Thank you so much for taking the time to let me interview you. Here are the questions I have for you:
1. What are some of the marketing strategies you currently use, and, more importantly, what strategies did you use during the start up of your company when you needed to get the name established.
Marketing Strategy:
Over the course of the companies short life I have relied heavily on low or zero-cost marketing, opting to focus on hard work as opposed to cash out of pocket. In short I would call it grassroots at it’s core.
Here are a couple of tactics:
Establishing good relationships in various parts of the industry has been very important. Getting involved with other start-ups is a great way to establish relationships.There are a ton of people out there building the same way that we are and I feel that it is extremely beneficial to help each other out in achieving our goals.
Getting our target market involved and excited about the brand and product are key. They are the ones who are going to spread the word and keep things moving.
Taking any chance I have to get the brand in front of someone that could make a difference. Store owners, bloggers, people affiliated with organizations and publications that reach out to the market.
Sponsorships - Athletes (in our case), bands, etc. can be very useful not only to increase brand recognition but to help establish credibility among your target market.
Bringing on talented sales reps has definitely helped in marketing to the wholesale sector but the willingness to get out there and push the product yourself can never be overlooked when you are first starting out.
We have of course used and continue to use some paid forms of advertising. I would like to explore more in the way of print advertising in the future
Some of the more mundane marketing techniques are strong SEO work on the web side, postcard mailers, press releases etc.
Overall I am happy with the results that our marketing efforts have produced. My strategy has allowed the company to grow at a controlled pace, I look at it as creating a strong foundation from the start and building up from that instead of skipping from the lobby to the executive level in one shot.
2. What methods of distribution do you use and how efficient do you find them?
Distribution:
When the company first launched I focused my efforts on creating a strong online presence hoping to build a steady flow of traffic through our web shop. This was the most affordable option to begin creating the company so I jumped at the chance to get going. It is often said that e-commerce levels the playing field, but for a small start-up with no outside funding it can be an extremely competitive market. Large shopping networks such as eBay. that offer below wholesale pricing along with extremely fast, not to mention cheap shipping options can make it difficult for a smaller company to gain a foothold. It is also important to mention that establishing a strong e-commerce site relies heavily on your target markets likeliness to purchase products online. It is my experience that our target market, although they may spend countless hours chatting online, is more likely to look for new merchandise at the local shop. So over the course of the past year I have shifted the the majority of my focus to establishing strong wholesale relationships. It is difficult to take an “unproven” product to market but as you start to get a foot in the door accounts start building off of each other. This industry is very well connected and it is important to keep that in mind when dealing with potential customers. I continue to maintain and slowly build our online presence, but ultimately I would like the majority of our business to be centered on the wholesale to brick and mortar retailers.
3. What was the biggest factor and biggest challenge on your road to building a successful clothing company?
Factors:
I believe the biggest contributing factor to building a successful clothing company is creating strong brand recognition. Getting people interested in your brand, talking about it and creating a following. My vision for making it happen is again to go slow. Overnight success stories are few and far between in this business so don’t rush it. There are companies that have been out there for 5 years and up, putting out a killer product and are just now starting to receive the recognition that they deserve. It can be a struggle but if it is something that you believe in it is hard to let go no matter how difficult it may seem at times.
Biggest Challenge - Grabbing a big enough piece of the pie to keep the company moving forward and eventually allowing us to explore different avenues such as working with non-profit organizations like we attempted with SurfAid. I envision a brand that inspires and contributes, but doing so is a bit hard if you do not have a captive audience. This is an extremely competitive industry and it just so happens we decided to tackle what could be considered the hottest sector. I am not looking to become the next Billabong or Quicksilver but I would like to convince that particular market that there are other brands out there worth having a look at.
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