In the modern age, companies must learn to adapt to the changes in the overall business environment. While technology has provided the ability to reach more clients and customers, it has also hindered profits for those who are unable to use it correctly. However, with the proper marketing strategy and a bit of business savvy, any company could grow to great heights in a short amount of time in today’s market. Gymshark is an example of a startup that adopted a new technique of relying on social media influencers to substantially grow their company very quickly.
Gymshark is a fitness apparel and accessories brand, manufacturer, and online retailer in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 2012 by Lewis Morgan and Ben Francis, as well as a group of their high school friends. While the company started as a simple screen printing operation inside of a garage, Gymshark soon grew into one of the fastest growing and most recognizable brands in the fitness industry. By devoting their growth to producing innovative fitness clothing and increasing their social presence, the company was able to follow a specific gameplan of success that made Gymshark very popular in a short amount of time.
Partnering With Social Fashion Influencers
@merkelfitness
Morgan and Francis utilized very unique ideas while launching their brand and building their business. Along with their marketing team, the two began to see a parallel between social media presence and sales revenues. With this in mind, they aimed to launch their products directly on social media platforms. To begin, they had to reach out to experts behind Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Pinterest. This was done as a way to get a better understanding of how the whole system worked. After getting a grasp on the social environment, the company turned directly to fashion influencers to showcase the Gymshark brand. These influencers already had a large group of followers visiting their site, sometimes even hundreds or thousands. If Gymshark created a relationship with these influencers, and got them to showcase their products on their platforms and channels, the company could reach their goal of targeting a wider audience. And that is exactly what they did. Pushing the envelope even further, the company made a binding contract for the influencers, exchanging their free products for an exclusive relationship. To this day, many of these influencers are still with Gymshark.
Coupons, Discounts, and Promotions
Gymshark
Aside from social media, the company also used attractive schemes and incentives to get customers, which included promotions, discounts, and sales of various products. The people who were interested in buying their fitness clothes and sportswear could turn to discounts and coupons, which could give them up to 50% off the original price. Clearance sales was yet another alternative way to get their clothes out there, in addition to coupon codes used on previous year’s available stock via ClothingRIC and other similar sites.
Creative Social Product Release Strategy
@deniceemoberg
The company could also attribute it’\s success to its innovative social product release strategy. As simple as the plan seemed, there was a lot of thought behind it. Once the company finds a social media ambassador, they would immediately get the message out and win their followers. They would market their products specifically through the brand ambassador. Only after the public and influencers were hyped about the product would the company introduce them into the market. Each influencer would do their best to advertise the product through their channel or platforms, with the campaigns lasting anywhere from a few days to a week.
Gymshark has many of their own followers on Instagram and Pinterest. With their own audiences, and the followers of ambassadors, a product launch would most likely be successful, resulting in a large number of orders from customers. The company also did well because it knew how to identify and target the right market. Ben Francis used his own experiences with social media, which he learned from a young age, as well as the tactics he learned from professionals. This is what eventually led his small screen printing garage operation to turn into the growing $1.5 million behemoth it is now.
Conclusion
By using these tactics, Gymshark has become one of the largest sportswear brands in the United Kingdom, with an ever expanding portfolio. Gymshark has now also become very popular in the United States. Their catalog includes tops, layers, tanks, t-shirts, hoodies, shorts, socks, underwear, leggings, bras, and more. The company focuses it’s attention on athletes, artists, and people with vision. All the clothes are guaranteed to make a person feel comfortable during exercising or working out. It’s also easy to wear them as casual clothing around the house.
There are many marketing executives and strategic analysts who would not agree with the way Gymshark conducted themselves from the early business stages. The consensus is that it would be unwise to put all eggs in one basket which for Gymshark was social media. However, the intelligence behind Gymshark proved that sometimes new strategies are crucial in the ever changing business environment and that social media is now a powerful means to launch a brand.
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