How to Market Your Designs

So, you’ve taken your design idea from paper to production. You’ve done the research and created the perfect product and calculated the price point, but how do you market and sell it? Organic sales do happen, but ultimately marketing plays a huge role in initial sales. The good news? Social media and the internet makes fashion marketing so much easier than it’s ever been to get a product out into the world. You can sometimes get products from an idea to a consumer’s hands instantaneously. How?

Here are a few tips and tricks to successfully market your designs:

This is your space to tell people about your design and aspirations for your brand. Give your consumers a place to get in the know about your activities and plans for the products, which will make them feel close to your brand and create brand awareness. Moodfabrics.com is a great website example.

Poshmark, Etsy, Amazon, eBay, Chairish, etc. are relatively easy websites to sell your designs. This will increase and encourage product movement.

 A website provider, when chosen correctly, can provide much more than a home for your brand to live. Shop around for providers that provide the capabilities that you need and are user friendly, like Shopify, so that you can get easily acquainted with the interface.

Use social media to get your products recognized and use these platforms to engage with people. Good content will keep fans following your pages, so it needs to be interesting. Provide engaging content that leads them to trust in your brand’s purpose, which will likely lead them to your site to purchase or just browse. Make sure your content is memorable and interesting. Customers react well to visual content and are more likely to share it with others.

Use social media to team up with other brands in your niche. It will uncover engaged fans while promoting your brand. Your brand story is an essential part of your brand, so getting influencers across different platforms to try your pieces or products will get your story out there. Target people with similar likes to yours. Don’t be afraid to collaborate with other webshops by offering discount codes and special offers that work with other shops when they purchase with you to build consumer trust and see more traffic and potential customers.

It’s a way to show your brand’s personality in a big way. Your packaging should represent your brand’s beliefs, so if you’re environmentally friendly, continue this theme through your means of packaging. Make sure your product hangtags and postcards match your aesthetic so that your message and theme is cohesive throughout.

This is the time to present your product in its very best light. Your product photography represents your brand image and provides your customers with everything they need to see before they purchase your product, so show any highlights and details to ensure that your pictures represent the product and your brand cohesively.

Don’t skimp on any website features. Each added touch adds to the quality of your brand. Your, ‘about us’ page matters, and so do technical error pages. Even if your website is glitching, your 404 page should be one that customers will remember and maybe even enjoy, like Mood’s!

A blog is a chance to offer exclusive to viewers. By doing this you’re creating brand trust. Blogs can draw attention to your website and boost organic SEO, which will make you more visible on Google. Use keywords in your posts to help bring in the exact kind of traffic that you want to your site. For example, Mood Sewciety includes informational content like this, as well as free sewing patterns and DIYs.

Photography is important, but lookbooks provide inspiration that people are looking for even when they don’t realize it. You want your consumers to feel something when looking at your product. Creating an emotional response will increase product purchases. Utilize product photography time by keeping social media and website content in mind to maximize your photography time.

Email marketing is a huge way to engage with consumers to create a personal experience. This is another way to provide exclusive discounts and information directly to customers that have expressed interest in your product. Send newsletters to create buzz around new launches and integrate email subscriptions into your website and shop by offering exclusive content and offers. Witty copy will also be important here to tell customers why signing up will benefit them.

Every part of your communications with customers is important, even the last line of your emails. Always include a call to action, which can be in the form of a P.S. (post scriptum) to make customers aware of campaigns or news relating to your brand. Don’t forget to leave socials at the end, too.

The data that you receive from your websites and social media platforms will provide you with a lot of answers, from engagement on content to sales approaches that your customers respond well to. Monitor your data and respond to it accordingly. Pay attention to which pages or posts have the most traffic, where is the traffic coming from, which format it was, and which countries people are shopping from to make it easier for the customers to partake in your experience.

Invest your energy into the outlet that is pulling the biggest amount of attention and hone in on it. So if your Instagram following is the greatest, put a large portion of your marketing efforts into it.

It’s important to know what your audience likes and where they spend their time online to create your unique selling point (USP), which will provide a selling advantage.

Sell your brand at retail shops, whether they’re local or more widespread. Find a store that will complement your products or brand to increase sales (which will also help keep you in those shops).

Don’t forget the power of word of mouth advertising. Give your customers a pleasantly unique experience, and they will likely talk about it to others. Don’t be afraid to offer incentives to encourage customers to like and follow your pages. This will increase brand awareness and your following.

Create a hashtag specific to your brand —unique and simple is best. This will help with brand recognition and will also keep your products together so that customers can learn more about your brand without having to search for it. Bonus: Pictures can also be shared through the use of hashtags.

Successful marketing strategies will help get your designs or brand off of the ground. Follow the tips above and make it your priority to keep your brand image and products authentic to build that emotional connection. Success doesn’t happen overnight, but successful businesses will be able to work overnight for you, so just keep that in mind while you’re brainstorming your marketing ideas. Remember, if at first you don’t succeed, try again. If you’re crafting, learn about pattern making or get the sewing supplies you need and experiment with techniques and fabrics until you find ones that work for you.