Marketing Makes Strong Fashion Brands - Essay Example

Marketing Makes Strong Fashion Brands Way Into The Future Marketing involves a wide range of activities to ensure that business meets the needs of its customers. To do this an analysis of the market must first be undertaken. This includes finding out potential customers (target market), their needs, what the business can offer them (product value or uniqueness), what competitor businesses are offering (competitor analysis), pricing methods that would ensure that the customers are getting value for what they will pay for(pricing analysis) and how the product should be identified(product naming and branding).

To answer these questions necessitates Market Research. This is called Inbound Marketing. Once this is determined the next stage is to plan marketing strategies and execute the same. This would entail promotions, advertising, public relations, sales and customer service. This stage is called Outward Marketing. Without properly undergoing through these two stages, difficulties may arise according to Carter McNamara, MBA, "As a result, they often end up trying to push products onto people who really don't want the products at all.

Effective inbound marketing often results in much more effective and less difficult outbound marketing and sales." The key therefore is to conduct good inbound marketing as a foundation to outbound marketing. Bearing this advice in mind, businesses will have a fair chance of succeeding in the highly competitive market. The strongest element in Inbound Marketing that leading companies spend a lot on is Outbound marketing is the outward manifestation that directly interacts with people. The most powerful element of outbound marketing is advertising.

The Britannica Concise Encyclopedia defines advertising techniques and practices as making "the public to notice products for the purpose of persuading the public to respond in a certain way." People will know of the product, identify with it and buy it. Ioana Chioveanu (2006), names this as "persuasive advertising which induces brand loyalty in consumers who would otherwise buy the cheapest alternative on the market." This is the very essence of advertising and companies spend a lot on advertising.

In fact a survey of the Leading National Advertisers, claim that "the largest 100 advertisers in the U.S. laid out a total of USD 90.31 billion on advertising in 2003." All these facts prove without doubt the power of advertising and marketing. Marketing encompasses advertising. It is a process that moves had in hand because market strategies constantly changes and re-invents itself. Once a marketing strategy is adopted and executed, feedback obtained is used to make changes in the marketing strategy retaining what works and discarding what does not work.

Hence, according to John Copeland of the McKinsey's Marketing Practice it is better to focus on achievable positioning rather than aspirational positioning. Achievable positioning determines the relevance of the product according to the customer's frame of reference and making changes according to this. The next step is to introduce these changes to the customers through advertising. The final step is to deliver the new promises elicited by this advertising. It has been proven that marketing using this process produces good results.

It creates a strong brand identity that helps marketers secure the desired effect from consumers. Victoria's secret is associated with the notion of intimate moments. People know this as its advertising mark. Hence according to Copeland, it is easy for the company to introduce a new line of lingerie, perfume or products with a sensual connotation rather than handbags or a new line of jeans. Similarly, Frank Gehry known for advertising "designer themes" often uses models wearing various housewares as high fashion.

Other companies sets fashion trends by creating easily distinguishable marks that people can relate to. Gap introduced the "unpretentious real clothes stance" while Benetton of Italy made its mark using brightly colored knit wear and controversial advertising. According to Ghemaway and Nueno. these made both companies the largest specialist apparel retailers in the 1980s and 1990s. Ghemaway cites another company that did well on the brand identity of "clothes to be worn 10 times over" the Inditex (Industria de Diseno Textil) of Spain.

It continued a trajectory of rapid profitable growth by positioning net income of 340 million on revenues of 3,250 million in 2001. These companies made strong fashion brands during those years. All these companies have reached the top in the fashion brand scene. They have proven that utilizing this marketing strategy will develop strong fashion brands not only for the present but also way into the future. Resources Advertising. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica.com Advertising Age, June 28, 2004.

100 leading National Advertisers Chioveanu, Ioana. Advertising, Brand Loyalty and Pricing. (2006) Copeland, John T. Mckinsey's Marketing Practice: Successful Brand Repositioning Aspirational vs. Achievable strategies. Retrieved on 4/29/10 from http://www.mckinsey.com/practices/marketing/ourknowledge/pdf/Solutions_SuccessfulBrandRepositioning.pdf Ghemaway, F. & Nueno, J. ZARA: Fast Fashion. Harvard Business School. April 1, 2003. Retrieved on 4/28/10 from http://wehner.tamu.edu/mgmt.www/v-buenger/466/zara.

pdf McNamara, C. MBA, PhD. Adapted from the publication Field Guide to Nonprofit Program Design, Marketing and Evaluation. Retrieved on 4/30/10 from http://www.managementhelp.org/mrktng/basics/basics.htm