[hypeapparelco]

Hey I'm looking for ways to get new people interested in my brand and need some ideas. My brand has been up and running since 2012 but I kind of gave up on it for a while about a year or so and didn't really keep up on my social media or spread the word.I have an instagram with a little under 5K followers and they are not to active ever since I gave up. I have a bunch of stuff left from my first collection and am looking to generate a steady cash flow so I can get my second into the works. My website is Hype Apparel — Home and my instagram is (hypeapparelco) if you could check it out and give me some ideas or anything would help! Looking forward to what you guys have to say! Thanks

 

[elcielo]

Not my area of expertise. One comment, though: from your site, it looks like you've done nothing since 2012. At least update the year.

 

[Cyco]

Hi Anthony,
Before you can even begin developing a marketing strategy you need to know your target market for your brand and ensure that your brand fits the needs of your target. I am sure you already have a general idea of who your brand may appeal to, but you need more than generalities when it comes to marketing. You need to know your market better than they know themselves. I can write a 5000 word response about the subject but I’m feeling kind of lazy this morning; so, instead here are some basics:
First, research your market. Find out as much as you can about who would be interested in your brand. Ask yourself the following questions about the people who would be interested in your brand.

1. Where do they eat?
2. Where do they live?
3. What stores do they shop at?
4. Are they in school?
5. Where do they work?
6. What do they do in their free time?
7. What can they afford?
8. What is the age range of your market?
9. What music and brands do they prefer?

Once you know your market you then have to know your competition. You identify other brands that share the same market segmentation as your brand. Make a list of the brands and compare them against your own and be completely honest with yourself. Not only do you need to know everything you can about your target market but you also need to know everything about your competition. You can learn from what others are doing right and wrong. You do not need to reinvent the wheel (I hate clichés); don’t bang your head against the wall trying to come up with a marketing strategy from scratch when you can reverse engineer what your competition is doing and figure out how you can do it better. Answer these questions about your competition and use what you learn to come up with your own strategy:

1. How does your brand compare against brand X?
2. What would make your brand more appealing to your target market than Brand X.
3. How does Brand X market attract customers from your market? What do they do right? What do they do wrong?
4. How does the product line of Brand X appeal to the market? How does your brand do in comparison?
5. How does Brand X market to its customers? Social Media? Banner ads? Blogs? Printed ads? Etc.
6. How can you differentiate your brand from Brand X? What would make someone buy one of your products instead of one from Brand X?

This is just a little taste of what you need to do. Honestly, marketing is not easy; if it was, then everybody that starts a brand would be filthy rich. There are so many things that you can do to market your brand but you have to do the research first. Only after you know your brand, your market, and your completion can you really develop a marketing strategy.
I better stop writing; I can already sense your eyes glazing over.
if you have any questions, I can try and answer them to the best of my limited abilities.

*Disclaimer: I am not a marketing expert but I play one on the internet. Do not take anything that I have written as being the best way to approach the subject; but as the ramblings of a random forum member.

Good Luck!