2017 state of content marketing in fashion & apparel
TRANSCRIPT
2017 State of Content Marketing in Fashion & Apparel
2017 State of Content Marketing in Fashion & Apparel
Feelings about Content Marketing in the Fashion Industry
90%of the fashion industry believes that content marketing is crucial — if not extremely crucial — to the success of their organization.
60%
30%
7%2% 0%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
"Content marketing is critical to the success of my fashion organization."
Content Marketing is Critical to the Success of Fashion Organizations
87%of fashion companies have a sense of commitment to content marketing in their organization
38%
50%
9%4%
0%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
"There is a general sense of commitment to content marketing in my fashion organization."
Sense of Commitment to Content Marketing in the Fashion Industry
However, only 47% have a documented content marketing strategy.
And 46% of fashion organizations are neutral or do not believe that their company’s content marketing is successful.
18%
29%30%
19%
4%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
"My organization has a documented content marketing strategy / KPIs for success."
11%
39%
32%
13%
1%0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
"My fashion organization's content marketing is successful."
A recurring theme in content marketing in the fashion and apparel industry is inconsistencies
in expectation and realistic strategy.
The fashion industry agrees that content marketing is crucial to success…
… so if the shoe fits, why are most brands not wearing it?
Looking Forward
95%of the fashion industry expects more content, and higher quality content from their organization in 2017.
2/3 of fashion teams believe their organization’s content marketing is more successful now than last year.
61%
33%
5%0% 1%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
"Compared to 2016, I expect my fashion organization to produce higher quality content in 2017."
22%
46%
23%
8%
2%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
"Compared to 2015, my fashion organization is more successful now than last year."
“With high cost, conventional modes of advertising on the decline, more and more brands are turning to
original content to target their customers.”
High Snobiety
Higher quality content is a winning strategy that made fashion organizations more successful now than last year
Let’s keep going!
72%
52%
50%
36%
27%
26%
17%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Higher quality of content
More content
Better audience definition
Strategy changes
Better lead capture tactics
Better distribution
Better measurement
What tactics made your fashion organizations' content marketing become more successful than last year?
Tactics That Made Fashion Brands More Successful Than Last Year
On the other hand, budget issues were the largest cause of a fashion organization’s decline or stagnation in content marketing success in 2016.
54%
46%
36%
34%
24%
24%
11%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Budget issues
Not enough time
Lack of good visual content
Training/knowledge
Management support
Lack of writers
Other
What issues made your fashion organizations' content marketing stay the same or be less successful than last year?
Issues that Made Fashion Brands Less Successful Than Last Year
Fortunately, 63% of fashion organizations expect their budget for content marketing to increase in 2017
(from an average of about 25% of their marketing budget).
29%
34%
27%
7%
3%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
"I expect my fashion organization's budget to increase in 2017."
12%
24%26%
21%
5%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
50-100% 25-50% 10-25% 1-10% 0%
How much of the fashion industry's marketing budget is spent on content creation?
Digital Content Marketing
87% of shoppers do research online before visiting a store.
The fashion and apparel industry is continuing on the upward trend of digital content marketing usage in 2017
85%
57%
44%
44%
37%
28%
25%
23%
15%
14%
5%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
Social Media
Online Lookbooks
Video
Blogs
Newsletters
Moodboards
Online catalogues
Digital magazines
How-to-videos
Content Aggregation
What kinds of content does the fashion industry currently use?
Kinds of Content Currently Used by the Fashion Industry
After social media, the most critical content types for 2017 are video, online lookbooks, and newsletters
156
56
50
49
31
23
18
16
12
7
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
Social media
Video
Online Lookbooks
Newsletters
Blogs
Online catalogues
How-to videos
Digital Magazines
Content Aggregation
*Calculatedbymul.plyingthepercentofrespondentswhodeemedcri.caltosuccessbythenumberofrespondentswhousedeachkindofcontent
Fashion industry's perceived importance to success in 2017 (weighted by amount of use)
Most Critical to Success in 2017
of the fashion companies that don’t already use online lookbooks, blogs, and video plan to start in 2017.
1/4
A large trend for 2017 is the seamless integration of content and eCommerce
online look books and video are on the rise, as well as the direct linking of social media to the fashion organization’s eCommerce site.
Clickable
Social Media Takeover
The fashion industry felt that
is the most critical content type for success in 2017.
social media
is the #1 contender for relevance in 2017, followed by Facebook
surpassed Twitter by 7% as the next most important social media platform to pursue in 2017.
This makes sense, given that video was one of the most important content types cited by the fashion industry for 2017.
Youtube
66%
40%
28%
21%
20%
16%
13%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Youtube
Linked In
Google+
% of fashion companies that cited as extremely critical to success in 2017
Most Critical to Success in 2017: Social Media
8%
8%
16%
31%
17%
14%
6%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
100%
90%
75%
50%
25%
10%
0%
As a fashion company, how much of your blogged content is overtly promotional?
Overtly Promotional Blogged ContentThe fashion industry is split on the use of:
is the #1 KPI of content marketing looking into 2017 (for an estimated 45% of the fashion industry).
Brand awareness
45%
27%
20%
8%
Brandawareness
Productsales
Engagement
Customerloyalty
Food for Thought?
Perhaps, “instead of contributing to the general hubbub on every platform, do targeted impactful
content that inspires people.”
Duncan Edwards Content Strategy Consultant/Director for ASOS
Getting Technical
The majority of the fashion industry uses customer feedback and competitive analysis as tactics to determine the right content, while only 44% use keyword research in content marketing!
77%
60%
44%
34%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
Customer feedback
Competitive analysis
Keyword research
Employee feedback
As a fashion company, what tactics do you use to determine the right content?
Tactics to Determine the Right Content in the Fashion Industry
is performing better in proportion to the amount it is used. Banner ads are performing slightly worse than the amount they are used.
Paid Search Engine
OrganicSearchEngine
EmailNewsle2er
BannerAds
PaidSearchEngine
Na8veAdver8sing
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
% S
ucce
ss
% Usage
Use of Content Distribution Tools vs. Relative Success
is the most widely monitored metric to determine content marketing success in the fashion industry. This is followed by product sales and social sharing.
Website traffic
Logical upgrades from just monitoring website traffic, like tracking conversion rates, SEO rankings, dwell time, and purchase intent, are much less widely used in fashion marketing.
76%
66%
55%
44%
42%
32%
31%
21%
11%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Website Traffic
Product Sales
Social Sharing
Conversion Rates
Community Growth
SEO Rankings
Time on Website
Purchase Intent
Inbound Links
As a fashion company, what metrics do you use to measure the success of content marketing initiatives?
Metrics Used to Measure the Success of Content Marketing Initiatives
Only about 38% of fashion organizations measure ROI on their content marketing.
A lot still up for grabs in the fashion industry…
The fashion industry has not had a need for carefully thought out, incredibly relevant content marketing pieces.
Why? Because there’s still a lot up for grabs in the made-for-digital fashion marketing world.
However, as more and more brands begin digitalizing, the brands that pull ahead from the masses will be the ones who have
a targeted, documented content strategy.
So let’s get started…
“There [is] no reason to be shy. The world is hungry for new things.”
Carol Lim Co-Creative Director for Kenzo