Episode 17: 4 Key Factors Marketers Need to Understand About Customers | Fashion Movement Series, Part 3

0:01 Hey there EdVenturous Educators guess what month it is? Well, it's two different celebrations this month, we have Black History Month, and we have CTE month. So I'm going to be celebrating those all February. And guess what? We have an extra day in February this year. So happy birthday to those who are leap year babies. Anyway, let's get into this episode. So before we get started with Episode 17, and the third part of the three part series of the fashion movement, I just want to give a little black history here. So as I was doing some research, I came across information about the first known black educator. Her name is Susan King Taylor. She was the first black teacher to teach openly in a school for former slaves. She was born as a slave on a plantation in Georgia, and later lived with her grandmother, who was influential in her education. So that's just a little tidbit and a nod to Black History Month.

1:08 So let's get into this episode. Today, we're going to be talking about the third part of the fashion movement. And it is called environmental factors. So we're going to learn today all the four factors that influence fashion. And these can also influence other things, and are in other industries. But I'm simply focused on fashion. So we're going to talk about market segmentation, economic environment, sociological environment, and psychological environment. So I'm going to run through those really quickly with you to help you understand them just a little bit more. And stay tuned to the end for resources that will help you bring all three of these fashion movement segments together, the fashion cycle, the fashion theories, and the environmental factors. And if you haven't listened to part one, episode 14, or part two, in Episode 16, do that. And also stay here and listen to this one as well. So you can have a full understanding of the fashion movement. Alright, let's go.

2:25 You're listening to marketing adventure, the hub for business, fashion, marketing, and other CTE educators who integrate marketing into the learning experience. I'm your host, Jacque' Walker. Each week, I'll cover marketing, education concepts, strategies, tips, trends, frameworks, and other information to equip you to connect your classroom to digital natives while cultivating an engaged learning environment. So come on into the room, where your favorite beverage snacks and even your cell phone are all welcome.

3:06 So a cardinal rule in any business is to know your customers. This rule is especially important for fashion businesses, accurate facts about your customers that are properly interpreted help designers, the manufacturers, retailers, and every level of the industry make major decisions about what to offer the customers. So when we're looking at those factors, they fall into four categories. And those categories are market segmentation, economic environment, sociological environment, and psychological environment. These are known as environmental factors. And these factors influence fashion and the behavior of the consumers. So let's talk about them.

4:07 First is market segmentation of your target market. And this is the basis of running a business, every business needs to know who their target market is. And in determining that target market, they look at four segments. The first is demographic, the second is psychographic. The third is geographic and the fourth is behavioral. So what are those? What do they mean? Demographics, as is the one that you may be most familiar with. And demographics covers the data about the community, the group that you are looking at. So that is going to consist of things such as their age, their race, their gender, their sexuality, income, their education level, and maybe a couple of other factors, but those are the main ones. So anytime a company is looking to market to a group of people, they're going to look at those factors specifically, because that really determines, you know, how they should market to that group of people. It's very, it's not a whole bunch of products out there that are mass produced as far as can be for anyone, ages zero to 99. Except for things like paper, or pencil, are tissues, you know, those tend to be very, come in, go out to mass markets, that don't really have a specific demographic now until you get into like a quality. But we're not going to go down a lot. So we're talking fashion here. So that's your demographics.

5:58 Now, your psychographics deals with lifestyle. What does that person like to do? What music do they like to listen to? Are they a sports oriented person? Do they like to? Are they a dog person? You know, what are those things, anything psycho that deals with the mind? And really lifestyle? So you look at how that person lives their life. And so those are things that will factor into the market segmentation.

6:33 And then we talked about geographics. You're looking at where the person lives? We're talking about Geo, we're talking about the environment. So where do they live? Is it urban? Is it Suburban? Is it rural? You know, what does that population look like? What is the weather like, where they live? Is it always hot? Is it always cold? Those are things that tend to drive behavior. geographics.

7:04 All right. And then when we're looking at behavioral, we're looking at how that person behaves. That's a part of the word. What are their tendencies? As a consumer? Do they like to spend cash or their credit person? They could be influenced by their beliefs, their belief system? So maybe they're a bit conservative, because of their belief system? Are they a person who likes to shop weekly? You're looking at frequency of how, how frequently they shop? Are they a name brand person? Or are they frugal? You know, so those are the kinds of things you look at when you're talking about behavioral.

7:47 So your four segments within the market segmentation are demographic, psychographic, geographic, behavioral. So those help you build a profile of the target market that you would want to market to. And that's key, because those factors, anything within those four segments are factors or micro factors that really determine what influences their decisions.

8:21 The second environmental factor is the economic environment. So your economic environment deals with two specific areas, consumer income and population. And so that's really key when you're talking about an economic environment. Of course, consumer income is going to determine how much discretionary income one has to spend. And that's important for the industry to know, because that affects maybe pricing, or who they're going to target to market their products to. So when we're looking at consumer income, you have to look at the person's personal income, because that is the main way that they're going to have money to spend. That's their salaries or wages, any money that they make from interest or any ventures that they may have, that bring in a little bit of extra income into their home. So those are the things that make up the personal income. Now, when you talk about disposable income, that is the money that's left over after taxes are taken out. So that is your disposable income. Now your discretionary income is what you have left over after all of the bills have been paid. And sometimes marketers look at disposable income. Sometimes they look at the discretionary income because like I said, the disposable is just what you have leftover after taxes. But that doesn't mean that the consumer has money to spend. So you really got to look at your consumer more than likely for what their discretionary income is, because that's the money that they can freely spin or they may choose to freely spin, because they've paid their bills, and now they have this free money, right? Alright, so that covers your consumer income.

10:33 Now, the population can also influence factors related to fashion marketing, and why would population matter. The population matters because the larger the population, the more income you can get, or the more revenue you can get from your marketing. If you're marketing to a small population, then your dollars per person that you're bringing in is going to be smaller than your dollars per person, when you're talking about a mass market or larger market of people. So the size of the population relates to the extent of current fashion demand. Because when you have a large population, of course, that means you have a larger demand for fashion, when you have a smaller population, there's a smaller demand. And you also have to look, when you're looking at your population, you look at the age too because they have to fit within the age bracket that you are marketing. So when industry people are looking at where they're going to market for a certain thing, that population has to be the right fit as far as size, age, and factors of that nature. Because let's just say we're talking about leisurewear. What you would wear to go off on vacation. Your target market is, let's say Gen X, which is the 40 plus group, somewhere between 40 years to 60 years old. Okay. So that group in that population, we'll be looking for something that maybe just a little bit more conservative than the millennial group will be looking for. And so they're looking, so if they're looking at a particular area, they have to know what they need to market in that area. So that they need to know what their marketing message needs to be in that area, because they can't put out a millennial message to a Gen X group.

12:54 Hey, EdVenturous Educators, did you know that CTE Month is in February? Well, in honor of you, I am giving away free fashion marketing resources. Every Friday, in February, I will have a drawing. And I will provide a free fashion marketing project or activity to the winner. So go on to my description, or in the show notes and click on giveaway so that you can get your name in the hat. I look forward to all the wonderful winners that we're going to have. Now back to the show.

13:36 Now the third environmental factor is sociological. And this deals with the changes in the attitudes of consumers based on several things. Some of these things are how they spend their leisure time, their family and community ethnic influences. This status of minorities, such as women in the environment, are the LGBTQ community. Those are sociological things. It could deal with mobility, like physical mobility, and also social classes, being able to move from one economic class or social class, I should say, to another social class, because maybe economically, things have improved for you. You know, and just the instant communication that we have nowadays, and then all these things that factor into what's happening in the world such as wars and disasters and pandemics and things of that nature. Those are all sociological environment factors that can influence fashion. I mean, if you think about it, what happened in 2020 the world shut down. And because the world shut down, shopping outside pretty much ceased, or did cease. And then it became a big thing to shop online, even more so than it had been before. But also the production of things stopped. Because there was nobody to work in the manufacturers to produce the things. So we got into a period of rewearing things, we weren't necessarily able to get new things, especially when those inventories went down, and the manufacturers were closed, so they couldn't produce anymore. So those are the kinds of things that affect fashion, and the marketing of fashion. So you have to think about those things. When you're talking about marketing to a certain group of people, those things have to be considered. You'll see a lot more in stores today, where there's ethnic influence in clothing. I know even Target had at one point, a campaign going, where they were featuring clothes that had ethnic inspiration, in them and even designers of various ethnic backgrounds. So those are the things that are moving fashion because you really have to look at who's buying clothes. And you have to think about whether a group of people will be motivated to buy if you are catering to that group of people. So those are things that influence fashions, sociological insight, environmental things, things that change in the attitudes of the consumers based on those things that I named, how they spend their leisure time, family, community, ethnic influences, the status of minorities, social class, mobility, physical mobility, instant communications in wars, disasters and pandemics.

16:58 The fourth and final environmental factor is psychological. Now I know we talked about psychology, psychological when we talked about the four market segments of the target market. But when we talk about psychological in this aspect, where it's focused on how the consumer feels and thinks. The other one was psychographic. This is psychological. So there are five different factors under the psychological environment: boredom, curiosity, reaction to convention, need for self assurance, desire for companionship. Let's talk about it.

17:42 So the first one "boredom" is that people sometimes just get bored with fashion. They're a person that doesn't stick with one style for too long. You see them, they always have this new and exciting different look. That's because they're bored, they get restless, and they have a desire for change. So, a marketer or a fashion company has to look at, if that is their target customer, then they have to always be innovative and ready to change in being ahead of styles, or the trend, you know. So boredom is one.

18:19 "Curiosity". You have some people who are just curious about things, they, they think they look at fashion, and like, Oh, if I put this together and that together, then it may create this particular look, you know. So they're always looking to see how they can be innovative with fashion. Those people may excite designers, because if you have a really creative designer, then they're looking for that person who is a curious type of person and not afraid to try something new.

18:55 Alright, the third factor under psychological is "reaction to convention" that now may be something new to you, but it deals with how people react to something, either they're going to rebel against it, or they're going to adhere to it. That is, you know, you may see rebellion a lot in young people. They may feel like I'm not gonna conform to this conservative style, I'm gonna be free and allow myself to express my freedom of dress or what have you by barely wearing anything. As educators, we see this when we work in a school that has a uniform policy, which was a school that I worked in, and the kids were constantly rebelling against the uniform policy. And I was a fashion marketing teacher so my students were always like Ms. Walker, but we're fashion students. We're supposed to be fashionable. I said, "Well, challenge yourself to wear your uniform in a fashionable manner. Just because you have to wear a white blue or red polo shirt, khaki or black uniform pants, or skirt doesn't mean that it has to be boring." So they were always challenging and rebelling against the uniform policy, wearing hoodies when they weren't supposed to, et cetera, et cetera. I'm sure many of you know what I'm talking about. All right, or they would adhere to it. So they would just go along with the plan. They just wear their little outfits and okay, I can express myself after school. And that's the same for a lot of areas in the fashion industry. But that's what rebellion or reaction to convention really focuses on. It's either rebelling against something or adhering to something that society puts out. All right. And so the creators of the fashion are marketing in fashion, they have to think about it. And if you look at uniforms, we'll just stay on that. They became more creative with uniforms. You started to see the little pleated skirts, the little skirts that had the little shorts attached to them. Or you saw the skinny pants that they started wearing. So the regular conventional Dickies uniform pants, you started seeing style added to the regular uniform look. Polo tops, they got the little puffy sleeves, right at the shoulder. They started putting a little frill trim around the collar, you know, things that made the uniforms look a little bit more stylish and fashionable.

21:58 Alright, so let's move on to the fourth item under the psychological environment. And that's the need for self assurance. Now, when we talk about a need for self assurance, we're looking at, you know, the things that make people want to fit in. You're looking at things to help people overcome some type of inferiority, our disappointment, by not being a part of whatever's happening in the fashion trends. So a lot of people like to be fashionably dressed. So you're going to find marketers in fashion companies that are going to cater to the need to fit in and be a part of something. One of the things that we looked at, in my class one time was tennis shoes. You know, kids wear tennis shoes with a uniform, so a great majority of the kids had on Vans. So Vans and Nike were the two main things. And we talked about, like, you know, why do you get Vans? Why do you get Nikes? They talked about it because it's trendy. They wanted to be like their friends. They wanted to be, you know, a part of the crowd. And if they felt like if they didn't have those shoes, then they wouldn't feel like they fit in. So that's the need for self assurance. When you're looking at marketing fashion, marketers look at that. They know and they cater to this. They cater, I mean, most marketing is catered to the need of people to feel a part of something. So that's very effective.

23:46 Now, the last factor under psychological is the desire for companionship. And this is really interesting, and we may not even think about it. But the marketers do a really good job, especially when you're talking about jewelry, and things of that nature. They're always catering to love and all of that. Well. The desire for companionship is fundamental in human beings. So there's a drive to if you're not married, or already in a relationship, there's always a desire to seek a mate. And when we're doing those things to seek a mate, one of the things we're going to do is dress accordingly. To make ourselves attractive to the other person. So when they're marketing fashion, they definitely are looking at a person's desire to be desired. Okay, a person's desire for companionship, you may not have thought that's one of the major factors but when we're talking about psychological it's the mind is how people think and feel, and their awareness of themselves. So definitely a desire for companionship is a major part of someone's life.

25:05 Alright, so there you have it. Those are the four major environmental factors of marketing. Again, they are market segmentation, economic environment, sociological environment, and psychological environment. Maybe one day, we can go take a deeper dive into each one of those separately. But until then, thank you for listening to Marketing EdVenture.

25:32 I surely hope that going over these four environmental factors have been very educational for you. And something that's eye opening to share with your students, if you haven't already shared this content. Now, I do have a resource that includes all three of these fashion movement segments: the fashion cycle, fashion theories, and the environmental factors. There is a bundle on my TPT store website where you can access this at a discounted rate. And also coming up is the TPT sale where you can even get it at a lower discounted price. So this is the time to go and get that bundle. These three areas for the fashion movement can really cover like four weeks of content, depending on you know, how you spread it out and what your classes look like. I know we have a lot of things coming up with testing this semester and all of that. So you can really get a good month of coverage with the content - the activities and the project in this bundle. So go check that out. The link is in my description and in the show notes. And if you have any questions, you can always DM me on Instagram at Marketing EdVenture. I so thank you for listening to this episode 17. And rounding out this fashion movement series with me. Definitely come back for more. And don't forget about CTE Month. Celebrate yourself in some kind of way. If nobody else was celebrating you, hopefully your districts are and maybe your students are doing it as well. But anyway, do something to appreciate yourself as a CTE teacher. Have a wonderfully blessed day, and we'll see you next time.

27:36 Thanks for listening to Marketing EdVenture. Remember to subscribe, rate, review and share this episode with someone you think could benefit from the information shared here today. If you have any questions or want to connect with me, find me on Instagram at marketing adventure. All links and resources discussed in this episode can be found in the show notes at marketingedventure.com