5 Practical Brand Standards You Can Live By

Constructing your brand is liken to making a cake. Like baking you carefully mix together ingredients  to form a cake, your brand is born out of combining several core elements (your story or message) that can be consumed by your audience. 

Products such as Nike and Coke are 2 brands that famously resonate with a wide target market. Of course their logo, merchandising and product placement are keen elements among these house whole  brands. It is important to note that, their long term success was born out of well-placed visual elements, displaying customer interactions as well as the type of information that is shared through their marketing channels one among them  is social media.  When these essential  parts are measured into the brand mix just so, the brand grows and trust and credibility is established. 

 

Brand building is simply claiming head-space in the minds of your targeted audience, artist brands from Alice Smith (Grammy nominated singer, songwriter, and producer) or Paul Andrew (a women’s shoe designer and the 2014 Fashion Fund winner) uniquely defined who they are as artist in the market place.  

 

                                                                          

Two very different mediums, however they both have an identical brand mix, by respectively established their brands -- differentiating and positioning themselves from their competition thus claiming their place in the fashion / musical landscapes.

Five Brand Standards:

1. Provide the very best Product/Service. Word of mouth is often a small businesses greatest lead generator, so having great story or message that people talk about is a critical part of developing your brand.  It’s important that you stay focused of your brand – keep refining it, with new offerings or advancements, and making sure to put the brand out in front.
2. Standing out means being different. If your brand is going to be strong, you need to be able to pinpoint what it is that makes what you do unique. What differentiates you from others in your industry?
3. Formulate a  Distinct Voice. The most effective way to deliver your brand story/message is to be consistent in how you both communicate and interact with your target audience influences, end users, fans – on Facebook and Twitter.  
4. Design a Value Proposition. A successful value prop, aids in two important ways; defines your brand plus distinguishes you from the competition thereby establishing your niche in the market.  
5. What’s in a Name/Logo.It is paramount that you get your name and/or logo right the first time, because this is how your brand is recognized. Your name/logo should appeal to your core audience, it should be recognizable plus it should reflect both the nature and tone of your story and messaging/taglines.  

 

 
 

Brand Digitalization!

It seems like the digital world is ruling our lives – with the insertion of the smart phone as well as the tablet both have become a part of our daily wardrobes. No matter what we do and where we go, we cannot survive without connecting as we are hopelessly obsessed with mobile and on your person tech-gadgets. 

It’s not surprising that more and more product heavy companies are integrating digital and Social Media channels into their marketing plan. When entering a store which is equipped with the newest technology, customers perceive the brand as innovative and luxurious, embracing the sensation of experiencing something new and unprecedented.

 

In fact, if mixing digital channels correctly, brands are distinguishing themselves by cutting through the clutter of the information their customers come face-to-face with at a rapid pace daily. Some brands Mac cosmetics or Marc Jacobs successfully adapt to digitization while managing to stay true to their brand.

As we move further into the future, integrating a digital paradigm into the marketing mix becomes not just a competitive advantage but a necessity with both fashion and cosmetic  brands as these industries  inevitably are first to feel the pressure to keep in touch with their customers.

It is paramount to the survival of your brand to incorporate digital channels as well as social media. So get connected with your tech-savvy customers and enhance your brand through “hot” digitalization!  

 

You’re encouraged to share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section.

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In-Store Tech, Sales Driver or Hype?

Interesting article by Suzanne Bearne  Business of fashion article

Fashion retailers are increasingly integrating slick interactive technology into their physical flagships. But is all this in-store technology actually making the tills ring or merely providing opportunities for short-term PR?

Cool marketing draw and the beginning of an omni-channel era. Unquestionably, brands such as Burberry and Kate Spade are leaders in the matter, but we must shine the spotlight on  the financials to confirm if these efforts are worthy and with generate  sales.

A lot of the technical kicks will need to be ironed out as this innovative display concept is still in its infancy. The only hiccup – comes to where to test, they’ll need to conduct trials in the  store or online. Everyone likes free PR and the media can be good at hyping up the next best thing. There is also an awful lot of VC monies invested so they want to see and hear progress.

I work for marketing, and I have worked on projects with extensive research about the omni-channel in fashion and luxury business (http://fsh.by/kkRwLw), and clearly you can see that these kind of efforts are generating customers for the brick mortar and online markets, innovation is catchy and striking. The key take-away is consumers are interested in an amazing shopping experiences, if you have  happy customers, you have secure sales plus growth.

Marketing Tips for Fashion Designers

Anna Pitchouguina  and Claire McElduff are just two of the budding fashion designers that have been making headlines around the world in 2014. Many people dream of designing clothes for a living, and they may have new, innovative ideas that could change the fashion world. However, with such a competitive industry it can be hard for a new designer to get their voice heard or to get their latest designs in front of the people that matter the most: the retailers.

However, the Internet has helped to change that for many budding designers as people can now sell online themselves and carve out a niche selling their own style of clothing, and while this model might work well for some people, for most it is not a way to earn a living.

Here are some tips on how the budding fashion designer can get their name out there.

Branding

Before a product can be sold it needs to be branded. Branding is what makes a product different to everyone else's and helps it to stand out from the crowd. Without proper branding, it is not possible to effectively market your designs. So take some time to consider what the Unique Selling Point of your designs is.

Start Small

Try small, independent retailers and think outside of the box. For instance, don’t just focus on clothing and fashion stores, see if your designs would be a fit somewhere else. Once a designer has built a steady list of outlets, they’ll have some idea of the units they can sell and the profits that can be made; this is all useful information when trying to get the designs into larger stores and retail chains.

Teel your Story

Everyone has a story and sharing the story behind your designs is one way of making your product memorable. Using the story of your brand is also useful for marketing and PR to gain further publicity; find blogs in your niche and target local newspapers that might be interested in sharing the story behind your brand.

Offer Freebies and Discounts

Offering freebies and discounts is a great way of gaining publicity. However, don’t expect all of the people that have signed up for a freebie to become regular customers. Perhaps offer discounts on the first purchase to get buyers interested.

Get Social

Getting a name out there has been made much easier with social media. It is free to use, has the potential to reach millions, and can help to build a solid following of people all keen to buy your designs.

Use Technology

Take advantage of the latest technology and use it to sell your products. A specialized shopping app can be useful for sending out special offers, discounts and details of the latest designs and products to potential buyers.

YouTube advertising Insights

Turing fanship into $$$!

A high fan base on YouTube equals a high level of brand recognition. Consumer engagement is synonymous to brand building and growth in the market.  Building a brand on YouTube allows the customer to collaborate + building fanship of the brand adds to the probability of consumer purchase regularity.

The key is to align insightful content that both engages the customer and resonates with the brand; provide a choice to the consumer in how they engage with the brand which adds a sense of control and thus building brand awareness.

Consumers engage with brands for which they resonate with or share a passions for, and when that passion combines with interest on YouTube engagement ensues and the consumer becomes a fans. The key is to align your brand/product with consumer passions/interest and your advertising is born.

See below two top Nature Hair YouTube channels. Both provide detailed product endorsements. In only one YouTube post a brand can start in absolute obscurity and move (very quickly) into a house-whole name-- just from a mention on a highly viewed channel on YouTube.

  Quest for the Perfect Curl (Elle)
 https://www.youtube.com/user/denimpixie

 

    Taren Guy
https://www.youtube.com/user/taren916