So you’ve crafted the perfect design, made the products you’ve always dreamed of having, set up your store, and are ready for the first sales to roll in . . . what now? It’s time to tell the world about your product!
The hard work of starting a clothing brand doesn’t stop when you’ve created a product and added it to your store (trust me, I know). In fact, marketing a product is just as important as making one.
The author and inspirational speaker Simon Sinek has said that “the hardest part is starting. Once you get that out of the way, you’ll find the rest of the journey much easier,” and he’s absolutely right.
To help you start your marketing journey, I’ll share several ways to market a product through online advertising and create a product marketing strategy. You can also find a downloadable checklist at the end of this article to use whenever you plan to promote a product.
Let’s get started, shall we?
How to create a product marketing strategy: the basics
What is a product marketing strategy?
There’s no strict definition of what a product marketing strategy is. But to put it simply:
It’s a plan you create to understand how you’ll reach your target market and turn them into your customers.
It can be a colorful visual or a simple list, and it should include these key elements:
Who you’re selling to
How you’ll promote the product
What your goals are
Why do you need it?
Planning is vital when it comes to, well, I’d say everything, but most importantly, your business. Having a written-down strategy that you can always have at hand will help you promote products more clearly, reach goals much faster, and allow you to communicate your vision to any teammates, collaborators, or customers.
Now that I’ve (hopefully) convinced you that the go-with-the-flow approach won’t be as effective as planning your way to the top, let’s go through some of the basic steps that’ll help you create a marketing strategy.
Researching the market and competitors
To better understand how and where to market a product, you should research your specific market and analyze your potential customers. The research will help you decide based on the existing market and understand how to compete with other brands.
Define your target audience
Defining your ideal customer is the most crucial point in your product marketing strategy. Every business owner wants to sell their product to as many people as possible, but there’s no one-product-fits-all. This is why it’s so important to advertise your product to people who’ll be interested in buying it and talking about your brand.
The first step in defining your audience is creating a detailed description of your target customer. For example, if you’re selling athleisure, outline who you see wearing it in terms of their identity, age group, income, location, style, hobbies, and so on.
The second step is understanding what problems these people might face and how your product can help fix them. To gather this information, you can search for feedback on your competitors’ trending products, research general market reports, or interview people who might be interested in your products.
Analyze your competitors’ work
Another critical research point is to analyze your competitors and write down what works for them and what doesn’t. Explore their websites and social media profiles and use them to inspire you to make something of your own.
Keep in mind: Copying ideas is still a no-go, and you should always be cautious when looking for inspiration.
For example, if Nike is a brand that inspires you, don’t just replicate their style and campaigns to make an identical look or product (it’s also illegal). Instead, use their work to get some ideas and see how you can use them for your brand.
Specify your products’ strengths
Consider what makes your product stand out from similar items on the market. Use your products’ strengths as the selling points in your promos to let buyers know why they should choose your products instead of others.
For example, if your product is made of recycled materials or has a unique feature that similar products on the market lack, highlight it in the product name, description, and advertisements.
After you’ve researched the market, got some ideas from other brands, and defined your target audience, it’s time to determine where you’ll promote the product.
There are multiple promotional channels where to market a product (and we’ll discuss some of the most popular ones later in this article). But you don’t have to use all of them to have a successful product marketing campaign.
The market research you’ve done before will help you understand which channels work best for your product and audience. For example, if your target audience is Gen Zers who spend a lot of time on TikTok, that’s where you should promote your product the most actively.
We’ve reached the last stop before you’re ready to decide how to promote your product: setting the goals.
Your goals don’t have to be too ambitious or unrealistic. Quite the opposite—they have to be something you genuinely believe can be achieved. A good tip is to make your goals based on the SMART methodology, which will help you be more determined to reach the goals.
The acronym SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound—parameters you should try to base your goals upon.
Here are some examples of goals you can set for your marketing campaign:
Reach X amount of sales during the Y holiday period
Attract X new customers in the month of Y
Have X orders placed during the Y campaign
Gain X social media followers on Y platform Z days after a post
Have X new homepage visitors in Y days
If you’ve just started out, your product marketing strategy doesn’t have to be overly complex and hard to fulfill—choose a few promotional channels you know you’ll keep up with and set attainable goals. As long as you have a plan on what to do and how to do it, you’re off to a great start!
Now, let’s learn how you can advertise your products.
Let’s review some of the channels where you can promote your products, and I’ll share a few tips on what content works the best on each channel.
1. Increase product discoverability
You’ve probably seen your homepage a thousand times and know it by heart, which is why switching things up and asking for advice from others can be useful. Change your product placement, highlight the new or most popular products, and ask your friends or family to give an honest review of your page layout.
It’ll help you understand how your first-time visitors see the page and increase the discoverability of the products you want to promote. You can also create collections that’ll help your new page visitors find the products they’re more interested in. The collections can be permanent, such as your bestsellers or new products, or themed according to the season, for example, winter essentials.
Here’s an example of a homepage that informs about a free shipping offer, displays the collections, and has a bold video banner that invites you to check out the newest collection.
Source: Rat & Boa
Remember that your homepage should represent your brand and be visually appealing. Make sure it has easy-to-read fonts, beautiful designs, and is convenient to use.
UGC stands for user-generated content, which means that this content is created by your customers or other people who’ve tried the product. Buyers have more trust in purchasing products that others have tried and liked, so whenever you see your customer sharing a photo or video with your product, ask for their permission to add it to your website!
Source: Printful
Online reviews are another way to show your products in real life, so add an option to leave feedback on your product pages. Remember that these reviews won’t always be positive, but that doesn’t mean you have to hide them. Use this feedback as a chance to interact with your customers and show that you care about their opinions.
3. Offer discounts
It’s no secret that people have and always will love discounts, no matter the product or occasion. Use discounts to attract more customers, increase the number of returning customers, and promote products that could be doing better.
First-time order discounts
Many of us have been in that situation where we found a new store but hesitated to make a purchase because we didn’t trust the product just yet. Here’s where a first-order discount can help you turn those first-time visitors into your new customers.
You can place a pop-up or banner on your website for unregistered users that offers a discount when they sign up or subscribe to your newsletter. These discounts are an excellent opportunity to encourage page visitors to try your products without paying the full price.
Here’s an example of a first-time discount pop-up you can try for your store:
Source: Lounge Underwear
Offers for existing customers
It’s exciting to see new people discover your store and place their orders with that first-time discount, but don’t forget to reward your loyal customers with offers as well.
Give special discounts on your brand’s birthday or when you achieve significant milestones, for example, reach 1,000 followers on Instagram. By getting discounts, people will be more likely to place bigger orders and discover more of your products.
4. Create a loyalty program
You can also use a loyalty program to promote your products. For example, you can create a point system that allows your customers to earn perks. For the perks, you can offer free shipping, discounts, a free gift, or whatever comes to mind. The tool Spendgo offers multiple options for loyalty programs, so make sure to check it out.
Use the loyalty program to market your new products and set the amount of points each purchased product can earn. Here’s an example of a loyalty program that offers perks in exchange for points.
Source: Beauty Bay
Customer loyalty programs are effective product marketing tools because they give customers more reasons to return to your store, check out new drops, and make more repeat purchases.
5. Have an SEO-friendly content
SEO is short for search engine optimization, and its goal is to provide search engine users with the most relevant information possible. To make sure search engines recognize your products as relevant and show them to more people, you’ll have to pay extra thought to the keywords you use in your product names and descriptions.
When creating a product name and description, try to be as specific as possible and name the features that make your product stand out. For example, this notebook seller on Etsy has used the keywords “birth month” and “birth flower” to indicate how the notebook can be personalized.
There are multiple social media platforms, and each requires slightly different content. The most popular ones currently are Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, and most businesses use at least one of them to promote their products.
Facebook
Facebook works as a digital business card for your brand, so add a brief description of your brand and products. This is also the platform where people will most likely look for any business updates, reviews, and active deals, so make sure to regularly share them on Facebook.
Aside from the serious stuff, Facebook is also a place where you can entertain your customers and host Facebook Live events to talk about your products, brand, or any topic related to your business.
On Facebook, you can also repost other users’ posts, upload fun memes, and engage with your followers by answering their comments. Here’s an example by the fashion brand Princess Poly who posted a meme that’s relevant to their brand and target audience.
Source: Princess Polly
YouTube
Even though YouTube videos might require more production and editing skills, it’s an awesome platform to talk about your products, tell the story behind them, and get more up close and personal with your followers.
Make YouTube videos that show how your products work, their benefits, and the different ways your customers can use them. This way, people will get to know the product better and have more trust in purchasing it.
Instagram
Instagram is the home of polished pictures and themed feeds. Its users usually follow accounts they find inspiring or educational and appreciate frequent content (but not spammy either).
For example, if you’re a clothing brand, you can post photos with full outfits that are trendy and match your brand’s style. Here’s an example of the clothing brand’s M.92 Instagram feed, where they post pictures of their products and show how they look on different people.
But remember that not all your posts have to be about the product and selling. You can mix your product photos with inspirational or educational content as well. For example, if you sell customized mugs, why not create a post with a recipe for the best matcha latte or a refreshing iced tea?
Instagram Stories, on the other hand, is the place to post more laid-back content, create polls, share behind-the-scenes, answer questions, and engage with your followers on a more personal level. You can also share interesting bits of your day as a business owner.
TikTok
Social media marketing has never been the same since the rise of the short video platform TikTok, with its unique algorithm based on each user’s interests, interactions, location, and other details.
On TikTok, you can showcase your products by adapting them to the most popular trends and sounds. Its algorithm shows your videos to people with similar interests, so it’s very likely for a brand to show up on the target customer’s feed—for free!
There’s a common misconception that TikTok is for the Gen Z and younger generations only, though statistics show it’s almost just as popular among older generations.
If you’re still unsure about TikTok but are into the short video format, you can try Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts. These two have a very similar concept to TikTok and can help you gain more followers or subscribers and, consequently, more customers.
Source: @databutmakeitfashion and @asos collab on Instagram
Nowadays, buyers are more interested in seeing the behind-the-scenes (BTS) of brands and learning about the struggles that were once concealed by perfectly edited pictures. Use this trend in your brand’s favor.
Create fun, fast-paced videos that showcase your products, production process, people behind the brand, or exclusive sneak peeks, and top it off with matching background music. Here’s an example of the cosmetics brand Madara revealing some of their behind-the-brand content from a photoshoot:
Or, if you’re outsourcing your production to a print-on-demand supplier like Printful, create content showing your design BTS:
7. Collaborate with micro-influencers and brand ambassadors
Have you ever wondered why influencer marketing is so popular even among the most elite brands such as BMW, Chanel, or Hilton? That’s because finding the right spokesperson for your brand is almost a foolproof way of driving your discoverability and sales.
Micro-influencers are social media influencers with around 2,000 to 50,000 followers. Even though they have considerably small audiences, their followers are more loyal, and usually have more trust in the influencer’s product suggestions compared to, say, what they might read in an online review.
To find micro-influencers you’d want to work with, search for hashtags relevant to your product on social media and look for people who already promote similar products. You can also use special tools that are designed to help you find creators that’ll suit your brand the most. Klear, for example, is an influencer marketing tool that offers free and subscription-based plans to help you find influencers based on their following, skills, location, and other factors.
Here’s one example of how the European food company Alprocollaborated with a micro-influencer on Instagram:
Source: @miettedierckx on Instagram
Another option is to work with brand ambassadors—people who support and represent the brand online and offline. As opposed to influencers, they work with a brand for an extended period of time and help contribute to its long-term growth.
Brand ambassadors usually promote products in exchange for free merchandise but can also work for a monthly or hourly fee. Alternatively, you can offer your brand ambassadors an affiliate program where they earn a commission from the sales of the product they’re promoting.
If you’re willing to spend some more money on product promotion, you can market products using paid Facebook and Instagram adverts.
Despite what you may have heard, Facebook is still the most popular social media platform out there, which means that your target customer is likely using it. That’s why paid ads on the platform are a great way to raise your brand awareness and invite Facebook users to check out your products. The ads can be targeted to your ideal customer, and the ad campaign results can be easily measured.
Here’s an example of a product ad on Facebook:
Source: Gymshark
To make an ad, create eye-catching visuals that show your product, add a short description, and include a call-to-action button that invites people to visit your website. If you’re interested in more details about Facebook advertising, make sure to bookmark our blog post Facebook Ads for Beginners: Guide to Facebook Promotions.
9. Run email campaigns
Marketing emails are a great way to promote discounts, special offers, or any sale you’re having on the website. Whether it’s the holiday season or a new product launch—use it as a theme for your email campaign and send it to your subscribers!
Remember to add bold texts and visuals that invite the reader to visit your website, like in this email:
Source: J.Crew
You can also create an email marketing campaign that offers special discounts just for your email list to make your customers feel more special and appreciated.
Another way to promote products via email is by sending out regular newsletters to your email subscribers. Newsletters are usually less “salesy” than regular email campaigns and focus more on giving updates, inspiring, or educating the readers.
For example, if you have a clothing brand, you can create a themed newsletter that includes some ideas of how your products could be worn or styled, like in this newsletter:
Source: Monki
Send out your newsletters weekly, monthly, or even quarterly—whatever fits your customers the best. Add an eye-catching headline that gives an idea of what the email will be about and create quality content your subscribers will enjoy and look forward to. Email writing is a skill that takes some practice to master, so we’ve shared some useful tips in our blog Email Copywriting Tips to Keep Customers Happy to help you get started.
There are endless options to market a product, but the important part is knowing it doesn’t have to be about selling all the time. Remember to always stay true to your brand and build a relationship with your customers. Create authentic content and campaigns that reflect your brand values and target them to like-minded people.
11. Participate in online communities and forums
Don’t just sit on the sidelines; dive into online communities and forums where your potential customers hang out. Places like Reddit or Facebook Groups are gold mines for genuine interactions and spreading the word about your products in a non-salesy way.
Imagine you’re selling fitness gear. Join fitness forums, Reddit threads, and Facebook Groups where fitness buffs swap tips and gear recommendations. Jump into the conversation with your expert advice, share your workout hacks, and when it feels right, mention how your gear can give them that extra edge.
This isn’t about hard selling; it’s about becoming a valued member of the community. Before you know it, people will be curious about your brand because they trust you and value your insights.
Go through a checklist
I’m a firm believer that writing down what you want to do and how you want to do it is the best solution for feeling less overwhelmed about the workload. That’s why I’ve created a checklist to help you plan how to market a product.
Print it out or save it on your computer to set your primary goal, make a to-do list, write down ideas for product promos, and keep yourself organized.
I hope by now you have some ideas on how to market your products or are at least ready to try out some promotional channels you haven’t used before. Either way, keep in mind that there are almost no limits when it comes to product marketing, as long as you listen to your customers and stay true to your values.
Remember, no journey is worth having if it doesn’t bring you some fun. Invite your family and friends over and brainstorm ideas together! Surround yourself with positive and inspiring people, find things you feel truly passionate about, and build your marketing strategy around them. Inevitably, these steps will make your planning a lot more fun and exciting.
Paula is a Content Marketing Specialist, focusing on product marketing. Her studies of linguistics and literature have sparked her love for creative writing and encouraged to do it on the daily basis.
Paula is a Content Marketing Specialist, focusing on product marketing. Her studies of linguistics and literature have sparked her love for creative writing and encouraged to do it on the daily basis.
