Online Masterclass: Top Marketing Tips from Rosie Middleton

On the 15^th July we held an online masterclass with industry expert Rosie Middleton, Marketing Director of the vibrant womenswear brand Dancing Leopard. Rosie has worked with the company for the past 3-years and has been instrumental in fine-tuning the brands marketing messages that has increased their customer base and international presence.

Prior to her position with Dancing Leopard Rosie gained marketing experience with the plus-size fashion franchise Yours Clothing as a brand communications executive before being promoted to a social media and brand campaign manager. Earlier in her career she worked in B2B marketing within the events and leisure industry.

Throughout the two-hour session Rosie remained clear and approachable, and she invited questions from attendees regularly. She began by explaining what a brand is and that by treating your brand as a person you are quickly able to create your unique ethos. It is crucial to get this brand persona right as it will form the core of what your company is all about and not just on an aesthetic level. Using Dancing Leopard as an example Rosie explained how the TV and radio presenter Fearne Cotton represents their brand perfectly – from her dress style and age to her beliefs and values. Once you have your core persona then the development of your image, fonts, colours and tone of voice can follow.

Rosie presented over 80 slides to explain every element of the marketing process from checking out your competitors to online and offline marketing. Here are a few highlights from the session:

+ See your brand as a person.

+ Consistency is key, keep your imagery, fonts, colours and tone of voice consistent so they all work well together and are recognisable as being from the same source.

+ Don’t waver – stick to your true core values and style. Don’t just re-tag any customer, be selective and only tag those in line with your brand style. Stay true to your core to make your brand strong.

+ Same with collaborations and influencers, it is easy to get flattered and jump on board – only do this if this works and is in line with your brand.

+  Create a ‘tone of voice’ bible to ensure you are using the same phrases and key words.

+ Leave 10% of space to evolve, review what is working and what isn’t, tweak what is and evolve with the market.

+ Imagery is the most prominent brand content tool. Spend time on your imagery with attention to detail, make sure everything is right from background to model to product details.

+ Encourage customer interaction, add posts to social media that are not always product driven but keep the conversation relevant to your brand persona.

+ Weekly review: sales, data, what is selling, what posts are working.

+ See what your competitors are doing, utilise Google Trends.

+ Approach journalists, publications fitting for your brand with your collection / story, gain free promotion.

At the end of the masterclass Rosie welcomed further feedback and questions, these ranged from how to factor in sustainability to whether content is now more important than product. The masterclass provided a highly informative 2-hours and was of great benefit to those starting their own brands.

Feedback included:

“Thank-you so much for sharing this with us, great information, I have taken so much from this.” – Carmelle.

“Thank-you for sharing your knowledge, it was a great recap on branding.” – Nick

“A great masterclass, lots of information that start-ups can implement into their own brands from the outset. A very clear and likeable speaker.” – Jo

Many thanks to Rosie, we hope to welcome you back for another masterclass in the near future.