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While Trajectory specializes in working with healthcare and wellness brands, our agency has always believed in the power of outside category inspiration to create more standout branding and marketing solutions for our clients. To this end, this blog post on the Shopify blog – Branding Secrets from 14 Fashion Industry Experts – provides some great branding inspiration for marketing teams tasked with creating and overseeing healthcare and wellness branding.

The Importance of Branding to Fuel A Strong Business

The post, written by Shopify Storyteller Dayna Winter, shares the opinions of 14 seasoned fashion entrepreneurs, marketers and journalists about the power of branding to help grow business. She sets the stage by reminding about the real power of a brand (beyond its outward signs to its values, voice and design) to build emotional connection. She also points to the example of the Nike brand as a true driver for the business, which I also wrote about in this recent blog post Stronger Branding, Better Digital Marketing. Note: While her post is from 2017, the perspectives being shared are just as relevant today.

14 Voices, 14 Testimonies To The Power of Branding

Here are summarized comments about the power of branding from each of the 14 fashion experts. What makes them relevant for healthcare and wellness marketing teams tasked with overseeing healthcare branding – is the recognition of the importance of harnessing the full power of branding as a catalyst for business growth. They may be written around fashion, but their importance (as you’ll note) transcends.

1. Joey Ng (VP Marketing, Output)

• If you can’t communicate who you are as a brand and the type of person who would identify with your core values and aesthetic, then you won’t be able to sell it to them.
• Find your niche, establish the core message, nail it, then expand.
• Here’s a test: if you cover up the logo or name in the ad, can you still name the brand? A lot of branding is becoming so interchangeable nowadays. How do you get your consumer to feel something differently instead of glazing over in the infinite scroll of their social media feeds?

2. Yan Wang (Founder, XYZ Impression)

• Great branding can help with larger profit margin. There are a lot of identical items in the fashion industry. Often times, people are purchasing more for the label than for the actual product.

3. Gail McInnes (Co-Founder Stylist Box, President, Magnet Creative, Editor-In-Chief The Pull Magazine)

• Having a strong brand with compelling messaging helps customers connect to the clothing and accessories they wear. If a consumer relates to the brand, it creates a connection; the wearer feels as though the brand is an extension of themselves or at the least what the wearer would like others to perceive in them.
• Branding should be established from the start; from the overall look of the product to social media content to how customers experience and shop the brand, but it needs to be consistent from the get-go.

4. Dawn Del Russo (Fashion & Lifestyle Expert, Founder Bella Dawn & LiveTheGlamour.com)

• Branding is everything in business, especially fashion. It is part of the statement you make. It defines the brand more clearly. Keep your brand consistent on all social platforms.
• When starting out, ask what is the first thing someone thinks of when they see your brand. When you do finally have your brand image, get it out there. As much as you think you are marketing yourself, you can triple it.

5. Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart (Founder, President & Creative Director, Vaute Couture)

• Fashion is an outside expression of who you are on the inside. So branding is everything for fashion. It’s how you shout to the world: if you’re like us on the inside, you might express that in the same way on the outside.
• We can’t outsource our voice. It’s our heart it’s our soul, it’s our story. It’s important to ask yourself as a label “what do I have that big corporations don’t?” Where do we win naturally where they will try to fake it and always fall short? This is where you have to go loud.

6. Chris Ngo (Owner, The Leverage Showroom; Co-Owner Embellish NYC, Haus of JR, Crysp Denim, Lifted Anchors)

• Social media plays a big part in branding and it’s also the most inexpensive way to build a brand. You can reach a big demographic and audience virtually free.
• Instagram is the new print ad, it’s the new commercial in which you can utilize your followers as customers.
• So many brands are hopping on trends and pushing similar looks that it’s all about who’s first to deliver and first to market. But it’s not who makes it first – it’s who makes it better.

7. Carolyn Delacorte (Co-founder, Boxwood Press)

• Fashion has long been an aspirational industry – many brands, from Chanel to Anthropologie, have developed a cult following so robust that just the mere sight of a logo inspires a feeling of tribal belonging.
• Over the past ten years or so, we’ve seen a dramatic uptick in the number of fashion companies enter the marketplace. Differentiating a line from a plethora of similar brands is more of a challenge than ever.
• Trying to be everything to everyone is a recipe for disaster unless your brand has many, many extensions. Know who your buyer/consumer is and play to the elements of pop culture that appeal to them.

8. Madelyn Chung (Style Editor, The Huffington Post Canada)

• Understand what social media can do to build a following,
• Use social media influencers to promote your brand in a simple, yet fresh way, to create a want in the market that can turn into free press and advertising.

9. Odessa Paloma Parker (Fashion Editor, The Globe and Mail)

• Branding is important because it helps tell the story of your product—it communicates what your values are, your perspective, and helps illuminate small character elements that are part of the bigger picture of your business.

10. Nick Ede (CEO, EastofEden London)

• Fashion is all about identity and establishing a strong tone of voice that makes you stand out from other brands. It is one of the most competitive markets and important for brands to understand who their target market is, what they want to provide their customers, and how to become the go-to place for fashion fans.

11. Helen Rice (CD & Co-Founder, FUZZCO)

• Fashion is constantly changing, so it’s important for brands to work hard to establish and defend their niche in the changing landscape. Due to the dynamic nature of fashion, brands must be incredibly aware of themselves and the market. Their ability to embody the lifestyle that their audience aspires to is developed through every decision the brand makes, from choices in materials, design, production, customer service, cultural associations, etc. All of these things inform the relationship that the brand has with consumers.
• We believe that the power of design thinking is often the difference between having a good business and a great business.

12. Andrew Coimbra (CD & Designer, Andrew Coimbra)

• The most important thing when starting your own label from scratch would be to know your brand. People always think that they know what they are aiming at, and what vibe appeals to them, but people rarely consider what that means beyond the basics. Who are your clients? What is your ultimate objective? Where do you see your label in 5 years? 10 years?
• These questions feel like cliches from a high school business class, but at the end of the day they offer core concepts that define the direction of every single step you decide to take in producing and promoting your business. The answers to those questions act as everyday tools to accomplish your goals.

13. Sara Koonar (Editor-In-Chief, 29Secrets.com)

• When most shoppers are faced with a choice, whether to buy this black tote bag or that black tote bag, they’ll choose the one they’ve heard of. It’s as simple as that.
• So getting the word out there about your brand and what makes it unique it crucial to your sales

14. Alex O’Byrne (Director, WeMakeWebsites)

• Building a fashion business is all about creating a brand. Sure, the product is important, but the brand is much much bigger. Ask yourself this: do people buy Nike sneakers because they’re better than other sneakers? No. They buy them because Nike has created an extremely desirable brand; they buy them because they’re cooler; they buy them because of what wearing Nike sneakers says about them — and they’re happy to pay a premium to do so.
• Be able to describe your fashion brand in a few words. You need to know how your brand makes your customers feel. Branding needs to be about the emotional experience for your target audience. Exceptional branding provides a sense of comfort, acceptance, yet inspiration to keep your clients coming back for more each season. These three questions are a good place to start:
  1. What do you want your brand reputation to be?
  2. What are your brand’s core values?
  3. How does your brand want to be visually seen?

Once you’ve answered these, then you need to start executing on them.

Healthcare Branding That Drives Healthcare Business

Disciplined healthcare branding is a requisite for being able to build strong brands that emotionally connect with consumers and drive business. Given the highly competitive and increasingly crowded healthcare and wellness landscape – there is no replacing the strategic and financial value that comes from disciplined, distinguishing and genuine healthcare branding.

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Trajectory is a marketing agency in new jersey specializing in helping healthcare and wellness brands rise above the noise to grow better business. Reach out if you need to strengthen your healthcare branding.