The world is full of creatives, and many used to join the marketing industry to utilise their strategies, creative styles and data knowledge to build up a brand and their audience. In this day and age, things have started to shift due to the evolution of social media, and the people influencers are able to reach on it now.
Fashion has always been a popular topic of interest, especially when it came to the marketing of fashion brands. So now that there has been a change, how powerful is the influence from an influencer in today’s marketing landscape.
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Fashion Marketing Before the Introduction of Influencers
Before influencers became a staple part of fashion marketing, brands relied heavily on magazine coverage, popular runway shows, endorsements from celebrities and large scale, expensive, advertising campaigns.
The previous flow of things went from luxury houses down to the public. Many gaining their influencers from their favourite editors’ columns in magazines and industry insiders saying what was in like this week’s hot topic like ‘incredible shoes for now’ or magazine featuring subheadings like ‘stylish steals and smart splurges’. While it was effective, it was particularly inclusive and limited to the audiences that bought those magazines.
The introduction of Influencers
With the increase in handheld technology, there came a rise of social media platforms. From YouTube, to TikTok, there was now a new platform for fashion to be hosted on. These days every individual can use their device to create a piece of content to share their styling tips and outfit choices of the day. Many find that they have grown a large following from it, even if they had no initial viewers. With their relatable and authentic content people found that being approachable was the key aspect you creating content.
With an increase in audience, many influencers found that brands began to reach out, as they deemed it a powerful advantage in the market. With the following base being people who chose to watch the content, many creators trusted it much more than traditional ad types. This viewership and platform became a foundation of a new marketing strategy that changed the fashion industry forever.
Instead of magazine headlines, viewers now see TikTok posts labelled ‘how to wear super stacked jeans’ which not only introduced a viewer to the piece of clothing. But also comes with your very own how to guide on how to style them. Making new fashion items more understood and accessible from the get-go.
How influencers change fashion trends
Influencers content is reachable worldwide, and therefore it makes quite a remarkable different on the fashion market. It has sped up changes in fashion trends and can even make it so that an item of fashion can sell out in hours of a post going live. Therefore, changing the original of trends coming from celebrities and runways, and making trends originate from average people that find themselves in the spotlight online.
This shift in influence on the fashion industry inevitably democratized fashion. Anyone that had a creative passion and flare online was able to influencer the style of thousands from one video regardless of where they were from. As a result of this fashion has now become more diverse inclusive and a global force.
Its impact on fashion brands and marketing strategies
Fashion brands were quick to adapt to this change in structure. Instead of solely focusing on seasonal campaigns they began working with influencers year-round. These types of collaborations helped product launches and fuelled sponsored content which has now become a key marketing tool for any fashion identity.
Micro influencers with much smaller follower number may have higher engagement from their audiences. These are valuable for major creators as fashion brands learned that connection matters much more than follower count. This approach also has allowed brands to reach niche markets much more effectively.
This new line of marketing through influencers didn’t come without challenges. With the rise in interest in this form of income and popularity, there came an over saturation of market. Alongside inauthentic partnerships, many viewers started to become sceptic towards these types of brand deals. Making viewers much more selective and much more perceptive to real life reactions over paid word and preference.
This has led to evolution of brands and influencers. Clear disclosure of brand deals makes it a lot easier for viewers to differentiate personal opinion with paid promotion. In todays most successful marketing partnerships, influencers are likely to be more genuine and open, and many only choose brand deals that they themselves trust.
Creating a lasting legacy
This shift towards influencers within the fashion industry has to be one of the biggest changes in fashion marketing history. It changed how trends are set and it changed how ordinary public are introduced to new products and brand collections. This alteration in communication has transformed fashion, as it is driven by real people who were just as ordinary as the next before they signed up to whichever social media platform they post on.
This shift is continuing to shape the fashion industry and sees the future of fashion marketing as a more personal and human interactive experience.
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