Aspects of Marketing in the Textile and Clothing Industry

The processes of globalization and market integration require a transition from the local to the global market, which implies accelerated development and changes in production/ business processes, as well as the generation and development of innovative business models and the implementation of new business strategies. New ways of organizing production and business models, but increasingly innovative ways of managing markets and supply chains, organizing marketing and retail, as well as flexibility and speed, represent new paradigms of modern business and the competitive advantage and future of textile and clothing companies, because it is obvious that price and product quality are no longer decisive and the only determinants of competitive advantage.

On the other hand, the business and financial instability of the market is visible, as well as globalization and global competition, which imposes accelerated and efficient work and the aspiration to reduce costs, i.e. sustainable competitiveness through optimization, increasing productivity and business efficiency, which shows that a company can achieve efficient and profitable business, if it has implemented new and efficient technologies, has a certain ICT infrastructure, has business systems at the level of database management and strategically and operationally uses them for management at different hierarchical levels of decision-making. All this points to a turnaround in the business of the industrial sector, due to the fact that sustainable competitiveness is no longer in the quantitative-qualitative aspects of production, but in the once secondary elements of successful companies, such as efficient functioning and compatible collaboration of business and service software with production, which represents elements of creating globally adaptive, prosperous and intensively competitive companies, i.e. what from the aspect of globalization and global trends, represents the basis of generating a profitable industrial infrastructure of the textile and clothing - T&C industry, with sustainable competitiveness.

Innovations, speed and flexibility, but above all the principles of the so-called quick response policies - Just In Time and Quick Response System, indicate new ways of functioning of T&C industry companies, as well as connection and inclusion in global business chains, with an emphasis on the implementation of innovative software programs, because the requirements of successful business today are increasingly reflected in efficient marketing and mechanisms of permanent and quality contacts with customers, as well as continuous monitoring of market demands, which on the one hand requires the coherence of production technologies and flexible production, while on the other hand it requires the coexistence of traditional and newly created digitally transformed marketing, as well as the effective implementation and exploitation of e- commerce.

It can be said that T&C industry companies today can achieve a significant competitive advantage and take leading positions on the global market, by implementing innovative Internet technologies and ICT systems in the field of office, business and service software, by innovative tools and techniques. One of the most important or influential business information systems is marketing information systems - IS, which can be used to shape a positive image of a product on the market, or to create awareness of the existence of a product or brand, but also to achieve a connection with fashion design, including development, promotion, sales and pricing aspects and the use of current trends in fashion, as well as the analysis, development and implementation of adequate and effective sales strategies, which in the activities of fashion companies has an important role in the decision-making process by consumers, and therefore by producers.

It should be emphasized that the complexity of the successful perception and creation of effective marketing today is reflected in the existence of a wide range of its aspects, from the aspect of the position of the buyer on the one hand and the producer and trade - sales on the other, through the aspects of the choice and scope of implementation of tools and techniques: especially from the aspect traditional - classic, and especially digital marketing, to the aspects of generating and implementing the most important elements of marketing plans and strategies. So, for example, the aspect of the customer in cases of digital marketing, opens up issues of easier and faster purchase and communication with sellers and service providers, but also issues of active participation in product creation, distribution methods, and price formation, while at the same time pointing to the possibility of having relevant information of various services, which only confirms the fact that digital marketing and e-business in general reduce sales and distribution costs, and ultimately product prices.

The aspect of the type of marketing indicates first of all the needs of coherence, compatibility and parallel functioning of classical and digital marketing, which can be seen in the fact that for a key role in the early and final stages of interaction between producers and consumers, better and more efficient classical or traditional marketing, while after of transaction development, when consumers demand a closer relationship with producers, digital marketing can play a key role.

By analyzing the aspects of traditional advertising methods (telephone communication, print, TV, radio, billboards, illuminated advertisements, etc.), a time period of low “visibility” and impact on potential clients can be observed, i.e. treatment of ineffective, unnecessary and outdated marketing methods, followed by a period of rapid adaptation and reorientation to new tools and techniques, which are compatible with these types of marketing, and returning “to the paths of old glory”. Thus, for example, adaptations and reorientations in the part of printed media are reflected in specialization, i.e. in the generation of specialized fashion magazines (Elle, Harper’s Bazar, Grazia, Vogue, Burda, etc.) from one, as well as in the ways of presenting content (internet, i.e. web solution), on the other hand, and a similar solution for Television should be mentioned, with specialized fashion channels (eg Fashion TV) and digitally recorded advertising spots, presented on Internet channels. The telephone is one of the classic media, which has survived thanks to innovative improvement - the appearance of mobile telephony, with all its innovations and technical solutions, and is at the very top of effective marketing methods (telephone messages and notifications are today the most common and effective means of marketing). Finally, we should mention the once most effective and attractive marketing of the clothing industry - fashion shows, which have returned to the scene with full capacity, primarily due to the exclusivity of the visual effect and the irreplaceability of direct contact, but mostly or only in the domains of the so-called high fashion.

On the other hand, due to the great possibilities, scope and attractiveness, special attention should be paid to the aspect of digital marketing, the essence of which is the interactive relationship with customers, because it enables the generation of profiles and the identification of the needs of consumers - customers, and thus the creation of online content, while on the other hand, as a generally accepted term to describe online marketing of any kind, digital marketing represents infinite and inexhaustible possibilities of marketing activities. The digital marketing aspect also indicates the needs, adequacy and possibilities of implementing some of the ways, such as online marketing (websites, e-mail, ads at the top of search results and advertisements), social media (social networks, blogs, -line communities and forums) and mobile marketing (SMEs, applications), as well as some of the attractive and adequate marketing techniques: e-mail marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Social Media Marketing - (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Pinterest, etc..), Content marketing (blog, vlog, e-books, infographics), Pay Per Click (Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads and Twitter Ads), etc.. In particular, it should be emphasized that in the sea of new offers in the field of digital marketing, operational marketing or the choice of marketing methods and techniques for a specific business area is very important, and accordingly, the development and proper implementation of an effective marketing plan or strategy, as well as the selection of managers and executors such activities.

So, for example, today, Social networks are very important in the business of efficient and quick sharing of information or content, and thus in the business of advertising and creating various brands, because marketing managers can join or build an online platform, and thus inform or invite consumers to participate in something, i.e. they perform latent marketing and lead generation, and by timely launching campaigns on social networks with a large number of followers, it can increase the reach, and therefore the sale of a certain product, as well as detecting potential leads, with a focus on their wishes and Interests. Otherwise, as effective techniques for marketing products of the textile and clothing industry, Facebook should be singled out in particular, which enables more thorough engagement of consumers, but also has an exceptional tool for analytics - Facebook Insights, which with its information enables the correct selection of the target market, i.e. the selection of the network members themselves, or of potential users - leads, which is especially important for qualitative differentiation and effective branding of textile and clothing industry products, as well as a representative social network of the younger population - Instagram, with specific characteristics of information visualization and minimal text. As carriers of marketing content, Web pages represent the company and the product, but also the vision of the company, so they must be transparent, understandable and objective, but also attractive, simple and interesting enough, because potential users perceive them according to their physical attractiveness or ease of use. You should also pay special attention to e-mail marketing - which is most often used in the promotion of content and events, as well as in directing the leads to company websites, and is one of the fastest and easiest ways to reach potential users, because lead generation experts use automated marketing software to analyze data and automatically send e-mails to the appropriate clientele, where the data obtained is mainly based on their behavior pattern (what they buy, when they buy, etc.). Affiliate marketing is also very interesting for the promoters of T&C industry companies - where you get a commission for the promotion of other people’s products or services on your own website, where the whole process, in addition to creating a website, requires two more elements - a domain and hosting, in order to view the website was available to everyone. Finally, one of the most powerful so-called inbound digital marketing tools - blog, which allows a website to take advantage of the conditions (attract, engage and delight customers online) that targeted - ideal customers are looking for, which is good business for T&C industry companies in the brand generation part.

Marketing managers of companies can otherwise use one of the largest Internet marketing platforms for advertising in the world - Google AdWords, where within Google Search there are advertising opportunities within a network of sites, which can be an indisputable tool that compensates for weak SEO performance of a site and the thematic specifics of a company’s business, and helps to achieve direct effects on sales or branding, as well as the Facebook Ads platform, which includes ads that collect important user data (emails, phone numbers, etc.) - the so-called Lead ads, but also campaigns to increase the number of conversions and visitors on the site or campaigns to increase the visibility of the text/post published on the Facebook page.

The problems of many companies today are not only the result of a lack of market, bad marketing or business ideas, because regardless of a good idea, or the best marketing and a well-made website, business does not make sense without interested customers, which fundamentally indicates the need for the existence and generation of adequate and effective marketing strategies, with coherent and compatible marketing plans and with the concretization of the goals of business and marketing plans, fully adapted to his majesty - the customer! So, companies must have a business plan, which indicates target markets and customers, but they must also know the character, strength and capabilities of local or global competition, as well as key product features, customer desires and macroeconomic variables with a direct impact on business, whereby marketing activities must be aimed at the adequate selection and implementation of marketing strategies at the strategic level and marketing methods at the operational level.

The aspect of marketing strategy should include all other aspects, because the process of generating a marketing strategy includes the preparation of a situational analysis and an insight into the company’s positioning, the determination of the vision, mission and strategic goals and the selection of strategies aimed at specific markets at the company level, but also the definition of strategic positioning through analyzes of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and analyzes of environmental factors, as well as defining, choosing and implementing strategy and auditing results, which requires expert knowledge of production and business processes of enterprises - SMEs of the textile and clothing industry, separation and definition of the most important elements and their inclusion in the processes of generating marketing strategies. It can be said that for efficient operations and successful marketing of companies in the textile and clothing industry from the point of view of the manufacturer/seller, it is necessary to precisely determine and define the business plan, i.e. basic elements of the way of working and doing business, generation of adequate and effective marketing strategies compatible with business strategies, as well as the selection of adequate methods of operational marketing, and in order for marketing strategies to be successful, it is necessary to correctly select the goals of such strategies, which can be: increasing market share and income, reducing business costs, creating opportunities and opportunities to gain competitive advantage, increasing reach and traffic on the web, continuous generation of leads, increasing awareness of the existence and formation of the brand, direct influence on sales, managing customer relations, improving the chain management process supplies, etc.. It should be noted that in the case of SMEs in the textile and clothing industry, each strategy and plan, at the end of a series of necessary activities, should contain a plan for the implementation of the selected strategies, or so-called. the evaluation plan, as well as the control mechanisms of the obtained results, that is, identifying the expected return on investment - Return on Investment. From the aspect of marketing strategies and plans, recommendations for strategies for new products or brand generation are mass marketing strategies, with the ultimate goal of winning and maintaining a high share of the total market, while strategies for penetrating new markets are more suitable for companies that are interested in expanding production capacity, and therefore also for influencing or conquering new markets.

Finally, it should be emphasized that in the processes of implementing marketing activities, special attention should be paid to the elements of digital sales - e-commerce and the elements of relations with customers - CRM, as indispensable elements of efficient business.