MODA 2015: Marketing and PR for retailers
On Sunday 15 February, I hosted a panel debate on marketing and PR and gave a talk on social media for retailers at the MODA UK conference in Birmingham NEC.
MODA is at the heart of the UK’s fashion trade scene, welcoming than 1,450 brands and 12,000 visitors every season for buyers across every sector. The event brings together the latest accessories, footwear, lingerie and swimwear, menswear and womenswear collections.
The panelists for the ‘Marketing and PR for retail’ debate were:
- Jon Tromans – Online copywriting & SEO expert, jtid.co.uk @JonTromans
- Nathan Rouse – Nathan Rouse PR, nathanrous.co.uk (The Shirt Company, HJ Hall Socks, Johnny Tuxedo, Charles Tyrwhitt): @NathanRous
- Beki Knowles – adpr.com (Chatham Shoes, Helly Hansen):
@BekiSharms
We discussed social media time management, local presence and local audiences, including building a brand with a local audience. We also talked about the fundamentals of PR, and how it’s all about telling a good story.
One of the questions came from a retailer who was looking to set up an ecommerce site. They completely knew their customer who walks through the door of their shop, but they weren’t sure about their customer online.
The panel’s advice was to be realistic: just because you move your business online doesn’t mean you’re suddenly going to get extra business. But what you can do is to look at is the brands you’re going to be stocking, check out their social platforms etc, and see whom their audience is. You can therefore gauge an idea on how you should be catering for that audience, which may possibly be different to your local retail audience.
More information about local audience marketing:
This is the third MODA conference I’ve been invited to, and I really enjoyed the event. There were some great questions put to the panel, which sparked some really interesting debates.
Here are some other posts on digital marketing for retailers, which you may find of interest:
- The growth of online retail and the importance of digital communication
- Blogging for ecommerce
- 9 tips on blogging for retailers
- Advice on pagination for ecommerce websites
In the afternoon, I led a talk on blogging for retailers: the power of pictures, looking at how retailers can use platforms like Instagram and Pinterest to boost traffic to their website and increase sales. I’ll be posting another blog about this soon.
In the meantime, feel free to flick through the slides below and you might also find last week’s blog post of interest:
You can follow the conversation at @ModaExhibitions and by using the hashtags: #HeartOfFashion #ModaExhibitions
You can talk to me on Twitter at: @jrconsultancy
Do feel free to challenge me on any of this! Always happy to answer questions via Twitter or the comments box below.
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