Consumers have abundant choices for apparel. Distinguishing your brand from the competition requires a deliberate marketing approach. Here is a three-step process to marketing your apparel brand, whether it carries our custom socks or not.

Step 1: Create a story

Consumers do not connect with products; they relate to brands. Successful brands have a story that resonates with their target audience.

Make your story customer focused. What benefit do they receive wearing your clothing line? How do you want your customers to feel? What is it about your clothing line that differentiates you — in the eyes of your customers — from your competitors?

To answer those questions you need to determine your target market. Is it young men, working mothers, athletes, or tweens? Keep in mind that underserved niche markets, although often smaller in size, may be easier to compete for than larger mainstream markets.

As you tell your story, you will need to maintain a consistent personality. Maybe you want your brand to evoke playfulness, or perhaps you want your brand to be inspirational.

You can summarize your story by creating a tagline that connects emotionally with your target market.

Step 2: Tell your story

Once you’ve created the story of your apparel brand, you need to share it with customers and prospects. Today, there are a host of tools that enable you to reach your target audience with minimal expense. The goal is to try to be visible wherever your target audience is present.

It probably goes without saying that your apparel brand needs a website, both as a way to tell your story and to sell products. But you should also consider a content strategy to drive traffic to your website. This could include:

• Writing a regular blog about clothing, culture and other topics that matter to your target market. Articles can promote products, let consumers know who you are, and provide them with advice.
• Posting regular content on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms. You can boost your content by purchasing ads on Facebook.
• Using video. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on professional videography. Smartphone cameras can produce high-quality video and there is affordable software available to edit.

Regularly posting and updating your content will help you rank higher on search engines. Achieving higher search engine rankings is a process known as search engine optimization. When people search for your brand using keywords, you want to rank as high as possible, preferably on the first page of a search.

If you have trouble ranking high, you can purchase top spots through pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. PPC advertising enables you to pay search engines for top rankings, and can be configured so that you are only charged based on the number of times your ad is clicked by an online searcher.

Step 3: Get others to tell your story

Apparel brands have to stay at the top-of-mind of their customers and prospects to remain relevant. When loyal customers reinforce your brand, it provides a level of credibility that attracts new customers. Your marketing strategy could include:

• Testimonials from loyal customers.
• Build an online community, such as a Facebook group.
• Affiliate marketing, in which other people promote your brand for a commission based on what they sell.

Successful brand marketing depends on these 3 essential steps. Take your time to create a plan before launching your brand—your brand’s success depends on it.

About the author

EVERSOX is a worldwide supplier of custom branded socks for businesses, retailers, and promotional products distributors — with over 10,000 designs manufactured & 100 major brands served since 2010.