We have come a long way from spending a stupendous amount of money on Billboard campaigns to digital marketing - 20,000 impressions versus 4.66 Billion! So, you must be thinking, what's the catch?
Why aren't we seeing every brand that focuses on Digital Marketing grow exponentially in a matter of months, and why do they still rely on Billboards if impressions are far better online? Too many questions, but one to answer them all - not everyone perfects digital marketing!
Digital Marketing is a mix of art and skill - in fact, you'll find a lot of courses online to hone your expertise in this field which will help in building an online presence for small businesses. And you won't be successful if you don't add a tinge of your creativity, to make your copy stand out. Let us see who did it right before we jump into the important pointers!
Sabyasachi - Mastering Brand Evangelism
Fashion giant H&M, being in the business for 75 years collaborated with Sabyasachi Mukherjee for the very first Saree Collection - which tells the range of Mukherjee and his clothing line - Sabyasachi! It was not easy - but made possible using a very smart online marketing strategy.
Mukherjee is known for connecting with his audience directly through Instagram Reels. His connections are so deep that people who don a Sabyasachi attire take it to social media on their own to advocate for the brand without being sponsored to do so. That is the height of word-of-mouth marketing achieved through a very clever online strategy to amplify the brand image!
And for the recent collaboration of Sabyasachi x Starbucks, it is right to say that this time they were rather quiet than being in the news. Still, social media platforms blew up with loads of memes, what else does a company need when their products are being promoted without any cost.
Nykaa's Omni-marketing Strategy
The marketing strategy of Nykaa is worth studying and implementing. What was once written off as an ambitious project, Nykaa became a one-stop solution for all fashionistas, 5 million of them, to choose their cosmetics. Here's what they did right to build their clientele -
Influencer Marketing - should be a no-brainer, and chances are you might have scrolled one of their sponsored posts before reading this. They also have 4 Instagram accounts - each serving its purpose, one of which is specifically for sharing videos of influencers trying Nykaa's products.
YouTube Marketing - Nykaa has a dedicated YouTube channel that shares educational content catered to customer pain points. And, no surprises - Nykaa's products are subtly featured here.
Event Marketing - Keeping it short - Nykaa sponsors a wide range of contests ranging from National Femina Miss India to College fests like Mood Indigo.
Content Marketing - The brand keeps a dedicated blog which, yes you guessed it right, subtly shows off Nykaa products in the form of educational content.
Key Takeaway
Social Media Marketing is the best way to build the digital presence of your brand nowadays, considering the reach and feedback. Budding fashion designers or small-scale private label owners need to get acquainted with the fundamentals of digital marketing. We will get to the "How" part, but before that, it is important to understand the difference between Digital Marketing and Social Media Marketing. Social Media Marketing is among the many subsets of Digital Marketing. Nykaa and Sabyasachi used Social Media and Influencer Marketing the most out of the other groups of Digital Marketing!
Let's Get Started!
Since the success of Social Media and Influencer Marketing is better for Fashion Designers as compared to other techniques, we will be focusing on integrating these two the most. You can also try Content Marketing and Traditional Methods like Display and Billboard.
Tools
Here are some channels or best platforms that you can consider for hosting these techniques.
Pros - Biggest Platform with over 2.45 Billion monthly active users.
Cons - Doesn't relate well with users as compared to other platforms.
Pros - Perfect for Influencer Marketing as the platform helps users engage well(on average people use the "Like" button 4.2 Billion times every day) with the audience either through demos or product images.
Cons - Monthly active users are limited to 500 million as of writing this blog.
Pros - Gold Mine for Fashion Designers as around 55% of users have admitted making a fashion-related purchase through Pinterest.
Cons - Impressions are higher in the United States as compared to other countries.
Action plan
- Get a website - to drive sales through your social media platform you would want a dedicated website wherein users can browse, shop, and purchase the apparel.
- Mobile Presence - it is quintessential nowadays to have either a Mobile-friendly website or an application that can be run on any smartphone. The reason is the ease of shopping through mobile as compared to computers.
- Influence through Influencers - perhaps the most important part, influences would be your SDRs, albeit a more stylish one. Create a brand image and have a social media influencer post on their account. This will increase awareness among their followers, subsequently if they become your clients - increasing a loyal clientele. One thing to choose an influencer would be their follower count and their values. Some influencers would prefer you if you sell eco-friendly clothes as their image with their followers is positioned as such.
- Giveaways! - user acquisition can't get any better than this! Host a competition and have users participate in it promising a gift for winners. This helps in getting new followers, and new clients if the winner likes your product. But, that doesn't stop there - the winner will surely take it to the internet and share it on their channel - boom! You got another influencer!
- Start a Blog - once you set your website you must have a section where you can have a dedicated space for sharing articles. This can be anything related to fashion space (like DIY projects, Design ideas, new trends) - forming a structure that helps you subtly promote your clothes. This is where you can integrate the Content Marketing strategy and link your Pinterest page to generate followers from there!
Measure
It does not end with implementing the action plan. I would say, it is just the beginning as the work only starts by measuring the impact of the campaigns run. Utilize Google Analytics or Facebook Audience to track your campaigns and see shortcomings if any. This allows you to target the interested group and spend more time and money on them than a mixed group. The success may not be felt overnight, but the social media marketing must be consistent and the feed should be constantly updated with new launches. In addition to that, sign up new influencers, and if you want your brand to be global - you should search for influencers around the world rather than from the same region.
Conclusion
The Internet is a huge platform, once you lay the foundation of your strategies, you will surely find it more impactful and effortless than traditional techniques. What's next?
Once you have built your online presence you can start exploring more savvy ways to sell your products such as ShopStreaming wherein influencers stream the products in real-time connecting with their followers - tempting them to purchase.
The options are limitless - and it only gets better from here!
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