The Journey to becoming a successful marketing director in the fashion industry

Marketing is pivotal to the success of a brand, it's a way for the brand to hook the general public and show them their brand identity so they can gain loyal customers.

Something I'm working towards is becoming a fashion marketing director, here I will discuss the stages to get there and advice from industry experts that I look up to.

What do fashion marketers do?

Create a brand image

Predict upcoming trends

Maintain a budget

Schedule photo shoots

Create concepts for marketing campaigns

To be a successful fashion marketer it is important to keep up with what's going on in the fashion world, this can be done by following Instagram pages such as the BOF and I recommend keeping up with Bernard Garby on TikTok who gives fashion news Mondays to Fridays. Constantly keeping up with the latest trends and new developments within the industry means that you can create the best marketing strategy/campaign for your brand, for example, using a certain celebrity in a campaign to attract attention from the consumer, a good example of this was the recent Calvin Klein Campaign with Jeremy Allen White. When people like a celebrity, they stay loyal to them and therefore fans support whatever they decide to do, putting a spotlight on the brand.

Skills needed to become a successful fashion marketer

Be Curious: always be nosy about what's happening within the world and want to find out more to find more opportunities for the brand you work for.

Be Organised: Working in marketing can be complicated and stressful as every day may be different therefore it is important to stay organised.

Good Verbal communication: Once you think of different marketing concepts, you then share them with the rest of your team, it is important that everyone is on the same page and there are no miscommunications as it could set back projects.

Computer Skills: Something that I'm currently doing short courses for is software technologies such as Microsoft 360 and Adobe, employers more often than not will put this in their qualification sections when looking for employees.

How to market a brand

Knowing the 4 Ps is key before you start scribbling down concepts. The price of your product determines how your customers value it. Before you do this it's important to revisit who your target market is, for example, Ralph Lauren's target market may be predominantly upper-middle-class men and women, who like to travel a lot and work for a large corporation, this will help to determine a price which your target market can afford but will also consider valuable and therefore think highly of your brand and give you a good idea of the personality and identity of your brand.

Qualifications needed:

A bachelor's degree in marketing/business, however, it is not always key, it's very possible to reach this point without a degree.

Internships or work experience, not only is this beneficial for applying for jobs but also for networking. One of the most important things is building connections with others working in the industry.