With the popularity of the United States television programs The Fashion Show: Ultimate Collection and Project Runway there is a buzz in the air about becoming the next up and coming, hot Designer. More people are leaping into the service without the benefit of a fashion education.
Even with the technical and merchandising skills that can be gotten through a style school, young designers should know it takes more than an excellent looking garment to be a successful designer. Time and time once again I see start-ups so focused on creating beautiful garments that they miss the bigger photo.
Before venturing out and launching a brand-new collection, designers must be able to address the following problems:
1. Plainly and concisely recognize your target market.
Lots of respond with 'I sell to everybody 'or they inform me a variety of consumers that span 20 years in age. If designers do not have a clear and particular target audience, it's going to difficult for them to formulate a marketing message to reach their prospective customer.
2. Produce the brand Unique Selling Proposition (USP).
There are thousands upon thousands of brand names for consumers to select from, how are you going to stand out? What is your USP? What is so special about your brand? Why do I want to buy from you? Designers require to have a clear concept of what they need to provide to customers with their apparel. What issue do you fix for me? Perhaps you use workout or yoga wear for the large size woman, or workplace wear for extremely high males or shoes for people with wide feet. In many cases what is on deal is an unconscious desire to be part of the brand identity. The USP must likewise be conveyed in your marketing message.
3. Create a meaningful brand that connects to your product and speaks with your customer.
Al Reis & Jack Trout, the authors of Positioning, the Battle for your Mind, recognize a crucial problem - "In this placing age, the single crucial marketing choice you can make is what to call the item." I couldn't concur more. Too often brand-new designers select obscure or individual names because they think it's charming or cool. They need to be thinking of the item and the target audience. They ought to pick a brand that is remarkable, simple to articulate and is suitable to the product and target audience. It also ought to quickly equate to a readily available web domain.
4. Establish the brand personality.
Brand name character - Am I supposed to have a brand personality? Just as individuals have a name and a character, so do brands. The brand character is something that ought to be developed by the designer in the early stages of the brand advancement. Brand name character can be communicated to the consumer aesthetically by the product design, in the store design, and something as basic as the brand name font style or business colors that represent the brand name.
The brand name personality is what the customer identifies with. The closer you can get your brand name character to that of your target market, the simpler it is going to be to sell to her.
5. Develop the brand name positioning.
How is your product placed in the mind of the customer? What is your product understood for in the market? Volvo holds the position for being a safe family cars and truck, Tiffany's is referred to as the place to go for fine precious jewelry or 'the engagement ring' and McDonald's is associated with fast food and happy kids. Each designer ought to establish their brand name position by composing a brand positioning declaration. The positioning declaration takes into consideration the consumer, the competition and what makes you unique in the market. Your positioning also makes it easier for consumers to relate to your brand.
6. Design a sales & marketing strategy that draws a constant flow of customers to you.
In the motion picture Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner constantly hears a voice from above tell him, "If you construct it, they will come." This only happens in the movie. You need to have a sales and marketing strategy to create awareness for your brand name and a means to continuously promote the products to drive traffic to your store or website. It's simple. No traffic, no sales. Establish a sales and marketing technique prior to you open your doors to the general public.
7. Make sure your business hat is larger than your REI Promo code designer hat.
As the innovative force behind the label, designers in some cases forget that they have an organization to run. Designers need to be savvy adequate to understand that there are times when they require to be working 'in' the service and working 'on' the company.