[This is a guest post by Adela Chioveanu. Adela is a Romanian marketing student currently studying in Barcelona. Passionate about fashion and marketing, Adela can be reached on Twitter @adela_chioveanu and on her personal blog.]

Some of you may have never heard of Romania or think that its capital city is Budapest. Well, Romania is a country from the south-east of Europe and its capital is Bucharest. The fashion industry in Romania is in its early stages due to the weak economical development of our country. While big fashion retailers like Inditex (Zara) or Mango entered the market just a few years ago, the Romanian market has exceeded their expectations in terms of revenues and benefits.

The field of fashion marketing doesn’t quite exist in Romania, at least not in a formal way. The big retailers hire normal PR agencies in order to carry out their campaigns, while the small designers take good use of the new developed social media field and promote their pieces through those channels.

Young designers in Romania use social media channels because they are cheap and they also help them to establish a more valuable connection with their customers. For example, I have many Romanian fashion designers as friends on Facebook,  and see their latest updates and collection through this social network. Twitter is also gaining in popularity because, if used correctly, it can help you establish a real bond with your customers.

Social media has proven to be the answer for young designers who lack the communication budgets of the big retailers. Fashion marketing online has seen a sharp rise in the last years and even though the penetration rate of the Internet isn’t high in Romania, most people have at least one account on a social network that they use to interact with their friends. The younger Romanian generation is really engaged in social media and since they also represent the core target of small retailers and designers, the use of social networks is a successful, relevant communication channel.

Even though the Romanian  economic environment isn’t the best, talented designers in Romania are courageously star. ting to promote their lines locally and online. Independent fashion label BURP is proof that with strong will and a high level of enthusiasm you can transform a hobby into a full-time business.

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Polaroidki-02 by Marta Lamovšek

With traditional media struggling through its reinvention and the voice of the consumer growing exponentially through social media channels like blogs and Twitter, the influence of fashion bloggers as powerful allies in the quest for online PR is a growing component of fashion PR strategy. Now the FTC is proposing blogger regulations around disclosure and eyes are refocusing on just what goes on between brands, PR and blogs. More on that later, this post is about the changing expectations for both PR agencies and bloggers when it comes to sending out client samples.

Fashion Street by SideLong

From a PR perspective, there are several key benefits to developing relationships with fashion bloggers and including fashion blogger pitching as part of a client’s strategic plan. “I love print, but we are witnessing a paradigm shift to the web,” said Matt Meyerson, RPRT Communications and Management, who spent years working in product placement for fashion brands. “When you think about it, a blogger covering your client is doing you more of a favor than Vogue in a lot of ways, they are spreading the word immediately and to an international audience,” he concludes.

Positives

The immediacy of blogs can mean instant coverage as opposed to the much longer lead times required by print publications, passionate fashion blog readers find product reviews on blogs more credible than those from traditional media, blogs aren’t limited by their circulation so a blog hit potentially extends awareness to an international audience, and finally, inbound links from a popular fashion blog to your web site can provide powerful SEO benefits.

Top fashion blogs can drive significant traffic and awareness for fashion labels, and email-powerhouse Daily Candy has been known to launch more than one brand with their signature cheeky copy and monstrious database of trend-seekers. Fashion bloggers are regularly featured in Vogue, Teen Vogue, Marie Claire and Lucky, both on and offline. The L.A. Times has recently written several pieces on fashion bloggers, including one specifically about fashion designers working with bloggers for PR.

(Fashion Reflection by marie leconte )

Fashion PR Fridays December 5, 2008

(extra links since I have been a bit remiss in posting!)

• Interview with Nivia Prescol, AE at Think PR
• Interview with Stylista’s Cologne Schmidt
• The truth about working in the fashion industry
• Love Costume Design? New blog Frocktail is your new best friend
• Fashion Blogger Tips for getting that media pass!
• More Twitter resources than you could ever need (but still fun to read!)
• Interview with Susan Lyne, CEO at the Gilt Group
• Social Media Monitoring tool BackType lets you “find, follow and share comments from across the web.”
• Create your own fashion magazine
• More niche social networking sites