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Direct Response Meta Ads CAN Work For Fashion Brands
Published about 2 months ago • 3 min read
How To Make "Traditional" Direct Response Ad Formats Work For Fashion Brands
If you follow the big DTC growth agencies, media buyers and creative strategies on X, you’ll see a ton of Meta ad creative “best practices” that don’t really work for fashion brands.
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They'll tell you to “agitate the problem.” Ok, what problem? The fact that my customer has nothing to wear? That’s not really a problem on the same level as back pain or breakouts.
They'll say “show before and afters.” I mean…we’re showing a garment on a model. That’s the “after”. It’s going to look different on every person that tries it on.
“You need a scroll-stopping hook.” Problem/solution brands can (maybe) get away with opening a video with stock footage of someone getting slapped in the face. That’s not going to help you sell a dress or a pair of shoes.
Does that mean that fashion brands are limited to simply showing off the product, with no copywriting or additional context? Nope! You can borrow from “traditional” DTC ad formats, but you need to do it selectively.
Content & Copy: What To Say
These are the reasons why you might choose to highlight aspects of your product(s) with a more narrative-driven format:
Social Proof: the product is a best seller, has sold out multiple times, or was featured in a well-known publication that will impress your target audience.
Social proof can make your brand more trustworthy to those who are not familiar with it, boosting conversion rates.
Hidden Feature(s): the product has a feature that customers rave about, but it’s hard to showcase that feature through images and videos.
Examples: high heeled shoes that can be worn comfortably for hours or a matching lounge set that is incredibly soft.
Functional Properties: If your product is designed for a specific use case and has functional properties, you can experiment with traditional direct response problem/solution tactics.
Products that are designed for a specific activity–sports, hobbies, specific industries–are more likely to be a fit here. The problem has to feel pressing; “I don’t feel cute” and “I have nothing to wear” aren’t really strong enough for this kind of problem agitation to work.
Thoughtful Design: if most products in your category and price point are…thoughtlessly designed…you might get some benefit from explaining how yours are different.
But the audience for this content is relatively niche. Most people simply don’t care all that much.
Creative Formats: How To Say It
You can mix the concepts above with these creative formats. That said, some of these stand alone without narrative backup.
DTC/Direct Response Static
Most fashion products might not solve a "problem" in the same way a supplement would. But you can still leverage three powerful direct response tactics in your static ads:
Leveraging social proof (usually through reviews)
Calling out product benefits and differentiators
Providing a short, clear summary of exactly who the product is for
A high-impact testimonial ad communicates the features, benefits and differentiators of a product in an authentic, relatable way. Success here hinges on a strong script and a creator with authentic delivery.
Real customer testimonials can work well here because they tend to be more authentic, but it’s hard to get good ones.
The founder, a member of the design team, or potentially a member of the sales team walks through a specific product’s design features, differentiators and styling options. This works best if the person featured in the video is knowledgeable and charismatic.
Lean heavily into visual and audio hooks–weirdly satisfying footage, smushing things, breaking things, creating anticipation, and using your product as an ASMR vehicle. These can be surprisingly effective.
These videos usually focus styling advice–3 ways to wear the product, how to dress for a specific occasion, etc. They can also focus on category education–what makes a “good” suit, pair of selvedge denim, etc.
Most of the eCom and digital marketing advice published online is not written for fashion brands. It's about time we changed that. Subscribe for two free issues per month, featuring tactical guides, tutorials and case studies from real brands.
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