Introduction

Digital marketing has been known as one of the best ways to promote your fashion business, especially if it is an e-commerce website. Brands can create ads on Instagram, Facebook, and other social media platforms to advertise their products and aim them to their target market.

This was a great way for smaller brands to be noticed, and to increase sales by checking to see what ads gained more clicks than others. However, a lot of companies are now rethinking how effective digital marketing is.

For iPhone users, there was a recent IOS update that could potentially hurt brands’ advertising. With this new information, companies might be more reluctant before they use social media and Google ads.

Here is a list of topics we will be discussing in this article:

1. New IOS update
2. Past digital marketing
3. New digital marketing
4. Ideas for future

1. New IOS update

Apple recently came out with a new IOS update called IOS 14.5. With this update, users now have to explicitly allow the app to collect their data, which leads to less personalization in the ads. Some customers may be accepting the app to collect their data, but many are clicking the “do not allow” button, which is going to be very harmful to those companies.

This update extends to every app, including Instagram and Facebook where most brands market their products. The percentage of users sharing their data will drop from 70% to 10% with this update, which is a major difference.

This does not mean that social media and digital marketing are gone forever, it just means that companies might need to change their marketing plan to maintain their goals and stay on track.

2. Past digital marketing

In the past, brands would use Google ads and social media to personalize their ads to the specific user. Google and different apps were able to collect data from consumers to see what they are looking for, and then those ads would pop up.

The ads were a great way to gauge how successful certain ads were and what was the best way to get more traffic to the website, or the best way to sell products.

I am sure we have all had that happen where we Google a piece of clothing or something and we get an ad for that product on Facebook or Instagram. That was the traditional way to cater ads to specific users, but now that may not be possible if people opt-out. As more people become concerned over data being shared, these companies will have a harder time doing traditional digital marketing.

3. New digital marketing

Times are always changing, and with that, marketing techniques are always changing. Maybe this means it is time for a new wave of digital marketing. Marketing on phones and the internet are still going to be around, and it is still going to be one of the most successful forms of advertising. On the other hand, the specific technique of digital marketing may require a change.

Some brands may choose to switch to social media platforms that will not be affected by user data. One major one is TikTok. On this platform, the videos of brands can come up on all kinds of people’s For You Pages, but brands can also use hashtags and sounds to help cater towards a specific crowd. 

Another great platform is Youtube. It has been around for years, and it is still one of the most popular content-creating platforms. Brands can use brand deals or create their own Youtube videos to promote their business.

4. Ideas for Future

The new IOS update might make it harder for brands to customize ads to their target market, however, there are ways to change their marketing plans. One great way to still reach your target market is to use brand deals and partner with influencers or celebrities. This is going to depend on what your brand is selling, but there are hundreds of influencers on Instagram, Tiktok, and Youtube that are a great way to promote your products. This is also a technique that is not going to go away.

In addition to that, brands can continue to use Google ads and social media ads as they have been but widen their reach to more people. This way, they do not have to rely on the data being collected, and instead, just cater it to a wider group of people. This is not going to help with their target market, but hopefully, it would still reach a portion of the people they want.

In addition to digital marketing, brands can also use “old-fashioned” print techniques to market their products. If your brand is only in a specific location, then you can put ads on billboards, or put ads in local businesses. For nationwide companies, you can create a magazine or put ads in other magazines. Direct to mail advertising could be making a comeback for some brands.

Conclusion

There are constantly changes in technology, and this new IOS update is just the start of these changes. Digital advertising has been the powerhouse of marketing in recent years, and it continues to bring in tons of new customers for different brands.

However, we might be getting to a time where things need to change. In this case, companies might need to rethink their current marketing plan, especially in terms of social media. Social media marketing is still going to remain a strong way to advertise. 

There are plenty of ways to advertise, and it might be time to switch platforms and adopt new techniques to continue the growth.