Content Marketing with Fashion Bloggers by Startup Elite

CONTENT MARKETING WITH FASHION BLOGGERSSTARTUP ELITE DIGITAL STRATEGIES FOR FASHION BRANDS

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WHY CONTENT MARKETING?

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Value of Content Marketing

- Drives Traffic

- Develops Trust

- Effective and Scalable

- Captures New Customers

- Nurtures Current Customers

DIGITAL STRATEGIES FOR FASHION BRANDS

“The company is now just as much a content generator as it is a design house.”

Christopher BaileyCreative Director of Burberry

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WORKING WITH FASHION BLOGGERS


It’s a powerful digital PR tactic:

- Boost Bottom-Line Sales

- Increase Brand’s Digital Footprint

- Improve Website’s SEO

- Drive Traffic (Web/Social)

- Enhance Brand Credibility

- Amplify Your Content Marketing

- Efficient Process


“Bloggers enabled our brand to become a familiar name in the online world and specifically get recognition amongst our niche market.”

Michelle HerscuFounder of Apricot Collection

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SELECTING FASHION BLOGGERS


- Determine whether the fashion blogger fits your brand

- The blogger’s audience must be able to afford your brands price-point

- Evaluate the quality of the blogs photography and writing

- Find out which brands the blogger has previously worked with

- Explore the bloggers posts to understand their publishing schedule

- Analyze the bloggers social media followers and engagement

- Research the blogger and find out how much press they have received

- Find out about the blog’s monthly website traffic


“Bloggers have been major for our brand. It has really set us apart.”

Kate NearyCommunity Manager

GUESS

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BUILDING A FASHION BLOGGER DATABASE


Having a database of fashion bloggers that you want to work with will help you stay organized. Be strategic about how you put together this database. For example, separate the bloggers you want to be featured on just once from those that you want to be working with continuously.


Why work with a blogger just once?• A famous fashion blogger might be too expensive

to work with continuously• A blogger may produce great content (photos/text)

but they don’t have a significant following• Some bloggers can produce great photos but they

are weak on the writing which lessens the value of working with a fashion blogger

Why work with a blogger continuously?• The blogger is a great brand fit and you want them

to be an official ambassador• When a blogger is featuring your brand continuously

the marketing becomes more effective• It’s a very efficient and scalable way to produce new

content for your web/social media.

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SAMPLE FROM OUR 500+ FASHION BLOGGER DATABASE

WWW.STARTUPELITE.COM DIGITAL STRATEGIES FOR FASHION BRANDS

Alexandra Spencer – 4th and BleekerSandra Hagelstam – 5 Inch and UpNiki Blasina – A Haute MessSophie Elkus - Angel Food Style Rosie Fortescue - At Fashion Forte Amelia Alvarez-Champion – Clothes Horse NYCRosalind Jana – Clothes, Camera, CoffeeSamantha Wennerstrom – Could I Have That Danielle Cheever – Envision Pretty Adriana Gastelum – Fake Leather Kier Mellour – Fashion Addict LAEmily Johnston – Fashion Foir GrasGreta Eagan – Fashion Me Green Rumi Neely – Fashion Toast Susanna Lau – Style Bubble Aimee Santos – Swell MaybeAnnabelle Fleur – Viva Luxury

Reem Kanj – Five Five Fabulous Jenny Wu – Good Bad and FabSara Donaldson – Harper and HarleyGeraldine Terasa – Herz Uber Kopf Stephanie Liu – Honey and Silk Sarah Eichhorn – Josie Loves Lisa Dengler – Just Another MeKarla Deras – Karla’s Closet Pelayo Diaz – Kate Loves MeKatherine Valdivieso – Katherine LA Ella Catliff – La Petite AnglaiseCaitie Schlisserman – Lady a la Mode Liz Cherkasova – Later Afternoon Enocha Tellus – Locks and Trinkets Rachel Nguyen – That’s ChicChriselle Lim – The Chriselle FactorKrystal Simpson – What’s Reality Anyway

Olivia Lopez – Lust for Life Katerina Kraynova – My Neon RockDaniela Ramirez – Nany’s KlozetJenny Ong – Neon Blush Chanelle Leslie – Not So NakedHenar Vicente – Oh My VogueAmanda Shadforth – Oracle Fox Blair Eadie – Pacific Atlantic Amber Mortensen – Painfully Hip Shea Marie – Peace Love SheaAmber Kekich – Scene of ChangeryJulie Sarinana – Sincerely Jules Aimee Song – Song of Style Jayne Min – Stop It Right Now Tiffany Borland – TuolomeeJessica Stein – Tuula VintageWendy Nguyen – Wendy’s Lookbook

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BUILDING BLOGGER RELATIONSHIPS ORGANICALLY


It’s very time intensive to build relationships with bloggers organically but the upside is that you get a true understanding of their brand, how they treat their readers/followers and most importantly if admiration is mutual it may save your brand money when negotiating.


1. Identify bloggers that fit your brand and start following them by subscribing to their feed and all their social media platforms. Make sure to enable notifications where possible and check in on them regularly for updates.

2. Engage with blogger’s content. Be a fan, not a super fan; like, comment and share content when appropriate. Make sure the blogger knows who you are before contacting them with a specific idea. If you are doing it right they might even reach out to you.

3. Contact the blogger with a specific idea that fits their brand. What you pitch depends on many variables but try to develop a quick win and build upon that.

4. Negotiate terms. Be professional and provide them with detailed information about your brand. Share some of your digital marketing goals with them and make them become your fan/supporter. Transparency builds trust which can reduce your blogger marketing costs.

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CONTACTING FASHION BLOGGERS


There is no magic formula on how to e-mail pitch fashion bloggers but here are a few tips:


• Keep it short. Nobody has the time or desire to read lengthy emails.

• Be clear about what you want. Don’t ask bloggers if they want to “collaborate” that’s too vague.

• Make sure it’s personalized. Don’t ever write “Dear Blogger.” Be professional enough to send them a customized pitch tailored to them. Don’t mass email.

• You might want to reference a blog post of popular topic that’s discussed on the blog for extra brownie points.

• Sound human and make sure the email is thoroughly edited.

• Don’t forget to follow up. Things get lost in the shuffle, make sure your email isn’t one of those things.

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IDEAS FOR WORKING WITH FASHION BLOGGERS


New Product Release: Utilize fashion bloggers to create a buzz for your new products by allowing them exclusivity in featuring products before they are released. Bloggers love exclusivity, not only does this give them something to write about but it makes them feel more important. This strategy is ideal for reaching out to bloggers you have not worked with before and are looking to make a good impression.

Product Giveaway Contest: Not every blogger is willing to do a contest for you and you need to select the right blogger with the traffic and engagement levels to make it a successful campaign but if executed correctly there is lots of cross promotional value. This is ideal for a blogger you have worked with before and have a good working relationship with.

Send a Gift: A gift is a great way to reward bloggers you have previously worked with. A gift should not just be one of your products but rather something that reflects the lifestyle of your brand. The more you know the blogger the better are your chances to select a gift that will make a remarkable impression.

Go Beyond Digital: Invite fashion bloggers to come out to a special event you have organized just for them and/or let one of the bloggers be the host. Events are a phenomenal opportunity to add brand credibility and it’s most effective when working with bloggers who are official ambassadors of the brand.

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FASHION BLOGGER CAMPAIGN STRATEGY FOR STARTUPS


Your strategy will depend on many factors but most importantly on the budget you have set for your campaign. Based on that budget you can determine how many bloggers you can afford to work with which will define how extensive your blogger database has to be and ultimately how many relationships you need to manage.


For a startup fashion brand you will need to embrace the newer or small blogs that will feature your product for free or low fees.

• They will provide you with photos that you can feature throughout your social media channels. It’s cheaper than hiring photographers and models to create new content.

• Receiving a lot of quality links to your website will help improve its SEO over time. Your website won’t receive any huge spikes in traffic but your social media following will gradually grow.

• While you are marketing yourself to a smaller audience it’s the opportunity to build traction, perfect the different internal processes that help run the campaigns more effectively.

• There is a far larger number of smaller blogs willing to work with you than popular ones who insist on payment of extraordinary fees. You’ll never run out of people to work with if you go for the smaller blogs.

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FASHION BLOGGER CAMPAIGN METRICS


Depending on the strategy you could add more detailed metrics such as how often a discount code has been used or whether in-store sales have increased but here are the basic metrics that should be tracked in every campaign:


- Increase in online sales

- Increase in website traffic

- Increase in email subscribers

- Increase in social media followers

- Increase in social media engagement

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BUDGETING FOR FASHION BLOGGER CAMPAIGNS


Everything is negotiable when working with fashion bloggers and depending on your niche, strategy and resources a campaign’s cost can vary significantly. Here are some costs to consider:


- Fees for being featured on popular blogs

- Product, packaging and shipping costs

- Optional costs related to any gifts

- The costs of developing a niche database

- Costs related to managing blogger relationships

- Any event marketing costs

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COMMON MISTAKES IN WORKING WITH FASHION BLOGGERS


- Not being clear enough about what it is that you want them to do.

- Failing to provide them with information about your brand and your products.

- Being difficult. Don’t become bureaucratic about content marketing.

- Not having an allocated budget for bloggers and wasting their time.

- Contacting too many bloggers at the same time with the same pitch.

- Pitching a blogger something that does not fit the blog’s brand.

- Not providing the blogger with any type of value in return.

- Not maintaining the relationship after your blog feature.

- Failing to engage them beyond the digital world.

- Giving up too quickly.

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WORKING WITH STARTUP ELITE


Experience: Experienced in working with a

variety of fashion bloggers whose demands and requests can vary significantly.

Best Practices: Digital media is evolving

very quickly. We make sure that best practices are being utilized by all parties involved in the content production and distribution process.

Speed: Fashion bloggers can work very fast and you

need a team that can facilitate negotiations and execution at that speed.

Relationships: We have a database of hundreds of

bloggers from all over the world and our established relationships allow us to execute marketing campaigns much quicker and more cost effectively.

STARTUP ELITEFOUNDED BY MARKUS BIEGEL


Startup Elite is a consulting firm specialized in early stage ventures. From strategy review and development to hands-on implementation, we help you achieve accelerated growth. We are your partner in getting your business to the next level.


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CONTACT:[email protected]

Content Marketing with Fashion Bloggers by Startup Elite

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