Fashion is a fickle business that operates on trends from season-to-season. To stay ahead of the curve, you need insight, creative ideas and a passion for all things fashion. T’Shurah Dove, vice president of marketing for clothing retailer Jimmy Jazz, possesses all of the aforementioned, which is how she’s helped the company maintain its position as one of the leading urban retailers in the market.
In her role, Dove oversees marketing for more than 120 stores throughout the Unites States, including 30 in the New York metro area. It’s no easy task but Dove’s background as marketing coordinator for another urban fashion brand, Downtown Locker Room (DTLR) helped develop her skills.
Rolling out spoke with Dove about the best options for free marketing, why it’s important to hit the streets to stay on top of her strategy and more.
With the recession consumers are spending less. How do you conduct or adjust your marketing in this climate in order to remain afloat?
We stay on top because we have set prices for the consumer that are unbeatable. In marketing the stores and sales, we stick to what is useful — like social media, email blasts, mall marketing opportunities and co-op marketing. These options tend to keep costs down, which provides opportunities to place the extra money toward other things. Free marketing is the best marketing.
What resources do you rely on for making major marketing decisions?
I love to go to the Fashion District and look at how other retailers merchandise their windows, see what vendors they carry and what their sales are for that particular period. I also do a lot of online research on trends to see what’s hot in marketing and advertising this year, and take it back to create a cost-efficient way to execute something similar. Lastly, I attend many events to see what our demographic wears, what music they listen to and how they prefer to receive information.
How do you determine which brands to carry and which ones to eliminate?
You have to stay up on what’s changing. People want to be able to have access to brands that they see their favorite celebrity wearing or get the shoe that’s featured in their favorite magazine or blog. Our buyers are really fantastic with keeping up with today’s fashion. They attend several trade shows that showcase what’s fresh, new and relevant.
