How to Promote a Fashion Line with a Target Customer Profile

Ashley Adams-Mott reports:

"When you own or manage a fashion line, a target customer profile, also referred to as a target audience profile, helps your marketing firm or division zero in on specific sections of the consumer market. This allows your fashion line's marketing dollars to stretch further and yield a greater return for each advertising dollar you spend. A target customer profile is also a helpful tool to utilize when choosing boutiques or retail partners for your fashion line. When you align your fashion with a clothing store that tailors to the same customer base you do, you increase the likelihood that your clothing will regularly sell. Compile market research data previously collected by your company. Your target audience profile requires demographic facts and figures accumulated through sales information, and any input you have received from surveys targeted toward consumers of your line. Pick a format for your profile. You can organize profiles into a paragraph format that relates your target customer in prose form...Alternatively, your profile format can list predominant customer attributes in a [bullet list] and provide a larger spread of data in coordinating tables. Present the age and gender of your target audience. In fashion, zeroing in on the age and gender that your line serves rapidly eliminates a number of consumers and potential retail outlets. Present your demographics in prose form or plug the data into your [bullet list] or charts. List the education level, income and relationship status of your target audience. This data is particularly helpful in establishing the type of stores that would carry your fashion line and the types of publications to advertise in...Relate the geographical location of your largest audience in a manner that most serves your fashion line...Present data about the thoughts of your customers as reported through customer surveys or focus groups. Focus on data relating to your customer's shopping habits and thought processes through the use of terms like 'impulse buyers,' 'thrifty consumers,' or 'trend-followers.' This data helps you match your line with potential retailers whose shoppers possess the same buying tendencies and tailor your advertising to market-appropriate publications...Depending on its range, your fashion line may benefit from compiling multiple target customer profiles. For example, a line that markets clothing, shoes and handbags could have a different target audience for each product line within the larger fashion brand. If your data suggests this is true, separate your target audience profiles for each product category...Do not write your target customer profile based on old data or incomplete data. If necessary, invest more time and money on research and customer data gathering through surveys and focus groups before compiling your report. A report based on new data provides a more accurate picture of your current customer base, especially if your line is still emerging and establishing its identity in the fashion world."