icrossing gives insights into marketing using social media

Last night the Creative Fashion Forum was invited by icrossing to an intimate workshop on social media and how best to gain attention from consumers. It was a lively evening and well supported by members such as Brighton Fashion Week, I gigi, Very Vintage Fair, MiY Workshops and Bridal ebtg.

The most significant thing that icrossing discussed was 'telling a story', which of course is the key to successful PR. Its obvious when you think about it that consumers are only interested in what's new and innovative - especially when it comes to fashion. Whats also important is connecting up all your media across both 'off and online' platforms to make the most of your exposure. As icrossing pointed out you need to really think about what you are saying, everything needs to reinforce your brand message.

Measuring your success helps to plan future campaigns, whether it be Google analytics or some other metrix, you need to test what works well for your company. Link your media to your objectives - try to analyse what works in terms of creating awareness so that you can drive consumers to your website. Keep your campaigns simple and use lots of high resolution images that really connect with people's emotions - more pictures less words. Do not forget that you also want people to ACT so creating some mechanism to stimulate purchase such as competitions or sales promotions.

Most importantly plot your customer journey - try to find out how they found out about you and help them to share their knowledge with others.

As icrossing succinctly put it - make them care!

futurelaboratory.com

Just heard Tom Savigar speaking to my students at Brighton University and he gave a great review of all that's current in the design world. We talked about freesumerism and how brands are giving us a taste of their products through sampling and experiential marketing events. Interesting as I have just been talking to someone about pop up retail shops.

Tom also talked about the mood of the moment and how the new serious and sober attitudes translate into functionalism and purity of line and form. If we think about marketing messages then we have to have a narrative - especially in fashion. We are back to clean designs and looking at the long-term. Those statement pieces - in fact some of the vintage purchases I have made recently fit that bill exactly.

Now we cannot think of marketing in terms of a quick fix advert we have to engage the consumer. We have to offer value - perhaps through links to third parties. Online we have 4 secs to capture people's attention  so online merchandising is now very important. Marketing online through SEO and SNM are also key to success. This means one to one marketing and understanding how to link into communities and conversations online.

A bit like this one

British Style Genius

Did you see this weeks British Style Genius? What a great programme it is. I just loved the stories about our heritage style and the photos of the queen in her wellies. We forget that so much of who we are in this country links not to the celebrity icons of today but the monarchy. Love her of hate her Lady Diana was a style icon who was always in the news and on magazine fronts - she wore the latest couture design and chose very classic brands. I always have the image of het LBD and her pearls in my mind. Of course the tartan look and the links to the royals and Vivienne Westwood are well known but this year we are all wearing those rich red tartans again. And how about multi tartan outfits? a new one for me.

The programme reminds us of the key events like world war one that have affected our styles. The integration of music and fashion is becoming more pronounced with Eric Clapton investing in a heritage brand. I never imagined him in tweeds before.

Programmes like British Style Genius help my students at Brighton University and Northbrook College understand the rich resource fashion can develop in terms of understanding the world we live in. Our identities, at least our outward manifestation of them, is often represented by the clothes we choose to wear. Our styles are affected by our environment, key events, attitudes and the media.

I cannot wait for next weeks programme.