Content strategy for an apparel company?
I got my first client the other day for my social media & content marketing consulting business. They are an apparel company.
What are some ways you would go about creating a content strategy for such a business? My target customers were SaaS companies but I ended up getting them as my first client instead.
For a SaaS company, I would have created content around their product's niche and audience. For an apparel company that seems very hard to do... is writing about fashion trends my only good option?
Strategy Social Media Content Marketing
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I'm not in a position to answer your question, but I do wonder why you'd take the risk of hurting your reputation by accepting a client you aren't ideally placed to serve. – Nick Stevens 11 years ago
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I think your best bet is fashion video playlists with spokesman commentators every so often in-between videos and a snazzy looking splash-page-esque layout linking out to the product line. Unless you can afford to make FashionTown on Facebook or something goofy like that. – Garet Claborn 11 years ago
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Are they a local apparel company (e.g. a clothing store) or an apparel creator (e.g. a clothing brand / fashion designer) that distributes nationally? Or an e-commerce store? – Jay Neely 11 years ago
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@Jay They are a local boutique that also have their own branded clothing (they design it themselves in addition to selling stuff by other brands). They distribute it locally for now but will likely start selling online soon. – Sarah Jones 11 years ago
1 Answer
Broad strokes:
- Local needs to be an important element of your strategy. If you're in a metro area, there are fashion bloggers you want to reach with your content. Likewise with publications that cover local businesses. Get them to feature your infographics, your maps of the cities' fashion hotspots, your photos of local fashion trends, etc.
- Strategy is created in the context of your market, which includes what the competition is doing. Writing about fashion trends in a general sense dooms you to being lost in an ocean of similar content, much of it created by brands with more credibility.
- You probably know this, but to reiterate, content is more than writing. Photos, webinars, graphics, podcasts, mini-blogs, round-ups, and more.
Specific things I'd consider:
- Fashion-spotting on local celebrities mini-blog.
- Featured customers. Ask interesting people who come in the door if they'd be up for answering three questions about themselves and having a photo taken. Get their email address and send them a link once it's on the blog -- they'll share it with their friends.
- Making-of content.
- Find local college departments who'd be interested in doing fashion shows, product photos, modeling, etc. with [your boutique] merchandise for student projects.
- Weekly 'fashion detail' features on [your boutique] merchandise. Buckles, colors, buttons, fabrics, etc.
- Featured fashion tweets from locals.
- Facebook photo pose contest. Post a picture of yourself wearing our merchandise on your Facebook and tag our Page in it, and we'll give you $5 off your next purchase. (Check if this is within Facebook's promotion guidelines, adjust appropriately.)
Hopefully that gives you some ideas you can work with. Also, it's worth considering Nick's comment. If you find that a client is someone you can't serve well, sometimes it's better to decline the business.
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Also, I just came across this article on content for brick & mortar retail that talks about some of the things J.Crew is doing with "in-store content": http://sparksheet.com/offline-content-can-save-brick-mortar-retail/ – Jay Neely 11 years ago
