(15 Minute Read Time)
In 2018, the lingerie industry experienced an unshakable force, Savage X Fenty. SXF disrupted the industry by prioritizing diversity and making lingerie sexy again.
In its 4 years of business, Savage X Fenty has become a thriving enterprise. It is currently worth over $3 billion and remains a top competitor in the lingerie industry.
But, how did this happen?
A very well-researched marketing strategy prioritizing digital and social media marketing. So, if you're ready to start reviewing their strategy, let's dive right in.
Here are 10 things we can all learn from Savage X Fenty’s Marketing Team:
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How to use influencer marketing
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How diversity and inclusion can strengthen a brand
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Leveraging models for positive brand PR
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When it’s time to cut brand ambassador ties for positive PR
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An easy SEO strategy to rank on the first page of Google
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How to optimize website product listings
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Incorporating embedded CTA’s on the product pages
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Maximizing social reach by using all platforms
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Why you should create A simple about page that shares the company and founders' beliefs
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The Instagram captions are simple, it doesn’t seem like they’re trying to sell you anything.
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Marketing Lesson #1: How to use influencers to grow your brand
When searching “Savage X Fenty”, you’ll find organic and user-generated content. This content has thousands, if not millions of views. With a budget, these results are difficult to produce. Organic consumer content requires genuine brand adoration. Fenty had this before the launch, so this is not surprising.
Accomplishing this in marketing is like the holy grail. This is how you capitalize on referrals and generate more first-time shoppers.
Here are some examples of what this looks like for them on different platforms:
On Instagram, there are several ways to connect with Savage X Fenty. With content coming from shoppers, ambassadors, and influencers, Savage is everywhere.
To start, there are at least 20 hashtags with thousands of posts, here are some that are consistent:
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#Savagexgang
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#Savageirl
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#Savagefenty
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#Savagexambassador
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#Savagexfentyshow
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#Savagexsummer
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#SavagexPartner
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#SavagexPoppinn
What’s great about this is that the shoppers use them daily when showing off their new items. They look happy with great lighting and clean photo aesthetics. They put effort into creating content for a chance at content exposure from Savage. This content also becomes the vehicle for social media sales.
After keeping community members connected, they started working with influencers.
Notable mentions include:
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Megan Thee Stallion
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Doja Cat
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Joan Smalls
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Gigi Hadid
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Ari Fletcher
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Kehlani
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Jackie Aina
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Dreya
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Kash Doll
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Christina Milian
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Normani
Savage mastered the influencer and creative space by working with smaller creatives too.
This empowers them to tap into audiences of different sizes on many. Thus, making them unforgettable.
The "tagged" folder on Instagram is a social proof chamber for Savage. When looking in the tagged section of Savage X Fenty's Instagram page, you’ll find millions of tags. Using the tagged section made social proof accessible, verifiable, and easy to re-purpose the new campaigns.
Campaigns with micro and macro creators could cost $200-$2,000 per post. The cost depends on content quality, contractual agreements, and terms of usage in ads.
You should start by creating a campaign budget for every project. You can learn how to do this with the campaign budget freebie.
Tiktok
On TikTok, their strategy uses rhythmic consistency. They focus on sharing consistent content 4-5 times a week. This helps avoid flooding their feed with filler content.
Many marketing professionals agree that posting several times a day isn’t necessary. Instead, they prefer to share 3-4 days a week, it’s more manageable and easier to stay consistent over 3-6+ months.
In using this strategy, they also have several branded hashtags. These hashtags make it easy for anyone to find their brand on TikTok.
You can find Savage X creators by searching Hashtags in Tiktok. Here are some of the top hashtags today:
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#SavageX
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SavagexFentyshow
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SavagexTheestallion
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Savagexgang
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Savagexmix
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Savagexavier
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SavagexJhacari
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Savagexsam
Notable influencers and creators Savage X Fenty partnered with on Tiktok:
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@Meimmonstaa
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@MadisonPettis
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@Dearra
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@Joshomz
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@Christiandennis
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@JaxaJueny
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@Sonnislove
Their strategy on these platforms shows deep understanding and commitment to marketing versatility.
With their focus on UGC, they generate brand interest that boosts their following. This helps them create engaging content like normal users. Also, note that t they hire many kinds of content creators including:
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Painting
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Fine arts
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Drawing
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Dancers
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Fashion creators
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Models
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Music artist
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Seamstress
This type of content creates diversity in their shared media, making their feed easy to binge. Using so many influencers and brand ambassadors makes this easy to do. It also ensures that they avoid posting:
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order packaging
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Irrelevant Business tips
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Videos discussing sales goals
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Controversial content leading to negative PR
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Rushed makeup looks
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Random content that doesn't make sense
Their influencer and ambassador strategy is amazing on all networks. They've mastered partnering with creatives to publish content all viewers will enjoy.
Through careful planning and research, you can replicate this with macro and micro-influencers. Start committing to saving $1,000 monthly for influencer and brand ambassador marketing. This will make it much easier to grow, expand and get in front of new audiences.
Side-note: If you enjoy this article and want guidance for implementing these strategies into your brand, download this Content Marketing Tool Kit.
Marketing Lesson #2: How diversity and inclusion can strengthen a brand
Before Savage X Fenty, the options for plus-sized intimate shops. Of those that exist, they often only carry color options in white, black, brown, and nudes. The choices for lace, sheer, different band sizes, or lingerie altogether didn't exist.
There also weren’t models of different body types in lingerie and intimates. Savage X Fenty changed this by embracing plus-sized models of different shapes. This immediately became something the shoppers loved the brand for.
When you view the curvy section on their website, there are many body types for all types of curvy women. This allows a variety of shoppers to envision how they would fit and look in the items.
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Savage X Fenty committed to true inclusivity in their business model. This is evident in the Fenty Fashion Shows. Each show highlights models with limb differences, vitiligo, and all body types.
Notable models include:
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Lyric Mariah
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@Miss5thave via Instagram
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Janay Watson
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Winnie Harlow
By prioritizing diversity, the lingerie market experienced a shift. Consumers yearned for representation for decades and now they no longer had to. Savage X Fenty created campaigns that showed inclusion and representation. With models sharing positive experiences in interviews, they reaffirm the brand's commitment.
As a small business owner, you can replicate this with a bit of creativity. Start with these simple tasks:
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Be willing to listen to the stories of the unheard. How can your brand lift up others and focus on their needs?
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Research the gaps in your industry. Start with figuring out what exists. How do people access it? What are the consumers saying? What do the reviews say?
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Go to the consumers. Try to find surveys and case studies. Consider conducting your own 3-6 month research studies. Get answers on what they want, the problems that exist & where they've looked for solutions. This will tell you what to make, their budget & where to market it.
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Find the creators your customers love & their platforms. If your customers use Twitter, Tweepsmap can find influencers for your campaign. You can also set up keyword triggers to find conversations customers are having.
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When hiring influencers, always consider overlooked talents. This means you go the extra mile in trying to diversify those you hire and who represent your brand.
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Always get written feedback from creators you work with. You can use this on your website, in reviews, in PR interviews, and as a talking point for your content. This also helps with the new audience you get from these creators to remember why they followed you.
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Be consistent in pitching your brand for PR. If you only wait for PR opportunities to come to you, they won't. You need to be proactive about pitching to have consistent coverage. You can pitch to podcasts, magazines, news channels, blogs, and popular social accounts. Having a great pitch strategy is what landed Savage X Fenty many of these opportunities. This positive media coverage then led to organic media coverage and website traffic.
By prioritizing these 7 tips, you can build consistent website backlinks. Having backlinks from high authority sites is how you get consistent website traffic. With high-authority backlinks, your website becomes more credible. Which boosts the search appearances your website appears in.
Understanding this principle of SEO sets the foundation for creating a great website. You can learn more about this here: The SEO Advice Most Businesses *Actually* Need .
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Marketing Lesson #3: Leveraging the models for positive brand PR
Modeling for Savage X Fenty is a full-time gig, especially for most notable models. We often see them in interviews giving the company genuine praises.
Many brands don’t have the people working closest with them discussing the brand. Which is due to their lack of prioritizing creators and different types of models in the same way.
As a small business owner, this means you need to use your time with influencers creatively. This may look like:
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Securing podcast interviews and sending creators you’ve worked with to represent you.
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Setting up youtube interviews and have the models wearing your items.
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Pitching to publications for media coverage and having creators give quote statements.
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Using influencer media in your advertisements. You'll have to pay extra for advertisement usage rights with most influencers.
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Hiring professional UGC specialist to make video ads for you to run on tiktok, IG and facebook.
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Dedicating $1500 a month to getting professional content made. If you struggle with social media marketing, there is no reason to struggle with it. Outsource it and move on so you can get to the next level.
Side-note: If you enjoy this article and want guidance for implementing these strategies into your brand, download this Content Marketing Tool Kit.
Marketing Lesson #4: When it’s time to cut brand ambassador ties for positive PR
Savage X Fenty's thrives working with online influencers. While they have found great success here, they will not overlook questionable interviews. They also do not support those who share public opinions that do not align with their beliefs.
They made this clear by ending partnerships with two models. This occured after each made disparaging remarks belittling domestic violence trauma.
This could have turned into a PR crisis for Savage X Fenty. Instead, it didn't become an issue for them because they remained proactive. They separated themselves from the models when the incident occurred and without delay. Which made consumers further believe in their authenticity.
You can do this by researching who you're working with when outsourcing projects. You are responsible for managing your brands PR. Using reactive damage control isn't the solution, everything you do will seem inauthentic. Be proactive in creating a PR strategy and mapping out how to handle public issues.
Marketing Lesson #5: How to prioritize SEO and rank on the first page of Google
When reviewing Savage X Fenty’s SEO organic traffic, there are several trends. Let’s review them together.
When analyzing their website traffic, they have 6X as much organic traffic. Currently, they have 110,000 backlinks from over 6,000 other websites. This showcases their knowledge of backlinks, written media coverage, and google.
There are articles about Savage X Fenty in almost every magazine and business blog. Topics include the fashion show, models, seasonal drops, interviews, influencer content and more. The diversity in the content that they publish makes it easy for outlets to write about them.
The backlinks recognized websites by Google, gives them a boost in organic search. This contributes to their whopping 1.2 million monthly website visitors.
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Analyzing their keywords reaffirmed my theory of how they get website traffic. Much of their organic google traffic comes from shoppers searching them by name. This is clear in their highest ranking keywords displayed below.
Below, you find that Savage X Fenty gets their organic keyword traffic within the USA. This means that they likely aren’t a global competitor yet, but they may begin to compete here soon. I've found that have shipped to 60+ countries within the last 4 years. Yet, they are still a beginner when it comes to globally competing in the lingeries industry. We may see this change over the next 5 years as the company progresses.
This is only a prediction, but the data shows that it could be a great investment for them to expand. They may benefit from investing more in Australia and The United Kingdom.
Next, it stands out how Savage X Fenty has well over 30,000 organic keywords in the United States. From these keywords, they’re generating 980K website visitors per month.
Savage X Fenty does not spend much time trying to compete for competitive high cost keywords. They've invested millions into online content creators & social media instead.
In an overview of their organic keywords, most of them are brand name relevant. Sparingly, terms such as bras, panties and lingerie, would pop up. But, most of their traffic comes from keywords and phrases that include “Savage X”.
This saves them millions in advertising losses a year. By not focusing on high cost keywords, Savage X Fenty, keeps their CPC on many keywords below $1.70 per click. All their primary keywords are high ranking on the first page of Google and high search volume. This means that millions are searching for the brand monthly.
Their relevancy results from low cost keywords, ads, influencers, media coverage, and social media. Together, these efforts allow them to avoid posting on every social media platform everyday.
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It can become overwhelming trying to be everywhere without the team that Rihanna has. You can make it easier by creating automations, outsourcing, and committing to one platform.
Focus on increasing the quality of your content. This results in media outlets writing about your brand and the exciting things you’re doing. Every move you make should be calculated and interconnected. So when you’re creating a marketing strategy be sure to draw it like a map.
Mapping your strategy will help you see the cause and effect of every action you take. This gives you a foresight to better predict your outcomes. It also encourages you to find data to support each move you want to take.
Side-note: If you enjoy this article and want guidance for implementing these strategies into your brand, download this Content Marketing Tool Kit.
Marketing Lesson #6: How to optimize website product listings
Your website is a 24/7 sales person. But, it’ll only be successful when you optimize it and create an easy to navigate space for your shoppers.
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Everything should be simple and straight to the point. But also detailed enough to answer any questions shoppers may have.
Savage X Fenty does this in several ways on their product pages. Let’s go over 8 that stand out most.
- The Quiz lead capture is available on all pages. This is an interactive way to match shoppers with the best products for them. This also helps the company by saving their information to contact them later if they don’t shop the same day. There is also an option to skip the quiz once you open it and opt for creating an account to create a favorites list. Savage X Fenty understands the quiz won’t appeal to everyone. Forcing custoemrs to take the quiz results in premature website exists.
- A simple product name that resembles what shoppers would look for in a search engine is key. Cute product nicknames that only you know don't help you. Putting the material, what the product is and its purpose in titles helps with SEO. This also makes your website easy for strangers to find online.
- Having 800+ authentic reviews. In the reviews, shoppers can attach images and product feedback. This is one of the easiest ways to boost conversions. Many people won’t even buy a product if it doesn’t have reviews. This also allows shoppers to answer the unanticipated questions of new shoppers.
- Showing VIP discounts is selling their membership program. This program is a large contributor to their gross monthly income. If only 10% of their 1.5 million website visitors sign up every month for a membership, that’s $150,000 in sales per month. It totals to a whopping $1.8 million in revenue ewith new sign ups alone. Considering how loved this brand is, their VIP conversion rates are likely higher.
- The color and fabric pattern options are easy to find to navigate. They use circles instead of a drop down menu. This allows shoppers to switch between different patterns and colors. Giving them more options persuades them to buy bundled items after their comparison.
- Listing size options with lists, let’s viewers know if this is for them. This is relevant to the user experience, as it makes shopping easier.
- Prompting viewers to “add to VIP bags” encourages them to take advantage of savings. It also lets them build points and get the best prices possible for new goodies in the future.
- There are several photos on each product listing. In this example, you can see the items on a model, the front, the back and complementary angles. This builds trust in the product not only being real, but also in its quality.
- A detailed product description that uses bullet points for ease of scanning
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A Highlight for how to shop with confidence
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Details on the products composition
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Hundreds of customer reviews
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Highlights of similar products they may like
You can apply each of these to your brand as well. Start with one step at a time to avoid feeling overwhelmed and discouraged.
Start here:
- Identify your lead capture system: How will you stay in touch with your website visitors? Will you use a quiz, a game, a pop up, discounts, freebies or all variables?
- How will you present your lead capture systems?
- When and where will they encounter these pop ups and sign up options?
- Review your product page? Can you edit it? Do you need a third party app? Do you need a new website theme entirely?
- How are your product photos human and helpful? Do you product photos need to be revamped? What new shots will you include? Do you have fabric and material close up shots?
- Do you have product reviews? How many? How relevant are they? Are any of them verified purchases? Do they have product photos attached for authenticity?
- How can you improve your SEO and product title? How can you make it more user and search result friendly?
Starting with these questions set you on a path to actually start improving what you currently have. Although it will take baby steps, in 6 months you can create something flawless that feels brand new.
Marketing Lesson #7: Incorporating embedded CTA’s on the collection pages
This one is new, to me atleast. This is the first brand I’ve seen embed different call to actions in their collection pages. This could potentially work better than pop ups for some users. While pop ups can disrupt the shopping experience, these embedded call to actions do not.
With this simple add on, the viewers will never forget that the quiz is easily available. They also never forget that payment plans are available. The only downside to this embed, is that they could’ve used a stronger call to action instead of “Take our Style Quiz”.
I would’ve said something about seasonal styles, feeling sexy, embracing their body. They also could've highlighted the end results of letting the quiz match them with a product. Instead, they focused on the action just taking the quiz, which is a little boring.
Here's how you can do this too:
Start with deciding on 2-3 call to actions that would go well with your collection pages.
Next, do some research to determine what the best method of embedding these prompts would be. Is there a shopify app or wordpress plugin that can do this for you? If so, are they free or at what cost? What do they need for complete setup? Or do you need a professional coder to create this small change for you?
Whatever it requires, this type of feature will be worth the initial investment. As your email list grows and interest in your brand develops, it'll always be there.
Side-note: If you enjoy this article and want guidance for implementing these strategies into your brand, download this Content Marketing Tool Kit.
Marketing Lesson #8: Maximizing social reach by using all platforms
Something Savage X Fenty mastered is being present in all online digital spaces. Relying on only one social platform to build a brand is a disaster waiting to happen.
You also miss out on opportunities by minimizing your brand to one platform. Because Savage X uses many platforms, they enjoy from working with creators on all platforms.
As a small business, this isn’t feasible for you yet. But after you master one social platform and grow your email list, it’ll get easier to do over time. As your company grows, it’ll also be one of many next steps in your expansion strategy.
So, try not to do this when you work alone, it won’t be of much help to you. It’ll only lead to burn out, which will take you 2-5 years to fully recover from. Instead, when you work with creators on new platforms, request their CTA to be following you on your chosen platform. While they can't tag your account on that platform, putting your handle in the content and hyperlinking it can help a ton.
Marketing Lesson #9: Why you should create A simple about page that shares the company and founders beliefs
The goal of the about page is to build trust. This doesn’t mean that you need a super long drawn out story. But, you should use this space to share a few beliefs of your companies, a snippet from the CEO, a backlink to relevant offers and highlight the problem your brand solves.
By having a simple about page, it’s easy to scan and gloss over for those looking for clarity on the brand ethical and moral beliefs. While a brand cannot truly believe in anything as it is not a human, it can stand to represent what the humans running the brand believe in.
If you do not have an about page, today is the perfect time to create one.
Checkout this article, How to write a perfect about me page, for guidance on how to build the perfect about us page.
Marketing Lesson #10: The instagram captions are simple, it doesn’t seem like they’re trying to sell you anything.
When you go through Savage X Fenty’s Instagram page, they have a huge following, an engaged audience, consistent content AND simple captions.
They don’t announce what they’re selling, they let the image they’ve shared sell the product. This allows for them to create a more organic feel to their page, which makes bringing their content that much easier for viewers.
If you’d like to try this method, go through their Instagram and take notes of their captions. Commit to running an experiment for 60-90 days to fully understand how caption changes are impacting your KPIs, Goals and website conversions.
In closing, Savage X Fenty is a lingerie and loungewear mogul. Their impact on the fashion industry is something that can’t be ignored. They’ve set a wonderful example for how to roll out new products, new launches, get people excited, how to work with creators and more.
So, if you enjoyed dissecting the Savage X Fenty marketing strategy with me, comment down below and let me know.
Consider tweeting the most helpful thing I highlighted and tag me @MarketingBully_ .
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