Effective content marketing through storytelling - fashion industry & communication2.0

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Corrado Manenti
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What is Content Marketing in Fashion.

The Content Marketing is that branch of marketing that includes theset of techniques for creating and sharing content - textual, visual or combined - relevant to a trade mark, so as to create an interest (engagement) such that it also guides the users' purchasing process.

There is no unambiguous manual for the Content Marketing Plan in the fashion industry, but the strategy is being able to embrace the plurality of objectives and concepts revolving around a fashion brand.

Some of the examples of content marketing range from Vogue to H&M's fashion news magazine distributed by the chain of shops.

Define your brand's business case.

The first point planning includes the identification of the business case:who we are, where we are and where we want to go. It is on this basis and on storytelling that the entire plan must be built. A thorough understanding of the company helps to clarify what the corporate differentiating factorsexpectations in terms of success, and finally helps to maintain the consistency of a planned plan.

Division of arguments into two macro-categories 

The  second factor to be taken into consideration is the?target audiencepossibly distinct and segmented into two macro-categorieson the one hand the stakeholder (all those people who care about the success of your project) , on the other hand the target marketwith all the appropriate considerations to be made on the type of users/customers one intends to involve. One must identify one or more types of buyer personas with their socio-demographic segmentations and corresponding differentiations of needs and expectations. Each content must be completely different in terms of target.

Our Story - Sotrytelling

Once the objectives and audience have been defined, the heart of the meaning of content marketing: content and historyunderstood in the broader sense of the term. The principle is to develop content where the experience of potential customers is different from competitorsso as to achieve a distinctive positioning in the market. By different we mean even if only to enclose all the information in a single, easy-to-reach portal.

L?storytelling element is indispensable for building a bond of engagement with the target audience and identify the right key to develop a story that expresses the challenges, passions and identity of a company. Only with a convincing, reliable and inherent story about the corporate subject, you can achieve an effective content plan.

Storytelling must be conveyed through the right means, consistent with the marketing objectives and editorial plan.

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Content Marketing Strategy in the Fashion Industry.

A functional content marketing strategy should not be content-driven, but by what is intended to be achieved through the content:

the right content? is the one that in every micro-moment of the brand-consumer relationship is able to solve the Pain Points of the last one, where 'Pain Points' literally means the sore points, doubts, perplexitiesbut also the possible joys of the target audience.

We must aim to find the solutions that best complement the expectations and needs of the public to be involved

  1. A story must be conveyed through logical arguments linked together, so as to remain consistent with marketing objectives and corporate values. Delving into speeches that belong to the corporate core can lead in bad directions such as budget waste and loss of index. Remaining consistent means receiving credibility and attention.

  2. Creating a content marketing strategy means identifying target segments and channels of attraction. These actions necessarily imply the creation of a real process, in which each individual step is appropriately evaluated, monitored and assigned to specific company departments or functions. Only then can you draw clear results through the selected targets.

  3. One has to deal daily withdownstream, to supervise and harmonise all activities that have to do with the creation of branded content or that are otherwise part of the corporate editorial plan. Maintaining constancy in workyou will see from the first set of information the first satisfactory results at audience level.

  4. Contents must be suitable for achieving the objectives, such as increasing organic traffic or collecting data from your users, not to mention the obvious goal of turn your visitors into customers.

Finally, a content marketing plan must aim at exclusivity. Planning exclusive content means offering your audience a vast amount of reliable information of interest to them. Creating a greater sense of involvement between company and customers means experimenting with new ways and new perspectives of communication, so as to draw the best method.

Any topic explained in videos, in the blog, represented by images, social posts, emails, case studies, downloadable courses, etc. is reputed to be a content marketing tool.

Content Marketing Pyramid in Fashion Design

The Pyramid is organised and divided according to three specific macro-areas:

  • the core-contenti.e., those original contents such as guides, eBooks, courses, etc., which contain those training contents that require considerable effort in terms of productivity, research and originality, and are therefore subject to limited scheduling, being able to consult the material only upon the release of leads or a specific target.

  • The derivation asset are closely connected to the core-content and define its success or otherwise. They are those contents that talk about the core-content in a superficial way, enticing the user to go deeper: infographics, blog posts, preview contents, landing pages etc.

  • I micro-contents Promotional, frequent, stringent, conversation-oriented, help to expand the content plan on a large scale across all assets: short blog posts, social updates and statuses, newsletters, etc.




A model structured as follows not only proves effective to increase the brand awareness of a brand or company, but is able to strengthen positioning of a company in their own target market, provide coherent and target-focused messages across all channels and especially guiding the lead acquisition process . In this way, content is not produced randomly, but according to a clear process aimed at achieving value and increase ROI.

Implementing a pyramid system so developed requires a substantial effort in terms of planning, and above all requires a specific workflow based on four fundamental points:

  • a strategic approach and a thorough clarity of content to be produced according to the different buyer personas. Every single step of the buying decision process must be taken care of;

  • the management of production processes for the realisation of content, based on a clear timetable and following an indexation criterion;

  • distribution: content must be published and distributed through the most appropriate social or web channels in general, associated with sponsorship on relevant advertising platforms;

  • analysis: the effectiveness of each asset must be measured, combining the data from the various Analytics and the induced contributions between coverage and success rate.

Channels and socials for content distribution in the fashion industry.

The weak point for many marketers is not the production of content, but the distribution of these;

which is why the next step is to identify the more effective means to disseminate their content and engage their target market.

In this perspective, the power of content marketing, combined with a transmedia and multi-channel logic, can give rise to a promotional strategy with surprising results in terms of reputation, visibility and brand recognition, as well as monetisation factors.

What are the strategic elements indispensable to give visibility to one's content? The possible answers are summarised in three key concepts: accessibility, maximisation of expenditure and distribution.

The accessibility of content is not only related to the concept of readability and creativity: content must be available and easily found by the users for whom it was created.

Maximising expenditure results in the production of relevant content. Every author should ask him/herself the right questions before spending budget in the planning phase, in order to ensure that the content produced is well received by the target audience. 

Distribution consists of choosing the right channels, which tend to be social, to disseminate the content. The tools are the usual ones: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Webinars, newsletters, groups, etc.. but also public media such as fashion magazines, photo book, video collection, etc.

By selecting channels based on the surfing habits and interests of your audience, you can create anchor points, each strictly traceable to monitor the interaction and effectiveness of the content itself.

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Measuring results

There is no single metric to measure and monitor content, but multiple evaluation indexes, to be modelled appropriately in order to have a complete and oriented view of the performance of the content marketing plan:

In the next articles we will delve into the various evaluation metrics to derive a successful Content Strategy, adapted to user behaviour. Stay connected with Be A Designer, the fashion office that creates your Fashion Brand.

Final

The choice and modulation of a content marketing strategy makes it possible to develop a concrete approach, capable of going beyond a simple conversation with the customer; always remember, however, that content is a tool for the ultimate goal of business.

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