WORKSHOP FOR FASHION STUDENTS

Some Speakers at the workshop

Over the weekend, a workshop was organized for the Fashion Students at Abbi Creation Fashion College, Nungua-Accra by I2I Concept. Various topics relating to the fashion industry were discussed.

“TAPPING KNOWLEDGE 101" aims to train those in the Fashion, Beauty, Lifestyle, Arts Industry on Fashion Entrepreneurship, Personal Branding, Social Media Management and Branding, Micro insurance, Financial Management, Fashion PR &Communication.

Overall, it was an educative and insightful workshop. Make sure you don't miss the next opportunity to learn how to build and grow your fashion business.

Mrs. Abigail Kyere - Principal of Abbi Creation Fashion College

Bashiru Olu Wasiu-Ayinde- Blogger of Fashionmaniagh

Faith Senam Ocloo - CEO of E'April Public Relations

Zakiyu Iddris Tandunayir - CEO of ZIT Social Media

A cross section of participants

Building your Beauty Business Using PR

Whether you are a beauty expert, a makeup artist, own a skin care line, run a spa or salon, your job is to make people look and feel good. While at it, you need to put in place measures that will improve your services and build your business. Define what you do by exploring the importance of looking and feeling beautiful. Develop a Public Relations campaign that will drive your business strategy and move your brand to the next level. The following PR tips will be useful in attaining such feat.

1. Create your unique story

Once you have carefully defined what you do, you need to create a story that presents all that in a simple, catchy and attractive way. A story that is compelling and interesting and that people can identify with. One that clearly states how different and unique your product or service is. It should be accompanied with good and captivating visuals. Using “Before” and “After” photos are the best tools use to demonstrate what you do and how well you do it.

2. Identify the right media channel

Mostly for startups or when launching a beauty related PR campaign, it is advisable to start with your local media. Firstly, identify which media outlets show contents targeted at your market. Begin to tell your story using various forms such as press releases, speaking engagements, interviews etc. Branch out to national media at a considerable pace that you can handle and then start to target print publications such as newspapers and magazines as you continue to expand and build your brand. It increases your visibility and strengthens your reputation as an expert.

3. Utilize your media coverage on Social Media

As you begin to land print coverage in newspapers and magazines and on online portals, utilize them on social media. Generate media and public interests on these coverage by developing a Social Media Strategy that will engage your fans and followers.  Maximize your efforts by creating consistent contents on your social media platforms and blogs.

 

4. Review and build your services

Many a times businesses tend to forget that as media coverage expand, calls for their product and services are most likely to shoot up. It is important to put in the requisite resources to make up for the demand. Review your support systems to make way for expansion which will cater for all the calls.

5. Capitalize results of media coverage

Ideally, launch a PR campaign that will offer steady growth so you are able to process all the calls that comes with using PR to build your beauty business. Understand that public relations effort is a gradual, on-going and cumulative process hence the need to make a commitment to stick with it in order to obtain maximum brand growth.

Hiring a Public Relations Agency to drive and manage your communication needs is the best for your beauty business. However, the above mentioned points could be helpful to launch your won PR campaign if you can’t afford one now.

Faith Senam Ocloo

CEO

E’April Public Relations

Follow me on twitter @eaprilPR and @faithsenam

Photo source: Ghana Hotels

A Fashion, Style & Beauty PR Tip Sheet

Effective PR is more important in the fields of fashion style and beauty as it is in the world of entertainment.  How impactful your public relations campaign is can spell the difference between failure and success.  When dealing in the worlds of fashion and style there are specific points you want to make sure to cover in order to insure your best chance for success.  Although the points below are specifically geared towards fashion, the basic tenants hold true whether you’re marketing a fashion line, a line of beauty products, or any product in the arena of style, fashion and beauty.

1.  Find your target audience.  Who exactly are you selling to?  This involves knowing your price point, your target market’s age and demographic, and your overall style philosophy, meaning knowing what you’re trying to trying to convey.  How should the wearer feel and want to convey while wearing the clothes/shoes/accessories?  Knowing your target audience, meaning who will bring in the most interest and revenue to the brand, allows you to work with your PR team to carefully target your audience through the publications, websites, blogs, fashion bloggers, and celebrities they look to and trust for the latest trends and style inspiration.

2. If you are a new brand, start small.  As an indie or small label designer (especially just starting out), you can’t expect to compete with Chanel right away.  In this case you want to do some research on fashion bloggers – those who post Outfit of the Day shots and do their own photo-shoots – and find the ones who have a solid social media following and comments feedback on their site.  Start by targeting bloggers and then drill down to the more mainstream traditional media outlets.

3.  Stay in tune with trends.  It’s difficult to sell, if you don’t stay on the pulse of the industry, know what others are selling and, more importantly what the public is buying.  One of the easiest fashion pitches is “Get the Look” – do you have a product that looks similar to what a celeb wore on the red carpet last night?  If so, send that as a media pitch.   Your pitch can be “get the look for less”.  This “Get the Look” approach can also help when introducing editors and website writers to your product, by relating it to their needs.  Remember, what they need is what’s happening now and tomorrow trend-wise.  If you keep this in mind, it won’t be long until editors are asking you for pieces for their stories!

4. Play to your strengths – For example, are your items unique?  Is it made of vintage materials, use new technology, or handcrafted? Does your line offer a lot of style for a great price?  Is your brand functional? Can you dress it up or down for work and dates? Is it stain or wrinkle resistant)?  What is it that sets you, your brand and your line apart from the rest?   Use what sets you apart in the marketplace, to set you apart in the eyes of bloggers and editors.

5. One final tip, position yourself as an expert who can comment on fashion style and beauty.  If editors get to know you as an expert in the field and like what you have to say, you can start to position yourself as a go to media resource.

Keep these point in mind when launching a PR campaign for you and your brand and you’ll be set on the road for success.

This post originally appeared here

Image Building: Why you should care about your Image

Image is a reflection of oneself. It is what people see when they look at you, talk to you and or interact with you. It is also what you see when you look at yourself in a mirror; a reflection of who you really are. One Andre Agassi coined the phrase “Image is Everything” to signify how important our image is in our everyday life and in relation to humans.

Images are impressions formed about someone for various reasons at any time or place. It could be as a result of the way you were dressed, the way you spoke to someone, the manner at which you composed yourself at an event or even the way behaved towards a friend at a particular time. 

For many occasions, images are created during the first encounter. That is why it is mostly said that first impressions count and we all make our judgments based on our first impressions.

Create good impressions by appearing as one. Looking good is not only about dressing up in expensive clothes or wearing designer clothes. It is about dressing up in simple yet neat, comfortable and admirable clothes. 

It is also about knowing your body type, shape, shade and dressing appropriately. That way, what people see is a representation of who you are and what you intend to communicate and not creating any form of contradictions.

Personal image is mostly connected to your business image. Potential clients or colleagues relate to you based on the characteristics they identify with you. Looking unkempt and unreliable portrays a negative image hence colleagues, clients or even potential clients will see you as such. Consequently, no one will want to work or do business with someone who is unreliable.

Image building is a process; it encompasses all facets of your personal and business brand; it is never enough; so don’t stop at it.

Faith Senam Ocloo

CEO

E’April Public Relations

Follow me on twitter @eaprilPR and @faithsenam or Facebook

Photo credit: Amfo Conolly