A Complete Guide to Marketing Strategy For A Clothing Line

Every Clothing Line needs a good marketing strategy in place to help it stay ahead of its competition. A good strategy will not only help them stay afloat in the treacherous sea that is eCommerce, but also grow as others flounder in confusion. As for you, it doesn’t matter if you’re brand new to the fashion world or a seasoned veteran. Everyone can learn something from this article.

I’m writing this article for anyone who wants to be successful with online marketing. It will help you realize that there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. You’ll learn to develop realistic goals and tactics.

Who this article is not for:

Those who are already successful in their clothing line and need an ego boost. Or those who are ignorant of the basics. I have structured this into four sections. Everyone can find something they’re interested in.

With that in mind, let’s get started.

Strategy #1: Target For Success

Start with a plan and work your way out. It may help you discover what works for you, but it’s also more likely to keep you from making too many mistakes. Even if you already have a plan, be honest: has it been tested? Have you run a trial run? This strategy is typical style lines who want to sell many things, like Heather and Haley Palar.

You’re going to have to work through the marketing strategy process even if you have already made a plan to start. Sometimes, a good plan will throw you a curve ball: maybe you thought you’d focus on a specific demographic but you see that they’re not buying what you have to offer. Maybe they don’t really want your price point. Maybe you weren’t thinking of business-to-consumer when you plastered your stores with signs offering a shirt for $20.

We’ll talk a lot more about consumer behavior later in the strategy. For now, think about what your target consumer is going to want to buy from you. Will they want a shirt? A scarf? A hat? Will they be interested in your entire brand? What do they need from your line? What do they want? You need to know to help you decide on specific tactics to use.

Learn more about targeting customers by leaving a comment below, using the contact tab at the bottom of this page, or visiting the clothing line blog.

Strategy #2: Research Your Competition

This is one of the hardest to do, because it’s really dependent on the competition in your industry. If you’re one of the only women’s clothing stores in your area and everyone is male, chances are there are not that many options in your niche. You’re going to have to do some digging, see what others have been doing.

You should also check out the competitors in places you want to do business. Read industry blogs and forums. Study what others are doing. You want to learn as much as you can about your competitors as there is a good chance that they will put you at an advantage.

You need to learn as much as possible about your competition, because you will need a good strategy after you do. Look at what they’re doing that makes them successful. What is working for them? How do they stand out from the rest of the competition? This is not just about knowing what they do, but knowing how to make it work for you. There is no point in copying someone else’s strategy if it’ll make you more money and still fail. But you’ll be able to learn what’s worked for you and your competitors better than you would have using guesswork.

Learn more about targeting customers by leaving a comment below, using the contact tab at the bottom of this page, or visiting the clothing line blog.

Strategy #3: Geography

You need to focus on the places where your brand is most popular. Know the demographics for the location where you’ll be doing your business. Research the lifestyle there. Find out what people are looking for and how they shop. You don’t want to be in a location where people are just going to shop for a sale, you want the location where they’ll buy.

You’re also going to want to see what people who are interested in your industry are doing. Don’t waste time on locations where you don’t see any potential. Are there towns looking for something new? Is there a bar they frequent and will regularly spend money there? You have to look closely when picking locations.

Learn more about targeting customers by leaving a comment below, using the contact tab at the bottom of this page, or visiting the clothing line blog.

Strategy #4: Stakeholder Analysis

Stakeholder is a fancy way of saying, “Everyone who’s going to be affected by your marketing.” It’s a very tedious term, but the more companies that you consult, the more likely it is that you’ll have a better strategy. You’ll probably run into two extremes:

You’ve already hired an agency and they’ve given you a plan.
You’ve hired an agency and they’ve given you a plan, because they know it’s not possible to come up with a brand strategy yourself

When consulting agencies, be sure to ask some of these questions, so you know you get a good read on what’s possible:

What are they trying to do with branding
What is what they’ve done in the past
Under what other brands are they’ve worked
Do they speak to people in my industry
What is their track record

Are the people they are recommending the ones that will help you the most

Online retailers like Etsy and Ebay should not be neglected. You’ll get a lot of information from them, and they can help you identify areas where you might need improvement in your products. You may see an obvious gap in your line and find a way to fill it—or find a market that wasn’t thought of when your plan was laid out.

Learn more about targeting customers by leaving a comment below, using the contact tab at the bottom of this page, or visiting the clothing line blog.

Strategy #5: How Will People Find You (Stickiness)

Stickiness is the vital part of getting people to enjoy your brand. Remember who you’re going to be marketing to.

If you’re clothing line is new, then getting people to stay in your eCommerce store is vital.

If you’re clothing line is new, and it’s new to the Facebook algorithm, you’ll want to continue to help to keep people in your store long enough for your Facebook ads to work.

If you’re clothing line is new, and it’s new to the Facebook algorithm, and it’s new to the web, you’ll want to continue to help to keep people in your store long enough for your ads to work.

If it’s been a little while since your line has been in a store, and your online store doesn’t feature much in relation to your product, then you’re going to want to improve your store. Use your customer mailing list to start connecting with your customers, whether that be on Facebook or Twitter.

See whether it’s something you need to do or is just something you want to do. Either way, the purpose of this is to make a more lasting connection with your customers, because once you sell them something, there’s an expectation. It needs to be positive from the very beginning.

Learn more about targeting customers by leaving a comment below, using the contact tab at the bottom of this page, or visiting the clothing line blog.

Strategy #6: What’s Working & Why (Approach)

You need to know what’s working for you, but also for competitors—but going backwards to that first point: You need to stay on top of market trends. Use your research to know what is new and hot and popular, and use that to see what’s being done about them.

What’s being done right now to promote your product? Are people on social media marketing for you? Save those names and follow them. They’re a good way to find a great follower base of people who know about your line.

You’ll want to think about creating a “Goals” video without that many words saying “We have the greatest line of clothing for your man,” or “Welcome to our store! T-shirts, hoodies, hats, swag,” etc. If you engage people immediately, they’ll want to interact with you. You have to come prepared, so you know you won’t fumble.

Learn more about targeting customers by leaving a comment below, using the contact tab at the bottom of this page, or visiting the clothing line blog.

Strategy #7: Social Computing

Facebook Ads

The only way to really accomplish this is to build a list of potential buyers—the people who are most likely interested in your product. Then, when someone clicks on your ad, you can choose to have them sent to your website. This is important to have because, not only are they interested, but they’re most likely to be interested.

What you can do is Facebook ads, then you can use what’s been working for you in the past as a starting point, and start expanding upwards from there.

Twitter Ads

Twitter Ads are really only for a brand or a company that already has followers—a very small-scale market.

You can tell your followers what you’re doing by posting links to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Also, you can let the world know what you’re doing by posting your recap under the Social Media heading on your website. All of these social sites give you information on what people are looking at.

You also need to let the world know what you’re doing by posting on your website. An advertisement on your website is a really good reach.

Instagram Ads

Unlike other platforms, where you will buy an “ad,” Instagram allows you to post to your tag and keep it running. And the way to do that is to post beautiful images.

The images aren’t measured in likes or retweets, but in the amount of time people are viewing them. Instagram allows you to target a specific time—say, the hour—and only display to those who are interested.

Youtube Ads

Google is YouTube’s biggest competitor, and that’s also why you’ll want to focus your budget on YouTube more than you will Facebook or Twitter. YouTube is where you can go a little more in-depth. You can go to YouTube and create your own ad. This is where you’ll start to consider your target audience and your brand.

The type of video you create will determine if it’s on YouTube or is another channel. Remember, on YouTube, you’re looking to get exposure—you’re not really looking to get people to your website.

Learn more about targeting customers by leaving a comment below, using the contact tab at the bottom of this page, or visiting the clothing line blog.