How to Grow Your Fashion Brand Through Influencer Marketing

Nearly 90% of marketers who have tried influencer marketing say that it was effective for their brand. And even more impressive, fashion makes up 81% of the total influencer market. If you own a fashion brand and are not using this type of marketing, you are missing out on some very profitable opportunities for your business.

The biggest reason that fashion influencer marketing has made such an enormous impact is that traditional fashion advertising has lost its touch. Consumers are overlooking these fashion ads as they don't like being directly sold to, and they see them as distant and unrealistic. Consumers instead find trust and authenticity in indirect ads that their favorite influencers provide, specifically on social media. In fact, consumers have come to trust influencers more than their own friends, a QuestionPro report found. 

Moreover, fashion is a visual market, so posting clothes and fashion styles on platforms like Instagram and Facebook through influencers is a surefire way to garner the interest of consumers who are already invested in the market. There are plenty of fashion campaign ideas that have found major success through influencers as well, including product reviews, giveaways, and fashion tips. Best of all, it's easier than ever to track your campaign to see the results you are receiving in both the short and long term. If you're wondering how to grow your fashion brand with affiliates, start with this guide. 

Influencer marketing and fashion: the "why"

Fashion is not only popular with influencers on social media because it's visual but also because of the social proof phenomenon. Basically, if people see others doing something, they are more likely to do it too so that they will fit in. If a consumer is following an influencer on social media and sees that they are sporting a certain look or style, they will feel more inclined to purchase that clothing to be like them. 

But it's not just about posting pretty pictures. Influencers also create a presence on social media that their followers grow interested in, come to trust, and develop a connection with. Successful influencers create a "brand" that represents who they are, what they are interested in, and what they stand for. That's why it's important to only work with those whose interests and values align with yours — differing views will most likely lead to ungenuine posts. 

It's also why influencer marketing is incredibly effective in the long term. If you develop a good relationship with an influencer, they can continue to showcase your products, and their followers will associate their favorite fashion influencers with your brand. Better yet, followers will be interested in seeing your fashion brand's future posts. The best influencer relationships will have a recurring theme, whether it's a certain look, style, or story that followers will come to look forward to seeing.

Creating a campaign

As for how to grow your fashion brand using influencer marketing, it starts with finding your target audience and seeing what influencers they follow. Consider the following traits of your ideal audience:

• Age
• Location
• Gender
• Financial situation (are they individuals who are established in their career with lots of disposable income or college students on a tight budget?)
• Their fashion goals (what fashion trends are popular with them?)

To pick an influencer, you'll need to consider which kind you want to work with — would you rather work with a macro-influencer or micro-influencer? That is, would you rather work with an influencer who has a million followers (macro) or one with 100,000 or less (micro)? Keep in mind that influencers with smaller follower counts tend to have deeper connections with their followers. Those with millions of followers can seem distant, much like traditional advertisers — but they obviously have a larger audience.

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Picking a marketing method

Once you've settled on an influencer or two that you'd like to collaborate with, you will then pick a marketing campaign. Some of the most popular ideas include:

Product reviews: Nearly 70% of shoppers will read between one to three product reviews before making a purchase. As a result, product reviews are one of the best campaign ideas to go with. You can have influencers give an honest review of your clothing, as this promotes authenticity.

Giveaways: Who doesn't love a giveaway? You can request influencers ask their followers to either follow your brand's social media page or like or comment on a specific post of yours in exchange for the chance to win a free product from you. This method acts as a fun way to increase engagement.

Fashion tips: How-to guides and tips are very popular with social media users. To appeal to this trend, your influencers can offer fashion tips using your clothing, including what to pair certain items with or how to accessorize your garments.

Discount codes: Discount codes are a straightforward way to get more sales. Influencers can advertise a specialized discount code on a post or their profile that users can then enter on your site to get a discount.

Product launches: Lastly, consider launching a product in partnership with an influencer. They can announce your new fashion product and incorporate one of the other campaign tactics — such as a giveaway or discount code — alongside the launch to get followers excited about your new item.

The final step for how to grow your fashion brand with affiliates is tracking your campaign progress. 

Tracking progress 

Are you getting more:

• Sales?
• Likes?
• Comments?
• Followers?

Answering these questions requires you to track your progress throughout your influencer marketing strategy. The results you seek will come back to your initial goals, whether they are to grow your engagement, conversions, sign-ups, website traffic, or impressions. As you track the numbers and metrics behind your campaign, analyze the hard numbers and see if you need to change the direction of your overall campaign or if you should keep doing what you're doing.

Make the most of your fashion influencer marketing 

To maximize your influencer marketing success, look no further than LeadDyno. LeadDyno offers affiliate management and tracking to track the progress of your influencers, measure your leads and sales, and easily set up a commission structure. Best of all, LeadDyno integrates with over 25 platforms so that you can start your influencer marketing campaign in just a few clicks. Reach out to us to kickstart your affiliate program today!