We recently connected with Venus Austin and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Venus thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s one of the most important lessons you learned in school?
One of the most important lesson that I learned in a school setting happened while I was in college, specifically grad school. I learned the importance of building meaningful relationships and that you truly cannot be successful on your own – it takes a team of people to support and lift you up. This lesson was presented to me by one of my advisors – I was definitely one of those people that had an issue with asking for help and would often times wait until the last minute to reach out for help. I was struggling to balance my workload and was concerned about where I would be after graduating. My advisor did not only help me with tactics to balance my workload and to prepare for my life for after graduation, she was also a listening ear and would give me advice that I still draw upon all these years later.
I still struggle to reach out for help when I need it, but I am definitely aware of it and have gotten better with allowing people to help me.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Although BLANKWardrobe is five years old, BLANK’s concept was in development three years prior to its launch and I was being groomed for it ever since I can remember. As much as I tried to deny my interest and love for fashion and style, it kept coming back in different ways, whether it was other people wanting me to style them or through my little stint in modeling and into my fashion, beauty, and lifestyle blogger world – fashion and style always found a way back into my life. So, when I thought of BLANK, I was all in and ready to bring it to life. BLANK really embodies my experiences with fashion and style, hence the reason why I always say that we are more than clothes. It really is about being able to be part of a woman’s journey of discovering herself and becoming the woman she’s always wanted to be. We, as women are always evolving and the brand reflects that. I’m excited about the future and being able to see how BLANK continues to grow.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Consistently showing up and creating content that resonates with my target audience. The type of content that we create for BLANK serves to showcase the products that we are selling, but also to highlight a lifestyle that can be inspirational. One of the core principals of BLANK is to inspire and empower women to be confident and their authentic selves. Style is a great way to both develop confidence and showcase a person’s personality. This type of content and messaging, along with consistency has helped to grow BLANK’s social media presence.
My advice for those just starting to build their social presence is to first hone into your why and who you are wanting to reach. After that, I would recommend really doing your research on the different social media platforms; play with them to see which one you naturally gravitate to. Once you establish your why, who you are trying to target, and which social media platforms you resonate with, you’ll be able to then start to plan your content and how often you will post. Of course, this is a high level view into a larger social media strategy that you’ll have to develop to help sustain your presence, but it will give you a start and help build the foundation of your strategy.
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
This is an area that we are always looking at building and improving on since I think that customer service and building a relationship with your customers never ends. We have several ways for our customers to reach out to us: via email, direct message on social media, and our chat feature on our website. I feel like having multiple ways for our customers to reach out to us is important since we are an e-commerce brand so that customers can get their questions answered in the fastest and most convenient way possible.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.blankwardrobe.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblankwardrobe/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BLANKWardrobe
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blank-wardrobe/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BLANKWardrobe
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRBeGJ7M_CrkUGL6_EPYORQ
Image Credits
Alfred Austin