If I was a fashion designer

The game in fashion design is to stand out from the crowd, and generate interest from your unique touches and stylings, in order to generate sales.

If you're thinking of playing the online game in the world of fashion design, you need to be prepared.

Here's some tools that would get you started:

Your own website: This is crucial to get your "brand" out there, not to mention generating direct sales (which saves you money otherwise paid to third parties like eBay)

A Blog: If not already built into your website (a much better option as you get ALL incoming traffic), get a blog at Wordpress.com, Blogger.com, Tumblr.com or Posterous.com

A Twitter account: The greatest leads generating Social Media tool out there

A Facebook Page: This will keep your interested customers interested, and works better than email subscriptions

A LinkedIn account: If you can connect with like-minded individuals, you'll be able to grow much faster than doing it on your own

An eBay account: Great if you're just getting started, because your market is already there. Ideally you'd want to sell from your own website more and more as time goes on

Once you have these six main tools at your disposal, you'll need to utilise them efficiently. Keep your website current, and up to date with your latest collections and some creative written pieces. Crucial if you want to engage with your customers. Update the site daily, and make sure you respond immediately to any enquiries.

Post to your blog several times per week and provide tangible, interesting advice - the trick here is not to "sell" yourself, but to give everyone reading some valuable insights into what makes you tick, how you got started, what motivates you and how others wanting to break into the fashion field can achieve the same. At the end of each blog, point readers to your website.

Tweet constantly. In all businesses, new clients are the lifeline. Tweeting several times per day and pointing your Tweets towards your blog (NOT your website) is the best, non-salesy method to driving people to you. Remember, the point here is to generate interest, not to sell.

Point all customers, whether they have purchased from you or made an enquiry, to your Facebook page. This will allow them to keep up to date with all of your activities. Ensure you are utilising your Facebook Page effectively to keep your recurring customers buying.

If you meet anyone along the way that could be beneficial to the growth of your business (like another designer, a fashion outlet, retailer, buyer, agent etc), make sure you add them to your Linked In account. This will ensure they keep you in mind when they attempt to grow themselves.

Finally, utilise an eBay account. Not only will this allow you to conduct safe, frequent auctions, it will help you get on your feet while you're still in the early days of traffic generation to your website.

If you want to know more, contact us here at www.strongmandigital.com.au.

Until Next Time,

Tomer Garzberg

http://ping.fm/TCKTE