There are six steps you need to follow to bring your shoe idea to market. If you have a great concept for a new footwear brand, these steps will help you make it a reality. Keep in mind that it’s not easy to start a successful shoe brand, but it’s definitely possible if you’re willing to put in the hard work. So, let’s get started!

1. Who will buy your shoes?

Creating a detailed customer profile is essential for any business. It allows you to gain insights into their habits, thought processes, and motivations. This, in turn, allows you to make better branding decisions that will resonate with your target audience.

2. How much will your customers pay for your shoes?

There is no precise formula for pricing products or services, but there are some general guidelines that can help you:

• Be sure to decide how you want to distribute your shoe brand before moving forward. Would you like to only sell direct to consumer, or are you open to selling through the wholesale channel as well?
• It’s important to understand how your competitors’ pricing compares to your own. Based on that analysis, you can decide what position would make sense for your brand. Is it high-end? Low-end? Or somewhere in the middle? Keep your customers in mind when making this decision.
• You should always start by deciding your retail price, then work backwards to determine the target cost price for your factory. This way, you’ll never let the factory cost dictate your retail price.
• Use a pricing calculator to help you finalise your prices, taking into account scenarios such as direct to consumer mark-up vs. wholesale mark-up.

3. How does your Minimum Viable Shoe (MVS) look, feel and fit?

When creating your Minimum Viable Shoe, it is important to make two lists that will help you determine when the product is ready for production and launch. By doing this, you can be sure that your product meets all the necessary criteria for success.

1. Your product must have certain attributes to represent the solution to your customer’s problem.

2. Features you want your product to have, that customers may not explicitly notice

If you’re facing budget or timing constraints, it’s okay to prioritize one list over the other. Just know which features you can remove without compromising the quality of your product.

4. Who can make your shoes?

You can use your target cost price and required product features to guide your search for a manufacturer. Consider looking for manufacturers in countries that have a good reputation for producing quality products. You may also want to look for manufacturers that are familiar with the regulations and standards in your industry.

5. How will your customers find your shoes?

It’s important to think about where your potential customers are finding new shoe brands. Are they on social media, independent retailers, or elsewhere? Once you’ve narrowed it down, focus your efforts on just a few marketing channels. It’s crucial to build an emotional connection with your customers and avoid selling to them all the time. Once you’re confident that the platforms are working well, add another one to your list. And don’t forget to network! You never know who you might meet who could help promote your brand or become a future customer.

6. Why will your customers love your brand and shoes?

It’s important to build relationships with your customers and make them feel like close friends or family. Emotional connections are key when making a purchase, so it’s essential to create positive experiences that will make your customers feel good about themselves and your brand. If you can consistently deliver great results, your customers will have no trouble spreading the word about how amazing your brand is. Thanks for everything!

Marketing Strategies for Premium Footwear Brands

• Tell your brand story

An important part of footwear marketing is communicating the story behind your brand and explaining the values that define it. This will help you to more easily develop advocacy for your brand. Building a brand story is one of the most cost effective techniques for footwear marketing. You need to focus on highlighting the purpose of your products, narrating the story of how they came to be, and explaining why they deserve to stay.

• Take advantage of visual social networks

As luxury products are all about evoking emotions, visuals are key to marketing them effectively. Platforms like Pinterest provide a great opportunity for brands to showcase their products and raise brand awareness. Seeing the product and imagining how it would feel to use it helps shoppers visualize just how amazing life could be with your product by their side. Show them what it would be like to wear your shoes and convince them that they deserve to experience that level of comfort and confidence.

• Use social media to reach shoppers

Facebook Ads are an extremely useful form of digital advertising. Thanks to the segmentation and targeting options available, Facebook Ads can drive a lot of traffic to your website or online store. Segmentation helps you narrow down a large market into smaller groups. This is where things get interesting – you can target people by what college they attend, where they work, what their job title is, what music they listen to, and more. It becomes easier to curate effective content that each segment can relate to, helping them make the purchase decision faster.

• Don’t underestimate the value of good SEO

SEO is essential for footwear brands that want to rank highly on Google and reach potential shoppers. Without SEO, brands miss out on opportunities for traffic and revenue. Google is the go-to platform for shoppers, so it’s important to make sure your site is optimized for the best possible search ranking.

• Create a feeling of exclusivity

It’s essential for brands to maintain exclusivity in order to keep consumer desire alive. If anyone could buy a Louis Vuitton handbag, for example, Louis Vuitton would lose its appeal to those who want something that others can’t have.

·        Let the influencers do the talking:

There’s no doubt that word-of-mouth marketing is powerful, especially when it comes from a fashion influencer. Social media influencers have a large and loyal following. They’re seen as authority figures in the fashion world, and people trust them. You can use this to your advantage by working with influencers to promote your brand and generate awareness. With the popularity of Instagram and other platforms

Conclusion

There are many considerations to take into account when bringing a new shoe brand to market. The most important thing is to ensure that the product is high quality and that the target audience will appreciate its value. branding, marketing, and product distribution are all important factors to consider as well. To get started, visit the dc.one website to see some of the products we offer.