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Money-Saving tips (FREE-Publicity!)

I receive a ton of emails from the days when I was running and starting my first line on how can I promote my clothing line and get the brand ?out there? with a small amount of money. Well today I?m going to go over some ways to promote and gain attention too your brand with little to NO money! Read this article and afterwards do not waste anymore time Execute.

First off free publicity one of the many ways to gain attention too your clothing line. It?s real simple and best of all its pretty much free or of little cost to you. There are many ways to gain publicity first lets go over a few ways. When running a clothing line theirs no better way to connect to your customer than being featured in his/her favorite magazine. No we?re not talking about spending thousands of dollars for an ad in a magazine, but instead being featured in the style section! I know you?ve seen it in men?s/women magazines were they highlight the hot summer fashions or the must have for the winter. Yes this is free its just a matter of having connections or just giving away free shirts too a magazine which is way better than paying for ad space which can be very expensive for a small apparel company. This connects with the customer on a more personal basis because you?re the top pick of their favorite teen/fashion magazine and believe it or not music, publications, and EVERYDAY life influences what is being worn by EVERYDAY people.

A second outlet is being featured in your local newspaper. I?ve experienced doing this firsthand being that I?m part owner of a street wear clothing line. Might not seem like much but being in the newspaper can effect how people perceive your business and its like business being presented in a whole new ?light?! When starting our new website for our clothing line we seen our page views go from 300 a day to 600 a day to a steady 2,000 to 4,000 on a great day in the first month or so. We submitted our story to a newspaper and that?s when the views and attention start coming out of NOWHERE. Our website views went from what I stated previously too 13,000 plus visitors in one day. The key to this is making a very interesting story that people are going to want too read. We were featured on the cover page as the head story of the day! Ever since then we have people wanting to help out left and right YES u guessed it for FREE! Everybody wants to be a part of something that in their mind is special or something they represent. We had investors contacting us and banks u have to let the business world know u exist or no opportunities will knock at your door. Remember luck is nothing but being ready when an opportunity presents itself. Are You Ready?
Pics of article Click to enlarge!

On to another tip this was also the topic of last week. Trade shows a great opportunity for promoting your clothing line. Expensive you might say yes/no some are definitely! You have to then pull out your book full of contacts you made while attending the fashion shows and/or networking on the internet with other up and coming clothing lines. Share a booth people with other people in the industry that are startups just like you. One mistake people make when doing this is creating direct competition with their booth mate! Make sure whoever you are sharing with is not in direct competition with the category of clothing your company produces. Believe me there are plenty of small companies out there willing to share with you lots of companies have cash flow problems in the first year or so, because most are undercapitalized. You can even try and share a booth with an up and coming sneaker manufacturer. Why? Collaborate have them match up colors with some of your best-sellers and watch the buyers flock to your booth because accessories usually enhance the appearance of garments.

The last tip of today is email marketing! Yeah I know spam right?Wrong! Email marketing has done wonders for some of the apparel lines I help start, but there is a wrong and a right way to do it!

First let?s start with the wrong way:

Emailing Stores without prior notice

Bombarding retail stores with duplicate emails (if they don?t respond even when u gave them prior notice their probably not interested)

Sending big files with attachments to download. Why u ask? They?ve probably never heard of you first off. Getting them to read is one thing. Having them to download slow files is another. (Send them by links in the email try photobucket.com, or imageshack.us for hosting your pics.)

Calling them and telling them you?re a NEW line and interested in retailing in their store. Even though you?re new they don?t have to know that! When calling let them know u would like their email so that u can send them some info on a (insert sales pitch here) line that has been (tell them about your line being featured in DNR, WWD, Vibe, Complex) and you would like to send them some info on it. That?s it.

Giving your sales pitch to people who can?t do anything with it. i.e.: (salesman, security guard, cashier) Ask to speak with the mens/women store buyer and if their not in ask when should u call back.

Now for the right way:

Calling and giving them prior notice of the email on your new innovative line coming their way.

Ask to speak with a person that can assist you with your need (store buyer).

Following up with the store buyer. Call and ask them their honest opinion like what do they think about the line and is it something that would fit in with their store. If they don?t like it tell them thanks for their time and have a nice day. (never get mad and burn your bridges) You never know who could help u in the future!

Ask them what brands do they sell and what are their price points no need to waste your time on a store that doesn?t even cater to your target market! Right? Yes. Time=Your Money

Go put some of these tips to work IMMEDIATELY and let me know how they work for you. Leave your thoughts and suggestions if any.

Fashion Industry CEO

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