Influencer marketing is now a major marketing strategy employed by fashion brands. Nowadays, social media influencers with extensive reach and genuine engagement have replaced billboards and hoardings. They are now an effective way to reach the target audience and help fashion brands increase sales along with brand awareness. The fashion influencer market is on a steady rise and is expected to reach $70 billion worldwide by 2025. Millions of small and large fashion brands are now actively involved in influencer marketing. This rising trend also allows local brands to stand out in the competitive market and gain customers.
Influencer Marketing and Fashion Brands
In the world of fashion, influencer marketing is a method of collaborating with prominent influencers, also called fashion influencers. These individuals have a substantial following on social media platforms or on their digital channels, although Instagram and YouTube are the most popular places. These influencers have created a place for themselves through skill and hard work and established themselves as knowledgeable figures in the fashion industry whose opinion has the power to mold customer opinions and buying behavior.
How Does It Work?
Fashion Brands Collaborate with influencers to endorse their products, drive sales, and, most importantly, increase their brand awareness. Fashion influencers create content in different formats like short videos, posts, reviews, fashion hauls, outfit inspirations, style tips, and more to showcase the brands’ clothing or accessories.
They offer a special advantage by providing practical demonstrations of how a piece of clothing or accessory looks. It helps customers to understand how it will look in everyday life as they can visualize themselves wearing the endorsed item. It also creates a level of credibility and trust. The followers have faith in the opinion of the influencer, and fashion brands use this to drive sales. Besides, the ability to openly communicate, comment on concerns, and share feedback makes it an even more trustworthy and loyal community.
Influencer Marketing and Brand Awareness
A key aspect of any successful marketing strategy is brand awareness. It is the level to which a customer is aware of a brand and can identify it wherever they come across the brand or its elements. A strong brand awareness is important, as it leads to customer loyalty and better sales. In the highly competitive fashion industry with innumerable local and large-scale luxury brands, brand awareness is what ultimately determines the success of any business.
Influencer marketing has become a major way to increase brand awareness in fashion by reaching an extensive audience. With proper collaboration, businesses can tap into new demographics and use the credibility of these influencers to their advantage. It is, however, important to pair up with the right influencer. Oftentimes, micro influencers with lower followings have shown better engagement rates, which enhances awareness in a more genuine way. If you are confused about how to find micro fashion influencers, there are prominent agencies who will do the work for you.
Effective brand awareness helps create a brand identity. This begins from the moment you start designing your logo, and brand feel and continues throughout all campaigns. Suppose a bag you launch is in a checkered pattern with your logo, which may be red and green. Experienced influencers will incorporate these colors, patterns, and even a tagline if your brand has one in their content. This will help establish a strong identity, and the audience will start recognizing your brand and its elements whenever they come across it.
How Does Influencer Marketing Raise Brand Awareness and Sales?
Influencer marketing helps create a strong brand awareness and a rise in sales and engagement. The three main ways this is done are outlined below.
Trust and Credibility
Traditional marketing often creates doubt regarding how effective the product can be in real. Influencer marketing eliminates this concern through practical demonstrations that create trust. Influencers are considered genuine professionals sharing their honest feedback.
Better Reach and Engagement
Fashion influencers can reach a wide audience and engage on a more personal level through comments and interactions. Their followers consider them friends and advisors, making their suggestions extremely influential. By collaborating with influencers, fashion brands can reach new audiences and engage with customers in a more genuine way.
Effective Marketing
Even within the fashion industry, there are several segments and niches. These can be regarding specific products like clothes and accessories, including bags, jewelry, shoes, belts, and much more. Besides, the industry is distinguished based on the overall brand aesthetic and style.
Some brands have a more contemporary approach, while some are more youth-centric in their design. So, partnering with the right influencer will guarantee that you reach the exact audience.
How to Find the Right Fashion Influencers?
It is essential to partner with the right influencer for the best outcome. The best strategies are given below.
- Having a Clear Vision: Know your business and your goals from the marketing campaign. As a small-scale business, you might want to reach more people, while a larger business may want more awareness or an identity.
- Screen Profiles: Go through the profiles of the influencers and how they interact and engage with their followers. Also, see how the followers respond to their content. For small-scale and local businesses, it is best if you search how to find micro fashion influencersand partner with them. Given the latter is on a mission to create a place for themselves, they will offer more transparency and a focused approach in the campaigns.
- Match Ethics: It is important that your brand ethics and values match those of the influencer. Given the harmful practices and rumors always making rounds about various brands, it is important to partner with an ethical influencer who shows your brand for what it is and has no past controversies.
- Have a Proper Plan: Discuss the campaign plan with the influencer. Make it a collaborative discussion. Share your concerns and goals and allow them to exercise their creativity. Plan a proper schedule and goals for the campaign.
Concluding Word
Influencer Marketing is truly transforming the fashion industry in more ways than one. It creates brand awareness, identity, and better sales. It is a boon for local and small businesses with limited resources to reach larger demographics and make a mark. By properly implementing the strategies and conducting some research, an influencer marketing campaign can be a huge success for a fashion brand.
