Keywords

1 Introduction

Digitization has changed the way of doing business within the fashion industry. Electronic business and digital marketing in the fashion industry enabled access to the global market, affecting wider brand recognition, improved customer and stakeholder relationship management, and incentive customers’ engagement in product development [1, 2]. Digital marketing can be defined as a form of direct marketing that connects the buyers with the sellers electronically using websites, social media, emails, mobile applications, etc. [1,2,3,4]. It enables easier and faster omnichannel communication with customers and other stakeholders, and the promotion of products or services in a timely, relevant, personal and cost-effective manner [1, 2].

For introducing a new fashion brand on the digital market it is important to identify customers’ needs, to be competitive and unique, to track business results in real-time and to plan future brand development [2]. This can be managed by creating and implementing an Internet marketing plan that presents a business document that is created in accordance with the business, marketing, customer relationship management (hereinafter: CRM), and IT strategies of the fashion company [2, 5].

The main goal of this paper is the development of a methodological approach for the promotion of a new fashion brand based on a digital marketing strategy. The proposed method is suitable for introducing new fashion brands on digital market, with focus on creating visual identity and brand awareness on the Internet and social media using different digital marketing strategies and techniques. Using proposed method we presented an example of introducing a new fashion brand on digital market.

2 Digital Marketing in Fashion Industry

Digitization has influenced the transformation of the fashion industry. Innovative business models are affected the improvement of e-business and stakeholder relationship management [5, 6]. The fashion industry has become increasingly technology focused. Information and communication technologies have enabled the sale of products through web shops within which end users are provided with support during the purchase process from the moment of product selection to the online payment process. Innovative technologies such as virtual and augmented reality enabled possibilities for using virtual stores, creating virtual avatars and virtual options for trying clothes [7,8,9]. On the other hand, fashion companies are enabled to monitor customers’ behavior when shopping, real-time communication, and identifying target groups of users and their preferences, by collecting a lot of data through websites, mobile devices and social media. The application of artificial intelligence based on the collected patterns of customer behavior when searching and purchasing products allows end-users to obtain recommendations and optimize the offer [10]. The key process in creating brand awareness, promoting a fashion brand, and optimizing end-user services is the application of digital marketing strategies and techniques. By appearing on the Internet, the fashion companies interact with customers in a more effortless and inexpensive way and establish with them a deeper relationship based on trust [11, 12]. In order to achieve optimal results in communication with end-users, it is desirable to use omnichannel marketing that allows sharing of information through CRM tools, social media channels, and instant messaging applications such as Viber and WhatsApp. By implementing omnichannel and CRM strategies, a fashion company can simultaneously meet customers’ expectations and make a profit by tailoring its resources to different channels depending on needs and opportunities [11, 13].

For brand promotion, creating brand awareness, reaching the target audience, creating loyal customers and improving future brand development, a significant role has digital marketing techniques such as Search Engine Optimization (hereinafter: SEO), content marketing, email marketing, viral marketing, mobile marketing, video marketing, affiliate marketing, and social media marketing [14]. Branded marketing content is an effective strategy for the creation of content related to brands. Email marketing enables sending promotional messages via emails, social networks and instant messaging applications [15]. There is also included permission marketing, so the customers can agree to receive promotional branded content. Viral marketing can be used for spreading promotional materials to interested customers. This can be enabled using the options “tell a friend” or sharing information with others using different communication applications. Affiliate marketing enables posting promotional content on the partners’ websites or social media channels using cost per mile, cost per sale, cost per click, or cost per action options. Social media marketing is the most suitable digital marketing technique for creating, and sharing branded content, promotion, selling products, and direct communication with customers [15].

Social media has a significant role in creating the visual identity of a fashion brand, promoting products, identifying target groups of users and achieving interactive experiences between brands and consumers [15], creating online brand community, spreading new fashion trends [7, 16, 17]. It enables the connection of the fashion brands with customers through the sharing of textual, audio and video materials that aim to attract attention and create interest among customers for the brand. Using social media in business, fashion companies can gain faster insight into users’ preferences, foster brand loyalty by posting relevant and popular content, and improve future brand development. Social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok allow customers to follow the profiles of fashion companies, like, comment and review brands’ social media pages and content. In addition to these functionalities, there is the possibility of shopping through social networks. This social-commerce option is available on the social network Instagram.

In 2022 Instagram became one of the most engaging social networks on which users spent 11.2 h per month [15, 18]. In the fashion industry, Instagram is considered one as one of the most influential social networks for the promotion of the branded content [15, 19, 20]. According to research [21,22,23], Instagram has the biggest impact on impulse purchasing in the fashion industry because of the effective visual promoting options that allow consumers to have closer interactions with brands.

The fashion industry is one of the most rapidly growing industries in the world. Every day, fashion companies introduce their new brands using social media [24]. In recent years, social media influencers became important for presenting new fashion trends and connecting customers with new brands [21, 25, 26]. Promotion of fashion brands on social media such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr, and TikTok significantly influenced consumers’ purchasing decision-making [21].

Facebook is the most popular social network [27], and the first most visited website in the world [18]. It is suitable for creating business identity and credibility by posting accurate data about the business and its products and services. Encourages users for socializing, entertainment, self-status seeking and information seeking [28]. In the context of fashion, Facebook is suitable for creating and sharing photos, videos, polls, and links related to fashion brands. Often customers tag brands that wear, engage themselves in reviewing products and propose new ideas for future brand development.

For product development, creating new ideas, promotion, and business financing, different crowdsourcing models can be used, such as crowd creation, crowd wisdom, crowdfunding, crowd voting, crowdsensing [29]. In the fashion industry, crowdsourcing can be used for generating new ideas for brand development by collecting customers’ opinions and suggestions. Furthermore, crowdsourcing platforms can be used for the promotion of new designers and their ideas that can become part of the fashion companies. New fashion companies or fashion designers can also present their new fashion projects and collect needed funds to start their own business.

For tracking interactions among followers, determining the influence of the most engaged users, and reveal customers’ preferences, social network analysis can be used (hereinafter: SNA) [30]. Using the SNA methodology, it is possible to analyze the structure of the social network through concepts from graph theory and network analysis, with the help of defined mathematical models and clustering algorithms [31]. SNA collects the data important for market research, making business decisions, analysis of marketing activities, identification of influential users of social networks, determining the interconnection of users of a particular social network, etc. [30]. Users’ data can be collected from the social networks depending on the GDPR and networks’ Terms and Conditions [31].

Artificial intelligence (hereinafter: AI) enables tracking consumers’ behavior on websites and mobile applications, expressing their needs, and opinions on the forums, and blogs, searching history, reviewing products, tracking social media profiles, leaving comments, likes, posting, and sharing. These collected data can be helpful for consumers’ insights [32]. Based on the collected business data from e-business transactions and social media, artificial intelligence can be used as a powerful tool for identifying and customizing offers according to the consumers’ preferences, forecasting consumer purchase behavior, improving sales efficiency, and marketing automation [31].

A useful technique that can be used to determine customers’ behaviors during the purchase process is RFM analysis which identifies recency (R), frequency (F), and monetary value (M) [33]. Using this analysis of data related to customers’ behaviors on websites and social media, the customers’ loyalty can be determined. RFM analysis can be divided into three methods [33]. The first method is used to identify the general trend in customers’ true value and loyalty by combining the clustering of the target customers with the K-means algorithm [34]. The second method is classification and it is used to adopt distinct market strategies for target customers who are at different levels. The third method uses frequent pattern-mining algorithms to discover valuable customers that bring more profit to the company over a long period of time.

3 A Methodological Approach for the Promotion of a New Fashion Brand Based on a Digital Marketing Strategy

This paper presents the development of a methodological approach for the promotion of a new fashion brand based on a digital marketing strategy (Fig. 1) [2].

The proposed methodological approach is adapted from previous research [2, 35] and has the following steps:

  1. 1.

    Identifying a need for a new fashion brand in the digital market. It includes market research, competitive analysis and market segmentation [2]. Market research can be conducted by surveying users and identifying their needs for a new fashion brand. This research can be used for further users clustering. To determine leaders in the market, competitive analysis is suitable. In the digital market, it is necessary to determine leading fashion companies, to analyze their appearance on the web and social media channels, what innovative information technologies use for e-business, whether they have an e-shop with an integrated payment system, which services are used for communication with clients, which digital marketing strategies they apply, who are their stakeholders, analyze their business results, etc. Based on this data it is useful to create a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis for each market leader. Competitive analysis contains valuable information on how to make a successful business and how to use some detected leaders’ flaws as an opportunity.

  2. 2.

    Defining and implementing an internet marketing plan for a fashion brand. It includes defining an Internet business plan and a fashion brand digital marketing strategy [2]. The main elements of the Internet business plan are defining mission and vision, Business Model Canvas, revenue model, Value Proposition Canvas, SWOT analysis, defining the project management team, designing a web presence, financial analysis, and risk management [35]. The business model canvas is an instrument of strategic management that consists of defining the following segments [36, 37]: Key partners, Key activities, Key resources, Value propositions, Customer relationships, Customer segments, Channels, Cost structure, Revenue streams. A revenue model shows how a company generates profit, and return invested capital [35, 38]. Value Proposition canvas’ goal is to defend the idea that the offering delivers positive features (called “gain creators”) and reduces negative aspects (called “pain relievers”) from the perspective of a customer experience [39, 40]. Digital marketing strategies include defining strategies for customer relationship management, communication, creating loyalty programs, crowdsourcing services, and digital marketing techniques [35].

  3. 3.

    Business results analysis. It includes analysis of data from the website using various tools (e.g. Google Analytics), RFM analysis, Social Network Analysis, applying artificial intelligence tools, digital marketing metrics, and monitoring of revenues using the ROI (Return on Investment) method [2]. For analyzing social media data using SNA, specific tools are available, such as Gephi, UCINET, VOSviewer, etc. A chatbot is a commonly used artificial intelligence tool on websites that gives real-time support to customers during the purchase process. Furthermore, voice search enables conversation between a website and a user. Businesses use a variety of social media metrics to track key performance indicators. Metrics are analyzed after the consumers’ engagement and after finished the social media marketing campaigns. A successfully implemented campaign through social media has three main goals: increase profits, reduce costs and meet consumer needs.

Fig. 1.
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Methodological approach for the promotion of a new fashion brand based on a digital marketing strategy (adapted from [2, 35])

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4 Pilot Implementation

In this paper, a pilot project implementation is shown. The pilot project was conducted according to the proposed methodological approach and includes the initial analysis of the digital market and the implementation of the Internet marketing plan for a new fashion brand.

4.1 Identifying Target Audience Preferences

According to the proposed methodological approach, target audience preferences for introducing a new fashion brand were identified. An online survey of two sets of questions was conducted. The first set of questions included questions to identify demographic data such as age, education, employment, and material status. Furthermore, the first set includes respondents’ levels of digital literacy, social network usage, and habits when buying clothes. The second set of questions was related to questions that examine respondents’ preferences and attitudes toward buying clothes online and identifying their experiences during online purchases. Convenience sampling method was used. Target groups were women aged between 18 and 44. Online survey was distributed using the emails, Instagram, Facebook, Viber and WhatsApp. A total of 121 respondents participated in the survey, but 12 responses from male respondents were excluded from the subsequent survey process because they did not belong to the female adult group.

Using the k-means method for clustering, it was determined that there are three groups of target users. The first cluster included 26 out of a total of 109 respondents. It consists of women aged 18–24. They prefer to buy ready-made clothes and buy equally in physical stores and online shops. When they shop online, they usually shop both via websites and different social media. Of all the social networks, they often or always use Instagram and YouTube, and occasionally use Facebook, while they almost never or rarely use Tiktok, Pinterest, and Linkedin. They order almost all types of clothes online, at least dresses, T-shirts and bodysuits. Of all the styles offered, they prefer the sporty and sexy style the most, followed by the classy, vintage and street style, and the least elegant, casual and business style. When buying, the most important criteria are quality, brand, different payment options, and membership in the loyalty programs. The less important factor when buying is the price. The second cluster included 41 out of a total of 109 respondents. It consists of women aged 25–34. They prefer to buy ready-made clothes and usually buy in online shops. When they shop online, they shop more often via websites than social media channels. Of all the social networks, they often or always use Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, while they almost never or rarely use Tiktok, Pinterest and Linkedin. They usually order overalls, dresses, T-shirts and shirts, and rarely shorts, pants, bodysuits and jackets. Of all the styles offered, they prefer casual, chic, elegant and sports styles the most, while they almost never wear clothes that are in vintage and street style. When buying, the most important criteria are price, quality and different payment options. Membership in the loyalty programs is less important, and the least important factor is the brand from which they buy. The third cluster included 42 out of a total of 109 respondents. It consists of women aged 35–44. They prefer clothes that are tailor-made and usually buy online. When they shop online, they shop more often via websites than social media channels. Of all the social networks, they often or always use YouTube, occasionally use Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, while they almost never or rarely use Tiktok and Pinterest. They order almost all types of clothing online, with the exception of bodysuits and dresses. Of all the styles offered, they prefer sports, street, business and casual style the most, while they almost never wear a wardrobe that is in vintage and sexy style. When buying, the most important criteria are quality and different payment options. Less important are the brand, customer support and loyalty program membership, while the price is the least important (Table 1).

Table 1. Cluster summary statistics
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The distribution of attributes related to the use of social media (Facebook, Instagram, Ticket, YouTube, Pinterest and Twitter) by clusters is given in Fig. 2. It can be concluded that the most frequently used social media are Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, while TikTok, Pinterest and Twitter are used much less.

Fig. 2.
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Distribution of attributes related to the use of social media by clusters

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Figure 3 shows that all respondents belonging to the first cluster buy both through the website and through social media, while a larger number of those belonging to the second and third clusters buy through the site. Figures 4 and Fig. 5 indicate the different styles that respondents prefer by the cluster as well as which criteria they value most when shopping online.

Fig. 3.
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Distribution of attributes related to the use of different digital channels for online shopping by clusters

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Fig. 4.
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Distribution of attributes related to different fashion styles by clusters

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Fig. 5.
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Distribution of attributes related to different criteria when shopping online by clusters

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4.2 Implementation of the Internet Marketing Plan

This paper presents an example of the development and implementation of an Internet marketing plan for a new fashion brand according to the proposed methodology approach.

Internet Business Plan

An Internet business plan is a document that contains the basics of the elements of a business venture that a company intends to implement via the Internet [5]. Creating an Internet business plan helps the company to start a business and manage it in an efficient way. In this paper, we present the implementation of some of the main elements of the Internet business plan for a new fashion brand.

Business Model Canvas for a new fashion brand consists of nine segments [35]:

  1. 1.

    Key partners. Key partners for the new fashion brand include designers, textile manufacturers, suppliers, delivery services, marketing companies, fashion bloggers, media partners such as influencers and public figures, payment gateway companies.

  2. 2.

    Key activities serve as the foundation of the business system of the corporation. It involves the development and maintenance of website and social media profiles, sale, customer relationship management, marketing and promotional activities, development of loyalty programs and tracking of fashion trends.

  3. 3.

    Key resources. The company used them in creating value for customers. It implies network infrastructure, information infrastructure, security systems and development team skills and expertise.

  4. 4.

    Value propositions signify the goods and services that the business provides to satisfy the needs of its customers. For new fashion brand, it includes quality and modern clothes, wide range of clothes, easy and fast shopping, effective order tracking, safe and fast delivery, flexible payment methods, innovative offers, market prevalence, production based on sustainable fashion principles, easy navigation and product search, and save time and money when shopping.

  5. 5.

    Customer relationships. Customer relationships will be built in the following ways communication through social media, newsletter, email, loyalty program, technical support, respecting customer feedback to improve service and promotions and discounts.

  6. 6.

    Customer segments. It includes the characteristics of all user groups and in this case that are fashion-conscious women who prefer online shopping and they are divided into three age segments (18–24y, 25–34y and 35–45y). They are authentic, interested in the last fashion trends, want to be accepted and make their own decisions.

  7. 7.

    Channels. The channels that will be used to promote a new fashion brand are the website, mobile application, social media and websites of other brands (affiliate program).

  8. 8.

    Cost structure. In this case, the costs include market research, development and maintenance of website and social media profiles, marketing and brand promotion, logistic costs, legal and administrative costs.

  9. 9.

    Revenue streams. The way a company generates revenue from each market segment: sales, affiliate programs, banner ads, pop-up ads, etc.

The proposed revenue model for a new fashion brand consists of submodels [35]:

  • Sales model. The sales model represents the primary revenue source because of the plan to sell a new fashion brand online.

  • Transaction commission model. The commissions gained by facilitating the transactions are another source of income for the fashion business since it would only have an online store.

  • Advertising and affiliate model. The fashion brand will offer partnerships with other brands on its website using a combination of an affiliate marketing and advertising model. Utilizing an affiliate model, collaboration with other social media influencers and fashion blogs is also possible. In this instance, promoters who bring customers to a fashion brand's website are compensated as a percentage of sales, i.e., if a buyer purchases a product as a result of their referral, the promoter is paid.

  • Subscription model. For the fashion brand will be created a loyalty program for the subscription model. Members of this program will receive a number of advantages. Each time customer makes a purchase, his exclusivity as a member of the loyalty club will grow. Both applying for the program and joining the club are free. Customers are thus actually trained to make as many purchases as they can in order to increase their rewards from the business (discounts, invitations to exclusive events, pop-up stores, etc.).

Suppliers that would deliver pre-agreed goods, a courier service that would transport the purchased products, media partners who would implement marketing activities, and payment gateway businesses who would safeguard transactions are the main partners. The establishment of a website and e-store through which loyal consumers would receive specific perks, as well as the deployment of digital marketing methods, would be key initiatives. The value proposition model for a new fashion brand consists of (Fig. 6):

  • Value proposition. Gain creators for a new fashion brand with an appearance on the Internet would be search and purchase from anywhere, customized recommendations to regular customers, affordable prices and discounts. Pain delivers have clear and consistent content, various payment options, quick and easy purchases and detailed order tracking. The new fashion brand will offer high-quality clothes of modern design, data protection on the website and constant customer support.

  • Customer segment. Benefits for customers are affordable prices and constant discounts, a wide range of products, saving time and money when shopping, while achieving accessibility and transparency, a sense of satisfaction and comfort when shopping as well as empathy from customer support. Customers may encounter problems such as difficult navigation through the website or a long payment process.

Fig. 6.
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Value proposition model of a new fashion brand

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The website implementation of a new brand is shown in following figures. Figure 7 shows the layout of the home page and the e-shop. The site enables the filtering of products for easier search and navigation. It is possible to search for products based on price, category and season to which a product belongs. The customer has the opportunity to create his account and track orders’ information. Customers can personalize their accounts according to their interests, create avatars, and join the loyalty club. There is a navigation menu through which the customer can navigate and use all the options that are intended specifically for him. The website also allows creating wish lists for each customer. The wish list includes products that the customer has a preference to buy in the future.

Fig. 7.
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Home page and e-shop

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Fashion Brand Digital Marketing Strategies

According to the proposed methodological approach following digital marketing strategies are implemented: CRM, omnichannel, loyalty program, and crowdsourcing.

CRM strategy puts the customer at the center. It is based on integrated market management, sales and customer service, as key functions of companies that are in daily contact with customers and clients [5]. For promoting a new fashion brand three CRM services are implemented: chatbot, customer satisfaction rating, and newsletter and “Tell a friend”. A chatbot is perhaps one of the most intimate ways to communicate with customers when shopping online. With the idea of putting customers and their wishes first, Chatbot acts as a personal shopping assistant. He is constantly available, provides the necessary information and easily solves all their problems. This has proven to be a great part of CRM strategy as customers are satisfied with the service, sellers receive information about customers’ preferences and interest for the products, and it represents a competitive advantage. On the website are implemented several Chatbots for different purposes depending on the content of the page: Chatbots for communication, shopping (e.g. help with choosing the right size), and product selection, and on the home page for providing general information (Fig. 8a). Customers can provide their feedback and suggest suggestions with the help of a short form for a satisfaction rating (Fig. 8b). This information can be useful for analyzing the target group, and for improving business and future brand development. In this way, customers’ opinions are respected and valued, which leads to mutual trust and loyalty.

Fig. 8.
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(a) Chatbot. (b) Customer satisfaction rating

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Another type of CRM strategy and communication with customers are Newsletters that would be sent to the email addresses of registered customers. These are notifications about discounts, promotions and new collections on the occasion of various events, such as March 8, Valentine's Day, Christmas and Easter holidays, brand birthday, etc. In this way, customers are reminded of some current events that they should not miss. The goal of the email campaigns is for customers to be the first to discover a new collection, learn all about promotions and special offers, as well as be up to date with new information. CRM email campaigns can be conducted using the Mailchimp platform (Fig. 9a). Furthermore, customers can be invited to subscribe to the newsletter via both brands Instagram and Facebook profiles. Customers have the possibility of forwarding the links from the fashion brand's web pages to their friends with one click, so-called “Tell a friend” (Fig. 9b).

Fig. 9.
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(a) Neswletter. (b) Tell a friend

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The omnichanel strategy integrates the various sales and communication channels that the user uses to combine the benefits of each channel and provides a user experience that is convenient, consistent, cohesive and holistic [5]. The channels on which a new fashion brand is concentrating are the website, social media such as Instagram and Facebook, and instant messages such as WhatsApp and Viber. What is important in omnichannel strategy is to create a luxurious experience in the digital world that can be provided by providing 24-h online support via a Chatbot on the website. Also, the new fashion brand should be available on all social media for fast and personalized customer service. Fashion shows will be broadcast live on social networks to provide users with a unique experience and the opportunity to immediately receive information about new collections, before they go on sale.

A loyalty program has been implemented, which contributes to a greater connection with a new fashion brand, and includes collecting certain points when buying and ranking in relation to their total number. The goal of the website is to improve the shopping experience, facilitate the shopping process itself and thus provide customer satisfaction. There are special types of bonuses for the most loyal customers who are provided with additional privileges. Customers get the opportunity to earn points when making every online purchase. Points are constantly updated on their account after downloading the package. No later than 24 h after downloading the package, the user receives all the information to the e-mail address, through which he made the purchase. Loyalty levels can be upgraded by collecting points. In order to become a member of the “Silver Package”, it is necessary to collect 200 points. In the status of “Silver package”, it is necessary to collect 500 points for the transition to the “Gold Package”. In the status of the “Gold Package” it is necessary to collect 1000 points for upgrading to the “Platinum Package".

Crowdsourcing is an innovation in many areas to harness the collective intelligence of a networked group to solve a variety of problems [5]. In today’s competitive world of fashion, flexibility and adaptability are essential elements for a company’s survival in this industry. Crowdsourcing is changing the dynamics of fashion and is one way to increase competitiveness. Different crowdsourcing services are implemented on the website in order to engage consumers to express their needs, propose future brand development, and to encourage brand loyalty. The following crowdsourcing models are implemented: crowdsensing, crowdfunding, crowd creation, crowd voting.

Within the range of a new fashion brand, customer will have the opportunity to buy smart products, such as smart T-shirts, which should monitor the health of users using different healthcare sensors (e.g. hearth rate sensor). Users can monitor their healthcare data on the crowdsensing service called “SenseMe” available on the website (Fig. 10). The smart T-shirt will be connected to the phone, so the user will be able to continuously monitor their heart rate, and receive recommendations according measured values.

Crowdfunding service is related to donating clothes. Donating clothes that are not needed is a convenient way to help someone who needs it, and in that way, incentive the care for others. On the other hand, donating instead of storing and throwing away clothes also contributes to reducing the textile waste. Within this service, users have a map with pointed organizations to which they can donate old clothes and instructions how to donate (Fig. 11a). In order to preserve the environment and sustainable development, customers will also be offered the opportunity to donate clothes for recycling in exchange for a voucher for a 20% discount on the brand's favorite piece of clothing. Fashion designers will have the opportunity to participate in giving opinions and ideas for the development of new garments. Consumers would have the opportunity to vote which of the above proposals they like best, so that they could rate each design on a scale of 1 to 5, and voting would take a week. Based on the average result and customer feedback, the best proposal for the look of the new product will be selected, produced and available for purchase on the website of a new fashion brand. These options are available within crowd creation service (Fig. 11b).

Fig. 10.
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Crowdsensing service “SenseMe”

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Fig. 11.
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(a) Crowdfunding (b) Crowd creation (c) Crowd voting

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As customer needs come first, it will give them the opportunity to cast their vote when launching new products by being able to suggest what kind of new product they would like to buy. In this way, ideas for developing a new product are collected. Consumer voting significantly reduces the complexity of the decision-making process, with special reference to the selection of solutions to be implemented, and also allows the fashion brand company to obtain information on consumer preferences. Customers will have the opportunity to vote for 5 favorite pieces of clothing from previous seasons, and the most popular ones will be returned in the new season. These options presents crowd voting services (Fig. 11c).

Digital Marketing Techniques

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing visibility and traffic to website using various methods such as keyword research, content writing, and link building [5]. Key points for SEO strategy applied for introducing a new fashion brand on the digital market are:

  • Target market. In this case, targets are women from 18 to 44 that are in step with the fashion trends, expect the possibility of different payment methods, support during the purchase, and fast delivery.

  • Customizing the site with mobile devices. The website of the new fashion brand is responsive and has an adaptive design.

  • Ranking on search engines. Increasing engagement on social networks and adding meta tags affect on website's positioning on search engines like Bing and Google.

  • Social media. Many customers start searching on social networks and come to the company's website after seeing part of their content or engaging with it. Sharing up-to-date, interesting and personalized content attract more customers to a fashion brand profiles and to its website.

Social media marketing enables the fashion company to present its brand, vision, and products through various communication channels, as well as to get feedback from customers. With a quality relationship with the customers and maintaining communication, they become loyal and recommend the products to their friends. Advantages of social media marketing are: direct communication with users, attracting users to the website, performance evaluation, free platforms, cost-effective advertising. Figures 12a and Fig. 12b show the appearance of the profile of a new fashion brand on social media Instagram and Facebook. In order for a profile to grow on social media, it is necessary to reach the target users using has tags related to the brand (e.g. #spring2022, #newcollection #fashion, #women'sclothes, #beauthentic, #beconfident, #benoticed, #beattractive, #feminine, #womanstyle, #fashionlover, #outfitideas). Advertising on Instagram means sponsoring certain content in order to reach as many targeted users as possible. Advertising on this network will help a new fashion brand to be more visible, make its application and website more visited, but also to gain even more potential customers. Users can be precisely targeted by gender, age, location, interests, and behavior. As Instagram is primarily of a visual nature, one should focus on a good and quality photo or video that will then follow a certain text adapted to the very philosophy of Instagram. An example of a promoted post on Instagram is given in Fig. 13.

Another part of the campaign on social media includes the implementation of prize games. Prize games would be conducted via Instagram profiles, which would be advertised via Instagram ads. Sweepstakes participants would have to meet certain requirements: to follow the profile of a new fashion brand on Instagram, to like the post, to share the post on their Story, as well as to tag 3 friends who would also be potential participants in the sweepstakes.

Mobile marketing is a digital marketing strategy that aims to reach the target audience on their smartphones, tablets and/or other mobile devices, through websites, email, SMS and MMS, social media and applications. The advantages of mobile marketing that the new fashion brand will use are promotions sent via SMS text messages, MMS multimedia messages, push notifications of downloaded applications, ads in downloaded games, use of mobile devices to scan QR codes.

Fig. 12.
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(a) Performance on Instagram (b) Performance on Facebook

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Fig. 13.
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Creating a promoted post on Instagram

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4.3 Business Result Analysis

To monitor the results of the fashion brand in the digital market, the effects of e-business are monitored with the help of RFM analysis metrics. Each of these dimensions provides insight into the behavior of visitors when shopping online. Satisfied customers are often also loyal customers and repeat purchases that affect the monetary value. Through the analysis of speed, it is possible to find out whether the visitor bought something recently, as well as how much time has passed since the last visit to the website during which the customer made a purchase. Frequency can be used to find out how often a visitor buys or comes to the site, whether on a daily, monthly, or annual basis. All of this can be tracked through Google Analytics which provides information on customers’ visits. Google Analytics provides a set of tools for measuring sales and conversions, insight into how visitors use the website, how they came to it, which pages are most visited, and analysis of advertising and use of social media services. Furthermore, Google Analytics provides a real-time view of site events, visitor characteristics by various criteria, how the brand reached users, their behavior on the site after arrival and many other reports. Detailed analysis can later help create loyalty programs and better manage customer relationships. All of this allows a new fashion brand an insight into how much profit it makes from certain customers and the ability to predict its future activities.

The results of implemented marketing campaigns on social networks can be tracked using different metrics [5]:

  • Reach. Metrics showing the reach of the campaign, the number of links and their shares, the number of users who viewed, shared and commented on marketing activities, and the number of new connections reached at the end of the campaign.

  • Frequency and Traffic. Metrics that measure the average number of visitors to a company's website during a campaign with various software tools.

  • Influence. Metrics that show how much social media conversations related to marketing activities are related to the company's business.

  • Conversations and transactions. Metrics that are indicators of how many users have some interaction with the social media pages.

  • Substainability. Metrics that show how active users are active on social media after the campaign.

For tracking customers’ engagement, significant roles have tools such as Facebook and Instagram Insights. These tools came with the Facebook and Instagram business profiles and can reveal information about the followers such as gender and age structure, origin, language, interest, education, employment, etc. Furthermore, these tools can be useful for tracking the marketing campaign results. There are other more detailed social medial tools for tracking results from social media marketing campaigns such as: Hootsuite Analytics, Hootsuite Impact, Social Blade, Business Suite and LikeAlyzer.

5 Conclusion

The main contribution of this paper is the development of the methodological approach for the promotion of a new fashion brand based on a digital marketing strategy. The advantage of the proposed method is that it is suitable for small fashion companies that want to introduce a new fashion brand on the digital market and don’t have enough experience in implementing the Internet marketing plan and applying digital marketing strategies and techniques.

According to the proposed method, a pilot project was conducted. Considering that the research was done at the very beginning of the pilot project, an initial examination of the target groups of users and the needs for the introduction of a new fashion brand into the digital market was conducted. The preferences of the target group were identified and the results were analyzed using cluster analysis. According to identified users needs, Internet marketing plan for a new fashion brand was implemented. The internet business plan shows the implementation of the e-business model, revenue model and value proposition model, as well as the implementation of the website. Also, the realized CRM and omnichannel strategies, the development of loyalty programs and the development of crowdsourcing services are presented. The techniques of digital marketing, such as SEO, social media marketing, and mobile marketing were applied.

The main limitation of this research is the lack of the users’ data and transactions that can be collected from the website, e-shop, and social media and used for the creation of the personalized marketing campaigns.

Future directions of research will refer to the complete implementation and evaluation of the proposed methodological approach for the promotion of a new fashion brand based on the digital marketing strategy.