Identify Your Fashion Brand’s Unique Selling Point To Increase Product Sales

Most fashion designers plan the online sales of their designs in a bit of a backward manner, meaning that they never properly develop an idea of what truly separates them in the marketplace from their competitors. However, if they did, they could guarantee sales and thereby assure the success of their brand.Is this a familiar scenario? You’re faced with having to pay a sky-high sample piece rate for a small run, or you’re forced to sign for an extremely high minimum order quantity (MOQ) to try to get a smaller piece rate. But then, you can’t move all pieces you’ve purchased.What if you could generate traffic to your website and take advantage of the MOQ you were forced to order? What if you didn’t have to worry about moving those extra pieces? What if online customers who were looking for EXACTLY your type of item found you? What if in the process of doing so you also strengthened your brand?The way to attract online customers who want and need your designs is by clearly defining what sets you apart from the rest of the fashion industry, which in marketing is called defining the Unique Selling Proposition (USP).In a nutshell, the USP is a quick-but-intense analysis of your competitors, your target customer, and you…and how they all interlock (or don’t). By understanding where your competition succeeds and where they fail, as well as what motivates your target customer to buy, you can become the safety net to catch everyone who your competition can’t serve. In addition, you’ll differentiate yourself by doing all the same basics your competition does, except one better.Let me try to illustrate, in my own design-deficient way, with the following diagram (I’m a marketer, not Michaelangelo!):

Let’s assume that you’ve already figured out what makes your target customer happy. You’ve done your research, and you figured out that your target customers are green-minded, so they want tees in organic cotton. They’re also a bit diva, so they like flashy designs (just like yours truly). They don’t really trust ordering online because they’ve had a bad experience before, so they look for a no-hassle return policy. Finally, this target customer is of the more voluptuous variety (the Email Diva is voluptuous as well…can I get some love?).You’ve also been the smart independent designer with marketing savvy, and you know what your competition offers as well. You have found out that all three of you offer tees in organic cotton, as well as metallic embellishments. But you found out that Store 2 and you are the only designers that offer plus sizing. And…eureka! Store 1 is the only one of the bunch that offers a no-hassle return policy.So what does this analysis tell us?* You are just as strong as the majority of the field* You offer one benefit more than one competitor* You don’t offer one benefit that only one competitor offers.So, you go back to your marketing drawing board, and you add on the no-hassle return policy if it makes business sense to you, and you make a big, hairy deal out of the plus sizing.Suddenly, you’re a designer that offers flashy, attention-getting designs printed on soft, organic cotton especially for the plus-sized t-shirt connoisseur. Oh, and by the way, never be afraid to buy from our favorite retailer or online, because regardless of where you purchased our t-shirt, we’ll exchange it for something that works better for you.BAM!! You just created your USP.So now what? Well, very simply, this message should invade all your marketing materials…your website content, your line sheets, your banner ads, your pay-per-click ads. You are now offering the market something completely different, something that no one else has (of course, assuming you did your competitive research thoroughly). Why wouldn’t online-wary plus-sized green folks who love flash want to buy from you?As long as you always concentrate on what your customers want, as well as what your competition is doing, you will never go wrong. You have then developed a captive audience out of a marketing niche, and they will never stop buying your next big thing.I’m rooting for your success!_________________________________Like this article? Sign up for more by subscribing to my newsletter on email and internet marketing especially for the fashion industry! You can also email me at info@emaildiva.net.