Faith Senam
You can be successful at creating a brand identity for your fashion brand if you truly understand and know your product and the industry within which you operate. As the fashion world grows bigger, it’s becoming harder to set your brand distinctly apart from others and remain memorable to buyers, stylists, editors, fashion enthusiasts and customers.
Creating a fashion brand identity will help you plan your way through to the top of your game and make you stand out from your competitors. For instance, African prints have been in vogue for sometime now; almost everyone is fusing prints in their dress, bags, shoes etc. The question is how different is your brand from others? Why will someone choose your product above any other?What added value do you have that sets you apart from others in the same business?In order to achieve these, you need to start working on creating a brand identity for your fashion business.The following points could be helpful.
Create a new category
First, take the initiative to do something new. Many a times, people are too afraid to start something new. The thought of it failing, being rejected or ignored stifles their thoughts to get that new idea pumped out. Successful entrepreneurs take risk. The best way to creating a fashion brand identity is to create a new category. Bring out a new idea. This means research. Do your homework well to know what your competitors are doing and what they are not doing and what your target market needs and design products that will fit in.
Know your product, know your industry
In order to create a fashion brand identity you need to first know your trade at your finger tip. As a designer, how well do you know the types of fabrics and for which purposes? Who are your target market and what are the industry trends? What kinds of looks do your target market shop for? You also need to know who your competitors are in order to produce apparels that are unique and distinct.
Manage your brand image
Creating a fashion brand identity requires that you understand the kind of image or reputation you want for your brand. Knowing how important perceptions are, you will want to be known for a particular thing than for nothing. Don’t be seen one minute designing cloths, the next minute making shoes, and then lingerie and then jewelry. People might lose track of what you truly do. Be consistent in your offerings.This way your brand becomes top of mind to your target market and you are known as what you do.
Build relationships
People wear brands and are constantly telling others about the brands they love. If your product can deliver to their satisfaction, they are more likely to be associated with you and your brand. Use this to build and maintain healthy relationships with key players in the industry. Relationships are built on trust. Ensure people are satisfied with your dresses, shoes, makeup products, designs etc. Put in place feedback mechanisms to obtain the right responses needed to keep your customers coming back.
Be consistent in your overall communication
Communicating to both internal and external audience is key to creating a brand identity. What is more crucial is ensuring that your messages are consistent on all the media platforms both traditional and social. Carefully spell out your brand values, brand image and message to your fans, customers and clients. Photos communicate a lot about your brand persona thus the need to match that with consumer expectations. Ensure that what you communicate across all media channels reflects your product proposition.
>>> The writer is the founder of E’April Public Relations, a boutique PR firm. Senam is a fashion public relations specialist with interest in fashion, beauty and lifestyle. She can be reached on +233 272686959, faithsenam@gmail.com, @senamapril on Instagram and @faithsenam on Twitter.
