Fashion Marketing is often an energetic major and attracts countless students. Besides looking into what this major brings academically, we need to avoid certain mistakes.
If you are considering studying Fashion Marketing, this is the article for you!
1. MIXING UP FASHION MARKETING AND GENERAL MARKETING
Many students who choose to learn Fashion Marketing but have limited investment in fashion will drop out midway because they think Fashion Marketing is just about marketing. In reality, it isn’t like that at all. Fashion Marketing is all the aspects of communications and advertising within the fashion industry. Strategic behavioral changes for consumers are also enacted but only in the realm of fashion. In order to work in Fashion Marketing, then specialized knowledge about fashion is needed. You need to be updated on brands, trends and changing styles.
With General Marketing, the same approach can be applied to a variety of industries. With a specialization in Marketing, you can work at businesses of all economic sectors such as manufacturing enterprises, commercial - service enterprises, agencies, non-profit organizations…
For this reason, some of you are wondering if you can take up a fashion career if you studied marketing first. This is completely, one hundred percent plausible. However, you would need help from those with an expertise in fashion. Besides, you also need to update on and research fashion by yourself. This may be difficult in the beginning for those with little background in fashion. But if you really try, nothing is impossible!
2. CHOOSING FASHION MARKETING BECAUSE YOU DON’T WANT TO STUDY FASHION DESIGN
The difference between Fashion Marketing and Fashion design is relatively clear, but to compare the level of difficulty is impossible. Usually, anyone who has expertise in any industry, they will find it harder to find an industry that is not their strength. However, for an individual who studies both like me, objectively, each industry has its own requirements and requirements.
There are many of you who are confused and decide to choose Fashion Marketing just because you think you will not be able to draw, sew, or be creative to learn Design (even though you prefer Design). In addition, there are also many streams of thought that say that Fashion Marketing is 'easier', and Fashion Design is 'cooler', so they pick the easier option. These are all unnecessary distinctions between the two industries.
I think the first thing you need to do is listen to yourself to see what you are really interested in and need in the future. Choose the industry you love and work for it. Maybe you're better than you think you are. If you need both, determine when to learn what carefully. Because if you choose Fashion Marketing as an 'alternative', you will also experience those unpredictable consequences!
3. YOU LACK KNOWLEDGE OF THE MARKET
As I mentioned, Fashion Marketing encompasses the entire process of marketing and advertising in the fashion industry, so you should extensively learn about these areas. If you don’t have a fashion background but want to do marketing in the industry then you need to either do personal research or learn from credible people. Specialized knowledge here doesn’t mean production or design, but more about management and communications. If you’re not consistently updated on the market, trends and news it will be difficult to compete with other fashion brands or agencies. With fashion design, you don’t always have to follow trends or mimic other designers to thrive. However, with fashion marketing, market research and competition analysis are always at a high frequency. Your mission as such is to find ways to build attractive advertising content, build brand stories. Whether a collection can reach its audience wholly depends on its Marketing. Consequently, if you don’t embrace reality and get a handle on the market, you will not be able to approach your intended audience as a brand.
4. NOT BUILDING A PROFESSIONAL IMAGE
As one knows, the way to build an image in Fashion Marketing is to prioritize minimalism, logic and cleanliness in every layout similar to fashion magazines. However, simplicity does not equate hastiness and boredom. There are individuals who do not put much effort in their slides or visuals in their fashion marketing assignments. I think that these assignments are invaluable opportunities to train your visual thinking. Magazine layouts are not as simple as we think, there are things that take time to look simple yet sleek and logical. Moreover, if your visuals aren’t up to standard, it will be difficult for your marketing strategies to do their jobs no matter how good they are. Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience. Are they attracted to simplistic designs? With younger generations, the less impactful your images are, the shorter their patience with the information they’re conveying. Image and content are two inseparable factors in fashion marketing. This is also one of my ingrained experiences when building a personal brand.