Marketing in Retail & Fashion

Quotes

• “One of the keys for me was really surrounding myself, being able to learn from the people around me and then reaching out to mentors and asking them questions that I didn’t know.” - Steve“We started thinking differently about all of the content that we’re putting out. What does it mean to have an app? Is it just about selling a product? Or about engaging the customer? How do those experiences come together as far as offline and online?” - Steve“You’ve mentioned three things that I think are important to highlight. One there’s the notion of building out the CRM and understanding who your customers are which wasn’t always retail or a fashion industry best practice. The marketing mix has changed as well where you’re starting to think, I mentioned before, email marketing, and brand development in addition to the direct sales model. Then there’s the notion of the analytics that go into retail and fashion when I serve an ad, how do I understand if that person is buying online or coming in store so you can evaluate the ROI of your marketing efforts.” - Ben “In retail, there are a couple of things that are important. First is, knowing your customer and being able to engage with her. Knowing your product obviously and then the relationship of the customer and the product. Being able to plan and execute these truly compelling marketing campaigns and being able to test allies and then iterate. All these are under the umbrella of innovation.” - Steve“To me, if I’m launching a new brand or if I’m taking over a new retail business what I’m hearing is, you gotta know your customers first which means you need that CRM system to be able to get data apart from the qualitative data. But you gotta have the email capture and basically that lead evaluation system set up.” - Ben “Then you need to be able to set up your omnichannel marketing to understand not only your e-commerce transactions but also what the impact of your digital marketing is gonna have on in-store sales and then  you start thinking about cultivating some marketing channels.” - Ben ‘Back then, there was a lot of catalogue where a lot of money was being spent. I think one of the biggest shifts is going from catalog, even as for marketing that still has a place when she’s out there, but now you’re spending a lot less on it. Now, a lot has shifted over the Facebook. Social has taken so much more prominence than it ever had in the past.” - Steve“First of all you need to have really compelling content and that’s part of the innovation piece.  Then going out and building that brand, the influencers are so big in that and that has been the big shift. The rise in influencers.” - Steve“It’s very important to have that brand messaging that you’re putting out there and then being able to follow that up with product messaging especially within social and then intermix the two. Also, giving contact and then retargeting is absolutely essential.” - Steve“One of the things I’d add a layer on to that is, if your messaging is sustainability and that’s a good point for the brand. What do you stand for? What are the things that resonate with your customer and your tribe that you can lean into.” - Steve“Where people are going out to get inspiration has changed. They’re now looking at what influencers are wearing, what’s going on in your social feed. Being there in that moment of inspiration is hugely important.” - Steve“Pinterest is another great one channel. There’s a rise of Tik-Tok going on right now depending on your target demographic. There are areas where you can reach your customer depending on who she is but really people are on Facebook and Instagram so don’t screw that up.” - Steve“There are some great social media management tools that can find great influencers who have your target audience and I think that it’s also important to look at the quality of the followers that these influencers are using and understand them.” - Steve“In terms of structure of the relationships, across the board, the best ones have been the longer relationships whether that’s six months or a year and then having a contract. A lot of the times you’ll get a little extra because if you keep your influencers really happy and really engaged, they really are fans of the brand and will want to do great things for you.” - Steve“I think continuing the growth when you have a larger base is one of the things that is challenging. I think the complexity can get a bit challenging as well because now you’re really getting into deep of those channels.” - Steve“Brand loyalty is continuing to erode. More and more people are open to finding new things and also there’s more sense of discovery in finding a new brand. In the martech side of it is, continue to engage your existing customers and engage them in new ways and keep things exciting for them.” - Steve“It’s important to have something you stand for and that people really buy into to remain loyal, so that you’re not just having your brand eroded by all these new companies that are coming out.” - Steve