Things to expect in the fashion marketing in 2013

Things to expect in the fashion marketing in 2013

Brands have continued to leverage social networks for big product launches. Previous year, the fashion industry proved particularly keen on location-based gaming platform Foursquare. Using Social media to run promotions or build buzz is an excellent resource for the fashion industry to utilize. Namely, twitter is one of the biggest emerging social media websites to execute promotions and also spread information bursts to a target customer in a fast amount of time.

Consumers are tired with the omnipresent marketing. Consequently, to be more effective, fashion marketers will have to reach further – be more mature and try to establish real relationships with fashionista, not only depend on the use of social media. To accomplish that, in 2013, they will come back to the roots of the marketing and turn away from the globalization:

• Localization and targeting

Consumers are more and more convinced of small, local brands. Therefore releases will have to be targeted more accurately, and marketers will have to take geo-localization more seriously. Applications such as Foursquare or Facebook Places will be used more often. Understanding the importance of the localization is already underway, but the big fashion companies will still have to go down to a more local level than targeting their fan pages or adverts.

This year, marketers will try to reach the single customer, for example by using geo-localizing applications and tools, and causing the change of the brands’ image – the global brand, marketers represent, will be perceived as a luxurious shop from the neighborhood.

• Distinction between mobile and tablet and integrating real and digital grounds

Fashion marketers will acknowledge the difference between people using smartphones (concentrated on social media, but also on specific tasks) and people using tablets (concentrated on social media, entertainment and information).

They will also remember that one person can use multiple, different devices. Thanks to that, they will be able to use more accurate strategies, also those outdoors ones, and better connect campaigns in real life with those in the web. And this is the main direction of the evolution of the fashion marketing.

• Integration of social media

A lot of social media come into being in recent years, and a lot of them we are able to integrate. Unfortunately, the fashion brands still do not lead a coherent communication on them and do not integrate them. I am sure it will change in 2013. Fashion brands will see a potential and relatively low costs of a coherent social media strategy, thanks to which they will be able to reach to a wide group of consumers and save on different expenses (for example: on a media planning, or even SEO).

•  Tradition

Tradition is following just after geo-localization. Everyone likes the local fashion, mainly because it allows distinguishing, identifying oneself, and underline one’s descent and individualism. The perfect example is Style Bubble, who builds her image and blog power on that. In relation to this, in 2013, with the progress of so called fast fashion we may be able to witness a twist in a fashion distribution as well as in communication undertaken by the big brands with their customers.

The main fashion houses are already inspired by multiple cultures – see Dolce & Gabbana recent collections or pro-British communication by Burberry. I think they will go even further – they will refer to multiple customers’ traditions – both in a content (of different collections), and in a form of communication (variety of strategies, going back to the provincial sales).

THEfashion industry functions much like your least favorite high school clique: A leader boldly undertakes something new, a few imitators cautiously follow suit and the rest then clamber to participate before the trend dies out.

The same pattern has emerged so far this year, as brands sample new digital and mobile technologies to market to and engage with consumers. In particular, brands took to location-based social network Foursquare to build buzz around new product launches, like Jimmy Choo's line of trainers and Oscar de la Renta's limited-edition series of python iPad clutches.

In addition to campaigns, fashion brands released a significant amount of behind-the-scenes content on a regular basis, ranging from blurry mobile snapshots of runway models for quick distribution over Facebook and Twitter, to professionally produce short films delivered exclusively on company websites and mobile apps.