When pricing your line you may be tempted to do the typical standard markup. Meaning taking your wholesale price and multiply by 2.2.

My advice…suggest a retail price and do the math backwards to determine your wholesale price. Protect your buyers markup first…since your ultimate goal is to get the product sold.

If doing a standard markup prices your product too far from your competion….take time to reconsider. You may take a loss at first but you’re more likely to sell and be around for the long term. As you grow your costs will decrease and give you that healthy margin you’ve been waiting for.

Starting from Scratch? Do you have product ready and need to know how to launch it into the marketplace?

Join yours truly tonight at the FBI for Launching and Marketing Your Line, the seminar. We’ll cover Creating and Establishing your Brand, Merchandising and Pricing Strategies as well as the Sales and Marketing Process.

If you’re a new business owner trying to figure out where to start this interactive seminar can put you well on your way.

Launching and Marketing Your Line, starts at the FBI Resource Center, 6pm Tonight. To register please email info@fashionbizinc.org or call 213.892.1669

One of the top ways to promote your website is though the search engines. Most people (about 80%) find a website through a search engine such as Google or Yahoo.

In the search engines you can buy key phrases where you pay-per-click like Google Ad Words or Yahoo Sponsored Search. With these services you can set a budget to spend and you only pay for your marketing when someone clicks to enter your website.

There are other ways of manipulating the search engines which is also called Search Engine Optimization or (SEO). We’ll talk about them in future posts.

Many companies are so busy being worried about the economy that they’ve stopped looking toward the future. They are spending all their energy thinking about what’s now…instead of what’s next.

No matter what the state of the economy is we should all remember…..Customers will be back. Business will be good again. Will you be ready?

Slow times are opportunities to regroup and plan for the future. Fashion Business Inc. offers many low cost classes as well as state subsidized training programs that are available to California companies.

Visit Fashion Business Inc. for more information on how you can use these times to plan for better ones.

With the popularity of websites like Myspace and Facebook rising every day you may want to add social networking to your marketing plan. It takes time to manage but it can be a cheap and viral way to market your brand.

Simply by signing up you’ll be given your own url and can begin uploading images of your designs for all to see.

Some companies are now even putting their social networking url’s on their business cards. Sign up and play around to see if a social networking site can help your company grow.

Things may have changed since you first launched your line. For example have a slew of new competitors entered the market? Are others selling cheap knockoff’s of your signature styles? Were your high end designer prices ok when the economy was booming but not so much today?

The key to seeing what may be slowing down your sales is communication. Talk with your showroom, attend sales meetings with buyers or even get an independent consultant to evaluate your product line. Once you have a clear picture of what’s going on you’ll be better prepared to make improvements.

There are many ways you and your showroom can foster good relationships with your retailers.

Here are a few of my suggestions…

1. Put the Customer First. Call and visit stores to see how things are selling. This opens you up for in-season feedback where you are not just crossing your fingers for a re-order.

2. Give Credit. If you receive an editorial in a magazine which requires credit to a sales channel, give it to one of your most popular stores…not just your own website. Both of you can share the publicity and the buyer sees you as a true partner in the sales process.

3. Share Your Marketing. Do you have professional product shots of your merchandise that your stores may be able to use for their website or other marketing materials? Get permission from the photographer and share them. Sharing marketing materials with your stores gives them a reason to put your product on their priority list.

There are a lot of things that you can do and absolutely must do before a trade show to make it worth your while.

If you’re doing your own sales or working with a showroom you’ll still have to prepare marketing materials (lookbooks, linesheets, postcards, price lists, special gifts), do some mailings to your desired stores and reach out to the press for pre and post show coverage.

There are also seminars that can help. The FBI is hosting MAGIC Prep School seminars in Los Angeles and New York starting in May. Click Here for more information.