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You could argue that fashion has been playing the content marketing game for a long time now. What are fashion magazines like “Vogue” and “Elle” if not opportunities for brands to show off their products while ostensibly providing useful information to consumers about style and trends? What about blogs and social media? Now you’re thinking in terms of fashion content marketing.

While you might argue that fashion magazines are editorial, there is some connection between a brand buying ad space in a magazine and its purses, pants, and other styles being featured in an article or photo shoot. Online, fashion content marketing goes beyond having a signature product featured in a shoot or editorial. It provides brands, from high fashion to fast fashion, with opportunities to engage with their customers.

What Does Fashion Content Marketing Look Like?

Fashion is primarily visual, so fashion content marketing tends to lean towards the visual. Whether on a brand’s own website or on the blog of a prominent fashion/style blogger, you can expect content from fashion brands to look like the following:

Fashion Content Marketing example - style blog

Style blogs

From J.Crew to Anthropologie, plenty of fashion brands have their own blogs. While their blogs might showcase styling tips or outfit ideas, what to wear isn’t the sole topic of those blogs. Anthro’s blog, for example, features travel ideas and tips for decorating. It also has advice on caring for clothing, and craft project ideas.

Email newsletters

Email plays a big role in fashion content marketing. From “Hey, you forgot your shopping cart!” reminders to newsletters highlighting the latest trends, email gives fashion brands a chance to directly engage with their customers.

Magazines

Some brands and retailers have experimented with producing their own glossy, print magazines. Why not? If it works for “Vogue,” why wouldn’t it work for Net-a-Porter or Asos?

Social media

Social media is also often a part of a fashion brand’s content marketing strategy. In some cases, it’s the sole component. Social media gives brands a chance to show off their looks and styles, as well as a chance to share useful tips and advice with their followers.

User-generated content

Whether it’s styling tips from a fashion blogger or an excited fan showing off his or her OOTD (outfit of the day), user-generated content is big in the fashion world.

Video

Fashion video might include clips from a runway show or even lifestyle videos that barely mention the brands behind them.

Top Fashion Content Marketing Brands

While you could argue that pretty much every fashion brand has some sort of content marketing strategy, some brands are better at it than others. Here’s a quick look at some of the top players in fashion content marketing.

Net-a-Porter/Porter

Designer retailer Net-a-Porter produces a nearly 300-page glossy magazine, “Porter,” every other month. The magazine is available in both print and digital formats. Like any other fashion magazine, it provides styling tips and aspirational images. More importantly, Net-a-Porter has a “shop the magazine” section on its website, which makes it super easy for people to buy the styles and looks they see.

Zac Posen/House of Z

House of Z” is a feature-length documentary about American designer Zac Posen. Unlike other fashion docs, the film wasn’t released in theaters. Instead, it’s available for streaming, for a rental fee.

Burberry/Art of the Trench

British brand Burberry is known for its plaid and its trench coats. Its website, Art of the Trench, features user-submitted photos of people wearing the brand’s signature coat, in a range of colors and styles.

Stitch Fix Fashion Content Marketing

Stitch Fix/Style Guide

Stitch Fix is a styling service that sends clothing to people based on their style and preferences. The brand also has a style guide, or blog, which offers tips and style advice to help people curate their wardrobes or design what’s in and what’s out.

How to Make Fashion Content Marketing Work for Your Brand

Whether you’re a retailer or fashion house, there’s a way to make content marketing work for you. Here’s how to put together a fashion content marketing strategy:

Have a goal

Why is your brand using content marketing? Are you trying to get more leads or conversions? Do you need to raise awareness of your product?

Don’t be too promotional

Remember that content marketing isn’t the same as advertising or promotion. While you do want people to read or view your content and connect it to your brand, you don’t want them to walk away from it feeling as if you just tried to sell them a pair of boots.

Know your audience

Knowing who your audience is and what they want can help you create the content that meets their needs. Does your brand appeal to 20-somethings who want to express their creativity on a tiny budget? Are you a luxury brand known for $1,000 purses and $2,500 coats? Videos or posts on thrifting or putting together a wardrobe on a budget make sense for a brand that’s speaking to an audience with a limited budget, but aren’t appropriate for an audience who is looking at Gucci loafers and Birkin bags.

Look to your customers

Whether on review blogs or social media, today’s fashion customers are happy to share what they think about a brand or how they style certain pieces. Using your customers’ content as part of your brand’s content marketing strategy is smart. After all, online reviews are among the most trusted forms of advertising out there.