of ads, testing different layout options, implementing different colors, and overall looking for what will best reach your target market. Please note that it takes some time to see proper results from a social media ad campaign. If you’re not seeing the numbers you were hoping for, give it some time before pulling the plug and trying something different.
19. Use social proof to help potential customers get comfortable with your products
Getting reviews from happy customers is going to make a big difference in your marketing efforts. Helping potential customers see that others have had a positive experience buying something from your site could very well be the thing that convinces them to make the purchase. Gather customer reviews, for your website in general or for specific products, and implement them on your website and share them on social media. Help your followers and site visitors see that, not only are your products being purchased but that people are happy with what they are receiving.
20. Participate in conversations on forums and Reddit
Make it a priority to go to where your target market is on the internet. Many individuals are turning to forums and sites like Reddit to find answers to their questions, and making yourself a part of the conversation there could prove to be very lucrative for you. Look for questions and conversations that revolve around your brand and do some research to see what people are asking. How could your products answer their questions? Make yourself a resource, not only on your own website with your copy and blog content but also on these additional platforms.
Putting an emphasis on your digital marketing is going to play a huge part in the overall success of your fashion brand. It will take some time, but you’ll find that it was well worth the effort in establishing the reliability and quality of your business.
Laurel is a member of the executive team at Stryde. She’s been doing digital marketing for businesses for 10 years. Two years ago, she started set up her own ecommerce business selling baby gowns and knows the struggles of a small business owner. She loves talking about digital marketing, content, SEO, and conversion rate optimization.
