Fashion Week: How to Make Your Fashion Business Go Viral

Are you looking to start a new business or expand your current one? Then this is your plan to go viral in 2023. Because executing a strategy takes time - and focus.

Find influencers who will promote your brand.

Influencer marketing is a powerful strategy for brands because it allows them to reach a large number of people at once. This type of marketing is based on the idea that people trust those with whom they share common interests more than those with whom they do not. Sounds obvious? Yes, it is. But this is the crucial step to getting ahead in the game.

Who is the one you want to see your product affiliated with?
Who represents the philosophy of your brand?

Two simple questions a lot of (fashion) brand executives are not aware of. This means errors are preprogrammed. To build a strong brand image you need to get in touch, engage and keep an open dialogue with influencers and their communities. By recognizing an influencer's strategy and image you save a lot of time for the other party and for yourself.

So the laser-sharp focus on your niche is the most important thing to do first.

Caro Daur (Photo: Shutterstock)

How to build relationships with influencers.

If you want to build an influencer marketing campaign, you need to make sure that you are building genuine relationships with these influencers. You should try to find out what motivates them and how they spend their free time. Once you understand their personality, you will be able to better connect with them.

Being part of an important influencer's milestone in life is also one possibility to gain awareness and attract more people to your brand which benefits your influencer marketing strategy. Need numbers? As the "Financial Times" noted about uber-influencer Chiara Ferragnis's wedding in 2018: "The equivalent of the UK’s population (67m) watched, shared and read about the #Ferragnez three-day wedding extravaganza as it unfolded on social media." And much more in their Amazon documentary ...

If you are unsure about your strategy it is important to look out for an influencer marketing agency that has some projects you would like to do and adapt to your brand's story. Seeing your business from another perspective, which only a consulting agency can do, you avoid problems that could ruin your brand's reputation.

Also communicating (internally) what your company does not stand for and which target group you don't want to reach can be an important step to develop your influencer marketing strategy.

Is influencer marketing worth the effort?

In this day and age, you should implement influencer marketing in your overall strategy to succeed. Most brands are suitable for the world of social media to engage with their target group. There is almost no field where influencer marketing has not made a huge impact on brands' success stories.

Fashion platform Stylight searched and found data about Germany's top-influencer Caro Daur. Yes, and they also talk about revenues for brands here. With her millions of Instagram followers, the Hamburg native is in the game for years now.

Influencer marketing is a powerful strategy because it allows brands to reach people who would not normally buy their products. It also helps companies to build brand awareness and trust among consumers. However, influencer marketing requires more than just finding a few influencers and asking them to promote your company. You must first understand why they are influential and then develop a relationship with them.

One brand that did it right in the last years: Jacquemus (Photo: Shutterstock)

"I didn't know that being a fashion designer was a job. I just always wanted to create stories." - Simon Porte Jacquemus

Influencer marketing example

Let's talk about Jacquemus as a best practice example for social media marketing.

Why? Because the Parisian designer (who once was a fashion blogger) is one of the best examples of influencer marketing out there. His advantage is not only understanding how social media works (as he uses it very successfully for himself by sharing his life on his "Jacquemus IG" - like his wedding) but also by creating content that fits his brand image authentically and today's Instagram aesthetic.

And when we talk about aesthetics, we also mean the backdrop of his shows (i.e. pink salt plains of Camargue, lavender fields in Provence) that reflect the story of his brand, which is connected to nature and his family whose members also sometimes appear in his postings shared and liked by hundreds of thousands of his followers.

By implementing influencers and models like Bella and Gigi Hadid since the early days of his brand he not only created a (very public) bond between them and his brand but also acknowledged the power of mixing influencers with professional models. (Of course, Bella and Gigi Hadid are nowadays professional models themselves but started as influencers and became models along the way.)

You kind of don't have the budget to let a whole fashion show take place in an exotic place? Then get creative as it is mostly not about budget but about using the resources which are available in your surrounding. Leaving the black fashion tent backdrops of fashion weeks and creating unique visual experiences is part of today's content creation process and the digital area we are in.

In an interview with Buro 24/7 in 2017 (in his typical authentic manner) he unintentionally gave insight into the essence that makes fashion brands go viral in this day and age: "I didn't know that being a fashion designer was a job. I just always wanted to create stories." And as consumers are looking for some bright spots in the times we are living in, it is natural that people are electrified by Simon Porte Jacquemus' approach to fashion and communicating it with a clear message that thrives on the joyfulness of his personality.

Speaking of joyfulness ...

If you locate your fashion show in an awe-inspiring public venue you do not also garner the attention of the fashion crowd but also of other people who will like to participate. One example was the fashion show of Ganni which showed at the Spring/Summer 2022 Copenhagen Fashion Week.

Ganni staged a colorful scenery at the Copenhagen harbor for the collection "Joyride" by using sidewalk chalk to paint the concrete "runway". The show that (with musical support from DJ Louise Chen) created a partylike atmosphere will be in the memory of its guests - and the public who was able to watch behind a fence.