Fashion Marketing Strategies, Research and Framework

Lecture - Fashion Marketing Strategies, Research and Framework 
Connecting with the consumer; 
- Brands are out of touch with consumer needs 
- Brands not in touch with current generational perspective; example: Trans, Curvy girls, Culture 
- Slow adaption of sustainable issues
- Brands who has historically done well with innovative advertising & marketing and then have dropped the ball recently 
- Old School attitudes towards luxury for high end brands and struggling to connect with new generations 

How do consumers consume and connect with brands? 

- Advertising Strategies 

- Understanding their demographic 

- Understanding emerging demographics 

- Keeping and increasing footfall 

- Understanding emerging and changing trends in consumption

- Examples: diversity, ethics, social..

Much has to do with visual communication;

- The forums that demographics now link with 

- What draws a consumer in and why 

- What are the connectors? 

- Connection to visual information 

How branding and marketing drive the fashion industry? 

- Connects to the consumer 

- Drives price 

- Drives and captures specific demographics 

- Marketing incentives drive consumers; for example: e-vouchers, buy one get one free, driving price down for a limited time, countdowns on social media until offer on product purchase expires

- Pushes consumption by selling product through a specific window of time

- Historically brand identify was king 

- Brand attachment locked the consumer in via aspiration 

- This is now changing now with generational shifts - consumers no longer consume because a brand tells them who to be...

Meeting the consumers needs; 

- To meet consumers needs you need to understand; 

- Who they are 

- How to reach them (Physically/digitally)

- Where they live 

- Their age 

- What they are prepared to pay 

- Their likes and dislikes 

- Their expectations 

- If the product is desirable 

- Brands need to research and gather data on their consumers to understand them 

This is why research is critical; 

- Good research allows you to undercover all of these aspects; 

- Through primary and secondary 

- Primary can be found in the form off:

- Questionnaires 

- Surveys 

- E-Mails 

- Telephone Calls 

- Focus Groups 

- Photography 

- Set up a social media page as a forum so that you can all keep touch through the Christmas Holiday 

- Secondary research can be found in the form off:

- Mintel Reports 

- Reliable sources 

- Media

- Newspapers 

- Journals 

- Consider how all of this will break down your own report and which are the best strategies to adopt 

Effective research strategies; 

- Keeping on top of what you are doing; organising hard copy information in files and highlighting information you have taken as research, for example. 

- Keeping records of hard copy sources; Photograph Book, magazine, journal covers and inside the sleeve to keep a visual record of information 

- Digital information; organising files on a USB with titles. Copying and pasting the URL address you are using onto a word document

- The above strategies will help you, when it comes to developing your APA referencing system

Examining demographics and target groups; 

Age - Geographic Location - Sub-cultures - Earning/spending power 

SWOT analysis; 

Strengths - Weaknesses - Opportunities - Threats 

PEST analysis; 

Political - Economic - Social - Technological 

4 P's in relation to market strategy; 

Product - Price - Promotion - Place 

What can struggling brands change or improve to re-establish themselves? 

- Connecting to the consumer; do they need to consider their; 

- Advertising strategies 

- Their reputation 

- How they connect to the consumer (do they need to rethink their ethos and how they 'appear' to the consumer)

- Their history; are they sitting back on past glories and still expect their consumer to consumer because of who the brand perceive themselves to be

- Brand currency; Brands developing a better understanding of generational/cultural shifts, how society is changing