Fashion and Beauty Marketing 101 - February 8, 2015

About a month ago I started reading a book called “War Room – The Legacy of Bill Belichick and the Art of Building the Perfect Team”. Since the Patriots won the Super Bowl this year, it’s only fitting to see what we can learn from the Patriots and how it can be used in this week’s edition of Fashion and Beauty Marketing 101 powered by Launch Magazine.

Here are some quotes from the book that are useful.

• (During his coaching days in Cleveland) He envisioned a big, strong, fast team that was capable of performing in any weather.He wanted a team that wouldn’t be distracted by playing at least ten rust belt games each season: eight in Cleveland Stadium and 1 game apiece in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh both cold-weather cities with open air stadiums that overlooked the Ohio River. He wanted a team that could answer the no-nonsense, gladiatorial style of the Steelers one week and then go to Houston a week later and not be confused by the unusual formations employed by the Oilers since they operated in a place, the Astrodome, where the temperature was always the same.

• It would be an extended process because the system he wanted was, in the words of Lombardi, the equivalent of a race car that could be modified and become adaptable to any course you asked it to run.

• A lot of times he would just get your position on things and never tell you his. Now, this is why Bill is so different than so many people I’ve encountered in life, period: When he’s asking those questions, you know that every fiber in his body is about winning and doing what is best for the team, with no personal and/or selfish motive.You knew he was all about winning, doing the job well, doing it thoroughly and being prepared.

Let’s review.

• He developed a unique system that would be the team’s identity. A team than can dominate you either running for 200 yards in a game one week or throwing for 400 yards the next.Their coaches will find your weakness and develop a strategic game plan to beat you in any type of condition because most of their players can play well in any type of condition.

• “He was about winning football games and put the team in the best situation to win.”Think about the addition of Malcom Butler the Super Bowl hero.He went undrafted.The reason why the Patriots picked him up as an undrafted free agent was because of a tip from a coach named Chan Gailey.Gailey coached Butler in a post season all-star game in college called the Medal of Honor Bowl. He recommended Butler to Belichick because he apparently thought the Patriots would be a good fit because of Belichick's reputation for giving every player a fair chance, regardless of college background or draft status. If Belichick didn’t give Butler a chance he wouldn’t have been able to make the play that sealed the Patriots win against the Seahawks.

So many teams want to attack the Seahawks secondary by using their receivers and going 1 on 1 with no real plan. The Patriots however used their receivers and instead of saying my receiver is better than your cornerback they said our receivers are quicker than you so we’ll use our strengths to your disadvantage.

Sometimes we get distracted by what we don’t have and not focus on what we do have. For example, I will never be the type of photographer that has that gift of gab. I’m no good with small talk. I will never win anyone over with my talking ability. However, my work speaks for itself. My creative ideas will do the talking for me.

I had a cosmetic line owner say this about me and we only talked through facebook.

She also said in an email to me "I like the way you think!" My strengths are my ideas and creativity. My weaknesses is my talking ability and that's why I leave the talking to other people.

I will never succeed trying to be something I’m not. I have to figure out what works best for me and capitalize on my strengths. I won’t succeed running the “Seahawks” or “Patriots” offense. I have to develop my own which is one of the reasons I have this blog.

You may not have a big budget to market your fashion/beauty business. You may not be able to spend hundreds of dollars to participate in a fashion show. You may not be able to put commercials on the radio to promote your business. It doesn’t mean you won’t be successful. It means you have to take a different approach to be successful. Ask yourself this question. What are your strengths and how do you plan to use those strengths into an “offense”? How do you plan to “attack” your target market and succeed? Figure out who you are, what you do best, and how you plan to go about that and you too can be a “champion” or in your case a successful business owner.

Here’s an example you could use as motivation. I knew a business owner that started out opening a shop inside a flea market. He didn’t say to himself I’m in a flea market and there’s no way I can market my business to enough people to have my business grow. One of the ways he marketed his business and made sales was through events. He got local stars to come and autograph items. He would pay the local star a certain price and then charge the people who wanted to get the star’s autograph a price. He would also have merchandise to sell at the event. He always told me he made a lot of money doing this. I never realized how much until I walked in the mall one day and saw his store. The last time I checked he had at least 3 stores in 3 different malls in Hampton Roads. Not bad for someone who started in a flea market.

- Your Marketing Photographer

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