eCommerce

30 Ways to Promote your Online Clothing Boutique

Kristina Gjorgievska

Kristina Gjorgievska

Nov 26, 2020 · 18 minutes

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Have you started an online clothing boutique store recently? Or thinking about doing it? If your mind is set on this idea and you have the ambition to build a successful online clothing store, there is a fundamental thing to take into account. Effective ways to promote your online clothing boutique can largely contribute to growing a profitable business in eCommerce.

Sure, you might have started spending time and effort to master Facebook Ads and try to increase the store’s Instagram followers. However, it takes much more than that, as you’re about to find out.

First things first, let’s cover some basic but essential questions before you start promoting your online clothing boutique.

Are online clothing boutiques profitable?

The clothing niche is one of the most profitable ones in the eCommerce industry according to multiple reports. This industry weighs $90 billion in revenue yearly. The number just keeps rising, online clothing sales accounted for almost one-third of the overall apparel sales in the United States of America.

How do I start an online clothing boutique?

Fairly to say, there isn’t only one right way to start your online clothing store. Starting and running an online clothing store encompasses numerous different elements. In this article, we’ll cover all of them and give you useful tips that can help you throughout the process.

These are simple steps to implement in your plan when you are thinking about establishing an online clothing boutique.

Set your business vision

If you can’t imagine how your business could work, you will have bad results. Find what your competitors use, how are they approaching their customers, which colors they are using, why are they using them. Create a bigger picture in your eyes that can help you structure your business plan.

Develop your brand

What will make your brand stand out from the competition? Set some recognizable details about your brand, the designs you use, make your products stand out.

Start structuring your business plan

This is one of the most important things to do when you plan to start your business. Probably you will need some help from someone who already opened a successful store, but make sure you do your own research. You surely have some goals that are important to you. Include and highlight them in the business plan.

Choose products to sell

If you are starting right now, it is a good idea to limit your products. You don’t have to sell anything. Be specific, use your budget wisely. A good idea is to perform extensive research and analysis about which are the most profitable items in the clothing industry, for example by taking advantage of Google Trends.

Choose a platform for your website

In the eCommerce industry, there are many platforms that distinguish themselves with unique qualities. However, the majority of business owners choose to use Shopify or WooCommerce as one of the biggest eCommerce platforms available. Those platforms are budget-friendly, too. You can try the Shopify 14-day trial period, or you can just install the WooCommerce plugin to your WordPress site for free.

How do I order clothes for my online boutique?

There are many ways to supply your online boutique store. The right way to start this process is by focusing on selling other brands’ clothes and products.

You can find products and supply your online store through the next methods:

• Wholesalers

Buying wholesale clothing is one of the most popular methods for supplying clothing for online boutiques. If you’re not familiar with this process, you’ll have a lot to learn about wholesale buying before choosing the best wholesaler for you.

• LinkedIn

This social media platform is known as the place you go when you are looking for a job. LinkedIn is so much more. You can connect with relevant people who work in this industry and can help you to find and supply attractive products.

• Facebook Groups

You can find everything on Facebook. Make sure you find a specific community group that can help you with this process.

• Wholesale Clothing Manufacturers – Offline

These manufacturers usually don’t have a website. Every country has its own local manufacturers that can get the job done. Try searching for them in your local area.

• Sourcing Agents

These people are experts with a lot of experience behind them. If you can’t find an answer to your question, ask them and they will help you out. Also, they have deep knowledge of this industry and can help you to pick the right supplier.

• Events & Conferences

Fashion shows are one of the events where designers and buyers meet to make a deal. If you are looking for specific products, then make sure you attend a relevant fashion show or similar event.

• Trade Catalogs

Many manufacturers use trade catalogs to promote their business. If you are looking for the right manufacturer, this could be a good lead for you.

Now, we’ve come to the core question we want to answer in this article.

How to promote your online clothing boutique?

After explaining the essentials for opening an online clothing boutique, the next important step is to promote your clothing business the right way. There are no rules here, but you can always test and try different available options. If you want your online clothing boutique to succeed today, you have a lot of work to do.

There are a myriad of ways to promote your boutique online and they should be aligned with your goals. So, answer the following questions:

• Are you trying to grow your sales?
• Are you searching for new customers?
• Or you are trying to retain your old customers?

There are a lot of tactics that can be used for an online clothing store promotion, and these can be used separately or combined with others, depending on your previously set goals. We present you with a couple of them below, so you can read them carefully and find the right ones that can fit your business goals and strategies.

Offer promotions and package deals regularly

This is proven marketing psychology, you know it because it affected you, too. Whichever online clothing store you’ve visited in the past, surely you’ve noticed many promo codes, discounts, and package deals that are personalized just for you. That is a part of their marketing strategy, and it is a very effective one. The same applies to you in the role of an owner of an online clothing boutique. You should make offers for holidays or no reason at all. Customers love to see that discount on your products.

Retarget your customers with email marketing

First, you should get an email from your customers. Once you’ve captured them as your leads, or your customers, in this case, use their behavior to offer them special one-time offers.

When you have something to offer, like special products or sales, your email database is here as a great way to promote that offer to your customers. There are a couple of email marketing services that include free plans for beginners. We encourage you to try MailChimp.

This is one of the most effective methods, but before you try and gather your email leads, you need to make sure it is right for your business.

Start writing articles

This is a great way to share quality content with your customers. You will get closer to your customers. Also, this is good for your SEO.

Check out how you can start writing blogs in the right way, for example, including backlinks to your store.

This kind of content will help your store or brand to gain relevancy, however, this should be done correctly. It is a great idea to improve your website traffic and your sales.

Get in touch with other websites or blogs about your products

You need to know your industry better. Research your industry and check how can you rank better. Find the relevant websites that can boost your growth. If you don’t know which is the best website, just search on Google. The first page should be the one that you are looking for.

Check their insights to see if they can help you. If you think you found the right fit, then that is the right time to contact them. When you are writing your first email make sure you are specific. Ask the right questions if you want to get your answer.

This is a great way to gain relevancy, especially if you do it right.

Guest blogging

If your website isn’t getting enough traffic, and your blogs aren’t reaching your target audience, then you should start guest blogging. If you’ve done your research right, then you know who are the top websites in your industry.

Contact the bloggers and ask for a guest blog on their website. Most of them will let you write a guest blog on their website if your store meets its criteria. They should also allow you to link that content to your website or your online store.

Get closer to your customers with visual content

The end of 2020 is getting near, and video marketing is and will continue to be one of the top trends in the upcoming years. It is easy to share, and fun to watch. If you are looking to gain brand relevancy and awareness among your customers, then you should start making engaging video content.

Show the people how they can wear your products in different environments and occasions. The right way to create and share this kind of content is to create a YouTube channel. You can share those videos on the other platforms that you use to promote your online store.

You can also use Instagram Live or Facebook Live for extra special behind-the-scenes content for your followers.

Use different social media channels

You need to make the most of social media in 2020. It is a great way to connect with your customers. Be aware, this would take much of your precious time. Many store owners are employing a social media manager to manage their social media channels and boost their growth.

There are a lot of tactics for your social media presence, so contact the right person and create the best marketing strategy for your social media presence.

Create content and share it on social media

If you want the social media algorithm to mark you as a good online store, then you should use it correctly. Post regularly, at least once and a maximum of 2-3 times per day. This should be modified according to your business.

The content you share should be versatile and engaging: it can be a photo, a video, or even a podcast that you recorded yourself where you talk about your business and products, allowing customers to get closer acquainted with your fashion store. If the users love and react to your content, then the social media channels will boost it to a wider audience.

Design branded tote bags

Tote bags are in trend for years now. People use them as a fashion accessory or even as an eco-friendly alternative to plastic shopping bags. So designing some tote bags with your logo and website is a very creative way to promote your online clothing boutique. This is a great strategy to gain more website visits.

Explore paid advertising

Almost every social media platform offers paid marketing services. Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, even TikTok offer different clothing ads for online promotion. All of these platforms can surely help you promote your online clothing boutique, especially Facebook and Instagram.

There are many ways to promote your website on Facebook and Instagram via Facebook Ads and Instagram ads, which can be monitored via the Facebook ad metrics, or even by Instagram shoutouts and Instagram captions for clothing brands. If you use Facebook as your primary advertising platform, you should know that Facebook offers many benefits such as targeting your customers through behavior, demographics, clicks, etc. You could also retarget your audience that entered your website via Facebook Pixel.

Other notable social media platforms that offer paid advertising are Twitter and Pinterest. You could always use some promoted tweet or pin. Finally, don’t forget Google Ads and Google Shopping Ads.

Put your store’s website in your email signature

Learn and do the basics first. You should always look for ways to get more visitors to your website. If you are using email marketing strategies, don’t forget to put a direct link to your website as another CTA button. There are a couple of services that can help you with setting up your signature correctly.

Print your logo and social media pages on promotional material

This is kind of the same as the example that we’ve mentioned above. Be proud of your business, and don’t lose your potential customers. Every marketing material should be stamped with your business information. There are potential customers everywhere, so don’t lose the chance to gain another customer or reach a wider audience.

Hold contests and giveaways on social media

This is a great strategy to effectively promote your online clothing boutique, and it could boost your social media channels. Customers react very well to social media contests. They start to engage with your business, and they could also share your content. There are a couple of rules on the platforms when it comes to contests, so make sure you read them before you host one.

Make sure you offer an appropriate prize according to your goal. Our recommendation is to use all of the social media platforms. These engagement interactive posts often encourage more sales in that period. After you’ve picked your winner, don’t forget to share it with your followers. You could also make a testimonial with him and share it on your website as a blog article.

Provide sponsorship to local events

Attending local events related to the clothing industry and offering sponsorship is a very smart technique to promote your online clothing store. Hanging out with professionals in the industry can help you increase brand awareness and attract new customers.

Offer personalized discounts

Make sure your online clothing boutique uses personalized discounts for every customer that spends too much money on your products. Make sure you care about them. This is a great retention strategy that could get more sales long-term.

Create stickers and other cling material

Stickers are a great way to promote your online clothing boutique if you use them in the right way. Great designs should do the work. One way to use them is to give stickers as an extra special gift along with the purchases. Customers often stick them to their laptops, especially if you target them right.

Collaborate with other online boutique stores

Having competition doesn’t have to be bad. In fact, you should explore ways to benefit from it. Do your competitors know you? If not, then it is time to introduce yourself to them. Talk to them about a possible collaboration, something that can benefit both parties.

Your indirect competitors should be the right fit for this kind of collaboration. You can collaborate to do a giveaway, some social media contests, outfit reviews, or else that can help you promote each other.

Place surprise promo coupons on packages

This is a great strategy to retain your customers. Motivate your customers to buy another product by giving them an extra personalized coupon that they can use with their next order.

However, make sure you put some call-to-action buttons alongside the coupon.

Set your away or busy messages

Personalize the messages to communicate and understand your customers better. Make sure they don’t feel stuck in the process and try to solve their problem as fast as you can. One way to do this is to create your personal chatbot helper.

Update your product names and descriptions accordingly

Make sure the name and description of your product are relevant to it. Don’t explain broadly, be specific about your product. Many examples can help you with optimizing your product names, but most important is to avoid creating general and duplicate descriptions.

Also, try to use your keywords wisely and not make your descriptions keyword-stuffed. Don’t get your visitors confused about what you are selling. In the description, you can be more creative and explain more broadly about your product and its characteristics.

Pick or optimize the right photos

Make sure that you make a good first impression. Visuals can help you out with that if you use them accordingly. Also, if you optimize the photos, you can get quality traffic through SEO from people that search for the type of products you sell.

Add your products to comparison websites

You can only benefit from uploading your products on price comparison websites. Google will rank you higher if you use their own platform, Google Shopping. You can research your competitor’s prices there, and you can create the right pricing strategy according to those data.

Search engine advertising

Pay-per-click ads are proven to work with many online boutique stores. Google is the number one platform to advertise with. You can eventually try another search engine like Bing. Be careful and track those campaigns because they can spend your budget quickly.

Participate in online events

The pandemic moved all the events online. This could be an opportunity for you to promote your online clothing boutique, but only if you work for it. Find the events that could benefit your business and increase your sales. Ask them to participate and promote your online boutique store there. Be sure you share your website URL, try to make a special offer to the participants.

Try to get more feedback

You could use the reviews for social media testimonials, website blogs. There are many review sites on the internet that could benefit your business. Word of mouth works every time, and it is one of the most powerful marketing tools when your boutique is selling online

One way to do this is to ask for a review when some customers purchase some of your products. Don’t push them to write you reviews though, you will get the boomerang effect. This is a great way to gain relevancy and build your reputation online.

Start a referral program

Classic way to increase your business and boost your social media growth. If you are serious about increasing your online sales and presence, then the referral program is the right option to promote your online clothing boutique.

Customers love bonuses and extra credits that they can use with their next purchase. If they bring X number of friends, they could enjoy those benefits. The benefits could be even bigger if they brought more customers. Keep them motivated.

Use Facebook groups or forums

This is a great way to introduce your product to your target audience. There are a couple of options when it comes to group posting. Contact the group admin and make sure your promotion is approved if you want to avoid blocks or bad marketing. Facebook offers to join groups as a Page, make sure you use that feature to establish your brand.

Mention your brand in relevant questions on Quora or other related forums on the internet. People often look for their solutions on forums.

Follow pages and blogs that can help you improve

There is a period in your life where you feel stuck like you’ve lost all of your ideas. Make sure you follow the right pages on social media to get new fresh ideas to promote your online boutique store.

Make sure you give something extra

The customers are enjoying those extra add-ons in their package. Make sure they feel the mission and story of your brand by adding some extra items in their package. As we’ve said above, they will probably share these items, so print your logo or website URL somewhere visible.

Create habits for success

We’ve presented you with many tips for your start and promote your online clothing boutique. Make sure to create productive habits to follow. In the end, you are the only person who is responsible for the presence of your online boutique store, especially if you don’t have any help.

Follow the latest trends and make sure you adapt to every problem that gets in your way. Don’t be skeptical and use most of the social media benefits that you can get.

About the Author

Kristina Gjorgievska

Kristina, Head of Content at BrandsGateway. Eternal inspiration: The Doors music and lyrics, Bernardo Bertolucci's timeless “Stealing Beauty”, and the dynamic and meditative Ashtanga Yoga.