In fashion-retail, things change fast, while consumers get more and more picky. This is Mia Deaconu’s outlook on the industry. Mia is Marketing Manager at Fashion House and  we wanted to hear her thoughts about FH’s first influencerscampaign. Well, *read* her thoughts actually. So we asked her a few questions about it. The campaign was run on 2Performant and, long story short, it was a very cool success.  

11 influencers took part in the campaign, as they passed the criteria chosen for this particular project:

• Location
• Content quality
• The influencer’s affinity towards fashion
• The followers’ profile
• The number of followers

The brief was simple enough. Our goal was to broadcast one of our main events, where we offered discounts up to 90%.

The campaign turned out to be yet another example of how influencer marketing has come to work for brands. And the new marketplace on 2Performant is designed for this precisely – brands growing stronger and influencers showing their colors. Already there are documented examples and more will come.

And by the way, Mia is right: Getting in on influencer marketing is a must for brands. Better late than never for brands. Clock is ticking.

(pentru varianta in romana a acestui material, click aici)

Background

My experience in tobacco was the starting point on this road called Consumer Marketing. This was during a time when marketing efforts were more permissive in this industry.

The portfolio I used to manage locally was about ATL, in-store, events, special projects etc. A company such as Philip Morris is also a very good learning experience.

11 years at Fashion House

Time flies when you are doing what you love with a great team by your side. At Fashion House I discovered a second family, they are not just my colleagues. This is how challenges become easier actually – by working with the right people.

In fashion-retail, things change fast, while consumers get more and more picky. Their expectations are molded by fast-fashion stores with aggressive sales and constant new collections.

Furthermore, online stores have developed a lot in recent years which only makes this market more competitive.

Differentiating factors

The Romanian market is considered to be rather atypical. But even so, Fashion House Outlet Centre was and continues to be a success. It is still the only outlet in Romania, after more than a decade since its opening in Bucharest.

Communicating with your clients

Our communication addresses clients who are looking for international brands at affordable prices, with discounts of up to 70% (or even more) all year round. Those are the people that are ‘brand conscious’ and are looking for clothes and shoes with a smaller price tag than what they’re used in regular stores.

The communication efforts we are making are straightforward, with the digital medium more suitable than phone or face to face contact.

We reply to dozens of questions we receive on social media, email or our contact form and try to be as fast as possible. Outlet locations are usually outside of the city so visiting such an establishment is a bit more difficult than your average mall.

Around 30% of our visitors come to Fashion House at least once a month, which is why communicating well via newsletters is very important for us. We use this channel for announcing promotions, special offers and events. People are usually very interested in what we do.

The content used

Our ATL awareness campaigns are an important part of how we communicate. But what we take great pride in are our events that showcase extra-discounts. Our “main event” is of course ‘Super Outlet Shopping Day’, with discounts that can go as far as 90%.

These events are supported by digital efforts as well. The online environment has become our main advertising channel in our media mix. And the results are very good.

The influencers campaign on 2Performant

I was impressed to learn about the platform and thought it was a great way to test it out. The brief was simple enough. Our goal was to broadcast one of our main events where we give discounts up to 90%.

Creatively speaking, the influencers got a chance to choose from out materials and were given complete freedom to communicate the event in their own personal style.

Choosing the influencers

We made the selection according to certain criteria and chose 11 influencers. The criteria were content, affinity towards the fashion industry, content quality, number of followers and the profile of the influencer.

The geographical criterion was very important to because the message needed to get across our public in Bucharest/Ilfov.

(Irina Claudia M.)

Key take-aways

This campaign brought us in a whole new area of communication and the result was very encouraging. We liked the way we managed to choose and relate with the influencers. It was all very simple. Moreover, the influencers themselves were very reliable and easy to work with. The platform was key for us.

As this was a new project for us, it was important to find the right mix of collaboration between client, influencers and the team managing the platform. I am happy to have found an eager and open team here and I bet 2Performant will have great success in providing a place for brands and influencers.

(Andreea Manole)

Favorite posts in the campaign?

Not really. At the end of the day, the result was all that mattered. But I do have to mention Dana Gont with her authentic approach.

Tracking the results

Having a good Reach was important right from the beginning, so most of the influencers chose to make their post a sponsored one. Obviously we tracked engagement and other values, but the most important indicator laid in the number of people that visited Fashion House on the day of the event. From that standpoint, we did great!

Conclusions

What we did with the campaign on 2Performant brought us very good results. The numbers show it. We cannot however say that the campaign alone delivered the results. The event was properly supported via other media channels.

We will definitely run more campaigns on 2Performant and also try other approaches to market our business with the help of influencers.

The truth is this campaign helped us save time. It is hard to tell when we would have integrated this sort of effort had it not been for 2Performant. Also, we saved other resources and had minimum waste since our message reached exactly the right people.

(_walkcatwalk_)

Trends in influencer marketing

There is already a boom in influencer marketing across the globe, since social media has taken the spotlight for a while now. In USA for example, almost 60% of all marketers have increased the budgets for influencer marketing. This increase will make sure companies invest in strategies to understand and analyse how relationships between brands and influencers work.

I believe there are a few areas worth keeping an eye on in influencer marketing. Social media has given a voice to regular people to build their own brand. Again, in the United States, 70% of all teenagers say they trust an influencer more than they trust a celebrity.

Furthermore, half of the women interviewed for the study have shopped at one time or another influenced by posts belonging to influencers, on social media. More than 86% of them use social media for shopping advice.

Another thing: ad-blockers are getting popular which means brands will have to start paying more attention to working differently. So I think we will see this shift more and more in the favor of influencer marketing. Facebook will remain the obvious leader for a while, yes, and YouTube will see an increase probably in popularity.

What is interesting is the case of Lush. They gave up entirely on Facebook and its campaigns. Their only presence on Facebook is through influencers. So brands have to get in on influencer marketing. Better late than never.

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The new marketplace on 2Performant is dedicated to influencers and the ways they can help businesses grow. The new section of the platform allows brands to set up campaigns in a transparent and simple manner. For more information have a look at the Influencer section on our website