Content Marketing Case Study: Chris Kerr – bespoke tailor
Chris Kerr
The Chris Kerr brand is well established, so the business needed to engage with a new, wider community and convey its cool, relaxed approach whilst maintaining a sense of exclusivity and not alienating the existing client base.
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Company Overview
Launched in the 1960s by Eddie Kerr, Chris Kerr is a bespoke tailor in the Savile Row tradition servicing the colourful Soho community, based on Berwick Street. At Chris Kerr, every suit is cut specifically for its owner, so there are no rules and no house style. The father and son duo cut made-to-measure suits for the media professionals who populate the Soho area, while its celebrity client base includes stars of stage and screen.
Challenge
Typical of the tailoring industry, Chris Kerr has built a loyal following of long-term clientele who return whenever they need a new custom-made suit. It was, however, proving more of a challenge to entice passing trade into the shop to generate new business. Entering a bespoke tailor can be a daunting experience for the rookie customer, with many intimidated by the personal level of service or worried about the costs of such an exclusive product.
Solution
Despite targeting a Soho-based, predominantly media-savvy market, Chris Kerr did not have a presence on any of the social media channels.
As a small business without a significant marketing budget, Chris Kerr needed a relatively low cost channel which would still be effective in raising awareness and generating new customers. BlogStar, working closely with their sister company, Furlong PR, suggested a Twitter marketing campaign as the ideal means of reaching Chris Kerr’s target crowd of twittering, media-savvy chaps about town.
A branded Twitter account (@Soho Bespoke) was created with a distinct corporate identity separate from Chris Kerr’s personal Twitter account. A bespoke profile picture reflects Chris Kerr’s existing branding, which features striking images of various anthropomorphised animals (from a bison to a zebra) dressed in his designs.
Fifteen pieces of compelling Twitter content were created to appeal directly to Chris Kerr’s target market and drive click-throughs to the company website. Tweets feature juicy nuggets ranging from links to interviews with Chris Kerr in fashion and culture titles to facts about the tailoring process.
Following detailed customer profiling to establish Chris Kerr’s target audience, BlogStar implemented an initial Twitter follower build. Judicious following of the right people and subsequent engagement with this community has enabled Furlong PR to build a significant following on Twitter on behalf of Chris Kerr. These relationships are nurtured with ongoing community management in order to raise awareness of the brand and ultimately drive orders.
As well as managing an ongoing Twitter campaign, BlogStar also oversaw a complete refresh of www.chriskerr.com with Google Analytics running behind the entire site. Prominent use of images and improved navigation have enhanced the user experience, while website copy has been fully optimised for SEO. For the first time, the business is now able to monitor behaviour on its site and adjust its keyword strategy accordingly to drive traffic.
The overhauled site has been set up on WordPress, featuring a new blog which offers Chris Kerr an opportunity to initiate a conversation about bespoke tailoring in an informal, relaxed style to suit its market. A prolific fashion editor has been appointed to write guest posts and the blog has been optimised to encourage and facilitate social sharing.
Meanwhile, a rebranding programme including a new logo is being planned to evolve Chris Kerr from a person into a brand. In keeping with Chris Kerr’s long tradition of craftsmanship, the objective is not to commercialise but to further cement the tailor’s image.
Results
In the nine months from March 2012 to November 2012, the @SohoBespoke Twitter account has attracted 2,699 followers. Visitors to the website have increased by 130% , with visitors spending an average of 3 minutes engaging with the site.
An increasing number of visitors to the Chris Kerr shop at Berwick Street have cited Twitter as their reason for visiting, with many going on to become customers.
Several articles about Chris Kerr have been published as a direct result of awareness raised by Twitter marketing, including pieces in GQ and Esquire. Meanwhile, several influential fashion bloggers have contacted Chris Kerr through Twitter generating significant online PR. Social media marketing has proved such a good fit – in many ways replicating and complementing the personal relationship that develops between a customer and his tailor – that Chris Kerr is now planning to launch Facebook activity.
Chris Kerr said of the social media and website activity: “BlogStar were invaluable in getting our social media activity off the ground and also in redesigning our website. They bring a lot of creativity to the table, along with a strategic understanding of what our brand stands for.”
