How Fashion Designers Get Customers

Getting customers is the only way that fashion designers can truly make a profit, so how can you bring people into your shop, whether physical or online, to purchase your designs? What are the best practices to do so? 

Fashion Designers Get Customers by:

  1. Maintaining a consistent brand throughout all of their marketing. 
  2. Making sure they understand their audience. 
  3. Creating a stellar website that links to all of their social media. 
  4. Marketing their bestselling pieces, the most.
  5. Going the extra mile with social media posts, like a YouTube channel or a blog. 
  6. Working with an influencer. 
  7. Making it easy to purchase online by using Facebook and Instagram Collection ads. 
  8. Running sales or discounts.
  9. Retargeting on social media. 

Getting customers may be hard, but there are ways to gain the attention of your target audience. But what happens if you’re trying to get the attention of a fashion house? What is the most important part of your marketing? Read on to find out more. 

Advantages and Disadvantages of Opening A Clothing Boutique.

Maintain a consistent brand throughout all of your marketing. 

While this might feel like a no brainer, people like to see a cohesive brand when they’re looking at their favorite clothing lines. Make sure you use your logo—and it’s the same logo—throughout all of your marketing. Consider using the same fonts, colors, and even vibe to your photography and design as you market your clothing line. Not only will it show that you have a cohesive brand, but it will also show your customers that you’re consistent, which gives you a much more professional look. 

Make sure you understand your audience. 

How Fashion Designers Get Customers

One of the main pitfalls of a company is not knowing the target audience for their product—which means they’re not bringing in the customers they should be advertising to. One of the easiest ways to get new customers is through proper marketing to your target demographic. Find out who your customers usually are, and start marketing specifically to them. 

Create a stellar website that links to all of your social media. 

While this goes along with your marketing and cohesion across your brand, you need to create a website that will be the first true face your customers see when they search for your brand. Make sure it looks professional and sticks within the confines of your existing brand. It may be your storefront if you are strictly selling online—so put your best foot forward. 

Market your bestselling pieces the most.

Another seemingly obvious choice—doing your research on what people typically buy from your business and using it in your marketing will only encourage more customers to buy your items. 

Go the extra mile with your social media posts, like a YouTube channel or a blog. 

One way to get customers to look at your shop is through information. There are so many things that you can talk about on a blog or a YouTube channel that could interest a customer—like the history of fashion, how a certain item is made, features on your employees—and the content will always be there for people to see and search for. 

Work with an influencer. 

This might be a cost to you at first, but this is a partnership that will keep on giving. If you’re interested in paying for a social media influencer to tout your product, it may bring in another audience set that you didn’t know you had, so prepare for that influx. Make sure you’re picking someone that follows the same values and beliefs that you do so you can fully support each other in this partnership. 

Make it easy to purchase online by using Facebook and Instagram Collection ads. 

How Fashion Designers Get Customers

You may have seen them before when scrolling your timeline or feeds—it’s an advertisement where you can purchase an item directly from Facebook or Instagram without ever even leaving the social media app. By including a few photos and a video, along with a purchasing link, you can bring in new customers that way—but also make sure you’re advertising other items for purchase, too. 

Run sales or discounts.

Getting customers for your fashion line doesn’t have to be complicated—it can be as simple as just running a sale. People love to spend less on items, but in the long run, you could be interesting a potential repeat customer. If that’s the case, make sure you run sales along with your advertising campaigns to really gain the attention of potential customers. 

If someone checks out your social media, make sure to retarget them. 

Customers may not buy something on their first visit to any of your pages, so it’s important to make sure you continue to advertise to them through social media. If they have visited your site, you can target them specifically through advertising—we’ve all seen the ads on social media where once we’ve searched for something, they pop up everywhere. While sometimes this can be annoying, it can also provide a way for your customers to remember why they searched for you in the first place. 

How Fashion Designers Get the Attention of a Fashion House

How Fashion Designers Get Customers

Getting customers to shop your collection from your store isn’t the only way you can get customers. Customers can also mean clients—other fashion houses that are interested in your haute couture items. But how do you gain the attention of those customers?

  1. Network. If they don’t know who you are, they can’t talk to you and find out more about your designs. Talk to lower-level employees as well—they can give you information that the more senior employees can’t. 
  2. Talk to the person, not to the position. That being said, when you network, create a personal connection rather than just a professional one. People don’t want to be treated just as a way for you to step up to the next level. Make sure you’re creating relationships rather than just using them. 
  3. Be patient with contact. If you’re initiating contact with anyone, don’t call them out on social media or continue to email them for a meeting. They’re busy people—but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Just be patient in your communication before you decide to quit. 
  4. Stay up to date on trends. Make sure you know what trends are popular at all times so you can create designs to match—or to counter those trends. When you start talking to people who make decisions in fashion houses, they’re going to want their designers on the forefront of the industry. 
  5. Find a fashion industry mentor. While networking is fantastic, try to find someone that will help you work through the industry—someone who’s done it before. This person should be someone you trust and someone who can answer your questions, but understand that they also have their job to do, so keep your questions and concerns concise and limited. 
  6. Work hard and efficiently. Your potential clients are going to want fast and quality work in a time frame that works for them. Try to fill that void by creating designs that catch their eye but also fits the trends and the business model. 

Whether you’re looking for someone to shop in your store or whether you’re trying to get the attention of a fashion house, it doesn’t matter—the steps are the same. Work with the people to find out what they want, stay up to date on trends, market through your social media and websites, work hard, and be patient. While all of these steps are helpful, the main way that you can get customers is simply by being patient—if you work hard and create a quality product, the customers will come. 

Things You Need to Start a Fashion Clothing Store

RELATED QUESTIONS

How do I find the target demographic for my fashion business?

Finding your audience does not have to be difficult. First, consider your product—what are you selling, or what do you want to sell? Next, study the market. Find out where your target audience lives, what they like to buy, what they think of your brand, and how they find out about your products. Through that information, you can create a customer profile, which should include demographics, details on their values and beliefs, what their lifestyle may look like, their buying habits, and what they want out of a clothing business. From there, you can start to market to that particular demographic. 

How do I brand myself as a fashion designer?

To brand yourself as a fashion designer, you must follow a few steps: first, outline what your vision for the future is, along with your mission and your personal values. Next, create your story—write your own biography. Next, pick your niche and begin to showcase your unique designs. Create a policy of good customer service and create your branding package while maintaining consistent in both your branding and your personal style. 

To learn more about how to start your own fashion clothing line check out my startup documents here

Please note: This blog post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult a legal expert to address your specific needs.