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New marketing services for emerging fashion designers

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Earlier this year we launched a number of support services for emerging fashion designers: web design, marketing and social media and public relations.  Our crowdfunding website can now be found at preorder.luevo.com and we are getting ready for next season!

For the last 2 years we’ve been working with dozens of fashion designers and we’ve learned some things about their business process and what defines success:

1. Good designers DESIGN. We’ve talked to designers that went to school or that were self-taught, and they all share the same passion: to design. If they are good at it, they live and breathe design.

2. Designers are CREATIVE minds. They work well with shapes, colors, they have a visual memory. They are not as good with numbers and analytics.

3. Designers lack TIME. You see, if they are good designers they spend most of their time designing and use their creativity to get inspired and keep designing. They don’t have the time for much else.

The problem is a business is not just the product. It’s just not good enough to have amazing products. The online space is an opportunity and a curse. It is an opportunity because you can reach so many people around the world virtually instant. But you are a small fish in the biggest ocean there is, so you will have a very hard time getting on that opportunity.

I was fortunate to be able to build an amazing team around me and that we share the same common values: to help emerging designers succeed in their businesses so they can create more jobs locally and further grow our textile industry.  We decided to put forward our knowledge, our skills and our experience and continue our work a lot more hands on that we were doing it before.

So here is how we can help aspiring and emerging fashion designers:

1. Fashion Branding & Web Design Services

Remember that “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it” – and for that you need cohesive branding and a strong online presence that tells your story.

I know that web design might be overwhelming, and I also know that design agencies take advantage of those that are not tech savvy. We build wordpress based websites that offer our clients a variety of options and e-commerce built in. The advantage is that your website will be search engine optimized (SEO) and responsive (mobile friendly) and we offer free coaching to teach you how to do your own small changes and updates and how to further optimize your content to get more online traffic.

2. Fashion Public Relations

We created a unique new method of running public relations campaigns for our fashion clients. Our formula is easily customizable, and we can either teach you how to do it yourself or we can run a complete PR campaign for you. Be aware of agencies that charge ridiculous amounts of money and request monthly retainers. We can help you on a project based basis and we only charge a one time fee, there are no hidden fees with us!

3. Social Media for Fashion Brands

With this one we really have fun! While I teach Social Media at the George Brown College Fashion School, I make sure that myself and our team is always up to date with the latest tools and techniques.  We can work with you on a one time basis where we evaluate your social media presence and build your strategy, or we can get our hands dirty and manage your channels month to month.

As a side note, I am also personally available for hourly consultations if you just need me to come in  for a couple of hours and give support. And always remember, that we don’t start a project until we communicated the solution with our potential customer. So not only do we analyse the state of your business and your goals but we also offer our recommendations for free.

 

This article was written by our co-founder Ana Caracaleanu.

 

 

When to hire a PR agency for your fashion brand?

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        As an emerging  designer, you are responsible for everything that happens in your business.   As you gain customers, establish more contacts, and participate in more fashion weeks, you are probably considering if you should continue the work yourself or is it time to bring in a PR professional (consultant or agency).  I interviewed the industry’s experts to help you make the right PR choices.

For those of you who are leaning towards the idea of hiring a PR consultant and agency here is some advice.  I received feedback from image consultants to fashion designers who wanted to share their opinions on when is the appropriate time to hire PR representation.

The first tip comes from Robert Barrows president of R.M. Barrows, Inc. Advertising & Public Relations.

 “Emerging designers should hire both an advertising agency and a

PR  agency.

In many cases, there may not be a lot of PR opportunities for emerging

designers, and you can’t count on when or where they might run, or

what they might say. With advertising, you can say exactly what you want, when and where

you want it, depending on your budget.” – Robert Barrows

Tony Felice President of TFPR & Image Mgmt had this to say,

“What’s the difference between popularity and celebrity? Answer: Publicity. That being said, a new designer can’t afford a large agency. I’d recommend they find an  independent PR rep with industry experience and PROVEN media contacts.”

I also spoke with Emily Taffel  Founder/CEO of Mugsly PR  who suggested:

“Without a PR representative on their team, emerging designers  have the possibility of missing numerous editorial pieces, event and partnership opportunities, and connections to influencers and others that can help bring them into spotlight.”

Alicia Sanchez, designer of Favala and brander of Fashion Designer Business Academy offered her opinion from a designer and brander’s perspective:

  “If you’re a Brand, PR will be knocking on your doors. However, designers should have a budget for PR because no man is an island and Fashion is a Business! Designers must know first if they are a brand or another clothing line.”

The last piece of advice comes courtesy of Annette Szczepan who is a publicist and founder of AnetkaStarrPR.  Here is what she had to share:

“The fashion industry is oversaturated with designers trying to break into it and they need a good publicist or agency behind them, helping them to get noticed, talked about, worn, and connect them to the right people.  I think PR representation is necessary ,but ultimately, designers need to be prepared for what comes with hiring a PR agency so they are not wasting their time and money.”

Hopefully this expert advice will help put things in perspective before taking the plunge to hire a PR consultant or an agency.   Remember to do your research and have a plan in place, and choosing the best representations should be easy.

 

This article is written by guest writer Tamarah. Follow her on Twitter @TZB86

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