7 Steps: Successful Digital Marketing Strategy for an Accessories Business

Nothing completes an outfit like the perfect accessory. The accessories business is saturated with competitors. It can be hard has a small business to get recognition from consumers. In this blog we will provide you with a digital marketing strategy that will help your small, start-up handmade accessories business grow.

Keep reading to discover the steps and examples of how a digital marketing strategy can help your business to achieve its goals.

Why do you need a digital marketing strategy?

First let’s discuss why you need a digital marketing strategy.

Establishing a digital marketing strategy is critical to achieving your goals. A digital marketing strategy helps you to achieve your goals by clearly laying out the guidelines on how you can accomplish these goals. Without a plan digital marketing campaigns often fail to drive any results.

Step 1: Define your brand for you digital marketing strategy

The first step to creating you digital marketing strategy would be to define your brand. This part takes form in the creation of your executive summary.

Your executive summary consists of a clear definition on what your business does. It is a synopsis of your digital marketing plan therefore it does not include any detailed information. An executive summary provides an overview of the plan so that readers are able to identify the key points pertaining to their roles in the planning and implementation processes. Although the executive summary appears first in your digital marketing strategy it is usually written last.

Outline or use brand guidelines to define your brand. think about your unique selling points, brand voice and value proposition.

Step 2: Know your customers

The most important part of developing a digital marketing strategy is determining your target market. Your target market consists of potential customers who will ultimately be the ones to receive your marketing message. Target markets can be segmented into four main types: demographic, geographic, psychographic and behavioral. Data on the target market can be collected through market research such as surveys, census data and social media analytics.

Once you have identified your target market you are now able to narrow it down into your ideal target audience. Target market and target audience are often used interchangeably but there are differences between the two. The target market refers to a group of people who are more likely to use your product whereas the target audience refers to a group of people who are more likely to actually purchase your product. The target audience of a business pinpoints a specific demographic or group of individuals who are most likely to identify with their brand and purchase their products or services.

When it comes to knowing who your customer is, you will need to look at the following criteria:

• Age
• Location
• Interest
• Income level
• Gender

In fact knowing the information above is extremely beneficial when it comes to your digital marketing efforts. Knowing your customer allows you to pinpoint your target audience and therefore create content and develop a marketing message that both appeals and attracts them to your business.

If you already have a customer base, no matter how small, conducting online surveys can be a great way to gain customer insight. Thanks to social media platforms such as Instagram, you can now conduct quick and easy online surveys through your Instagram stories and receive immediate feedback. You can even link Google Analytics to your website, this allows you to analyze your website and audience statistics to understand the behavior of your audience and create new products based on which content your audience reacted to the most.

For example:

The target audience for a start-up accessories brand in Cape Town, South Africa that specializes in handmade accessories.

• Gender: male and female
• Age: 20 – 40
• Income level: mid to high income level
• Interests: fashion, quality handmade accessories
• Location: South Africa (national)

Once you have identified your target audience you can now go to step 3, which is creating your buyer persona.

 Step 3: Buyer persona for your digital marketing strategy

After gathering all the information needed to determine your target market and subsequently the target audience through segmentation, you are now able to create a buyer persona. In short, a buyer persona is a fictional representation of your ideal consumer created by utilizing the data you have gathered. Buyer personas are customer profiles that put all the information about your audience in one place. Information to include in your buyer personas are: age, gender, location, income level, education level, lifestyle, pain points and interests. Buyer personas provide a real world context for your business.

Step 4: Set your goals and objectives

A goals is something you want to achieve, it is a broad statement and can be either long or short term. An objective is more specific and clearly states what actions will be taken in order to achieve your overall goal.

The SWOT analysis is a great method which can be used to identify actionable goals and objectives for your business. The SWOT analysis stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Furthermore, it will enable you to clearly see where you excel, where you can improve, what are your potential opportunities’ and what are threats or challenges that could hinder your progress.

For example look at this SWOT analysis:

Strengths –

1. Our product differentiation strategy is the result of a strong market orientation, commitment to high quality and customization of products.
2. Our marketing is receiving a lot of interaction. As a result our marketing qualified leads (MQLs) are increasing.

Weaknesses –

1. Although our MQLs are increasing we are seeing low conversion rates.

Opportunities –

1. There is opportunity in the goal to increase or conversion rates over the next four quarters.

Threats –

1. Retail competitors within the industry who are well established.

Secondly, strong goals and objectives are important to any business. The focus of your goals and objectives could be to increase social media engagement, bridge the gap between sales and marketing or to improve lead quality. A key thing to remember here is to make sure that your goals and objectives are S.M.A.R.T.

S.M.A.R.T stands for:

• Specific – well defined and clear.
• Measurable – specific criteria that are able to measure as you progress towards your end goal.
• Achievable – attainable, not impossible to achieve.
• Realistic or relevant – within reach, realistic and attainable.
• Timely – a clearly defined timeline which includes a start and an  end date.

The overall aim of setting goals and objectives in your digital marketing strategy is to achieve your business targets as seamlessly as possible.

Step 5: Competitor analysis

Competitor analysis is a process where you conduct research to identify brands that are potential threats to your business. During this process you can analyze their products, sales, social media presence and content, website and marketing strategies. This gives you a clear view on where your business stands in comparison to your competitors. Furthermore, you can also measure your growth against the industry benchmark.

The more information you have on your competitors, hence the easier it is to identify opportunities and identify areas in which you can out-perform your competitors. Competitive advantage is crucial to business growth and the only way to achieve the advantage is to know exactly where your competitors are lacking. In addition, finding qualities that makes your brand stand out will then attract customers and also convince them to choose you over your competitors.

Example of competitors:

• Retail stores that specialize in jewelry such as, American Swiss or Sterns.
• Online retailers that stock international accessories.

Step 6: Content creation

Content creation is the most significant mart of digital marketing. Great content marketing shows that you are knowledgeable and that you are able to bring value to your customers therefore attracting more potential leads.

Hubspot research shows that in 2022, 71% of marketers claimed to be actively investing in content marketing. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “content is king”. The statement could not be more-true than in todays’ digital age. In fact, content on a brands’ website is more than just a slogan or a promotional article. It is a business strategy that functions to build an audience, to convert leads and also to retain customer loyalty.

As a rule remember that consistency is the key. It is important that your brand and values are consistent throughout all your marketing campaigns. Your brand should be recognizable through your logo, design of your website, colour scheme and tone of language. Your customers should be able to easily identify you, in addition this creates what we call in marketing brand positioning.

For example, content marketing comes in many forms, including (but not limited to):

• blogs
• infographics
• videos
• guides
• podcasts
• photography

Furthermore, creating a Search Insights Report (S.I.R) is a great way to ensure that the content you create is worthwhile and is also valuable to your target audience and is competitive on Search Engine Results. A search insights report is essentially a mix between a keywords research report and a content calendar which ultimately acts as a roadmap for your content creation.

What is the goal of content marking?

the goal of content marketing as a digital media strategy is to provide valuable information to your target audience, increase traffic and also to generate higher conversion rates. content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing efforts thus, saving costs. In addition it generates 54% more leads than traditional marketing. Users have more power in today’s online marketplace than in the past, more than 60% of users prefer companies that create content.

For example, these pictures below can be used as content creation for a handmade accessories business:

Re-evaluate your website

If you have a website go back and re-evaluate your content as well as your design. Check whether your website is current, up to date and that it also providing the best information about your business as well as what you have to offer. evaluate whether your website is easy to navigate and if your upload time is optimal. the little details matter and makes a big difference to the overall customer experience, however if these problems are not improved you could be stopping your customers from shopping with you.

Improve your photography skills

If the quality of your content on your website or social media pages are not great this could lead to a potential loss of customers. People are drawn to things that appease them visually.

For instance, think of your reaction when going onto a website or social media page and the quality of the pictures are terrible making the product hard to see. Would you still be willing to take the risk of purchasing a product if you could not be certain of the quality of product you would be receiving? In addition, good quality photography makes a big difference in the overall appearance of your brand. Great content also catches the eye of potential customers as well as aiding in strengthening the relationship between you and your existing clientele by displaying your skills.

Be active on social media

Facebook and Instagram are by far the best platforms when it comes to an accessories or jewellery business. These platforms are perfect because they are visual platforms that has a main focus on the use of photos, text and video content. These platforms are perfect for you to advertise your products to people.

If you have a website be sure to link your social media profiles and to also keep your profile, bio and logo the same across all platforms so that your brand can be easily recognized by new and existing customers. Other platforms to consider using are Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, You Tube and LinkedIn.

Be sure to post daily and use appropriate hashtags so that people can find your business. You need not post on your feed everyday, research shows that Instagram profiles who post daily on their Instagram story receive higher engagement than those who do not.

Instagram reels which are now the next big marketing tool that marketers and brands alike should consider adding to their strategy, are also a fun way to get your followers involved by showing them behind the scenes of your business processes. Creating informative reels or reels showcasing how your customers can use your products will increase engagement and interest. Instagram also has a shopping feature which allows customers to shop your product through the app by taking them straight to your website.

Step 7: Measurement of your digital marketing strategy

Don’t let all your marketing efforts go to waste by not taking the time to measure your results. It is important to ensure that your input is either equal to or more than your output (what you are getting in return).

Utilizing the data that is generated by your marketing strategies to measure growth will therefore make sure that as a result, tasks and objectives are efficiently managed.

You can use the following data to measure your marketing efforts:

• Industry benchmarks – compare your data to those of competitors in the industry by looking at the average MQLs, social media engagement, website traffic and email open rates.
• MQLs – check how many leads you receive per week/month. Be sure to check the quality of these leads and the lead conversion rate.
• Website traffic – check which websites your target audience likes to visit, how long do they spend on your website and what is your average bounce rate.
• Social media – see how many followers you are gaining and losing, check to see whether your posts are receiving enough interactions and how many land on your website through social media.
• Advertisements – are our paid ads generating leads and if so how many of those leads have been converted into customers.
  
  

In conclusion

To conclude, a carefully planned marketing strategy will result in a multitude of opportunities for businesses whether they are big or small. aspects that all businesses strive to achieve such as, customer loyalty, increased sales and ROI as well as a strengthened brand and the ability to triumph over competitors has hence become far more attainable when a structured strategy is put in place. Ultimately , implementing these steps outlined above will allow your marketing efforts to thrive.

In short, digital marketing is one of the best ways to reach new customers. Digital marketing offers a variety of strategies such as, video, email and social media which as a result allows you to reach your business’s unique goals. However, the success of your digital marketing strategy depends on the development of your strategy and how you ultimately execute it.

References

Kernowcraft,  2022, 11 MARKETING TIPS FOR YOUR HANDMADE JEWELLERY BUSINESS, [online]. Available at: https://www.kernowcraft.comblog/handmade-jewellery-business-tips/11-marketing-tips-for-your-handmade-jewellery-business

Langford, S., 25 February 2021, What Are The Major Components of a Marketing Strategy? [online]. Available at: https://blog.hurree.co/blog/components-of-a-marketing-strategy