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14/08/2019

How To Build A Profitable Business Online :

There are numerous fashion brands out there, but how do you make yourself stand out from the crowd? That is the real challenge.

In 2016 ,we started a brand Catalog Uganda a Men’s fashion store which has two stores, first one at Zainab Aziiza-Wilson road(L4 S7) and the other situated at Crane Plaza(kisementi)_five month now, which we didn’t see reaching over 70,000 people on social media every month.
Our strategy into the market was to have a successful online retail shop. The real problem was never starting, but how to get these numbers in 3 years. It has been a work force of consistent promotion of our stock items through paid advertising and influential marketing. A good solution for this is deploying an effective digital marketing strategy. There are several digital marketing strategies that you can apply to your fashion store to maximize profitability.

Here are some ways you can build a profitable fashion brand with digital marketing;

1. Style Guides
If the fashion brand’s product offering includes different clothing items, you can create style guides on the website/social platforms. At Catalog Uganda, we published content that had dummies wearing clothes guys were interested in. Dummies oftenly are put on streets and outside stores to impress street walkers cz that’s where the market is.

Its 2016 and the urban youth are well vast with social media looking at fashion trends and following their celebrity style. You can only have a first impression on social media that’s why we had to create about 60 posts in the beginning stages when we started out. Other options were to use photo grids with style lookalikes featuring David Beckham, El Barça de Pep Guardiola and other well groomed men . This way visitors can visualize different combinations to get an idea about how to match different clothing items.

2. Holiday Promotions
During the festive season, you can attach discounts to products you’re advertising on social media
So on day 1 there could be a discount on jackets, day 2 on shoes and so on. This way you will not only be promoting your products to your fans/online visitors but in turn prompting them to share those unforgettable discounts with their social contacts. Last year, we gave out 20 Henley T-Shirts in our promotional holiday package. When I engaged my team to carry out this campaign this is what they said, “That’s giving out free s**t, we cannot be sure that these people will buy from us again”, Guys, I’ve done scary s**t in business but sometimes when your intent is right, testing is never a mistake!

In that same month, 16 out of that 20 came back and purchased more products and in my team mate’s disbelief till today those who bought recommended other people who are now our customers who purchase products not less than 150000ugx per visit at our stores.
Such a strategy will encourage customers to spend more. Moreover, all such discounts and promotions should be shared on all social media platforms such as Facebook , Twitter , Instagram etc.

3. Focus on Events All Year Round
People don’t buy gifts just on birthdays anymore. Numerous other occasions have now popped up or gained significance in recent years. There is Mother’s Day, Fathers Day, friendship day, baby showers, bridal showers, graduations, anniversaries and the list goes on. So, depending on the type of store you run and the products you sell, it is a good idea to market customized items that are relevant to specific occasions taking place in your target audience. For example, Uganda is now blessed to have Music Festivals, Fashion Shows,Cultural Galas,and Sport Events. This is the time you need to create seasonal content targeting these particular events. If you run a male fashion store, make up studio, jewelry shops, or even a tailor, position yourself to be of great service to anyone in need by publishing your service or product on social media. That’s how we do it.

4. Influential marketing
Working with celebrities can be quite expensive. Its 2019 and this is when we started working with celebrities famous on snapchat. When I met Micheal(Not real name), his snapchat account could get over 3500 views and the Sales man within me immediately thought of working with such a person. Guys Michael is in our store, the much we could do was let him snap short clips showcasing our products. Long story short, he’s one of our Influencers that got us 5 people interested in our products and 4 of those purchased just days after his snaps.
To cater to your target market better, work with influencers such as fashion bloggers and vloggers who have a large following. Influencers with a large following are usually well reputed and respected for their views. They can really increase your sales by reviewing or recommending your products.

5. Engage with Your Audience
Another way to build brand loyalty is to constantly engage with your target audience. This helps improve their perception of your brand and establishes a sense of community within the buyers and sellers. The best way to make your engagement effective is to come up with campaigns that connect and resonate with your audience. For example, you could do so by running contests on Facebook and Instagram that highlight the shared values between your brand and the customers.

I’ve seen businesses struggle online, Small scale, Big scale. I’ve seen people undergoing FEAR to take the step to being on Digital and it has acted on me to feel the need to be the right person to share this out of my 8 years experience of being in business. I hope someone shares this post to help someone out there.