There’s a big difference between branding and marketing and you can’t have one without the other, especially if you’re running a sustainable or ethical fashion brand.
Now more than ever, consumers want to support fashion labels that have a strong purpose, an identifiable brand and a mission to make the world a better place. Our clothes can’t just be ‘fashion for fashion’s sake’ anymore. Fashion has to solve a real problem, fulfil a real need and add value to the fashion industry ecosystem.
And to stand out in that ecosystem, you have to have a strong brand.
When you don’t have a strong brand, you won’t make the sales you need to make to survive long term. If your brand is wishy-washy and inconsistent, your sales will go up and down, instead of always going up. If you don’t have a clear brand vision, you’re not going to achieve the reach you need with your marketing efforts to grow.
So how do you get really clear on your brand? You go all the way back to the beginning and you start with your ‘why’. You need to sit down and work out why you’re in business. You need to spend some time getting clear on why you sell what you sell. You need to be able to clearly and succinctly explain how you’re making the world a better place and why you’re selling what you’re selling.
You also need to create a persona for your fashion brand. Think of branding as your business’s personality. Are you a funny brand or a serious brand? What kind of packaging do you use? Do you use a subdued pastel palette or do you use bold and bright colours?
Your brand also includes visual elements like your logo, your website design, and fonts, and it also includes the personality traits of your business like your mission, tone of voice and the language you use.
And why is it so important to be clear on these things? Because you can’t market your fashion brand if you don’t actually have a brand. Your brand isn’t your products. Your brand isn’t what you sell. Your brand is the persona, the being. Your brand is a distinct identity specific to you and your business, and when you have a clear brand and a strong branding vision – strangers become customers and customers become repeat buyers and repeat buyers become advocates. In a nutshell, you sell more, and a lot easier too.
If you’re new to marketing and branding and you want to upskill so you can learn how to sell more of your ethical or sustainable fashion products, you’ll love my Business Marketing Blueprint Online Marketing Course. I cover everything from Instagram to EDM’s, and of course, marketing and branding.
Claire x
