Many fashion houses have shifted their focus to the digital sphere, realising the importance of being where their audience is. Burberry is one of these brands and they’re fully embracing online marketing, which provides you with the perfect opportunity to learn more about their marketing strategies.

Why Online Marketing?

To begin with, almost all of Burberry’s customers now live in the digital sphere, with more than 50% purchasing their products online. This is a much larger audience than any television ad could ever reach, especially since most people now stream content online, avoiding commercials altogether.

Furthermore, consumers now have more choice than ever before and the ability to research products easily online means they’re much more likely to make a purchase, especially if the product is delivered to them quickly and easily. And last but not least, with many people now shopping online, retail giants like Amazon and Google play a much bigger role in our lives than ever before, which means that marketing to them is much easier than targeting traditional television viewers.

The Rise Of Digital Fashion

Fashion has shifted from a one-to-one transaction between a consumer and a brand, to one-to-many. Nowadays, we see fashion houses utilising social media platforms to connect with their audience, frequently broadcasting special offers and discounts via memes and videos.

This has enabled brands to create long-term relationships with their customers through content marketing, whereby they establish themselves as an accessible, trusted source of information and a hub for discussions about fashion.

This content can also be consumed in different ways. For example, TikTok is a social media platform where users can create, share and discover content. Consumers can listen to audio tracks and watch videos of famous people talking about fashion, whether it’s influencers or famous bloggers. As a result, we’re now seeing many fashion-related videos play on TikTok, demonstrating the platform’s growing significance in the industry.

The Influencer Advantage

The rise of digital fashion means we see many more people able to have an influence on our buying decisions than ever before. Influencers have always existed in some form or another, but in the past, the majority of people who influenced our buying habits were people we knew or were already familiar with. But today, thanks to the influence of internet search and social media, we’re seeing strangers and celebrities wielding significant sway over our purchasing decisions and many fashion houses are taking note.

Influencers can be extremely beneficial to a brand. Not only do they have a much larger audience than most people, but they also operate in a hyper-connected world, frequently appearing on social media platforms with thousands, if not millions, of followers.

This creates a massive opportunity to reach a highly-targeted audience and, depending on the size of their audience, influencers can play a pivotal role in a brand’s social media strategy, helping to drive audience growth and engagement.

Take Burberry as an example. The luxury goods brand has grown significantly over the past 10 years, expanding into fragrance, sunglasses, watches and now travel insurance. Thanks in part to influencers like Chloe Goodman and Rosanna Pansino, who have nearly a million followers between them, Burberry has established a strong social media presence and built an audience of discerning consumers, who are much more likely to be engaged with content published by the brand.

Content Is King

While face-to-face encounters between customers and brand representatives still have a place in our world, thanks largely to social media, content marketing is the way forward, according to HubSpot Blogs’ research. In fact, 79% of consumers surveyed said they’d rather read about a product or service than watch an ad.

More than three-quarters of respondents said they’d rather read about a product or service than watch an ad. (Hotel Chocolat)

So if you’re creating content for digital marketing, make sure that it’s engaging. This means ensuring that the text and visuals complement each other and that the content is of a high enough quality that people will want to stay engaged with it for the entirety of the piece.

You should also be mindful when crafting product descriptions, as 65% of consumers surveyed by HubSpot said they would not purchase a product described as “meh,” but would rather read about a product that does “something special.”

Making people aware of your product is a start, but bringing them into a relationship with you is a lot more effective. And with so much competition in every sector, companies can’t afford to be afraid to experiment with new ways of engaging with customers.