Marketing Plan for Your Clothing Boutique
Posted by Julie-Ann Dizon on Sep 17th 2021
Are you curious why clothing boutiques are becoming more successful?
Many fashion retailers closed their doors for the past few years because young people love to shop online. You might wonder why there are still successful online boutiques. The key is having the best marketing efforts and being creative!
It includes the advertising goals, description of the business, and the timeline of the tasks within your strategy. This information about marketing plans focuses on how to find and retain customers.
So let's get started and be ahead of the pack!
1. Define Psychographics of your target market
What do you know about your customers? Do you know what makes them buy your products or why they choose to shop with you?
Many of us believe that you should study their demographics such as age, gender, and education to know your target audience. But to go beyond marketing, retailers consider psychographics such as buyers' interests, buying decisions, and spending habits.
Let's focus on psychographics with these questions
"Why do people buy?" and "How do they buy?"
For example, a demographic profile of a female who is 47 years old, married, with children, enjoys shopping online, a big fan of Instagram, with a household income of $90k+ is dealing with her weight gain. What kind of clothing she likes, and how much is she willing to pay for her type of clothing?
So let's apply her psychographic data to our marketing strategy! Once you understand how she buys clothes and what types of clothes she prefers, you will know what to offer. She wants a store that sells plus-size garments and has an online store too. If you have an Instagram page, post something about nutrition tips and pictures of your plus-size outfits.
Start developing your marketing plan to catch the consumers' attention and make them purchase your clothes. Whenever you are confused about making decisions about your business, go back to your prospective market profile.
2. Pricing your Products
Clothing stores can use several pricing strategies to differentiate their brand and acquire something more efficient than rivals in the marketplace. Understand the pricing options and segments that can help you for the ideal pricing strategies for your own clothing business, which are:
- Budget Pricing Strategy - If you are recognized as a low-end, but your products are expensive, shoppers won't buy your products because they won't see the value in buying expensive items from a low-end brand. They don't buy clothes that will last for several years and elevate their social status. They want something affordable. They are also not loyal to a brand and don't care where they buy it. Selling a bundled package at a low price works well here because it will convey a sense of cost efficiency for budget shoppers.
- Luxury Pricing Strategy - In the luxury market, price is more closely related to brand image than product quality or market value. Clothing is closely linked to social status and self-expression. Therefore, consumers in this segment are more interested in the social image than the quality of the materials. This part of the market is focused and loyal to the brand.
- Value Pricing Strategy - This strategy lies between budget and luxury. The key to setting a value price is striking a balance between cost and quality. Consumers in this market segment can justify the price if they see the value of the product or if it has high-quality materials and is affordable at the same time. For example, your products are made of leather and wool.
You can be confident that your price matches the personas of your target market. Using a rational strategy to price a product will allow you to maximize the earnings and sales volume at the same time. Remember that when you examine the pricing, people are ready to pay for your brand.
3. Advertisement
If you have a clothing store or plan to run one, advertising is the key to attracting your prospective market both online and physical. Since the clothing market is changing rapidly, you will need to have an effective advertisement to build a good relationship with your customer in the long run. Having a mix of online and physical marketing, you are putting your brand in many places and gaining great recognition.
We've listed the four primary advertising techniques.
- Create a website to establish your store's online presence and help you reach out to a broader range of audiences. Hire a professional designer to create it and optimize it for search engines. Focus on the words and phrases that customers will search for, such as "clothing store," "plus-size," or "sports apparel." Since some people use their smartphones to locate the nearest store, your business will be easily located. Create a blog, post about the latest fashion, post your new items and events to strengthen your presence.
- Use attractive signage and print advertising to get the attention of the customers. You can also put up bulletin boards in different business centers and any public places. Pass out flyers for marketing campaigns and business cards with your physical address and website URL. If your store is in an unusual location, include a map on the card.
- Create profiles on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, and Twitter to reach your customers online. You can also share it with your family, friends, and mailing list to invite other people to follow your page. Post anything about fashion and marketing posts that will attract your customers to visit your store.
- Hold an event once or twice a year to boost your business. Offer discounts and special after-hours sales for loyal customers. Set up different events during holidays, sporting events, and local festivals to take advantage of the festive mood.
4. Outstanding Customer Service
Customer service is one of the crucial parts of your successful marketing strategy. But how does customer service affect the market?
Outstanding customer service gives us repeat buyers, loyal customers, and a great customer experience. We rely on our marketing strategy to increase revenue and attract new customers. Therefore, we have to use it along with customer service to strengthen our relationship and retain them. Below are the best practices you can put in your marketing plan.
- Use small talk greetings and questions like "How'd you hear about us?" or "Who are we shopping for today?."
- If you notice that the customer looks like they are having a bad day, find a way to cheer them up. For instance, you can play nice music while they are shopping.
- Ensure you have a better response when a customer asks for an unavailable item, so you don't miss out on a sale. You can offer other styles or colors.
- Find a way to connect with customers. Do you love the same style? Do you have the same favorite local spots? Don't just chat up with a customer to make sales. Do it to build relationships.
- Be familiar with your products. Use the “FAB” formula, which stands for Features, Advantages, and Benefits" in offering items to help customers shop better.
- If there's a situation that isn't necessarily your fault, have an apology ready and make it up to the customer. You can offer a discount instead or a coupon.
- Train your staff to upsell, cross-sell and educate the shoppers. But it's not only about pushing products; they also have to know the benefits of the products you are offering and why they should purchase them.
- Acknowledge the repeat buyers by sending a heartfelt message of gratitude.
TAKEAWAYS
This marketing plan should not simply be prepared, reviewed, and filed away. Instead, your practice marketing strategy should be a living document that directs your activities and tracks your progress.
When you better target your ideal consumers, you lower your marketing expenditures and boost your chances of converting leads to sales. So, implement it, dedicate sufficient resources, involve your staff, and communicate openly with them, especially the company's mission, objectives, and strategy.
It will serve as a blueprint that guides your efforts and monitors your success. When there is a commitment and dedication to marketing, it works. It's entirely up to you!