Six Business Tips for Fashion and Lifestyle Entrepreneurs

Style My Soul Explores — What is one business tip you have for entrepreneurs representing a Fashion and/or a Lifestyle brand? 

Here are six business tips for Fashion and Lifestyle entrepreneurs:

• Be Genuine and Embody Your Core Values
• Know and Help Your Audience Create Their Future
• Respect Contracts When Working With Influencers
• Keep Updated and Trendy
• Engage Broadly With Your Customers
• Invest in Micro-Influencer Marketing to Stand Out

Be Genuine and Embody Your Core Values
People want more from their brands. With the rise of TikTok, we see a similar rise in the unfiltered, raw and real content. If you have a Fashion or Lifestyle brand, you need to be genuine to your audience and who you are through and through. The company needs to embody the core values you share with your audience throughout every level of interaction. Customers have gotten a lot more savvy and when they feel betrayed, they let EVERYONE know it. My best advice, build a brand around the people you want to be spending time with, those people are your target customers and they’ll be there with you throughout your growth if you genuinely connect with them.
✒️ Andreea Borcea, Dia Creative

Know and Help Your Audience Create Their Future
Know who your audience wants to become. When you’re representing a lifestyle brand, you aren’t just marketing to the audience as they are — you’re also marketing to who they want to be. As a brand, you need to prove to your customers that you can help them attain the lifestyle they want. Influencer marketing and creating social media content that resonates with your base are both essential parts of this process, but they fall flat if you choose the wrong influencers or the wrong content. Knowing what your audience values and what they aspire to will help you determine what’s right for your brand.
✒️ Lisa Odenweller, Kroma Wellness

Respect Contracts When Working With Influencers
​If you are using influencer marketing to grow your brand, don’t overlook contracts and defined expectations. The online space is continuously growing, hence, leading to increased competition. If you are paying an influencer for a post or sponsorship, have them sign an agreement. The contract doesn’t have to be anything too crazy or a hundred pages long, however, having this protects all the parties involved. Plus, if they aren’t willing to sign the dotted line, they probably aren’t the kind of people you want to represent you anyways!
✒️ Isaac Mashman, Mashman Ventures
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Keep Updated and Trendy
Business in the fashion industry is no longer restricted to standalone storefronts or boutiques, as it is with all other forms of entrepreneurship. Since the advent of the internet, a number of new strategies have emerged. Modern technologies like e-commerce, 3D printing, digital avatars, and AI-based marketing methods are being used to their full potential by today’s designers. Innovative ideas, decision-making, leadership with a big picture, economic growth and social environment assistance are just a few of the responsibilities they handle as managers.
✒️ Ammad Asif, Stream Digitally

Engage Broadly With Your Customers
​Be accessible and keep an open rapport with your customers. Ask for their thoughts on your designs — their likes and dislikes about the shape, color, and materials. Incorporate some of that feedback into future styles. This communication helps you become more aligned with your customers and builds a sense of community. When you know your customers’ wants and needs, you can give them a more personalized experience.
✒️ Jason McNary, Brandon Blackwood

Invest in Micro-Influencer Marketing to Stand Out
One practical business tip for lifestyle brands is investing in micro-influencer marketing. Lifestyle brands represent the aspirational lifestyle that their consumers wish to have. They embed with their user’s identity; aka is part of their life. Hence the marketing strategies of lifestyle brands need to be highly relatable. Choose a micro-influencer who echoes your brand image to promote your fashion/lifestyle brand. Micro-influencers often have a smaller but more engaged community of followers across social channels. Promotion of your brand by connecting with the correct micro-influencer can lead to higher conversion rates and a more significant ROI, as opposed to collaborating with more prominent names who regularly bombard their audiences with promotional content and shout-outs.
✒️ Radhika Gupta, USCarJunker