I help high-end fashion and lifestyle designer brands to become masters of digital branding and create customers on demand.
Do you have the feeling that you are behind the scenes? Do you feel that no one recognizes your talent? Or is it simply that people just do not know what you do and this has become a long-term problem?
Once upon a time, you were quite famous, but today you are stuck in a rut and don’t know how to relaunch your brand?
Perhaps, you want to start a fashion business, but you feel lost and don’t know where to start?
Do you feel as though you’ve tried everything: showrooms, trade exhibitions, pop-up stores (perhaps this generated some sales), but you still have no tangible, sustainable results?
I have experience of helping a tribe of talented designers to kickstart their businesses and be successful. I have worked with lots of luxury designers to develop their go-to marketing strategy and their Direct to Consumer sales and marketing. I’ve set up and run shops and managed digital ads campaigns. In the end, I discovered that one, essential element is missing in every start-up designer business: whether it be a fashion, accessory, independent fragrance, cosmetics, jewellery or watch brand.
Firstly, let’s be honest: for most designers, fashion is their passion. They are passionate about creating and turning their product into reality. They are consumed by this process and forget the business side of what they are doing. Perhaps you can relate to this? You might feel alone doing it, and put sales and finding customers at the bottom of your priority list.
Secondly, most designers just don’t think in a modern way about promoting their business. They would rather stick with a range of established methods of promoting their brand, such as trade exhibitions, showrooms, and contacting buyers, etc. This might work for the first couple of seasons or worse, it might not work at all, but it’s no longer a sustainable way of building a brand.
Last but not least, as a designer, perhaps you find it difficult to allow others into your business. It’s normal. You are so used to do it all by yourself. But perhaps you’ve noticed your work rate has decreased and you aren’t seeing any signs of progress? This is another common experience for designers as most aren’t able to find the right people. A team is an important part of your business. No business can survive without a team. They are loyal, experienced people who understand your brand and can help you to deal with all the rest: namely, marketing, sales, finances, distribution, etc.
Distribution is crucial for any designer brand to begin with. Many of you, will say “Oh I need a website”, or “Oh, how can I find buyers for my brand ?”
So you have a brand. But it is still fragile and not widely recognized and therefore buyers will not come to you naturally. Buyers have changed their buying behaviour, as they do not go to showrooms anymore (especially featuring emerging designers). Instead, they prospect successful brands on Instagram, and it is those brands who will receive orders from them. What makes a brand stand-out on social media? They are “trending” because the brand has found a way to connect with its audience. The number of active followers, likes and comments are some of the main metrics that buyers will analyse to understand if a brand is a commercially viable product.
So yes, this is a crucial shift in buying behaviour and it’s essential that you turn a critical eye on your own social media presence. How do you feel about your dialogue with your community? Have you found your voice on social media? If the answer is yes, you should have at least 50k of followers, if not, there’s still some work to do…
If this is you, then please check out my free training that follows the welcome video below. It tells you how to build your business in fashion, how to put in place your distribution, how to find customers, with a particular focus on Digital.
Digital is not the future, it’s happening now! It’s the revolution that we can understand, but sometimes we’re just not concerned with. But, if you are in fashion, jewellery, or any other lifestyle industry that is based on image, then ignoring digital is a fatal error. A business without any differentiation, or some kind of personal engagement from its “social’ audience, is dying. It’s a quite a recent phenomenon, which demonstrates that even the biggest, well-resourced brands are failing (see the latest announcements about shops closures, e.g. New look, Mim, Pimkie, Diesel etc). Ok, they are not high-end designer brands, but these are the pillars of the fashion economy and they’re disappearing. So, as a business owner, whatever you do or want to do, you need to think DIGITAL. Think about your social audience and communicate with them the same way you would if it was your friend, or mum, or anyone who is important to you. You need to be sincere and honest, transparent and generous!
If you’re ready to connect – with your deepest desire to build a fashion or accessory brand, to find your audience, build your team, ensure that you have enough of sales in order to pay yourself and your team – then, I’m ready to help!
Check out my free training online, join my email list, or just schedule a FREE Strategy Session with me.
You’re more powerful than you think. And you have a unique offer. As a designer, you can build on your values and creativity to achieve everything you want and build a fashion empire. Start small today, grow big tomorrow. But remember, you need to surround yourself with the right team and benefit from the help of others. You can’t do it on your own. Any entrepreneur needs help at some level in their business, so don’t be afraid to ask for help and accept it. Follow my video courses and follow the process in order to get started.