Marketing is intricately linked with fashion. It’s not about selling fashion merchandise only. Instead, marketing is an effort poured into posing the product along with the notes of customer likeability.
In doing so, marketers undertake a multitude of activities. These include chalking out a strategic plan, promoting an engaging brand image, and cultivating customer loyalty among other things.
Established fashion brands like the Leather skin shop boast a good marketing strategy, which makes them successful. If you string together crowdfunding and fashion startups, you will notice that marketing is the art that makes a startup successful. After all, crowdfunding is about earning the audience’s approval, so that they chip in their money to fund the idea. Therefore, a successful crowdfunding campaign for a fashion startup demands a unique product, high-quality branding, and a strategic marketing action plan.
Since it is always best to learn by example, here is a look at some marketing lessons from crowdfunded fashion startups:
Pair up with bloggers in your niche and employ excellent copywriting
Ministry of Supply (MoS) is a menswear apparel brand that was raised by MIT students. It crosses clothing items with space tech to yield functional clothing. In just five days, the startup accomplished its target of $30,000 and raised more than $420,000 altogether.
MoS marketed via multiple channels. Instead of approaching the big fishes in the media industry. The founding team approached several small bloggers in their niche. Once in a while, the team also pulled a PR stunt. For instance, co-founder of MoS, Gihan Amarasiriwardena donned a suit from their company and ran a half-marathon in it.
Let the customers decide the design aspect
Fast fashion runs parallel to wastage. In Australia, fast fashion accounts for nearly 6000 kg of clothing being dumped in every 10 minutes. Gustin, an online retailer, is changing this with its “in-house” crowdfunding business model. The fashion startup hands the decision-making aspect of clothing back to the customers and marks this aspect as part of its crowdfunding campaign.
At the same time, Gustin minimizes wastage that the mass production of fast fashion produces. The campaign runs for each apparel for two weeks, whereas, the production time stretches to 6-8 weeks.
In turn, the customer gets made in America items that are limited-edition and showcase supreme quality. There’s no waste production as per this business model. Moreover, the customer feels delighted by getting to call the shots on the designs, which is an excellent marketing tactic.
Market your unique value proposition
Providing a service or product that is valuable to the customer or solves their problem attracts loyal customers. Evelyn & Bobbie does just that. This crowdfunded lingerie startup has reinvented the concept of bras by providing customers with bras that don’t have straps or underwire to maximize comfort and fitting.
Hence, their startup campaign markets the solution to the old problem of wearing bras that pinch or have straps that peek out. Evelyn & Bobbie’s vice president of product and design, Stephanie Muhlenfeld, elaborated this point. She highlighted, “You can bend and flex the bra, there are no wires in it… There’s a material science down that we have paid attention to not only the fabric, but the elastic, and also the physiology of women.”
Tap into a previously untapped audience
The Petite Shop provides customers value by offering something that is not easily up for grabs. As its name suggests, the fashion venture allows customers to purchase designer wear in petite sizes. It exclusively sells clothing for women that are 5’ 4’’ and under by collaborating with independent and established designers.
Therefore, it markets real value to the customers. The startup provides options that were never there before. The marketing approach targets a large market that has been so far neglected by designers. There are more than 47% of the women in the US that are 5’ 4” and shorter. Despite that, designer wear does not come in petite sizing.
Create a brand image and showcase your business’s values
A survey by ShopSmart dug out that most women wear only four pairs of jeans regularly. This means that customers need a durable pair of jeans that doesn’t rip or tear with regular usage. The Backcountry Denim Co. aims to provide this, as it prepares jeans with Dyneema technology, the strongest fiber available.
Moreover, the crowdfunded startup backs up each purchase with a lifetime guarantee for all the jeans hardware such as zippers, buttons, and so. Also, Backcountry Denim Co. makes its values known. It follows a plant-remove-improve approach, whereby, it plants native species, removes waste, and improves outdoor trails too.
It in this way, it brings more customers on board. Showing your values is a critical move in marketing as a study reveals 64% of its participant pool of 7000 consumers hold shared values as the chief reason for furthering the brand relationship.
Make the customer’s experience convenient
UnCo markets convenience for women. Lots of people feel that updating their wardrobe and catching up on the latest trends is a time-consuming activity. In fact, a survey outlines that an average woman spends about 400 hours shopping annually. She makes 301 visits to the stores and spends a total of 8.5 years shopping in her lifetime.
UnCo aims to make wardrobe updates a hassle-free affair by doing the bulk shopping for its customers. The startup puts together a collection of clothing that aligns with your taste profile. All clothes are sourced from fashion brands that are run by women.
Take home message
These fashion startups teach useful marketing lessons. The key pointers to bear in mind are developing a brand image, marketing your business’s values and providing customers with what they don’t have. Don’t neglect to copywriter as part of the marketing strategy as it delivers your message to them.
Written By: Ashley Rosa
