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Upon Successful completion of this module, you will be able to:

1. To understand the factors that influence consumer behaviour within branding and to apply critical understanding of audience profiling, brand application and marketing strategy

2. Develop ideas for an effective brand concept and marketing plan to promote the brand using research to support the design and concept

3 Demonstrate advanced skills in creative software and digital technology to produce a range of professional outcomes and present the outcomes

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Click here to enhance your knowledge on consumer insight, profiling and big data within the fashion industry.

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Fashion Marketing Career - Is It Right for You? | FRA
Is a career in fashion marketing right for you?
Whether you've wanted to be a fashion designer since you first discovered fabrics, or fashion buying is a passion that's evolved slowly over time, there are so many ways you can apply your individual skills and talents to the fast-paced and ever-changing world of fashion.

What many people don't realise about a career in the fashion industry is just how many diverse options are available to them. You might be choosing and measuring fabrics. You might be analysing last year's trends in order to predict this season's key looks. Or, you might have your finger on the pulse of the latest news, and wish to pursue a career in fashion marketing and social media.
What does a career in fashion marketing involve?
Put most simply, marketing is where fashion and business intersect. Marketing is one of the most important aspects of fashion - without it, the end products wouldn't sell! The fundamental purpose of marketing is to promote and raise awareness. It's where all of the hard work put in by the design and manufacturing teams first comes into contact with consumers through advertising campaigns, content or social media. It's where the finished item or range that product designers have worked so hard on finally comes to market.

The products have to be positioned perfectly and make just the right impact at this point in the process. Therefore, a career in fashion marketing involves, among many other duties, devising strategies not only to communicate the core values of a brand or fashion house to intrigue customers, but also to drive sales and boost revenue. Those who work in marketing will also be responsible for tracking consumer trends and habits to inform strategy to boost revenue.

Other duties involved in a fashion marketing role might include social media management, content creation, analytics and advertising. Common job roles in fashion marketing include:

Marketing Manager

Marketing Assistant

Market Research Analyst

Sales Manager

Many people start their fashion marketing career as an intern or assistant, and then work their way up. The average salary for someone working in marketing and PR is around £38k in London (source: http://www.reed.co.uk/average-salary/marketing-pr).

Why should you consider a career in fashion marketing? Firstly, products will always need to be marketed in the fashion industry - so you can be assured that it is a stable career to pursue. Secondly, fashion marketing can be challenging - but also a great way to exercise your creativity and business skills. It's highly satisfying work, where you can see the direct impact of your efforts on the success of a fashion house or brand.
What kind of skills do I need to get into fashion marketing?
While working as a designer or visual merchandiser relies a lot upon your visionary talent and ability to understand the latest trends and interpret them in a unique way, a career in fashion marketing requires all of this - and a lot more! It's a job which requires you to be strong across a number of different fields, rather than focusing all of your strength in one area. Here are just some of the key traits you might need to become a successful fashion marketer.
A good head for business
One of the most important qualities you need in order to succeed in fashion marketing is business savvy. You'll need to be able to understand - and eventually devise - sales and marketing strategies that convince consumers that yours is the brand for them. Marketing involves a lot of analysing metrics and results to decipher what worked and what didn't, allowing you to strategically apply these learnings to consequent efforts.
Creativity
All of the best marketers fuse this logical approach with a generous burst of creativity.

There's more to marketing than strategy and analytics. In order to come up with a marketing campaign for a brand, you're going to need to flex those creative muscles! What is going to capture the attention of your target audience? What tone of voice should you use? How do you talk to them across various digital marketing channels, and how can you stand out in the extremely competitive fashion industry? All of these challenges require thinking on your feet, originality and daring to go outside of the box.
A good work ethic
As is the case with many careers in the fashion industry, fashion marketing can be highly competitive. To land the job, go the extra mile to prove you're the right choice for the role - having a fashion blog or relevant extra-curricular activities will show that you're serious about a career in fashion marketing. If you land that sought-after role, you need to work hard to keep up with the pace and fight off the competition!
Curiosity
You need to be hungry for information, an early adopter of new trends and always have your finger on the pulse of what's happening in the fashion world. And not only that - fashion is one of those rare aspects of our lives which is so closely fused with other cultural aspects - music, celebrity and arts being just a few - so an interest in current affair and pop culture will help inform your work and make you stand out.
A human touch
Finally - you need to be personable. People don't want to feel like they're being sold to, so you need to come up with a strategic way to position your product without alienating or irritating your target audience. This is an underrated skill, which is so important in digital marketing.
Does this sound like you?
Before you go applying for all of those promising-sounding fashion marketing roles, it is worth really taking the time to really evaluate whether it is the right role for you. Let's find out from some of the people out there doing these roles right now what it really takes to succeed in a fashioning marketing career.

According to Marketing Manager at Elle, Patrice Batson, the most important trait you need to get ahead in fashion marketing is curiosity. "Curiosity will help you to gather knowledge that make a product better or launch a new fashion campaign."

She has some rather unusual advice for prospective marketers: "I find that people who have the most ridiculous ideas make the best marketers. These kinds of people think outside the box and don't care if their ideas get laughed off the table because once you're done laughing, they've already thought of a new idea for you to consider." It seems that tenacity, as well as fearless thinking, are pretty important in marketing roles. Don't be afraid to suggest slightly unorthodox strategies - remember, every great idea has to start somewhere. (Source: http://theeverygirl.com/marketing-elle-magazine)

Sophie Lockard, Marketing Manager at Boohoo.com, stresses moving with the times. "Anyone who can show they have a sound knowledge of social channels will definitely set themselves apart. If you have a fashion blog that will help too, as it shows you have a committed interest in fashion." Again, it seems that extra-curricular activities like a blog provide an employer with a great place to see your writing and marketing skills in action, and also proves to them that fashion is an important part of your life. (source: https://targetjobs.co.uk/career-sectors/marketing-advertising-and-pr/advice/320071-get-into-fashion-tips-from-the-online-marketing-manager-at-boohoocom)
So, how do I get into fashion marketing?
Fashion marketing is a competitive field, as are most careers in fashion. A qualification or degree in a relevant field will set you head and shoulders above other applicants.

Here at the Fashion Retail Academy (FRA) our diverse range of courses have been specially designed to give you the specific skills you'll need to succeed in your chosen area of the fashion industry. And for a career in fashion marketing, our L4 Fast Track Digital Marketing course and BA (Hons) in Marketing & Communications for Fashion is a great place to start.

As you know, we live in a world that is becoming more and more digitised. At the FRA, we've recognised the huge demand within the fashion industry for graduates with digital skills. This is the perfect course for you if you're looking to put yourself streets ahead of the competition when it comes to going for those all-important fashion marketing roles. If you want to get there quicker our degree is condensed over two years, getting you into the industry faster!

The FRA's highly specialised courses are designed to help you gain employment. But don't just take our word for it. A massive 90% of our Level 4 graduates go onto job roles within the fashion industry. Our courses also include a hugely beneficial three week work placement to help you get a taster of what to expect when you graduate. According to recent graduate Abbie Hanson, the course provided the step she needed to get her dream role: "Without Level 4, I never would have found the path to go down to get my job as an MA at ASOS."
If you have any more questions about any of the courses on offer at The Fashion Retail Academy send an email to info@fra.ac.uk. We'd love to hear from you.

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Fashion Marketing Career - Is It Right for You? - FRA - Fashion Retail Academy

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Is a career in fashion marketing right for you? Whether you've wanted to be a fashion designer since you first discovered fabrics, or fashion buying is a passion that's evolved slowly over time, there are so many ways you can apply your individual skills and talents to the fast-paced and ever-changing world of fashion.

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Fashion Digital Marketing: How to Use Digital Tools to Get More Sales

In a crowded online fashion market, it can be difficult to distinguish your brand from the pack. We have found that one of the best ways to make your mark is with digital marketing. Not only can fashion digital marketing improve brand presence and sales, it can increase brand awareness, and is easily trackable so that you can get immediate feedback and determine if a campaign is working. We've also found there are long-lasting effects as well.
When done correctly, fashion digital marketing gets your product in front of your ideal audience so they become aware of your brand, purchase your products, and ultimately turn into brand ambassadors.
We've worked with numerous industries and brands and we have seen the tremendous impact that digital marketing can have on sales. When we partner with an ecommerce site, we connect every activity to leads and sales. We optimize a brand's current efforts online to make sure they are getting the most bang for their marketing dollar.

So, let's get to it. Here are twelve fashion digital marketing examples and ideas that will help you market your fashion brand:

1. Retarget your visitor with Facebook ads to increase conversion rates.

Most people are not ready to buy immediately upon seeing an ad or visiting your website. With retargeting you're able to reach the same people that were thinking about buying your product with reminder ads.

You can retarget visitors to your website by creating Custom Audiences with Facebook (with just a snippet of code), and target Lookalike Audiences as well to expand your reach.

If they don't purchase-let's say after a week-you can give them a slight discount in the ad to get them to act. Retargeting people who have abandoned their shopping cart is also a fantastic way to generate sales that otherwise would have been lost.

We recently took over a brand's Facebook ad management, and on average they have received a 398% return on investment, with some Facebook retargeting campaigns going up to 660%! Download the case study to read more about how fashion digital marketing has helped an Italian sunglass brand skyrocket their sales.

2. Run a promotion during holidays to increase sales and capture attention when buyers are more aware.

Depending on the time of year, you could provide different incentives to buyers.

If it's Christmas, have a series of emails go out to your email subscribers with a digital marketing strategy that focuses on compounding discounts. For example, you could promote 12 days of giving and offer a discount each day on a different product. Day one you discount shoes, day two dresses, etc. Give your subscribers a reason to share their email discounts with their friends and on social media.

Prior to Easter, you might promote an Easter Egg Hunt on your site. Place a fancy Easter egg with discount code on pastel dresses or tops that might be appropriate for the occasion to encourage purchase.

To ring in the New Year, you could cater to champagne tastes on a beer budget by featuring fancy party dresses under $50, or if you're a luxury brand share how to ring in the new year with high-class style.

Promote some Summer Lovin' with discounts on pairings-a bathing suit and cover-up or sandals and shorts. Or offer an bonus gift with sales over a certain amount. Sunglasses, flip-flops, hat, or sunscreen (with your brand and logo on it) are possible giveaway items with a purchase over $100. The customer is happy because they received something for free and every time they use that item they get reminded of your brand.

NOTE: Every seasonal incentive should also be shared on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, as well as your blog.

3. Create style guides to show your visitors how to wear or incorporate your items into their everyday life.

If you own a fashion brand that sells a variety of clothing items, put together a style guide for your website so that visitors and subscribers can get ideas on how to wear your clothing, and even incorporate pieces into their existing wardrobe.

Don't limit yourself to just one guide. Style guides can be done seasonally (spring, summer, fall, winter), for special occasions (wedding, party, picnic), holidays (4th of July, Christmas, New Year's), and for more topical themes: travel, work, weekend, beach.

Guides can be listed as a special section on your website and incorporated into your blog, where you can provide more in-depth information on each item in the collection. Try telling a story with the style guide to interest your customer.

4. Run a giveaway on Instagram to increase both brand awareness and the size of your community.

If you have a very popular item in your store, run a giveaway strictly on Instagram. For the giveaway have your Instagram followers comment on why they want to win the item in the photo and then tag three of their friends that would want the gift as well. (Who will often comment and tag another three friends!) Instagram giveaways can become a regular feature for your brand, offering a new item at the beginning of each month.

Make sure you use beneficial and/or recognizable hashtags for the item giveaway. Create a special hashtag just for the giveaway program, that you will use each time.

Running an Instagram campaign will increase your followers and brand awareness among Instagram users.

5. Work with influencers in your category to provide you with access to a new audience, gain social proof, and receive unique content.

To get in front of your ideal audience, work with a popular fashion vlogger or blogger that already has a dedicated following of people who would like your brand. Those with large audiences have built a reputation and are well respected by their readers. They can have a huge impact if they choose to mention, review, or even wear your products.

You can work with them to create content around a specific campaign or just create gorgeous images with your product. Their influence and creative take on your product will garner great interaction and sales.

Working with bloggers gives you two huge things: you get in front of a new audience and, if you selected the correct influencer, then you'll gain new customers and the blogger will create content for you. Depending on the collaboration, they will share custom content on their blog, social channels, and you (the brand) may also get the opportunity to use the content they produce.

When collaborating with a blogger, you can also run Facebook ads featuring the photos of the bloggers to send traffic their way, and in turn get your product(s) noticed. (Make sure you get a signed agreement before posting images of them and/or their logo.)

PRO TIP: When working with blogger, provide a brand guide so you give them more guidance and they create the content you're looking for.

6. Have every new email subscriber follow you on Instagram.

Send new email subscribers a thank you for following and direct them to follow you on Instagram for style inspiration and tips.

Encourage them to not only follow you, but to share photos of themselves with your brand, using a special hashtag you provide. This way you can reshare your customers' images easily, creating brand loyalty and bringing a personal touch to your brand.

7. Create gift guides year-round for your ideal buyer's life events to inspire them to buy.

Depending on the type of ecommerce store you own and your ideal buyer, create gift guides for life occasions. People buy gifts year round, not just Christmas, so promote your products by creating gift guides for Mothers Day, Fathers Day, graduation season, Valentine's Day, weddings, anniversaries, baby showers, etc.

Gift guides should be available on your website and can be sent in target emails to customers. You can also promote gift guides on all social media (with images, of course).

These gifts guides are a collection of items that you sell on your shop that would fit a certain category for gifting. For example; for Mother's Day if your brand sells women's items, you could create a collection of perfect gifts for mom. Create a special landing page on your website with the list of shoppable items. You could also create a digital ebook with a magazine style gift guide. With ebooks make sure you include links to your ecommerce store so they are easy to purchase.

8. Get your audience involved to create a community around your brand.

Encourage your audience to share content based on your brand values to foster engagement and reinforce those values.

For example, you could run a contest on Facebook and Instagram where you ask your community to share a photo of something that your brand believes in. Under Armour recently ran a campaign with Gisele Bündchen (and other women) where they used the hashtag #IWILLWHATIWANT to share something that the brand believes in and their online community was able to get involved as well by using the same hashtag.

When your community creates content for your brand you might also incorporate shared photos into blog posts on your website or even your homepage like LOFT does. Who wouldn't want to be mentioned by a fashion brand they love? By sharing the photos on your website, along with descriptions and links to buy the items, you have a customer that will share that link with all her friends.

9. Remember (and learn) customers' birthdays to build brand loyalty.

Send your customers a happy birthday card via snail mail with a coupon code (#happybirthday). "Happy Birthday Sara, Here's our birthday gift! Enjoy!"

Speaking of snail mail, you might periodically do a snail mail blast to your customers with an upcoming sale or to debut a new clothing line. People love getting things in the mail and it means you're going the extra step outside the digital world. This will reinforce brand awareness and build loyalty. But you should always tie your non-digital activity like snail mail offers to digital so you know if your efforts are working. For example, include a code that is only available to the customers who received the letter. That way you're able to track offline activities.

Make sure your campaign messages resonate with your audience by reaching them everywhere-marry up offline and online channels for a truly integrated campaign.

10. Launch a blog or, if you already have one, keep up with it.

Provide constant valuable information to your audience via a blog.

Blog posts should be regularly released (same day[s] of the week, same time of day) so your readers know when to visit, they should also be visually interesting and generally less than 500 words. Short, sweet, and to the point-which is what most readers are looking for these days. There will be times that your online digital marketing strategy will require a longer (1500-2000 word) post with numerous photos and maybe even a video.

Longer blog posts are great for guides and resources. Let's say you own an ecommerce store that specializes in camping. You could create a blog post that details the best places to camp in the United States with tips, hikes, activities, and best time of the year to visit. It's a resource that you know your customers will like and it's related to the products you sell.

Blogs are used as a way to promote products, let consumers know who you are, and provide them with advice. You can personalize your blog by writing about an employee, how your items are created from drawing to production (like ONA bags shared on their blog), or how you choose your pieces in your collections. Discuss current trends and feature items in your brand that fit those trends. For your more popular pieces, pair them in a style feature with a more obscure item to garner interest and show how to pair up different pieces from your store.

A good example comes from the Tory Burch brand. They wanted to tell their brand story in a more editorial way, which led to hiring Honor Brodie from InStyle, who is now their creative director. She built a team that focuses on the Tory blog, which is an expression of all the things that inspire and entertain Tory, whether it's an artist or author or even another designer. The blog doesn't talk much about Tory, but about other things that surround the brand, and that's what's unique about it. Honor and Tory have worked together to integrate the blog and commerce. They've brought in all the content into the shopping experience so that their customer can explore and connect with the brand while they're browsing products.

11. Nurture people that are not ready to buy to turn them into a customer later.

When someone first comes to your shop they are not always ready to buy. Make sure to capture their email address and have an automated email series that slowly feeds them new content and you'll also learn their buying preferences, like how many emails it took for the person to turn into a customer. You'll learn what type of products they prefer by what they click on in the emails and day and time they open their emails.

PRO TIP: If you're using HubSpot, connect it with your ecommerce website and send them emails based on pages they have seen on your site or things they wanted but didn't buy.

12. Email a reminder to people who left items in their shopping cart to increase conversion rates.

People add items to their shopping cart and then forget all about them. Send a reminder email to those who added items to their shopping cart but didn't buy. Send them in intervals: the next day, the next week, and then maybe the next month, along with a discount code to encourage purchase.

In order to send reminder emails, your website visitors will need to have an account, so make sure you make it very easy for visitors to create accounts on your website.

Digital marketing can be a fairly easy and fun way to increase your brand awareness and sales. While it's not necessary for you to employ all twelve tactics we've outlined here, you will probably find that each one individually will increase sales, brand awareness, or your community. So the more you utilize, the stronger your brand presence will be.

We work with fashion brands that are serious about their fashion digital marketing. Our digital marketing agency not only makes an impact on your online sales but we work with you to develop effective ongoing campaigns that bring together your website, email, blog, and social media efforts. Read more about our Business Advantage program.

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Fashion Digital Marketing: 12 Ideas to Market Your Brand

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In a crowded online fashion market, it can be difficult to distinguish your brand from the pack. We have found that one of the best ways to make your mark is with digital marketing. Not only can fashion digital marketing improve your brand presence, increase awareness and sales, but it is something that is trackable so you get immediate feedback if something is working or not.

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Fashion is a unique industry in that it's influenced almost entirely by the perception of what's "in style," and that perception is continually evolving. What's in one month may be out the next, and it's the job of your fashion brand to stay ahead of the curve and anticipate upcoming trends.

At the same time, your fashion brand should be working toward influencing customer perception in order to stimulate said trends rather than simply following suit. In doing so, you create demand for your products.

Today you're just as responsible as every big name in the business for creating a buzz around your brand and promoting your line.

So do you focus your efforts on marketing or just on PR campaigns?

The short answer is, well, neither.

In fact, that's what we want to clear up today. So many fashion brands are under the impression that they should be focusing on one or the other. What they fail to realize is that (especially in the fashion industry) marketing and public relations work best when used in conjunction with one another.

Count yourself lucky to be a part of an industry that can seamlessly employ multiple powerful growth strategies at the same time.

As consumer expectation and education levels have changed, fashion brands have become (and continue to be) much more educated on marketing efforts using social media, blogs, search engine optimization, and fashion content marketing. The rise of mobile and ecommerce have made the digital landscape a must.

In this article I'll explain the differences between a digital marketing agency and a public relations agency and, more importantly, how each can support your business.

Moreover, I'll explain why you should be utilizing both types of agencies to exploit the full potential of your brand.

It's time to make to make the most of how you reach your customers. Are you ready?

While both marketing and PR support sales, marketing is what most people think of when they want to build their business. For better or worse, marketing is a more direct way to engage your customers.

For years, traditional marketing has influenced customers buying decisions through TV, radio, magazines, and more traditional media.

Today, however, the landscape of marketing has changed dramatically. Traditional methods are becoming less and less effective due to poor public perception. In the place of "traditional" marketing comes digital marketing and digital marketing agencies.

What do Digital Marketing Agencies do?

A digital marketing agency is different from your traditional marketing agency in that they are focused on results-based marketing in the digital world. Measurable marketing and ROI is the name of the game.

The way you begin a relationship with your digital marketing agency would depend on their expert recommendations. These range from brand identity (design, slogan, etc.) to building a highly effective website. Once your brand is established, an expert digital marketing agency focuses on the most effective forms of marketing for your particular business and driving online or in-store sales.

Inbound marketing campaigns are providing excellent returns for fashion brands, especially when paired with highly targeted paid advertising on platforms like Facebook.

So what's in it for YOU?

Effectively, digital marketing agencies optimize your brand's ability to bring your products to market in an effective and engaging way. They work toward establishing your brand as a trusted industry influencer and continually work toward generating new leads and sales, as well as boosting your repeat customer base.

Expert digital marketing agencies track your results and continually refine your strategy in order to achieve the highest ROI possible. Digital marketing agencies with an expertise in marketing fashion brands should be able to show you results they've achieved for their Fashion Clients during an initial consultation or strategy session.

A public relations agency focuses on media attention to increase brand awareness and improve public perception. While traditional outlets tend to work better for PR than marketing, today much of PR has gone digital too.

Additionally, digital marketing and public relations seem to be inching closer and closer together, which may be a good thing.

PR is all about generating interest and awareness in the public eye. This, the human element, is what PR does best.

What do Public Relation Agencies do?

A good PR agency will use their expertise to develop a strategy to generate or expand brand awareness through the media. This used to be limited to pitching traditional media for article placement, but things have changed.

While traditional tactics are still in play, press releases are being submitted to digital platforms as well. Many fashion blogs and magazines maintain readerships as high as the biggest names in print. Not to mention, these resources are able to spread brand awareness in real time on a global scale.

Your PR agency may also be in charge of creating special events designed to engage the public and the media. They should be conducting market research on your brand and continually developing new tactics to optimize your brand's PR strategy.

In the event of a crisis, your PR agency will be responsible for countering any negative awareness generated and work to restore positive brand/product image. This may include countering negative feedback on social media, a form of social media customer service.

So what's in it for YOU?

PR is all about public perception of your brand. In fashion, brand perception can mean the difference between stellar success and closing up shop.

A great PR agency strengthens your image and how your brand/products are perceived. The work they do can even lead to increased search engine visibility and improved organic search ranking.

Their ability to increase brand awareness provides a valuable resource that can establish a strong foundation, especially when launching new products or entire lines.

The American Marketing Association defines marketing as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large."

While the Public Relations Society of America describes PR like this: "[Public Relations] helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other. Public Relations broadly applies to organizations as a collective group, not just a business; and publics encompass the variety of different stakeholders."

Marketing is about bringing a product to market while public relations is about the way said product is perceived by the public. The same can be said for an entire brand.

Marketing engages a brand's customers to generate conversions. PR engages a field of potential customers to generate a positive brand image.

Now that you understand what each type of agency does, you may already be able to determine why fashion brands need to include both in the promotion of their business. Due to their differences, each lacks the ability to complete certain tasks and achieve the goals associated with them.

Digital agencies, for one, focus on sales. They track everything, providing hard data and conversion rates. Traditional digital marketing agencies don't focus on getting in magazines or featured in TV segments. If that's something you're interested in participating in, a PR firm will be able to help you do that.

In the same way that a digital marketing agency usually won't help obtain media segments, PR generally doesn't focus on the obtaining the quantifiable results that digital marketing provides. They still need to be able to provide you with which metrics they use to track the brand awareness they create. It's just more difficult to provide real-time results like those of digital marketing.

When you pair a digital marketing agency with a public relations agency, you're able to fill in any gaps and enhance one another's strengths. For example, where your digital marketing agency may help you create excellent content, your PR firm may be able to take that content's exposure to the next level with their contacts and resources.

All in all, the fashion world requires you to promote your brand in a way that your customers find exciting and engaging. Employing both a digital marketing agency and a PR firm just makes sense. Together marketing and public relations are able to engage would-be customers on all parts of the spectrum in their own unique ways.

The combination of improved brand perception and awareness via PR channels and the increased customer interaction and conversions digital marketing provides may be just what you need to take your fashion brand to a new level of success.

Vanessa

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Difference Between Marketing and Public Relations in Fashion

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In this article I'll explain the differences between a digital marketing agency and a public relations agency and, more importantly, how each can support your business. Moreover, I'll explain why you should be utilizing both types of agencies to exploit the full potential of your brand.

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The promotion of the product is how you are going to communicate to customers. A large part of this is done through advertising, where potential customers can get a sense of who you are and decide if they identify with your brand before ever seeing or touching the product. Your sales strategy is also key; it refers to how you plan to roll out the product. A fashion company may, for example, dress a celebrity in a dress and then sell a limited number of that same dress.

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You could argue that fashion has been playing the content marketing game for a long time now. What are fashion magazines like "Vogue" and "Elle" if not opportunities for brands to show off their products while ostensibly providing useful information to consumers about style and trends? What about blogs and social media? Now you're thinking in terms of fashion content marketing.

While you might argue that fashion magazines are editorial, there is some connection between a brand buying ad space in a magazine and its purses, pants, and other styles being featured in an article or photo shoot. Online, fashion content marketing goes beyond having a signature product featured in a shoot or editorial. It provides brands, from high fashion to fast fashion, with opportunities to engage with their customers.

What Does Fashion Content Marketing Look Like?

Fashion is primarily visual, so fashion content marketing tends to lean towards the visual. Whether on a brand's own website or on the blog of a prominent fashion/style blogger, you can expect content from fashion brands to look like the following:

Style blogs

From J.Crew to Anthropologie, plenty of fashion brands have their own blogs. While their blogs might showcase styling tips or outfit ideas, what to wear isn't the sole topic of those blogs. Anthro's blog, for example, features travel ideas and tips for decorating. It also has advice on caring for clothing, and craft project ideas.

Email newsletters

Email plays a big role in fashion content marketing. From "Hey, you forgot your shopping cart!" reminders to newsletters highlighting the latest trends, email gives fashion brands a chance to directly engage with their customers.

Magazines

Some brands and retailers have experimented with producing their own glossy, print magazines. Why not? If it works for "Vogue," why wouldn't it work for Net-a-Porter or Asos?

Social media

Social media is also often a part of a fashion brand's content marketing strategy. In some cases, it's the sole component. Social media gives brands a chance to show off their looks and styles, as well as a chance to share useful tips and advice with their followers.

User-generated content

Whether it's styling tips from a fashion blogger or an excited fan showing off his or her OOTD (outfit of the day), user-generated content is big in the fashion world.

Video

Fashion video might include clips from a runway show or even lifestyle videos that barely mention the brands behind them.

Top Fashion Content Marketing Brands

While you could argue that pretty much every fashion brand has some sort of content marketing strategy, some brands are better at it than others. Here's a quick look at some of the top players in fashion content marketing.

Net-a-Porter/Porter

Designer retailer Net-a-Porter produces a nearly 300-page glossy magazine, " Porter," every other month. The magazine is available in both print and digital formats. Like any other fashion magazine, it provides styling tips and aspirational images. More importantly, Net-a-Porter has a " shop the magazine " section on its website, which makes it super easy for people to buy the styles and looks they see.

Zac Posen/House of Z

" House of Z " is a feature-length documentary about American designer Zac Posen. Unlike other fashion docs, the film wasn't released in theaters. Instead, it's available for streaming, for a rental fee.

Burberry/Art of the Trench

British brand Burberry is known for its plaid and its trench coats. Its website, Art of the Trench, features user-submitted photos of people wearing the brand's signature coat, in a range of colors and styles.

Stitch Fix/Style Guide

Stitch Fix is a styling service that sends clothing to people based on their style and preferences. The brand also has a style guide, or blog, which offers tips and style advice to help people curate their wardrobes or design what's in and what's out.

How to Make Fashion Content Marketing Work for Your Brand

Whether you're a retailer or fashion house, there's a way to make content marketing work for you. Here's how to put together a fashion content marketing strategy:

Have a goal

Why is your brand using content marketing? Are you trying to get more leads or conversions? Do you need to raise awareness of your product?

Don't be too promotional

Remember that content marketing isn't the same as advertising or promotion. While you do want people to read or view your content and connect it to your brand, you don't want them to walk away from it feeling as if you just tried to sell them a pair of boots.

Know your audience

Knowing who your audience is and what they want can help you create the content that meets their needs. Does your brand appeal to 20-somethings who want to express their creativity on a tiny budget? Are you a luxury brand known for $1,000 purses and $2,500 coats? Videos or posts on thrifting or putting together a wardrobe on a budget make sense for a brand that's speaking to an audience with a limited budget, but aren't appropriate for an audience who is looking at Gucci loafers and Birkin bags.

Look to your customers

Whether on review blogs or social media, today's fashion customers are happy to share what they think about a brand or how they style certain pieces. Using your customers' content as part of your brand's content marketing strategy is smart. After all, online reviews are among the most trusted forms of advertising out there.

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Fashion Content Marketing: What It Is & How To Make It Work For You

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You could argue that fashion has been playing the content marketing game for a long time now. What are fashion magazines like "Vogue" and "Elle" if not opportunities for brands to show off their products while ostensibly providing useful information to consumers about style and trends? What about blogs and social media?

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The place refers to where and how the product is distributed. Certain brands will sell exclusively through small, luxury boutiques to maintain an exclusive image. Others will sell in every mall across the UK or Europe. This is an important consideration for fashion houses, because selling through the wrong distribution sources can cheapen the company's brand. Many luxury brands for example, don't even use social media to hype their products for fear of diluting their elite images.

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Pricing in the fashion industry is often a marketing decision in addition to other factors. The price of any product is generally based on the costs of the materials and labor needed to produce the item. In fashion, an additional factor is that the price needs to reflect the image that the company wants to establish. If it wants to appear cheap and chic, it may procure less-expensive materials and cheaper labor to be able to offer that. Another company may desire an upper-class image, therefore setting a price point beyond what actual costs necessitate.

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The first of the four P's of the marketing mix. This formula works in any industry and is an important tool for creating a product that customers want to buy. The product, in terms of marketing, refers to all the elements that go into making the actual product marketable. Some of these are design, packaging, quality, branding and value. In fashion, the main element of the product is the design, while other important considerations are quality, seasonality and tag style

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This is called the 'marketing mix' and it will be essential for you to consider when creating your fashion marketing plan.

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Steps For A Fashion Brand Target Audience

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Steps For A Fashion Brand Target Audience

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After conducting your research in step 1 and 2, you will be able to compile a fairly accurate profile of your target market. If your brand offers multiple products at varying price points, it may be necessary to conduct research for each line of clothing. This information will give you a profile of the socioeconomic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. This allows you to understand information about your customer’s income level, educational background, values, lifestyle, and many other traits. A detailed and thorough customer profile is essential in creating a successful branded fashion concept.

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Give consideration to how you are going to reach your target audience. Having spent time on profiling your target market, you should find this step of the process much easier.

Some simple examples – if your target audience are 25-35 year-old fashion conscious busy professionals, think about social media and online platforms, as these are mediums that this demographic actively engage with. Alternatively, if your luxury fashion brand is aimed at 55-65 year-old women who are largely retired, you may want to opt for print publications that you know this demographic like to read.

Whether you decide on online or offline advertising, remember to ask advertising managers for a breakdown of the demographic profile of their readers. This information will help you to make decisions about allocating your marketing funds effectively.

Note also that no matter who your target audience is, you need to ensure that your content not only reaches them, but also emotionally connects and engages with them.

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With your needs considered, it is time to select a target audience whose needs you can best fulfil. Your task is to find the most commercially viable consumer segment on which to focus your efforts.

For 1 and 2 please ensure you explore the VALS, ACORN and Young and Rubicam systems of classification.

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Segmenting is a way of organizing your universe of customers into meaningful and distinct groups. There are many different ways to define these segments – demographics, attitudes, behaviors, values, or needs. Most importantly these segments or groups should be distinct, stable, and specific to your category.

There will be a temptation to segment your tribe according to demographics but don't underestimate the power of Psychographic data, such as values and behaviors, combined with considering a needs based segmentation approach.

By focusing on the needs of your target consumer, your fashion brand can offer them what they truly want. You can then build a branded fashion concept that will serve the distinctive needs in the market.

Take some time to note down the following about your target audience:

Demographics – who are they? What is their age, gender, profession and income etc.

Psychographics – How do they think? What are their interests, values, attitudes, likes and dislikes etc?

Behavioural – What do they do? How do they consume media? Is it online or offline? What sites or publications?

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Big data insight is transforming the fashion industry

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Big data insight is transforming the fashion industry

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A data-driven approach has an immense capability to change the landscape of the fashion industry. Fashion brands and designers are becoming more and more informed about their audiences through today’s technology platforms intertwined with a more democratic culture. This is helping brands and consumers connect on a much deeper level than ever before. In the years to come, fashion brands will start to invest in sophisticated analytics software that is currently only being used by big companies such as GAP and ASOS, allowing them to objectively understand fashion trend, sales information and public reaction, using billions of data points from a wide variety of sources around the globe—from retail sites, social media, designer runway reports, and blogs— all of which is accessible in real time!

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The most sophisticated of all shoppers. Fashion already relies on a complex array of barely perceptible signs and symbols - the width of the lapel, the height of a boot - so the imagery behind it cannot afford to be primitive.

The days when consumers were loyal to brands are long gone. Nobody wants to be decked from head to toe in clothes from the same source, especially if they are smothered in logos. Small “curated” stores selling unusual but multiple brands, along with other lifestyle accoutrements, will become much more common in the future.

Consumers don't just buy designer, or chain stores or vintage. They buy all three and throw them together in a style that is uniquely personal. As stylists themselves, consumers are pushing for more choice in the faster turnover of products. Fabrics and designers are becoming more innovative, even at the low end of the market.

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Consumer Insight - Personalisation the key theme of 2019

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Consumer Insight - Personalisation the key theme of 2019

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Fashion consumers, are the most sophisticated of all shoppers. Fashion already relies on a complex array of barely perceptible signs and symbols - the width of the lapel, the height of a boot - so the imagery behind it cannot afford to be primitive. The days when consumers were loyal to brands are long gone. Nobody wants to be decked from head to toe in clothes from the same source, especially if they are smothered in logos. Small “curated” stores selling unusual but multiple brands, along with other lifestyle accoutrements, will become much more common in the future. Consumers don't just buy designer, or chain stores or vintage. They buy all three and throw them together in a style that is uniquely personal. As stylists themselves, consumers are pushing for more choice in the faster turnover of products. Fabrics and designers are becoming more innovative, even at the low end of the market.

The quest for originality is also prompting the return of couture and personal tailoring, but in a more democratic form. Women want to participate in the creation of an ensemble with the sales assistant. They like being part of the creative process. Fashion is all about the alter ego; who do I want to be today, without the why. It is that instant 30 seconds in front of the wardrobe, the mental picture of the occasion and mood, which makes a woman, reach into her heart and choose the garment that will define her person for that day. Understanding the psychology of fashion through research on consumer insight will enable you to create a strong brand that will resonate with the hearts and minds of your audience.

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Click here to enhance your knowledge on consumer insight, profiling and big data within the fashion industry.

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Click here to enhance your brand awareness within the fashion industry.

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Brand identity design is the actual process of creating the logo, color palette, typography, etc.

With these definitions in mind, what follows is an overview of the 7 key elements of brand identity design you'll need to include to have a strong, consistent, and potentially iconic brand.

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Opinion by Richard Baird.

Inspired by fashion's current fascination with customisation, technology and a "sense of light-hearted fun", creative duo and stylists Charlotte Stockdale and Katie Lyall created Chaos, a new UK luxury lifestyle brand producing limited edition and personalised tech and travel accessories.

Through form and finish, materiality and graphic design, Chaos products, which include phone cases and charms, zips and luggage tags, express the brand's take on practicality and stylistic desirability, the meeting of technology and fashion, utility and individuality. These are high quality, with a price tag to match (between £76-214), and a favourite with actors Cara Delevingne and Margot Robbie.

London-based studio Socio Design were commissioned by the team at Chaos to develop a packaging design for their collection of deerskin phone cases and luggage tags, gold-plated charms and zips. Using contrasting colour and high quality production detailing, and playing with a tension between the modern and traditional, the digital world and the analogue, these reflect the brand's playful and "anarchic" approach, and commitment to challenging contemporary luxury standards.

Continue reading this article

Opinion by Richard Baird.

Paco Rabanne is Spanish designer and French fashion label established in 1966 with a catalogue of ready-to-wear garments, shoes, fragrances and accessories. Rather than an interest in the past, Paco Rabanne, who originally trained as an architect, has created strong silhouettes from new materials, and often rejected the spirit and art of the time.

Paco Rabanne's creative director Julien Dossena worked with the London-based design studio Zak Group to reinterpret and express the essence of the fashion label through a new visual identity system, which would coincide with the opening of the label's first new shop in ten years. Zak Group revised logo and monogram, devised a custom typeface and took a new approach to show invitations, lookbooks and bags, campaigns, art direction and website.

This post was updated June 2017 with images of, and insight into, Paco Rabanne's latest lookbook and show invitations, also designed by Zak Group.

Continue reading this article

Opinion by Richard Baird.

The Practical Man is an online retail destination for men's sports style and fitness, activewear and equipment, but also editorial content that covers reviews, fitness-focused travel guides and in-depth insight into new brands. It curates a catalogue of world-leading products that exist at the intersection of fashion and sports performance, designed by innovative and passionate brands with progressive approaches.

Australian graphic design studio Garbett worked with The Practical Man to develop a brand identity and visual language that would expresses their unique perspective on men's performance style. This extended to swing tags, business cards, packaging, a series of still life images and website developed by Sons & Co.

Continue reading this article

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Opinion by Richard Baird. Inspired by fashion's current fascination with customisation, technology and a "sense of light-hearted fun", creative duo and stylists Charlotte Stockdale and Katie Lyall created Chaos, a new UK luxury lifestyle brand producing limited edition and personalised tech and travel accessories.

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Brand identity is the face of a brand. A brand is an emotional and even philosophical concept, while brand identity is the visual component of a brand that represents those larger ideas. Brand identity includes logos, typography, colors, packaging, and messaging, and it complements and reinforces the existing reputation of a brand. Brand identity attracts new customers to a brand while making existing ones feel at home. It’s both outward- and inward-facing. Because it's representing and reinforcing the emotions of a brand, the message portrayed by brand identity components needs to be clear, and it needs to be the same no matter where it's displayed.

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The below definitions will enable give you an understanding of the key elements of branding, enhancing your ability to create a meaningful and relevant branded fashion concept.

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Since we live in a multimedia world, the final step in creating a brand identity is an extended visual language, with supporting graphics, icons, and photographs. Take a look at Google's Visual Assets Guidelines to see how they carefully explain their take on icon design.

Because of Google's close attention to their extended visual language, when you see a Google icon, you know it's a Google icon.

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Consistency. That's just one element successful fashion brands have in common. Seasons and trends come and go, but you can still identify a Gucci, Burberry or Alexander McQueen on site. One of the most vital documents that makes this possible is one that every enterprise should own, but many don't. This is a brand style guide; also, known as the brand bible.
Style Guide Defined
Start Up Fashion defines it as, "a document that provides guidelines, or even rules, and best practices for your brand's visual identityand language styles." It looks at the nitty gritty of your brand, such as the basic design elements and the language you choose to use, to improve your overall communication. These elements create consistency that will be used across the board; from marketing and branding decisions to the types of font you use and spacing requirements. your current customer base can easily recognize it whilst attracting new audiences who can relate or identify with the brand.

Having this information written down can ensure that all departments are always on the same page on where you want your brand to be. However, if you're a one-person show, these documents still come in handy; especially if your contracting outside skills such as photography or styling and when embarking on collaborations with other brands. As you begin to expand, it will be a useful integration tool for the new employee rather than having to explain it to every new employee.
Basic Categories
As mentioned above, the Style Guide elements typically fall into two categories: Language and Visual Styles. The Former refers to the tone and attitude your brand communicates to the world with. This would tackle everything from words and phrases you can and can't use, to how the brand's information can be used on different media channels. The latter refers to what people will see about the brand. That includes, but not limited to, colour palettes and logos.
Style Guide Elements
A big part of your mood board will be made up by your colour story. That is what hues will become synonymous with your fashion entity, because it'll be seen on all your marketing materials. Website and Logo included; Think Facebook and Navy blue. You can start by identifying the three main colours of your brand and perhaps what supporting colours will you work with. And finding the exact shade of the colour has been made simpler thanks to trend and colour forecasting site, Pantone. With each colour swatch categorised under specific letters and numbers, no wonder they're the industry standard for classifying colours.

This is an integral part of your brand and hence your guide should dictate clearly how the logo can be used. This includes details such as minimum and maximum sizes, colours, and the recommended space around the logo. Take this a step further and indicate how the logo shouldn't look and how not to utilize the logo. If you have multiple logos, ensure that you dedicate a section or page to each logo. Nothing should get lost in translation.
Typography
Yes, even the way the letters and numbers look on your marketing material will help to define your style and hence push your brand's visibility. That includes categorising the preferred kerning (spaces between words and letters), leading (distance between text on the page) and sizing. You'll probably have to decide on different typefaces for different purposes, yet there must be some consistency for the final picture to be professional. Thus, your style guide will identify where each typeface should go and how it should be used. For example, select one display font for your posters and headers that looks great with large sizes. Select another font for the longer paragraphs of information that suite small sizes such as 8-10pt. Both however should easily be legible. Once you've decided you will only use these fonts!
Tone and Lingo
Your target audience will greatly influence your brand voice, after all it must appeal to them. Here's where you decide if your tone will be conversational or formal. It's also where you highlight acceptable and unacceptable phrases as well as words you can use. Even more details are required on what your house style is; this refers to rules that would apply to spelling, capitalisation, punctuation, usable emojis, etc.
Photography
You'll probably have a formal shoot for every collection you release and follow up with casual phone-snapped images you'll run on social media. Every shoot will have a different theme or feel, but constancy still needs to strongly come across. The aim is for anyone to quickly identify your brand even before reading the descriptive article or text. The types of moods, locations, lighting, colour palettes, models, makeup and hair guidelines, and even social media filters you choose should be in line with your brand aesthetic. Remember that photographers are visual so in line with the parameter text, have an image example of what you're aiming for.

It's the first of your physical product and thus will help to create the perception of your work. In particular, online stores utilize packaging to entice purchases and encourage them the consumers to share your product with their social media community. It also compensates for the lack of instant gratification that a shopper would get from immediately walking out a of store with the item. As opposed to waiting three to 10 days for it to arrive at their residence. Some of the wrapping aspects to consider include, the sustainability and eco-friendliness of the material used, what the customer sees when they open the packaging - the product or branded tissue/ ribbons/strings, how much of your branding will be on the packaging, and will you use normal tape or order custom made tape?

It can't be reiterated enough that consistency is key and thus it should be all documented. Granted, as your brands continues to grow, the style guide will experience some evolution. All opportunities and additional media channels will need to be categorised too. But they probably will not be so drastic that it appears that your brand is heading in a totally different direction. If that is the case, it may be time to start over with some good-old rebranding. The above were just some of the basic elements. Because each brand has diverse needs and information to dispense, determine what is necessary for you and start from there.

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Brand Bible: How To Develop Your Fashion Style Manual

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Consistency. That's just one element successful fashion brands have in common. Seasons and trends come and go, but you can still identify a Gucci, Burberry or Alexander McQueen on site. One of the most vital documents that makes this possible is one that every enterprise should own, but many don't.

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Stressing about finding just the right font may lead others to designate you a "typography nerd," but you'll come out ahead when you pick a font that works in harmony with your logo and colors.

Fonts are powerful. The most famous fonts are recognizable even when taken out of context. You'll want a single primary typeface to lead your brand identity design, and it should work well with your logo and your color palette. It should also, like your logo and color palette, be simple.

If you'd like to know more, I found this beginner's guide to typography helpful.

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Fashion typefaces don't stray far from Helvetica.

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Related to logo design is the color palette. This should also be simple, with only 1 to 3 primary colors (though Google got away with 4). Knowing a bit about the emotions conveyed by certain colors can help you select the right ones.

A lot of color psychology is intuitive, like blue expressing calm and red and yellow expressing passion and energy. Depending on the tint or shade of a color you use, that emotion can be adjusted. A tint is the color mixed with white, making it lighter, and a shade is the color mixed with black, making it darker. A lighter tint of blue conveys tranquility, while a darker shade of blue often conveys trust, an effect that many banks use in their color schemes.

Brands should have only a few primary colors, but you can also select secondary colors to be used alongside your primary colors in some of your materials. Selecting a few additional colors helps your brand stay exciting but still on brand.

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Your logo is central to your brand identity design. It's the piece of your brand identity that people will be exposed to the most. It needs to line up with all the other elements of your brand identity, as well as the broader emotional appeal of your brand.

To increase your chances of having a memorable logo that encourages a strong emotional response, go for a simple look. Take a look at the logos of the world's top 3 brands (according to Interbrand)

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As Graphic Designer and Art Director Paul Rand once said, "It is only by association with a product, a service, a business, or a corporation that a logo takes on any real meaning. It derives its meaning and usefulness from the quality of that which it symbolizes." His words of wisdom resonate especially as we as a society delve further into a DIY-aesthetic where every single person with a dream and an Internet connection is poised to develop the next big thing in a variety of mediums. Simply put, everyday we're inundated with more and more "companies" that aren't necessarily promising anything other than the fact that the "owner" himself/herself is fulfilling a dream.

To explore the world of luxury logos and their inspirations is to unearth a rich history unified by the notion of excellence. To endure is one thing. To flourish through the years is something quite different. These are the inspirations that came to define the logos of 20 of the most well-known luxury brands.
Versace's Medusa Head
While we traditionally think of Medusa's head as something unappealing, it is in fact her transformation into a beast by Athena that was at the heart of Gianni Versace's intentions when he created the logo in 1978. The Medusa emblem picked up by Versace became an iconic motif in fashion as it evoked sheer authority, attractiveness and fatal fascination; three basic attributes of Medusa. "When I asked Gianni why he chose Medusa's head," Donatella Versace later said, "he told me he thought that whoever falls in love with Medusa can't flee from her."
YSL's Letters
Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron or simply Cassandre - a Ukrainian-French painter, commercial poster artist and typeface designer - created the YSL logo in December 1961 only a few years before his suicide. As some have put it, "The challenge [was] in how Cassandre dared to break the unwritten rule of not mixing - in the same word - two typeface features that are, in principle, incompatible.
Rolls-Royce's Spirit of Ecstasy
The Spirit of Ecstasy - also referred to as "Emily," "Silver Lady" or "Flying Lady - was designed by English sculptor Charles Robinson Sykes and meant to discreetly tell the story of the secret passion held between John Walter Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, (second Lord Montagu of Beaulieu and automotive pioneer) and his love for Eleanor Velasco Thornton who served as the model.
The Hermés Carriage
Hermès began as a small harness workshop in Paris, which was dedicated to serving European noblemen and creating luxury harnesses and bridles for horse-drawn carriages. The Hermès logo is a royal carriage and a horse - and uses a slightly modified form of the Memphis typeface which was originally designed by Dr. Rudolf Wolf in 1929.
Chanel's Interlocking C's
The Chanel logo was designed by Coco Chanel herself in 1925 and remains unchanged to this day. A popular story suggests that it was inspired by the stained glass windows in an Aubazine chapel which featured interlaced curves and also housed an orphanage where Chanel spent the latter half of her childhood.

Another legend says that Coco Chanel saw the interlocking Cs at Château Crémat, a château in Nice that Irène Bretz - a friend of Chanel - had purchased. As the story goes, "One summer night Coco Chanel looked up at a vaulted arch at one of Irène's famous parties and found inspiration in a Renaissance medallion: two interlocking Cs."

A final anecdote focuses on Boy Capel - the love of Chanel's life and the source of funding for her business and her first boutiques. As writer Justine Picardie insinuates following Capel's death, "There was no business contract to bind them together, just as there was no marriage certificate, but it nonetheless joined them, as the double C logo seems to suggest; Chanel and Capel; overlapping, but also facing away from each other."
The Maserati Trident
The Maserati Brothers took inspiration from the statue of Neptune that sat in the square in Bologna, Italy where Maserati was originally headquartered. While Mario Maserati, an artist, was responsible for the original logo, he would never work on any designs relating to engineering or automobiles.
Prada's Rope Emblem
While Prada chooses to solely use their name for most branding, they do in fact have an emblem with a rich history. The classic rope design that aligns the periphery comes from when the Italian house were appointed as the official suppliers to the Italian Royal Household in 1919 - thus allowing them to use the House of Savoy's coat of arms.
Louis Vuitton's Monogram
The Louis Vuitton monogram was first introduced in 1896 and created by Louis' son, Georges Vuitton. Described as a "Japanese-inspired flower motif," the monogram's original purpose was to thwart the counterfeiting of the Parisian company's designer luggage and is one of the earliest examples of fashion branding. The pattern of alternating brown and beige squares was known as Damier (French for checkerboard).
The Ferrari Horse
Enzo Ferrari told the story of the prancing horse logo just once. " The horse was painted on the fuselage of the fighter plane of Francesco Baracca - a heroic airman of the First World War. In '23, I met count Enrico Baracca, the hero's father, and then his mother, countess Paulina, who said to me one day, 'Ferrari, put my son's prancing horse on your cars. It will bring you good luck.' The horse was, and still is, black, and I added the canary yellow background which is the color of Modena."
Maison Martin Margiela's White Stitches
The white stitches used to affix Martin Margiela's label - often visible at the back of the garment - have become an internationally recognized badge of cool. Margiela states that they are, "A proclamation of anonymity, the desire to not to distract from the garment with a name brand, a response to the tyranny of logos. The four white pick stitches were first conceived to hold the labels in place and to be easily undone, thus rendering the item unidentifiable."
Paul Smith's Signature
The ubiquitous signature is in fact, not Paul Smith's own signature. Rather, it was drawn by Zena Marsh, a friend of Smith's who created it in the early '70s while working at his hometown shop on Nottingham Byard Lane. The signature logo "was never intended to be anything other than a mark," says Alan Aboud, principal, creative director of Aboud Creative. "It's a tremendously tricky device to use. It works small and discreet, or massive; any kind of middle ground just looks a bit awkward. It's only with experience that you know how big it should be or how small it should be." The hand-drawn logo was tightened up a little in the early 1980s when Smith opened his ﬁrst shop in London.
The Lamborghini Bull
The Lamborgini Bull reflects the zodiac sign (Taurus) of company founder Ferruccio Lamborghini who purposefully copied the Ferrari shield to irk Enzo Ferrari. The first two Lamborghini models were badged alphanumerically, the 350GT and its successor, the 400GT. After that, all subsequent models would be named after notorious Spanish fighting bulls like the ferocious Miura bulls of Andalusia, the Murciélago which survived 28 sword strokes in a 1879 bullfight, and the understated Islero which was named after the bull which killed the legendary Manolete.
The Rolex Crown
The Rolex emblem is an extension of the company's slogan of "A Crown for Every Achievement" which has been used since the brand's inception in 1903. For founders Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis, the crown represented prestige, victory and perfectionism.
Burberry Prosum Knight
While the mention of "Burberry" invokes thoughts of their eponymous check pattern and their invention of gabardine, it was 1901 when the Burberry Equestrian Knight Logo was developed. Containing the Latin word "Prorsum," meaning forward, many speculate that the knight's armor reflects the companies innovation in the realm of outerwear.
The Porsche Horse
As Porsche puts it, "At the start of the 1950s, Professor Ferdinand Porsche, his son Ferry, and their trusted circle set about developing a company emblem that they intended both to refer to their location in Stuttgart and to have a dynamic, powerful image. After numerous drafts were produced, including several from the pen of Porsche engineer Franz Xaver Reimspiess, a crest was agreed upon that included elements from the history of Württemberg-Baden, as the political region was still called at that time: Stylized antlers and the state colors of red and black. This was intended as a clear commitment to Swabia, the Porsche family's second home. The center of the crest shows a black horse rampant, an expression both of forward thrusting power and a derivation of the city seal. For Stuttgart, established in 950 as the stud farm of 'stuotgarten,' it has had horses in its coat of arms in varying designs since the 14th century." They go on to say, "And thus in 1952, the 356 bore the characteristic shield for the first time. It appeared on the horn in the middle of the steering wheel - something, however, that Professor Ferdinand Porsche, who died on 30th January 1951, was not to witness. By the end of 1955, the crest was also to be seen on the bonnet of the 356, integrated into the handle. And while the handle no longer exists, the crest on the bonnet has remained. From 1959, the wheel-caps also featured the horse, the antlers and the unique wording - maybe because this enabled passers-by to recognize the sports car from the side as well! And the company has kept to this limited but well-placed distribution of the crest to this day. There has never been any reason to contemplate changing the Porsche crest's symbolic and powerful design and thus to risk modernizing it to death. Although the lettering has been slightly trimmed and the horse's contours smoothed over time for printed versions, brochures and correspondence, for Porsche fans, however, in Germany and around the world, who associate the sports car in iconic fashion with this image, nothing has changed for 50 years."
The Gucci Double G's
The instantly recognizable logo for Gucci represents the initials of the founder, Guccio Gucci, and was created by his son, Aldo, in 1933. While undoubtedly similar to that of Coco Chanel, there has never been any public litigation regarding their likenesses.
Harrods' Handwriting
Created by Minale Tattersfield in 1967 - a partnership between Marcello Minale and Brian Tattersfield - the Harrods logotype's aim was to unite a variety of over 300 products while both expressing the individuality of each product via the pack design and unified by a common style of typography under the Harrods brand. The gold and green color palette was fine-tuned, developed from a range of preexisting but inconsistent shades, and exact specifications produced from which no deviations were permitted. Minale Tattersfield updated the Harrods brand identity in the 1980s, adding the store's four royal warrants and Knightsbridge location underneath the logotype, as well as a personalized Harrods typeface mimicking the signature script.
The Bugatti Oval
Founder Ettore Bugatti's father was a professional jewelry designer and artist who viewed his son's automobiles like they were precious jewels. From an engineering standpoint, there were no gaskets used in the cars so the safety wires just appeared like lace patterns - hence the red dots in the logo to accompany Ettore's initials.
Ralph Lauren's Polo Player
Ralph Lauren released a line of women's suit that were tailored in a classic men's style in 1970 and was the first instance where the Polo emblem was seen (a full two years before the classic men's polo would make an appearance). To understand the emblem is to know why Ralph Lifshitz chose the name "Polo" in the first place. For him, he was interested in promoting a lifestyle and the sport of Polo which embodied a world of elegance and style.
The McLaren's Various Marques
The first McLaren crest was designed in 1964 by Michael Turner - famous motorsport artist and close friend of Bruce McLaren - for the fledgling Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Team. It centered on a Kiwi, the national symbol of Bruce's homeland, New Zealand. The more dynamic "Speedy Kiwi" was introduced in 1967, once again designed by Michael Turner to emphasize the higher speeds at which Bruce's cars were racing. It also took on a striking papaya orange color which familiarly became known as "McLaren Orange." In 1997 the logo was once again changed to a version we recognize today which is a streamlined speedmark, which bares similarities to the vortices created by the car's rear wing.

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The Inspirations Behind 20 of the Most Well-Known Luxury Brand Logos | Highsnobiety

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As Graphic Designer and Art Director Paul Rand once said, "It is only by association with a product, a service, a business, or a corporation that a logo takes on any real meaning. It derives its meaning and usefulness from the quality of that which it symbolizes."

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Something I've heard several times is the question "If your brand were a person, what would he/she be like?" It might be a bit cliché at this point, but it's a smart way to think about brand personality.

And brand personality is an important thing to consider. It will come through in every part of your brand identity design if you get it right, but if a personality isn't established, customers will get mixed messages and have trouble connecting with your brand.

Once you've pictured the kind of person your brand would be and listed off a few attributes they have, it's helpful to boil down your brand’s personality into a single statement.

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It's important to give your business a friendly face.

Brand personalities resonate with people:

Brands with a corporate identity are easier to remember and identify.

Customers become more loyal and feel they can trust a brand when it has a personality behind it.

Brand personalities also teach customers how they should be using your products and how a company should fit into their lifestyle.

Creating a brand personality doesn't take much work, but keeping your brand's personality on-message can be difficult.

It's easy for a brand to communicate the wrong message through one aspect of its presentation.

Alternatively, it's common for spokespeople for brands to mess up and wander away from their designated public image, making things difficult for a brand's credibility.

Let's look at why a powerful brand personality matters, and how you can create an identity and persona for your company that really resonates with your customers.

The Importance of a Strong Personality

So first off, why is it important to have a powerful brand personality?

The key to branding is letting your customers know the kind of service they can expect from you.

This affects everything from the visuals associated to your brand to the types of people your company attracts.

Interestingly, there's research to suggest that branding even affects the taste of food and drinks - people experience of taste changes based on outside factors such as the color of a drinks can.

The goal of creating a brand personality is creating an identity for your customers to interact with. It's about turning a company that can often come across as cold and impersonal into something that people can relate to.

This works in many ways:

If customers enjoy your brand identity, they'll want to befriend your personality, and will feel more loyal towards your company.

Customers may also buy into the culture around your brand, wanting to make themselves more like the personality you create by associating more often with your products.

Look at Chanel perfume.

The brand focuses on dark images to imply culture, mystery and class.

Many ads are entirely in black and white to give their brand an old-world feel, but the clothes and accessories on display also give the brand a sense of modern, fashionable sophistication.

The brand uses a lot of celebrity images - often, these are actors known for their talent as well as their beauty.

All of Chanel's branding is designed to appear cultured, rich, and sexy.

This persona surrounding the brand draws in customers who want to develop these qualities themselves:

They feel that through using Chanel fragrances, they themselves become more sophisticated, attractive and wealthy.

Because the Chanel brand personality is one of understated class, those seen to be using its products are also associated with the power of the adverts, meaning that the perfume draws in crowds who are looking to create an image of wealth and beauty.

As more rich and beautiful people use the product, they help in further reinforcing the public image of the Chanel brand personality.

There's a lot to gain from getting brand personality right.

It helps customers to identify your product, it increases brand loyalty, and it ensures that your company image remains targeted to the right audience.

Finding, Not Inventing

The first rule of developing a brand personality is understanding the framework that already exists.

While some brands attempt to completely reinvent their public image, it's rare for this to work.

Instead, it's best to focus on the existing, inherent brand personality that exists under the surface, and building this up so that your customers see your brand under a clearer light.

Your brand personality should grow out of your existing customer base:

Who are they?

What do they relate to?

What visual and cultural messages are they familiar with?

What traits or tropes do they share?

What in-jokes do they understand that nobody else 'gets'?

How do they use and relate to your products?

If you can answer these questions, you're going a long way to understanding how your brand should act and what personality it should have.

Your brand personality shouldn't be a stereotype of your customers, but people who buy your products should be able to see themselves - or what they aspire to be - in the face of your company.

Give Your Brand a Face

The point of giving your brand a personality is turning it into an identifiable, relatable entity that people can see as human.

With that in mind, one of the most important things you can do to give your brand personality is provide it with a face.

Putting the right person front and center in your brand is crucial to making sure your target audience interprets your message in the right way.

Let's have a look at one of the most successful brand personality campaigns of the nineties, and what made it work so well.

Do you recognize this cartoon character?

If you do, you're not alone - 58% of the population of the US can identify him as Sonic the Hedgehog, and 20% of the population consider him to be one of their favorite characters.

While the character's reputation has slipped over the past twenty years, back in the early 1990s he had higher rating scores than Mickey Mouse.

What might surprise you, though, is that Sonic the Hedgehog isn't just a cute little cartoon character: every aspect of his design is intended to build up the brand personality of video game company Sega.

In designing a mascot for their company, Sega wanted something that pointed out the incredible speed of their gaming hardware - something that made people see their games console, the Genesis, as faster than the competition.

So they designed a character for whom speed was central, and who had an edgy, snarky attitude which differentiated Sega from its more childish rivals.

They put a lot of thought into designing a character that perfectly reflected the interests of their target audience:

Sonic's colors come from the Pepsi logo - seen as the cool alternative to Coca-Cola at the time.

His shoes are designed to match footwear worn by popstar Michael Jackson

His personality was (supposedly) based on then-US president Bill Clinton, who was at the time seen as charismatic and charming - certainly enough so to win elections.

Every aspect of Sonic the Hedgehog is designed to both sell his products and to draw customers to the culture of the company he represents.

The brand personality he brought to Sega was so powerful that for a time the company overtook its main competitor to become the leading manufacturer and publisher of home console video games in the United States, and one of the most respected brands around the world.

Creating a Personality

There are plenty of brands which thrive through inventing an identity, or otherwise embellishing the story of an individual to help build up a sense of identity for their company.

This is particularly common for fast food chains, who opt to include mascots that customers can learn to identify.

One of the most popular examples is The Colonel from KFC - while the founder of the restaurant chain was a real person, a lot of his history has been embellished and the historical figure has now been turned into a mascot.

There's also Ronald McDonald, The King, and Wendy - all fictional characters which give customers a cartoon face to identify their various restaurant chains.

Betty Crocker never actually existed - she was created by a marketing team to give humanity to their range of foods.

You don't need to go so far as to create an entirely fictional person, but it is helpful to put a person front and center for your marketing materials to build up brand personality.

This can be done in:

Marketing videos

Customer service conversations

Shop floor demonstrations

Providing a voice for your blog.

The person doesn't always have to be the same, but their message should match the branding for your company.

They should be warm, friendly, and relatable whilst professional and respectful.

Also, bear in mind that even when dealing with a real spokesperson, the same lessons from Sonic the Hedgehog still apply.

From the colors to the fashion and even the personalities that brands present, carefully choosing every aspect of a brand personality and the kind of people that are featured in marketing materials is important to give people the right idea about a brand and what it stands for.

Just be sure not to make so many drastic changes to their appearance that your spokesperson feels uncomfortable or out of place: if they're not sold on the direction you're taking the branding, customers will pick up on it.

Celebrity Endorsements

Cartoon characters don't work for every business, and in the modern era they're less successful at drawing interest towards a brand.

A quick look at the continued internet mockery of Clippy, the Microsoft paperclip, proves that an annoying or misjudged mascot can leave a sour taste in the mouths of consumers for many years.

One shortcut to brand identity building that's often used by a variety of companies is celebrity endorsement.

This can be helpful in establishing the kind of people you want your brand to appeal to.

Burberry, for example, used celebrities as models in an ad campaign to encourage a more high-culture image for their brand.

This is fairly loose endorsement, and while it can be effective in the short term it's not going to leave a lasting impression on audiences.

At the other end of the spectrum are celebrity endorsements such as the credibility George Foreman lends to a range of grills.

This kind of all-in endorsement trades entirely off the celebrity in question, to the point that it's difficult to separate the persona of the boxer from the image of the grills - most people aren't aware that Foreman wasn't in any way involved with the development of the product.

This is a far more powerful form of endorsement, giving a well known face to a product that otherwise would likely have never managed to draw much attention to itself.

This method of developing a brand personality is dangerous, though: your company's public image is tied inextricably to the celebrity in question.

While a particular celebrity might be in vogue temporarily, they might not be as popular, or associated with the same image and culture, in years to come.

This ends up dating your product - unless you can guarantee that the well known figure you're using is here to stay.

You also have to be careful - if the celebrity you sponsor does something off-brand or embarrassing in public, it can end up reflecting poorly on your company.

This was the case with Subway spokesman Jared Fogle - the man involved in Subway's ads was popular for a while, but child abuse allegations with surfaced surrounding Jared ultimately embarrassed Subway.

Use celebrities or even single faces with caution: someone who supports your brand now might not be as useful in years to come.

A Team Effort

Modern branding trends have seen the emphasis shift away from offering up a single person as a representative of a company, in favor of focusing on collective users of the brand's products.

Various marketing materials from the company Etsy points audiences to some of the many individuals who make up the service's collective community.

The company often features, through photography, articles or other media, particular examples of successful creators who've found widespread acceptance from the Etsy community.

This pushes the idea of community, and the notion that anyone can use the Etsy platform either to find quirky arts and crafts to buy, or to launch their own art career.

This focus on community is an important part of a solid brand identity:

Ideally you want your brand to be seen as a collective group who customers can trust, and who all buy fully into the culture which surrounds your product.

While often ridiculed, the hipster culture of Starbucks is a fascinating example of brand personality being communicated through a large proportion of the company's baristas.

A coffee house full of tattooed, bearded and pierced employees will draw in more people who feel at home in this company.

This creates a brand personality for Starbucks as a place where counterculture and new ideas can thrive - whilst fueled with frothy caffeinated drinks.

At the same time, those who don't fit the Starbucks brand image don't feel intimidated or out of place.

The fact that hipster culture can be so openly ridiculed highlights that people feel comfortable enough with the Starbucks brand image to mock its target customers.

If you can convince your customers that your product is the perfect accessory to their sub-culture's lifestyle, you'll have built a brand personality that resonates and which will be repeated by others, furthering your company's reach.

Tell a Story

If you're looking to give your brand more personality, be sure to tell your customers a narrative.

People love stories - it's how we learn, relate to people, and understand the world.

There are plenty of common stories that are used in building a brand personality:

A common one is the 'rags to riches' story of a brand that started small but grew into a huge global company.

Alternatively, you could tell the story of the vision behind your products and how they've helped people.

The Lego Company created an excellent brand story video a few years ago which explains the roots of the company:

While Lego is a very strong brand, a lot of the backstory behind the company's development and the process of creating their toys is relatively unknown.

The above video shows the history of the company, gives the viewer an understanding of the founder of Lego and his personal struggles, and explained the development of the brand and its theme parks.

For those who would otherwise see the Lego brand as just a big toy company, the video gives depth and personality to the brand.

That said, the video isn't perfect:

Its animation style is very off-brand, and whereas everything else from the Lego company is shiny, fun and bright, this movie is quiet, at times somber, and more grounded in reality.

It's hard for viewers to make sense of the message of the movie as it's so different to what they're used to from Lego.

Alternatively, you can tell stories about your customers, and the journey they go through when using your products.

These stories will help customers to understand what they'll be getting out of your products and what they can expect from your company.

Stories like this will also help people to understand your brand better, and will create an air of helpfulness around your brand that will inform its developing personality.

Using stories to explain things is how humans relate to each other, and how we make friends.

It makes sense, then, that by telling stories about your brand you can help customers to better relate to your company and its products.

Interacting with Others

Your brand's personality will be defined in large part by how you communicate with others.

Look at the legendary advertising rivalry between car manufacturers Audi and BMW - the two companies spend a lot of time trying to one-up each other.

While this fighting is fun, it benefits both parties - the idea of two warring car factions forces consumers to pick a side, and get involved personally in the war between the companies.

It also informs ideas about what Audi drivers are like, as opposed to BMW drivers, creating a strong collective identity for both companies' customers.

Communication doesn't just need to come from billboards: in the modern era, one of the most important tools for building a brand personality is social media.

While big, professional marketing campaigns involve a lot of planning, social media posts are typically smaller and more intimate.

This means that people see a brand's social media posts as a peek behind the curtain to what a company is really like.

It goes without saying: social media posts should always be on-brand. Failing to live up to your company's image online can be disastrous.

This can be difficult when social media accounts managers aren't fully aware of the identity a brand is trying to build.

It's also a problem if an employee goes off-brand in their social media posts.

The trick to ensuring that all social posts are within the desired brand personality is communication.

Everybody who in any way presents a face for the company should be fully aware of what's expected of them and how to maintain the brand identity at all times.

Consistency

Just in closing, let me hammer home the most important point on this subject once more:

Be consistent.

A brand image that changes regularly makes it difficult for customers to know what a company stands for.

Brand personality shouldn't be invented out of thin air: it should come naturally from the existing users of the company's products and reflect their lifestyle, wants and needs.

Every aspect of a brand, from its color scheme to its staff, will impact the way its personality is interpreted - so it's important to have everything fit together.

When a brand personality works, customers will flock to it, eager to enjoy a company that resonates with them and with which they can identify.
What are some of your favorite brands, personalities, and spokespeople? How have you built a brand persona that people care about? Share your thoughts in the comments below:

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Building a Brand Personality That Resonates: Why and How to Do It - Louder.Online

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It's important to give your business a friendly face. Brand personalities resonate with people: Brands with a corporate identity are easier to remember and identify. Customers become more loyal and feel they can trust a brand when it has a personality behind it.

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One of the best ways to conduct market research is to simply talk to people. Phone interviews allow for detailed discussions and place a helpful emphasis on the human element of research—an element that's essential if you want to make an emotional appeal to customers.

Beyond phone interviews, online survey tools, like Survey Monkey, are a fast way to gather a lot of information, and government resources can also be a powerful tool.

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Project Description

Fashion brands are often started by talented designers having a dream to start their own label, but not necessarily a clear understanding of where their brand will fit within their specific market segment.

There's such a diversity of products available and potential routes to market, it's essential for anyone starting out to become an expert in their particular area of the business

Research is key!

You should find out

* The size of market segment you want to operate in, current trends and whether it's an expanding sector
* Who your potential customers are, and their buying and lifestyle habits
* If planning to sell wholesale, which potential stockists are likely to carry your brand. Build a picture of which brands/products they currently buy from and the depth of stock they carry
*The right price points for your product(s) - this need to be at a comparable level to your competitors. Unless you are a well-known luxury brand, there is a ceiling to what customers will pay.
*Who your competitors are. It's valuable to learn from what they are doing, right or wrong. Look at their marketing/PR strategy, their branding and packaging and what Point of Sale (POS) materials they supply.
A successful competitor indicates there is a potential market for your product too!
In order to find out all this information you need to learn to be a detective! Luckily there are many places to search both online and on foot, such as :

* Print and online press
* Relevant fashion blogs
* Trade magazines
* Trade exhibitions
* Retail shops
* Ecommerce sites
* Online market databases - the Business and IP Centre at the British Library gives you free access to some of the best ones.
* Focus groups

It's good to spend time on this research at the beginning of your business journey before your launch, and update as the business grows, as will help you develop your business model and the Unique Selling Point (USP) of your own label. Once you're a trading you'll find it much harder to devote the time needed.

Join our Business Club and get FREE editable research templates

By Alison Lewy

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WHY RESEARCH IS IMPORTANT FOR YOUR FASHION START UP

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Fashion brands are often started by talented designers having a dream to start their own label, but not necessarily a clear understanding of where their brand will fit within their specific market segment.

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"A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another."

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According to Arielle Jackson, startup founder and Google veteran: "Your purpose is how you want to change the world for the better." Jackson also recommends this diagram as a guide for determining your purpose.

Brand positioning is the process of making the purpose actionable. By naming your target customer and differentiating yourself from the competition, you lay the groundwork for your brand to accomplish your purpose.