This document discusses successful content marketing strategies for fashion brands. It recommends (1) using user-generated content to showcase real customers and inspire confidence, (2) tying brand purpose into all content to appeal to values-driven consumers, and (3) linking online and offline experiences so customers can engage with the brand wherever they shop. Case studies of brands like Rent the Runway, Nasty Gal and Burberry demonstrate how these tactics strengthened customer connections and boosted sales. The key is creating content that reaches consumers at the right time, place and stage of their shopping journey.

1. Trends + Trendsetters:
The Best in Fashion Content Marketing

2. Welcome!
NewsCred’s Strategy Team helps brands build and hone their content
strategies, taking into consideration marketing goals, brand positioning, and
the competitive landscape.
Our Industry Landscape guides aim to educate marketers on trends,
opportunities, and content strategies that best-in-class brands are utilizing to
engage their audiences. In this guide, we’ll take a look at content marketing in
the fashion industry.
Interested in learning more? We’d love to hear from you! Feel free to reach
out at caitlin.domke@newscred.com.
- Caitlin Domke, Brand Strategist, NewsCred

3. Today’sshoppersaremoreinformedanddigitallysavvythaneverbefore.

4. 81% of shoppers conduct
online research before buying
*Source: GE Capital Retail Bank study, 2013

5. Ignoring this fact?

7. They want information throughout the
shopping process.
Shoppers look for information:
Before visiting
a store
87% 79% 35%
While visiting
a store
After visiting
a store
*Source: Google Insights, Oct 2014

8. 54% of consumers would consider no longer
shopping at a retailer that failed to deliver
them tailor-made, relevant content.
*Source: CMO Council, 2014

9. This is also true for luxury shoppers:
*Source: Google Insights, Sept 2013
94% of all luxury buyers research either
online or offline before making a luxury
purchase decision
78% of all luxury buyers reported using
at least 1 online resource before making
a luxury purchase decision

10. $264.30
$305.70
$349.10
$394.40
$442.60
$493.90
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
5.8 % 6.5 % 7.1 % 7.7 % 8.3 % 8.9 %
16.5 % 15.7 %
14.2 %
13 % 12.2 % 11.6 %
And e-commerce is more popular than ever before:
*Source: eMarketer, Sept 2014
Retail ecommerce sales
% change
% of total retail sales

11. But consumers are bombarded with information
- over 5,000 messages a day.
*Source: Yankelovich Consumer Research

12. 91% of people unsubscribe from email
they previously opted in to
.1% click banner ads
86% of enabled viewers skip TV ads
*Sources: Hubspot; Content Marketing Institute; DoubleClick

13. People tune
out the noise.

14. To get ahead, fashion retailers need to…
Reach the right people At the right time At the right place

15. Content marketing allows fashion brands
to truly connect with their customers.

16. Source: Jim Stengel, Proctor & Gamble, 2008
3x
It can lead to big business results…
Brands who focus on connecting with their
consumers on an emotional level have a
growth rate triple that of their competitors.

17. So what works?
How do you do it?

18. How do you not become
content marketing fashion roadkill?

19. Proven successful tactics for fashion brands in
content marketing:
1) Make your customer the hero
2) Weave your brand purpose throughout your content
3) Link the online + offline worlds

20. 1. Make your customer the hero.

21. Turn your brand fans into brand ambassadors
with user-generated content

22. Why UGC?
• Showing "real people" wearing your product proves your brand’s popularity and inspires
confidence in your shoppers
• 63% of U.S. consumers trust customer photos more than brand or retailer photos
• 32% of U.S. consumers would be more likely to buy a clothing item if it was “modeled” by
a fellow customer

23. CaseStudy:RenttheRunway

24. Our Runway
200%
Conversion
rate
• Microsite dedicated to UGC
• Provides users with
confidence when renting
dresses

25. 2. Weave your brand purpose
throughout your content

26. 72% of consumers would recommend a brand that
supports a good cause, over one that does not.
*Edelman global research study, 2012

27. AdAge reports that millennials will
seek out and buy brands that
support a cause that aligns with
their values.

28. CaseStudy:NastyGal

29. Nasty Gal Brand Purpose =
Female empowerment and discovery

30. Content
Marketing
BRAND
PURPOSE
WHAT
CUSTOMERS
WANT
Nasty Gal blog
Nasty Gal
Brand Purpose
Female
empowerment and
discovery
Target Audience:
Millennial women
Audience Analysis:
• 20something
• Urban
• Educated
• Not a wallflower
• Bold
• Edgy

31. “I want to make girls smarter and to
create a community that can have
conversations.
My customers are curious about the
world; they know that Nasty Gal is about
making your life more than the sum of its
parts. It’s not enough that girls are
supposed to only be into fashion and
that’s it.”
- Sophia Amaruso, Founder and Owner,
Nasty Gal
“

32. The Blog
• Includes the Nasty Gal hashtag, #GIRLBOSS
wherever possible
• Features profiles of women working in the
fashion world under its beauty and style “Role
Model” sections
• Interviews and photo shoots with powerful
women
• Globetrotting women who blog about their
experiences traveling around the world
• Other content pillars beyond fashion + beauty
– such as art, music, food, and film -- for the
well-rounded reader who isn’t just interested in
fashion

33. Engaged community
on social media
• 1.4m NastyGal Instagram followers
• 1.2m Facebook followers
• 2.1m views on their YouTube
channel

34. 3)Link the online + offline worlds
3. Link the online + offline

35. Retail customers live in both online and offline environments

36. Case Study: Burberry

37. • 1.6m monthly views to their YouTube channel
• 3.53M followers on Twitter
• 2.5M followers on Instagram
• 18M likes on Facebook
An established leader in
digital marketing

38. “We are focused on blurring the lines of the
physical and digital worlds-and using mobile
to unite them, so we can engage our
consumers however they shop:
in-store, online, on social.
- SARAH MANLEY -
Chief Marketing Officer
Burberry
”

39. From Catwalk to Content
• Live-stream runway shows
• #Tweetwalk: Share the newest looks on social
before they hit the catwalk + stream the images
to 25 global stores.
• Runway Made to Order
• Customer 1-2-1 tool in nearly 400 stores
• “In-Tweet” purchasing during fashion shows

40. Results…
• During the #Tweetwalk:
• 50,000 views of images within 30 minutes
• #Tweetwalk trending worldwide
• Retail revenue rose by 15% in the first half of 2014, but channels that linked
the store and online grew faster:
• “Customers increasingly moved between offline and online throughout their
purchase journey, reflected in the contribution to digital sales of orders via
iPads in store (over 25%) and ‘order online, collect in store’ (over 20%)”
• Burberry said retail revenue accounted for 68% of its revenue, from 216
mainline stores, 224 department store concessions, digital commerce and 55
outlets. Digital, it said, outperformed in all regions.

41. Summary:
1. Make your customer the hero
2. Weave your brand purpose
throughout your content
3. Link the online + offline worlds

42. Thank you for reading!
Questions?
Strategy@NewsCred.com