Public Relations for Fashion & Style

The fashion and style industry is all about creating a buzz and a brand.  It’s all put impossible fashion and clothing lines to successfully establish themselves without being in the public eye. For a fashion line, media coverage is not a luxury, it’s a necessity.   Particularly for new designers and companies, trying to do a launch without media exposure is a true uphill climb.  By appearing in magazines, newspapers and TV shows fashion lines and designers are viewed as newsworthy. News coverage creates a buzz and the buzz leads to clients and sales

If you own a fashion line or are a designer, it’s important to understand that the quickest and most impactful way to establish your fashions brand is by appearing in the media.  Nothing gives you the credibility and validation of media coverage and in the internet age that coverage is more important than ever.   Today traditional media works hand in hand with blogging and social media. If you land an article in a local newspaper you can then amplify that media coverage by posting it on Facebook, Twitter, Digg and other social media sites. By combining a traditional media campaign with a social media campaign, you can create an extremely powerful branding approach for you, your fashion designs and your company.

To begin, it’s important to understand that effective PR all comes down to effective storytelling.  Simply pitching that you have a new fashion line is not a story, that’s a sales pitch and the last thing the media wants is to be sold.  So before you move forward with a media launch, figure out what your stories are.   What makes your fashions different, unique? What about your personal story? Do you have a compelling human interest story about how or why you started your own line, or began in the fashion industry?

Once you’ve figure out your stories, come up with a compelling, one-page (never longer than one page), press release.  Next study the media, learn who the writers and producers are, know their timelines.  For example the monthly publications are working on the holiday issues in August.

Invest in quality photos and an attractive website or blog. If you don’t have a big budget, be creative.  Make deals with up and coming photographers, they too are looking for ways to get exposure for their work.  Don’t build a fancy site filled with Flash or other bells and whistles.  Create a clean, attractive, easy to read site.

Remember not to neglect social media. It not only enhances your traditional media campaign; it is also a way to speak directly with your customers. Create your own YouTube channel that showcases you and your fashions.

There is quite a bit you can do to market your line and your company.  The bottom line is that it’s all but impossible to make it in the fashion world without an effective and creative public relations campaign.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2012

Seward, N. Jayne. “Billabong Celebrates Spring ’13 with 5,000 Friends.” Photo. ApparelNews.net. 03 Aug 2012. 29 Aug 2012. <http://www.apparelnews.net/people_events/120802-Billabong-Celebrates-Spring-13-With-5-000-Friends>