Sophie Doyle fell in love with a simple silk shirt while scaling the ladder of luxury marketing. As a marketer as L’Oréal, looking polished at work was essential. Sophie found that a silk shirt was the perfect item to look put together while marketing the likes of Yves Saint Laurent and Giorgio Armani. Moreover, silk shirts are versatile. With a few accessories or an elegant knot, a sleek button-up can take its wearer from the office to after-work drinks.
“The ways you can wear a silk shirt are truly endless,” Sophie says. “They are the perfect staple for any wardrobe.”
A “constantly changing” world
Sophie’s enthusiasm for silk shirts led to her making a living off selling them with her own brand, The Fable. Her L’Oréal career meant she learnt how to market a business from the ground up – something that came in handy when she launched her own fashion label. After years of reports and admin in junior roles, she already knew how to take care of a business’s day-to-day marketing operations.
“It is essential to have knowledge and background of these roles to know what you need to set up in your business, and how to do these tasks before you can afford staff,” she explains.
Sophie had climbed the ranks enough in her career that she was familiar with the higher-level strategies and techniques, too. During her time working as a marketer for other businesses, she learnt one very important thing about marketing methods: They are constantly changing.
“I have always known that I need to keep an eye out for what’s new, the trends, and how the algorithms are changing if I want to stay ahead,” Sophie explains. “Knowing how to wade through these changes, and not being afraid of those changes happening, has been very helpful for me in business over the years.”
Meta advertising and social media marketing, for instance, were not around when she started out as a marketer.
Sophie says she has accumulated a lot of newsletter subscriptions over the years to stay on top of what is trending.
“I try to look up information relating to digital trends at least once a week to ensure I am across everything,” she says.
Sophie credits her mastery of digital marketing with the success of The Fable, which now turns over $4.5 million a year and is stocked by Australian leading online fashion retailer The Iconic.
“Marketing is the most essential part of my business,” Sophie says. “In fact, I would call myself a digital marketer over a fashion designer. While I swear by my product, my marketing skills are what brought that product to the world.”
Tips for marketing like a pro
So, how do you make digital marketing work for your business?
When asked for tips, Sophie begins with the basics – it’s always a good idea to focus on organic growth before putting money behind ads. In other words: Don’t go all in on digital marketing until you know for sure that your product is a winner.
“There is no use spending money on your ads unless you are confident that people like your product,” Sophie explains. “You can market anything, but if the product is not good, the buyers won’t come back and you will get bad reviews. Get your product out there organically through social media posts or via a bit of SEO, for example.”
But how do you become confident that people like your product? Sophie says she would send out surveys to customers to get feedback. If people are speaking highly of your business, then you can start investing in your digital marketing.
Whether you’re trying digital marketing for the first time or launching a new campaign, Sophie strongly suggests starting small.
“It is easy to blow money when advertising through digital and social media,” she says. “Create a few ads, put a small amount of budget behind them, and test them.”
Instead of blindly throwing out ads, Sophie recommends being patient and seeing what works. If an ad is not being picked up, turn it off and try something else.
Speaking of ads, Sophie says it’s worthwhile learning how to use platforms like Meta and Google Ads yourself. Many small-business owners are put off from doing so by constantly changing, fickle algorithms. However, the system has become less sophisticated in recent years, Sophie says, meaning that working with ad platforms has become easier. She also identified other benefits of learning to tame the beast.
“Agencies have burned me before, as some don’t bother to keep up with the trends in order to do a good job,” Sophie says. “If you have an idea of how it works, you can save yourself a lot of money doing your ads yourself. However, if you do want to get an agency, you will at least have an idea of how everything works so you won’t get burned.”
Sophie has an ace up her sleeve when it comes to making sense of Meta: a contact on the inside. Moreover, she often makes use of her network of experts, including her husband, who runs an e-commerce business. In sum, professional connections can be vital when it comes to digital marketing.
She adds that she highly values her connection with her customers, and recommends doing anything you can to encourage people to sign up to your database. This might include offering discounts or prizes or collaborating with complementary brands.
“Having a way to communicate with customers directly is so valuable,” she explains. “Your database is king – it’s the only asset that you own. It is also the only thing that can’t be taken away from you, as Google and Meta can change algorithms or make things very expensive.”
As owner of a fashion brand, Sophie also emphasises collaboration with influencers. When she partners with influencers, she looks for women of all shapes and sizes. This not only emphasises the versatility of her product but allows would-be customers to envision how the pieces would look on their own body.
“I have a fashion brand, and people like to see how others look in my items, and how they style my items,” Sophie says. “Therefore, for me, leveraging influencers is key.”
This article first appeared in issue 46 of the Inside Small Business quarterly magazine
