How To Start A Shoe Brand

Are you looking to start a shoe brand?

If you talk to any entrepreneur, getting started is one of the hardest parts of launching your own business.

There are many things to consider, such as:

• Validating your business idea
• Setting up your business structure
• Launch ideas for your business
• Determining your marketing strategy
• And much more!

In this detailed guide, we lay out all the steps to help you get started and run your business successfully.

💡 Introduction To Starting A Shoe Brand

Is Starting A Shoe Brand Right For You?

There are many factors to consider when starting a shoe brand.

We put together the main pros and cons for you here:

Pros of starting a shoe brand

• Flexibility

You can put as much time into the business as you'd like. If you like the work and have some initial experience, you can start small and manage all aspects of the business on your own.

• Scalable

With businesses and processes changing daily, there will always be demand for new features, products and services for your business. Additionally, there are several different business models and pricing tiers you can implement that will allow you to reach all types of customers.

• Meaningful business connections

You never know who you will meet as a shoe brand. This could be the start of an incredible business opportunity!

• High customer retention rates

Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your product or service becomes indispensable to your customer.

• Easy to encourage "impulse buy"

In the shoe brand, you have a much higher chance of encouraging your customers to buy on impulse - you can easily alter the price, placement, packaging, and promotional value to influence the decision of your buyer.

• Control of workload

With starting a shoe brand, you have the unique ability to choose how little or how much you want to work. You also have the freedom to decide which projects you want to work on, and can turn down the ones that do not interest you.

• Unlimited income potential

With starting a shoe brand there is no cap as to how much income you can make. The stronger your business skills and the more energy/time you put into your career, the more you'll make.

• Amazing perks and discounts

Working in the shoe brand comes with its perks! As a seller for these products/services, you typically also get to enjoy industry perks and discounts.

• Predictable income stream

Your businesses income stream tends to be predictable based on the number of customers you have signed up. This makes financial planning and outlooks much more seamless!

• Higher likelihood of getting referrals

This business is all about referrals, which can be a a very impactful way to attract and retain customers. It's critical that you have a great referral program in place that incentivizes your customers to tell their friends about your product.

• Simple business model

A shoe brand has the advantage of a simple business model, which makes launching and building the business more seamless.

• Control your own destiny

Starting A Shoe Brand allows you to control every aspect of your life and make your own dreams come true every day.

• Greater Income Potential

With this business, the sky is the limit in regards to your income potential.

• You can promote and sell your product on Amazon

Although there are some disadvantages to consider when selling your product on Amazon, there are also a host of benefits. Mainly, Amazon is the world's largest online retailer, so you're bound to tap into new business and reach an entirely new audience.

• Can build solid foundation of clients

It's unlikely you will have one-off customers as a shoe brand. Typically, you have a solid foundation of clients that use your product and services regularly.

• Low maintenance customers

In this industry, customers are known to be very appreciative and low maintenance. This can help with your stress levels and allow you to focus on growing your business.

• Results and revenue happen quickly!

Unlike other businesses, it can be relatively quick to start seeing results and revenue. As long as you follow all the steps to validate your idea before launch, you are likely to see quick results and ROI.

Cons of starting a shoe brand

• Motivation of employees

If you plan to have a sales/content team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you're able to offer great incentives and a good work environment for your employees.

• Longer Sales Process

A shoe brand can be a big time and money investment for your customer, so it's important you plan and predict a longer conversion funnel and stay in communication with potential customers.

• Low margins

The gross margins for your shoe brand are typically around 46%, which can make it more challenging to incur new expenses and maintain profitability.

• Taxes

As a shoe brand, you typically pay self-employment taxes which can be quite high. It's important to understand what you will be paying in taxes each year so you can determine if the work you're taking on is worth it.

• Niche Market

A niche business is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it can be the key to your success. However, it can be more challenging and time consuming to find the perfect niche market and target audience.

• High overhead expenses

With starting a shoe brand, there are overhead expenses that come with selling a physical product. You will want to make sure you strategically budget for these overhead costs. We discuss this more in the startup costs section below.

• You may need to charge sales tax

If you are selling your products in various states, you may be required to charge sales tax. Although this may not impact your financials specifically, it can be a headache to create a process and procedure for this. To learn more about sales tax, check out this article

• Churn

In this business, customers can cancel their membership or subscription for your services - which can make revenue forecasting challenging and unpredictable. It's important to focus on your churn rates and trends so that you can prevent this as much as possible.

• Time commitment

With starting a shoe brand, all responsibilities and decisions are in your hands. Although this is not necessarily a negative thing, work life can take over at times. This can place a strain on friends and family and add to the pressure of launching a new business.

• Difficult to build trust with your customer

With starting a shoe brand, there can be minimal face-to-face interaction, which means it can be a lot more difficult to establish trust with your customers. You'll need to go the extra mile with your customer to grab their attention and business.

• Impatient customers

You may offer an engaging user experience for your customer, but customers expect a lot and may be impatient if they aren't pleased with your product or service.

• Be prepared to get out of your comfort zone!

Although this is exciting for some entrepreneurs, it can be a big challenge for others! You may find yourself in uncomfortable social and business situations, jumping into tasks and responsibilities you aren't familiar with, and pushing yourself as far as you can go!

• Learning Curve

When you start your own business, you no longer have upper management to provide you with a playbook for your roles and responsibilities. You should know the ins and outs of every aspect of your business, as every decision will come down to you.

• Equipment Breakdowns

Over the years, your equipment can get damaged, break down, and may need repairs which can be expensive. It's important you prepare for these expenses and try to avoid damages/wear & tear as much as possible.

• More challenging to earn passive income

It can be more of a challenge to make passive income in this business. Often times, the amount of revenue you bring in is limited by the amount of time you have in the day.

Players

Big Players

• Nike (389 Alexa Ranking)
• Nordstrom (991 Alexa Ranking)
• StockX (1.07K Alexa Ranking)
• Zulily (2.44K Alexa Ranking)
• JCPenney (3.12K Alexa Ranking)

Small Players

• Xero Shoes - Revenue $4M/month
• zapato FEROZ - Revenue $500K/month
• Stonz - Revenue $250K/month
• KASA - Revenue $80K/month
• B Street Shoes - Revenue $60K/month
• Boomerangz Footwear - Revenue $40K/month
• Atlantis Shoes - Revenue $25K/month
• the DIFFERENCE - Revenue $12.5K/month
• TANYA HEATH Paris - Revenue $10K/month
• CODDI - Revenue $2K/month
• Creative Souls - Revenue $1K/month

Search Interest

Let's take a look at the search trends for shoes over the last year:

How To Name Your Shoe Brand

It's important to find a catchy name for your shoe brand so that you can stand out in your space.

Here are some general tips to consider when naming your shoe brand

• Avoid hard to spell names: you want something easy to remember and easy to spell for your customers
• Conduct a search to see if others in the space have the same name
• Try not to pick a name that limits growth opportunities for your business (ie. if you decide to expand into other product lines)
• As soon as you have an idea (or ideas) of a few names that you love, register the domain name(s) as soon as possible!

Why is naming your shoe brand so important?

The name of your business will forever play a role in:

• Your customers first impression
• Your businesses identity
• The power behind the type of customer your brand attracts
• If you're memorable or not

It's important to verify that the domain name is available for your shoe brand.

You can search domain availability here:

Although .com names are the most common and easiest to remember, there are other options if your .com domain name is not available. Depending on your audience, it may not matter as much as you think.

It's also important to thoroughly check if social media handles are available.

As soon as you resonate with a name (or names), secure the domain and SM handles as soon as possible to ensure they don't get taken.

Here's some inspiration for naming your shoe brand:

• Wanders
• Bamboo & Ivy
• Wild Birds
• Sole
• Glove
• Starlight
• LevelUp
• Stablers
• Solemates
• Metro Kicks
• Perfect Pair
• Cloudveil

Read our full guide on naming your shoe brand ➜

How To Create A Slogan For Your Shoe Brand:

Slogans are a critical piece of your marketing and advertising strategy.

The role of your slogan is to help your customer understand the benefits of your product/service - so it's important to find a catchy and effective slogan name.

Often times, your slogan can even be more important than the name of your brand.

Here are 6 tips for creating a catchy slogan for your shoe brand:

1. Keep it short, simple and avoid difficult words

A great rule of thumb is that your slogan should be under 10 words. This will make it easy for your customer to understand and remember.

2. Tell what you do and focus on what makes you different

There are a few different ways you can incorporate what makes your business special in your slogan:

• Explain the target customer you are catering your services towards
• What problem do you solve?
• How do you make other people, clients, or your employer look good?
• Do you make people more successful? How?

3. Be consistent

Chances are, if you're coming up with a slogan, you may already have your business name, logo, mission, branding etc.

It's important to create a slogan that is consistent with all of the above.

4. Ensure the longevity of your slogan

Times are changing quickly, and so are businesses.

When coming up with your slogan, you may want to consider creating something that is timeless and won't just fade with new trends.

5. Consider your audience

When finding a catchy slogan name, you'll want to make sure that this resonates across your entire audience.

It's possible that your slogan could make complete sense to your audience in Europe, but may not resonate with your US audience.

6. Get feedback!

This is one of the easiest ways to know if your slogan will be perceived well, and a step that a lot of brands drop the ball on.

Ask friends, family, strangers, and most importantly, those that are considered to be in your target market.

Here's some inspiration for coming up with a slogan for your shoe brand:

• Build your own path
• Walk the line
• Take a walk on the wild side
• Keep the heat
• High quality, low prices
• Walk sustainabily, in style.
• Faster, forever.
• Make history
• Every shoe has a story
• Create your own destiny
• Chase your dreams in style
• Walk free
• Live better, run faster.
• Make a difference
• Be yourself
• Take an adventure
• This is it
• Take the reins.
• Street To Beach
• Walking Free Since [Date Established]
• Explore Forever.
• The adventure never stops
• Love the way you look, cherish the way you feel
• The limit does not exist
• Endless.
• Explore More
• Have it all
• Open Your Universe
• The world is yours
• Let's roll
• For every generation
• Move more
• Awake your true "sole"
• For a better day
• Be extraordinary
• Walk like a queen
• Go anywhere
• It's the shiny things that count
• Better style, smaller footprint
• Better. Faster. Stronger
• Made with the earth in mind.
• Let's be fearless together.
• Comfort is beauty
• Express yourself
• Stroll on
• Keep on rollin'
• Kick your feet up.
• Back it up.
• Every Day. Every Night.
• Go Your Own Way
• For the glory days
• Brighter days ahead
• Think Step.
• Property Of The Base
• Clog Is What We Do
• See You At Foot.
• Aim Of The Ft
• I'm Lovin' Step.
• Shoe For President.
• Component Is What We Do
• Mild Green Step Liquid.
• From Circular To Squared
• The Ultimate Foot Machine.
• It Does Exactly What It Says On The Foot.
• The Step People.
• Steps With Part
• Soft Footwear, Left Shoelace
• Make It A Foot Night.
• Advance Is What We Do
• Outbreak Is What We Do
• There's Lots Of Fun In Step.
• There Is No Sore It Will Not Heal, No Shoe It Will Not Subdue.
• The Wonder Has A Name: Shoe.
• Vorsprung Durch Step.
• Look, Ma, No Shoe!

The eCommerce Business Model

One of the main benefits of operating online is that you are exposed to the entire world, versus just one local area. Rather than depending on foot traffic, you have all the tools at your disposal to create exposure for your store online.

Additionally, there are much lower costs to operate an online store - fewer employees, you can operate from your home, and you get to create your own schedules (yes, holidays included!)

Although you are operating online and have the ability to connect with people all over the world, it's important to consider that you will need to invest marketing money upfront in order to promote your store to the right audience.

🎬 How To Start A Shoe Brand

How Much Does It Cost To Start A Shoe Brand

If you are planning to start a shoe brand, the costs are relatively low. This, of course, depends on if you decide to start the business with lean expenses or bringing in a large team and spending more money.

We’ve outlined two common scenarios for “pre-opening” costs of starting a shoe brand and outline the costs you should expect for each:

• The estimated minimum starting cost = $62
• The estimated maximum starting cost = $52,873

Startup Expenses: Average expenses incurred when starting a shoe brand.	Min Startup Costs: You plan to execute on your own. You’re able to work from home with minimal costs.	Max Startup Costs: You have started with 1+ other team members.
Office Space Expenses
Rent: This refers to the office space you use for your business and give money to the landlord. To minimize costs, you may want to consider starting your business from home or renting an office in a coworking space.	$0	$5,750
Utility Costs For Office Space: Utility costs are the expense for all the services you use in your office, including electricity, gas, fuels, telephone, water, sewerage, etc.	$0	$1,150
WiFi & Internet: Whether you work from home or in an office space, WiFi is essential. Although the cost is minimal in most cases, it should be appropriately budgeted for each month!	$0	$100
Total Office Space Expenses	$0 (min)	$7,000 (max)
Employee & Freelancer Expenses
Payroll Costs & Fees: Payroll cost means the expense of paying your employees, which includes salaries, wages, and other benefits. This number depends on if you decide to pay yourself a salary upfront and how many employees you have on payroll. At first, many founders take on all responsibilities until the business is up and running. You can always hire down the road when you understand where you need help. Keep in mind, if you do plan to pay yourself, the average salary founders make is $50K.	$150	$250
Employee Hiring Expenses: Apart from payroll and benefits, there are other hiring employees costs. This includes the cost to advertise the job, the time it takes to interview candidates, and any other turnover that may result from hiring the wrong candidate.	$1	$2
Employee Rewards: It's vital to acknowledge and reward workers, whether they hit their goals or do a great job. This does not have to be costly. In fact, simply taking workers out to a meal or giving a gift or bonus is among the many ways to show how the worker is valued!	$0	$100
Total Employee & Freelancer Expenses	$151 (min)	$352 (max)
Website Costs
Website Builder: The cost of your website will vary depending on which platform you choose. There are many website builders on the market, so it's important you choose the right one for your business and overall goals. To learn more about your options + how to build a great website, check out this article.	$10	$500
Web Designer: Web design includes several different aspects, including webpage layout, content creation, and design elements.If you have the skills and knowledge to design your website on your own, then outsourcing this to an expert may not be necessary. There are plenty of other ways you can design a beautiful website using design tools and software.	$200	$6,000
Domain Name: Your domain name is the URL and name of your website - this is how internet users find you and your website.Domain names are extremely important and should match your company name and brand. This makes it easier for customers to remember you and return to your website.	$12	$200
Business Email Hosting Service: An email hosting runs a dedicated email server. Once you have your domain name, you can set up email accounts for each user on your team. The most common email hosts are G Suite and Microsoft 365 Suite. The number of email accounts you set up will determine the monthly cost breakdown.	$1	$15
Website Hosting Costs: Server hosting is an IT service typically offered by a cloud service provider that hosts the website information and allows remote access through the internet. A hosted server can help you scale up and increase your business’s efficacy, relieving you from the hassles of on-premise operations.	$0	$300
Website & Live Chat Tool: If your business values high-end customer service, you must consider utilizing a website chatbot. Website chatbots play a pivotal role in converting site visitors into long-term customers. Typically, there are different tiers of pricing and features offered by Live Chat service providers.	$0	$200
Total Website Costs	$223 (min)	$7,215 (max)
Business Formation Fees
Small Business Insurance: Depending on which state you live in and the business you're operating, the costs and requirements for small business insurance vary. You can learn more here.	$500	$2,000
Permit and License Fees: Depending on your industry, there are certain licenses and permits you may need in order to comply with state, local, and federal regulations. Here is an article that goes over all the permits and licenses you may need for your shoe brand.	$50	$700
Lawyer Fees: Although you may want to avoid attorney fees, it's important that your business (and you) are covered at all costs. This comes into play when creating founder agreements, setting up your business legal structure, and of course, any unforeseen circumstances that may happen when dealing with customers or other businesses.	$0	$1,500
Set up business: LLC & Corporations: The first step in setting up your business is deciding whether your business is an LLC, S Corp or C Corp. The cost for this depends on which state you form your business and which structure you decide on. We put together an article that goes over the 10 Steps To Setting Up A Business.	$50	$500
Total Business Formation Fees	$600 (min)	$4,700 (max)
Retail Business Expenses
Shop Decor: If you plan to operate a physical store, you may want to consider decorating the place with wall decor, furniture, plants etc.	$0	$5,000
Utilities (storefront business): This refers to the cost of monthly utilities for your storefront location, which is typically based on a per-square-footage rate.	$0	$1,000
Building improvements and remodeling: If you plan to operate a physical location, you may find yourself dealing with building improvements and remodeling costs. Even if these costs are minimal, this is something to consider when renting/buying a physical location.	$0	$950
Storefront Property Rent: This refers to the storefront space you rent or buy for your business. The cost depends largely on the city and the size of the space. Keep in mind that other costs may be involved with your base rent and your lease will define additional expenses you are responsible for.	$1,250	$3,500
POS System: Gone are the days of cash registers! Many businesses now use point-of-sale systems for their checkout needs and to track sales and inventory. Here is a list of the best POS systems for small businesses!	$0	$1,200
Total Retail Business Expenses	$1,250 (min)	$11,650 (max)
Inventory Expenses
Upfront Costs For Inventory: This includes all upfront inventory you will need in order to launch. Be sure to compare prices of wholesalers to ensure you're getting the best deal and margins remain high.	$300	$5,000
Inventory Storage: If you decide to have a physical space for your shoe brand, whether it be used for inventory or as a showroom, you may have monthly rent payment or a large down payment associated with renting/buying the space.	$0	$5,000
Package Design: Packaging refers to wrapping and protecting products during distribution, shipping, and sales.Your package design is your customer's first impression of your brand, so it's important you spend some time and energy to get this right from the start.Many businesses design their own packages using design software and tools. There is always the option to outsource this to a design expert, but that route tends to be much more expensive.	$50	$3,000
Shrinkage: Shrinkage refers to the loss of inventory at any point between the purchase from your supplier and the purchase by your customer. Although you will try to avoid this at all costs, this does happen sometimes (especially in the learning stages of your business), and it's important to plan ahead financially in case this happens. Fortune states that retail shrinkage costs U.S. retailers approximately 1.4 percent of their total sales.	$0	$1,000
Distribution costs: Depending on what distribution plan you choose, expenses such as renting vans, hiring delivery drivers and gas costs can add up. If you are looking to save money upfront, you may want to consider conducting distribution on your own.	$0	$750
Total Inventory Expenses	$350 (min)	$14,750 (max)
Advertising & Marketing Costs
Business Cards: A shoe brand involves quite a bit of customer interaction, whether that is attending tradeshows, sales calls or simply having face to face interaction with prospective clients. Business cards are a great way to stay front of mind with your clients.	$0	$50
Customer Research & Surveys: Many shoe brand's conduct industry and consumer research prior to starting their business. Often times, you need to pay for this data or hire a market research firm to help you in this process.	$0	$300
Business Signage: Business signs let people know they're in the right place and are one of the first impressions your customer will have of your business.The cost for signage depends on a variety of elements:- material- size- number of colors- durability- installation and laborThere are plenty of design tools and software to create your own signs, or you can hire a sign business to do this for you.	$75	$2,486
Direct Campaigns, Printing and Mailing: Although it may sound old-school, traditional marketing methods can be a cost-effective way to drive awareness for your brand. This includes flyers, postcards, sales letters, coupons, special offers, catalogs and brochures.	$0	$300
Affiliate Marketing Commission & Fees: If you want to increase revenue for your shoe brand, affiliate marketing is a great way to promote your product to a new audience. When determining affiliate commission rates you will offer, you will want to take into account the price and margin for your product to ensure affiliate marketing is worth it for your business. According to Monitor Backlinks, the average affiliate commission rate should be somewhere between 5% to 30%. To learn more about how to set commission rates, check out this article..	$0	$250
Influencer Marketing: Partnering with like-minded influencers is one of the most effective ways to grow your social media presence. Many small businesses simply gift a free item in exchange for an influencer post, or pay the influencer directly.	$0	$750
Google Ads: With Google Ads you have the ability to control how much you spend by simply setting a monthly budget cap. Additionally, with these ads you only pay for results, such as clicks to your website or phone calls! It's okay to start with a small budget at first and make changes accordingly if you see valuable returns.	$0	$300
Facebook & Instagram Ads: With Facebook and Instagram ads, you set your budget and pay for the actions you want (whether that be impressions, conversions, etc).You can learn more about pricing based on your impressions here.	$0	$350
Total Advertising & Marketing Costs	$75 (min)	$4,786 (max)
Software Expenses
Email marketing tool: If you plan to grow your email list and email marketing efforts, you may want to consider investing in an email marketing platform (ie. Klaviyo, MailChimp). We put together a detailed guide on all of the email marketing tools out there + the pricing models for each one here.	$0	$100
IT Support: IT support installs and configures hardware and software and solves any technical issues that may arise.IT support can be used internally or for your customers experiencing issues with your product/service.There are a variety of tools and software you can use to help with any technical issues you or your customers are experiencing. This is a great option for businesses that do not have the means to hire a team of professionals.	$150	$2,000
Accounting & Invoicing Software: It's important to have an accounting system and process in place to manage financials, reporting, planning and tax preparation. Here are the 30 best accounting tools for small businesses.	$0	$50
Internal Communication Tool: If you plan to have multiple members on your team, you may want to consider an instant message tool such as Slack or Telegram. The cost is usually billed per month (approx $5/user/month) or there are freemium versions available on many platforms.	$0	$20
Social Media Management Tools: If you plan to do social media marketing for your shoe brand, you should consider investing in a social media automation or publishing tool. This will save you time and allow you to track performance and engagement for your posts. Here is a list of 28 best social media tools for your small business.	$0	$50
Payroll Software: The main purpose of payroll software is to help you pay your team and track each of those payments (so that you don't have to do it manually). If you do not have any employees or have a very small team, payroll software may not be necessary at this stage. Here are the 11 best payroll tools for small businesses!	$0	$200
Total Software Expenses	$150 (min)	$2,420 (max)
Total Starting Costs	$62 (min)	$52,873 (max)

Raising Money For Your Shoe Brand

Here are the most common ways to raise money for your shoe brand:

Bootstrapping

You may not need funding for your shoe brand.

In fact, many entrepreneurs take this approach when starting their own business, whether they have a little amount of cash or a substantial amount to get started.

So what exactly does the term "bootstrapping" mean?

This method essentially refers to self-funding your businesswithout external help or capital and reinvesting your earnings back into the business**

Bootstrapping means building your company from the ground up with your own, or your loved ones, personal savings and reinvesting all earnings back into the business

Here are some tips to consider when bootstrapping your business:

• Use your savings as your capital - one of the best ways to bootstrap your business is to collect your savings and use them as startup capital. This will also help you avoid using your personal or business credit cards when getting started.
• Determine exactly how much capital you need and how much capital you have to get your business off the ground. Generally, when bootstrapping your business, you may want to consider starting a business that involves less startup capital.
• Consider starting a business that will generate immediate returns so you can put money back into the business
• Be as lean as possible - this refers to cutting down expenses as much as possible, such as payroll, fancy software tools, unnecessary travel, renting an office, etc
• Consider outsourcing instead of hiring - in the beginning, you may not need to hire someone permanently to help run your business. It tends to be much less expensive to outsource work to a freelancer and hire someone permanently down the road!

Want to learn more about bootstrapping your business? Check out this article

VC Funding

VC funding is a traditional and long process, but an effective way to raise money for your business.

The term "VC funding" refers to venture capital firms investing in businesses in exchange for equity.

The VC's (venture capitalists) are an individual or small group investing in your business and typically require substantial ownership of the business, with the hope of seeing a return on their investment.

VC's are typically the best approach for businesses with high startup costs - where it would be very difficult to raise the money on your own or through a loan.

When deciding whether to take this approach, it's important that you have a few things in place first, and know what you're getting yourself into:

Determine if your business is ready

Having an idea is not enough to get VC funding.

Typically, VC's will check to make sure you have these things in place prior to closing any deal:

• An MVP (Minimal Viable Product)
• A founding team with all proper documents in place (articles of organization, business formation)
• A validated idea with actual customers buying your product/service

Get everything in place and build a pitch deck

A VC individual or firm will be expecting a fine-tuned presentation that gives an overview of your business.

Here's what you should consider including in your pitch deck:

• Management team, their previous experience + current roles in the business
• Market challenge and solution
• Company financials - including a P&L statement, cash flow statement, and projections
• Company progress
• Investment amount - how much do you need and why?

Research the right VC to fund your business

Research the types of VC investors out there and what niche they focus on.

Then, put together a list of target VC's you want to approach and your strategy around setting up meetings.

Be sure you have everything in place (as discussed above) before setting up any meeting!

Make sure the terms and expectations are right for your business

Committing to VC funding is a big deal and a decision that should not be made lightly.

Although the money and experience from VC's can help your business quickly grow, you are also giving away a stake in the company, and the money comes with strings attached.

Be sure you do your due diligence in finding the right investor - one that truly believes in the growth and success of your business.

What Skills Do I Need To Succeed In Starting A Shoe Brand?

As a shoe brand, there are several essential skills and characteristics that are important to identify prior to starting your business.

Let’s look at these skills in more detail so you can identify what you need to succeed in your day-to-day business operations:

Customer Service Skills

Friendly communication with customers and the ability to address service issues is a critical part of the job.

Here are some customer service skills you may want to consider prior to starting a shoe brand:

• Professionalism: The way you act, present yourself, and respond to situations all leave an impression on your customer. It's important to stay professional at all times when handling customer requests or issues.
• Problem-solving: When issues arise, it's important that you are able to think quick on your feet and address the situation with a calm and clear solution
• Friendly-manner: This is an obvious one, but customers truly appreciate someone that can respond in a quick, efficient, and friendly manner.
• Proficient in writing: These skills include the ability to write well-crafted emails, service tickets, and any other programs used by the business (ie. chat functions, SMS texting)

Business Savvy Skills

When starting a shoe brand, there are a few fundamental business skills you will want to learn in order to be successful:

• Leadership and training skills: A great team starts with YOU. Make sure you have all company policies and training procedures in place prior to hiring your team
• Decisive and self-confident: Over the course of your career, you will need decisions that could impact your business significantly. It's important you are able to think clearly and rationally about these decisions.
• Ability to understand the financials: You don't need to be an accountant, but it is important that you are able to clearly understand and define metrics such as expenses, revenue, profit, margins, COGS, etc.
• Strategic Thinking: Setting clear goals and benchmarks, identifying opportunities, risks. Ability to effectively communicate these insights to your team.

These are a few of many business savvy skills you should have (or work on) when starting a shoe brand.

For a full list, check out this article here.

Self Motivation Skills

Self motivation and discipline skills are critical in order to become successful in this field.

It's likely that you will find yourself starting and running your shoe brand from home, which could mean there are more distractions for you.

Here are the basic skills needed for self motivation & discipline:

• Becoming a self starter: It's important that you are capable of independently completing a task without the help or direction of anyone else
• Listening and following directions: When you are given direction by others, it's critical that you are able to follow directions and ask the right questions in order to get your job done
• Taking the initiative in problem solving: Instead of taking the easy route, you'll need to learn to troubleshoot issues on your own as much as possible.

Advice For Starting A Shoe Brand

We've interviewed thousands of successful founders at Starter Story and asked what advice they would give to entrepreneurs who are just getting started.

Here's the best advice we discovered for starting a shoe brand:

Steven Sashen, founder of Xero Shoes ($4M/month):

Be on the lookout for evidence that what you believe is WRONG and be ready to change directions, or pull the plug on something, rather than sticking to your hope that things will work out the way you want them to.

Read the full interview ➜

-

Matthew Walters, founder of CODDI ($2K/month):

My life changed my senior year of college when we did our senior thesis. Instead of designing one product like everyone else, I decided to try and stand out by designing an entire company. I instantly fell in love with building something massive from the ground up.

Read the full interview ➜

-

Steven Sashen, founder of Xero Shoes ($4M/month):

Know your numbers inside out and backward so you can make informed decisions about what and when you can spend money to support your business.

Read the full interview ➜

-

Steven Sashen, founder of Xero Shoes ($4M/month):

If you’re a true entrepreneur, there’s no way I can convince you not to start your own business (no matter how bad your idea may be)

Read the full interview ➜

-

Bret Rasmussen, founder of KURU Footwear ($/month):

We upped our cadence from 3 sends per week to 5 sends per week to our engaged audience and doubled our revenue via that move.

Read the full interview ➜

-

Kartik Gurmule, founder of KASA ($80K/month):

One should never fear failures.

Read the full interview ➜

-

Write a Business Plan

Writing a business plan from the start is critical for the success of your shoe brand.

Why?

Because this allows you to roadmap exactly what you do, what your overall structure will look like, and where you want to be in the future.

For many entrepreneurs, writing out the business plan helps validate their idea and decide whether or not they should move forward with starting the business.

You may want to consider expanding upon these sections in your business plan:

• Executive Summary: Brief outline of your product, the market, and growth opportunities
• Overviews and Objectives: Overview of your business, target customers, and what you need to run your business
• Products and Services: Specifics on the products and services your business will provide
• Market Opportunities: Analysis of customer demographics, buyer habits and if your product is in demand
• Marketing: Outline of your marketing plan and how you plan to differentiate yourself from other customers
• Competitive analysis: Analysis of your competition and the strengths and weaknesses therein
• Operations: Hierarchal structure of the company and what it will take to run the business on the day-to-day
• Leadership Team: Detailing roles and responsibilities of each manager based on their specific skill-set
• Financial Analysis Understanding of all expenses, operating budgets, and projections for the future.

Learn more about how to write a business plan here

Determine Which Business Bank Account You Need

There are hundreds of banks out there, and it can be overwhelming to find one that's right for your business.

Here are some factors you may want to consider:

• Location - Is your bank close enough that you can easily make deposits or get cash?
• Low Fees - Make sure to understand any and all fees associated with setting up and maintaining your bank account. Ask for a list - banks usually try to keep this hidden and in the fine print.
• Online Banking Services - Make sure you can easily navigate through your online portal and you have easy access to everything you need.
• Line of Credit - What do your options look like (even if you don't need this now, you may need this down the road).
• Every bank has something that differentiates them from the rest, so make sure whatever that is applied to your needs and values.

Check out this list of the 13 Best Banks for Small Business in 2020 and what makes them so unique.

Setting Up Your Shoe Brand (Formation and Legal)

When it comes to setting up your business, you may find yourself in a place where you have to make some financial and legal decisions.

The first thing you'll want to decide on is whether you want to be an LLC, S-Corp, or C-Corp.

These three options are found to be the most common when starting a small business, and all serve to protect your personal assets and also provide you with certain tax benefits.

• LLC: All income and expenses from the business are reported on the LLC personal income tax return.
• S corp: Owners pay themselves salaries + receive dividends from profits.
• C Corp: C Corps are separately taxable entities that file a corporate tax return (Form 1120). No income tax is paid at the corporate level and any tax due is paid at the owners individual expense.

Depending on where you're conducting business, you'll also want to consider securing the proper permits, licenses and liability insurance.

Learn more about securing the right permits and licenses ➜

Need to start an LLC? Create an LLC in minutes with ZenBusiness.

How Do I Pay Myself As A Small Business Owner?

Most entrepreneurs start a business to do something they love- but at the end of the day, you still have bills to pay (maybe now more than ever).

But it's important to strike the right balance - if you pay yourself too much, you could be putting your business at risk.

There are two common ways to pay yourself as a business owner:

1. Owner's Draw

Many entrepreneurs pay themselves through an owner's draw. This means that you are technically sean as "self-employed" through the eyes of the IRS and are not paid through regular wages.

At the point that you collect money from the draw, taxes typically are not taken out - so make sure you are prepared to pay these taxes once you file your individual return.

As an owner who takes a draw, you can legally take out as much as you want from your equity.

This type of compensation is suited for Sole props, LLCs, and partnerships. If you’re an S corp, you can pay yourself through both a salary and draw if you choose.

2. Salary

If you decide to pay yourself a salary, you will receive a set and recurring amount. This will be taxed by the federal government and the state you reside in.

The reality is that it can be really complicated to set your own salary, so we have some tips for you to consider:

• Take out a reasonable amount that allows you to live comfortably but also sets your business up for success
• Consider the number of hours you are working weekly + the type of duties you are performing.
• Set your salary based on your industry-standard, location, and profits (or projected profits)
• Look at your P&L statement: Deduct your own pay from that amount. This is important so you can first tackle important business expenses, and then pay yourself from the amount leftover.
• Pick a payroll schedule (and stick to it)! In the US, it's most common to pay yourself and employees twice a month.

To learn more about how to pay yourself and what is a reasonable amount, check out this article.

How To Price Your Shoes

One of the most challenging aspects to starting a shoe brand is determining how much to charge for your shoes.

When businesses under-price their product, this can be extremely detrimental to their bottom line and reputation.

Often times, businesses under-price their products to drive demand and volume, but that last thing you want is for customers to view your product/service as "cheap." Additionally, this can have a big impact on the type of customer you attract, which can be difficult to recover from.

On the other hand, when businesses over-price, this tends to be just as damaging to the business.

When customers buy, it's likely that they will explore the internet and look at other competitors to ensure they're getting the best value + deal. This is why it's so important that you research your competition and understand where you land in the marketplace.

Here are some factors to consider when pricing your product:

Understand your customer

It's important that out of the gates, you identify the type of customer you want to attract and how much they're willing to pay for your service. One great way to do this is by surveying your customers. Here are some important items you'll want to takeaway:

• Customer demographic: Age, gender, location, etc.
• Buying habits of your customer: What they buy + when they buy
• Level of price sensitivity with your customer

All of these segments will help you identify the type of customer you're attracting and how to price your product accordingly.

Understand your costs

When pricing your shoes, it's critical that you first identify all of your costs and consequently mark up your shoes so you can factor in a profit.

The actual cost of your shoes may include things like:

• The actual cost to make the product (ie. raw materials, supplies, manufacturer).
• Shipping + overhead fees
• Rent
• Operating costs to run your business

You may want to consider creating a spreadsheet with every single expense involved in operating/owning your business. This will give you an idea as to what you need to generate in order to at the very least, break-even and will help you price your products to factor in a profit.

Create revenue goals

When determining the price of your shoes, you'll want to create goals for revenue + how much profit you want your shoe brand to make.

This process is simpler than you may think:

1. Think about your breakeven cost (by completing the above step).
2. Create a revenue goal based on your break-even cost
3. Evaluate the # of items you plan to sell in a given period (make sure this is a realistic number)
4. Divide your revenue goal by the number of items you plan to sell

This figure will help determine your estimated price per product in order to meet your revenue goals.

Evaluate your competition

The last piece in determining how to price your shoes is by simply looking at your competition.

The best way to do this is by finding like-minded businesses that offer product(s) with similar perceived value. Then, you can compare prices of the different businesses and determine where your shoes fits best in the marketplace.

All of these factors play an equal part in pricing your shoes, so it's important you evaluate each one individually to come up with an accurate price that will help optimize your business from the start.

Gross Margin Calculator: How to Calculate The Gross Margin For Your Shoes

Our calculator is designed to be simple and easy to use.

The goal is to help you set realistic expectations and understand what is considered a healthy gross margin for your shoe brand.

Calculate your gross margin and profit margin here.

What Type Of Customers Will Buy Your Shoes

It's important to first establish who you will be selling to, whether it's to businesses or consumers.

Typically, in this industry, products are sold to B2C markets (business-to-consumer).

Let's take a look at what this means for your shoe brand:

B2C (or business to consumer) is a transaction where businesses sell their products or services to the consumer directly.

In this market, consumer behavior is the primary driver for your business decisions - so it's important that you truly identify who your customer is, and what their buyer habits are when building your product/service.

The advantage

B2C is that you are able to cast a very wide net when targeting your customers. Your product may interest a large number of consumers or a specific niche.

The disadvantage

B2C is that consumers hold all the power - so if your website is not the most user friendly, or does not rank in the top search results on Google, chances are, your customer is going to shop elsewhere.

When building your shoe brand, it's critical that you hone in on who your target audience is, and why they need your product over your competition.

Here are some items to consider when identifying your buyer persona:

Source

Design A Prototype

Turning your idea into a reality can feel like a daunting task - but it's critical that you have an idea of what your product will look like (even if it's just a sketch) prior to finding a manufacturer.

Here are some common ways you can design your prototype:

• Draw Your Initial Design on Paper
• Form pieces of fabric together
• Consider Taking A Generic Product And Putting Your Own Brand On It
• Try Making the Product Yourself
• Consider Building A Prototype With A 3D Printer

To learn more about how to design and prototype a product, check out our latest guide here.

Drew McNamara, founder of Creative Souls dives deep into the process of designing and prototyping their product:

How To Find A Supplier For Your Shoe Brand

Here are the steps to consider when finding a supplier/manufacturer:

Know your design

One very critical step to finding the right supplier is having an initial idea of what your design/product will look like.

Sketching is one of the most simple ways to get started in the design phase.

What's great about sketching is that you can practically do this anytime, anywhere - even on the back of a napkin.

To get started, all you need to do is pick up a pen and paper and start drawing - or if you are working on a virtual/software product this can be a diagram that outlines the user interface or experience.

Decide your supplier type

You'll want to identify the type of supplier you are looking for.

Here are some questions you may want to ask yourself prior to searching for a supplier

• Are you looking for a manufacturer to produce your product idea?
• Do you want to find a supplier that can simply purchase existing products for you?
• Do you want a drop-shipper to supply and fulfill orders?
• Do you want a domestic supplier or an overseas supplier? Read more about the pros and cons of each here

Where to start your search

Once you have an understanding of what type of manufacturer/supplier will be best to bring your idea to life, there are several areas you can start your search:

Domestic Suppliers

• Makers Row
• Kompass
• Thomas Net

Overseas Suppliers

• Alibaba
• IndiaMart
• Oberlo
• AliExpress

Manufacturing Your Product In House

It's also very common to manufacture your shoes on your own - either from your home or in a commercial space.

In order to get the product right, you may want to consider experimenting with different designs and recipes until you find the perfect one.

Some founders choose to manufacture their product in-house so that they can control quality, manage costs, and easily handle production/logistics.

Down the road, you can always choose to outsource your shoes.

Purchasing Inventory For Your Shoe Brand

When first starting out, it's important to start small with your overhead to get a gauge for what people want.

Just remember - if you order a line of items that don't sell, it's nearly impossible to recoup the money lost.

Buying the right inventory takes research and planning in order to get it right.

1. Identify your target audience: Identify the age, gender, annual income that you will be selling to. This is a defining factor in ordering the right inventory that will sell.
2. Research your competition: Conduct market research and identify the different types of styles, price points, and materials being used. This will help you see what's trending and ways that you can improve/stay ahead of the competition.
3. Create an inventory wishlist: Identify what you need for the launch of your business and create a budget that you will stay within. Remember, it's okay to start small.
4. Find a supplier Make sure to first compare prices and analyze different options.
5. Delivery timing: Schedule the inventory delivery to match with seasonality and trending buying seasons

Pro-tip: It's easy to become biased based on your own fashion preferences on what types of shoes/apparel to purchase. This is where a lot of fashion businesses go wrong. It's important to base purchase decisions on current buyer behavior, trends in the market, and specific to your niche.

🚀 How To Launch Your Shoe Brand

Build A Website

Building a website is imperative when launching your business, and with the right tools in place, this can be a simple task to check off the list (without having to hire someone).

1. Pick a domain name that's easy to remember and easy to type
2. Choose a Web Hosting Plan (ie. Shopify, Squarespace)
3. Make sure you choose the right theme and design
4. Implement the proper page structure (ie. about page, contact page, pricing etc)

To learn more about how to build a stellar website with little stress, we give you all the details on this step-by-step guide.

Web Design

Once you have chosen the domain, web hosting, and platform, it's time to get started with the design phase.

Themes are a great way to produce the fundamental style and identity of your website - this includes everything from your font design to your blog post styles.

One of the best ways to get started is to simply explore the various themes (free or paid depending on what you're looking for) and test them on your site.

If web-design really isn't in the cards for you, you may want to consider outsourcing a web designer to help bring your vision and brand to life.

Launch Strategies For Your Shoe Brand

There are various different ways you can launch your shoe brand successfully.

Here are a few different strategies to get customers excited about your shoe brand.

• Build hype with a landing page: you can effectively do this through waiting lists, discounts, countdown timer etc
• Create a teaser video: even just a 30 second video is a great way to exposure for your shoe brand, and possibly even go viral
• Reach out to influencers: The right influencer for your product has the ability to reach your audience with just one post, and because of their loyal following, this could lead to a big return for you.
• Get Press: Whether you plan a PR stunt or get exposure through a popular news outlet, this is a great way to attract initial customers
• Launch on popular sites: A great way to get buzz about your shoe brand is to submit your launch to popular startup sites.

Here are a few popular sites to launch on:

• Reddit
• ProductHunt
• Quora
• Hacker News

Learn more about how to launch your business successfully ➜ here

Lisa Will, founder of Stonz dives deep into the process of launching the business:

Make Sure You Get The Package Design Right

The way you package your shoe brand is often the first impression your customer has - so it's important to get it right.

You may want to ask yourself these questions:

If my product is on a shelf next to hundreds of other similar products:

• Will my shoe brand stand out?
• Will the branding/packaging create a connection with my customer, and hence, lead them to buy?

There are hundreds of tools you can use to help with packaging and design:

• Canva - Allows non-designers to create beautiful Instagram/Pinterest posts, flyers, business cards, etc.
• Stickermule - High quality custom stickers you can include on or in your packaging.
• Noissue - Custom tissue paper and compostable mailers
• Rollo Label Printer - A great tool to print all shipping labels at home

Get Press Coverage For Your Shoe Brand

The more buzz around your brand - the more the phones ring, the more traffic to your website, and the more customers as a result.

Here are a few ways you can get press for your business:

Press releases:

Press releases are a great way to share big announcements or news, but in order to get any traction, you'll need to find a way to make your press release stand out amongst others.

Try to convey a story that really matters, not just to you, but to the reporter and to their audience.

Here are some things to consider when submitting a press release:

• Craft a catchy subject (keep it short and sweet).
• Acknowledge the journalist's past work and interests - this is key!
• Include the main point of the story in the first paragraph, heck, even the first sentence. Reporters want to hear the juice first and foremost.
• Focus on the facts and try to limit the amount of jargon used.
• Pitch yourself! Help them put a face to the story.
• Make sure your topic is newsworthy. If it's not, find a way to!
• Try not to include any attachments of your release!

Email is one of the most effective and preferred way to send your press release, so as long as you keep your pitch brief, interesting and personalized (no cold emails), you should stand a chance!

Get Press Using HARO

HARO, otherwise known as "Help a Reporter Out" is an outlet for journalists to source upcoming stories and opportunities for media coverage.

The best part is, HARO is free to use! There are, of course, premium versions you can purchase, but the free version is still an accessible way to get press.

Once you set up an account, HARO essentially will email you based on stories (that are relevant to you) that need to be covered where you will then have a chance to essentially "bid on the story."

Here are some tips when crafting your pitch:

• Discuss your experience and expertise in the space. Make sure it's obvious why you're relevant to this story.
• Answer the question in 3-4 sentences. Try and be as direct as possible
• Offer to provide the reporter with more information and make sure to give them your contact info

Plan a Publicity Stunt

Planning a publicity stunt is an effective and quick way to raise awareness for your brand and gain some traction from the press.

If you're looking to plan a stunt, the objective should be to be bold and create something memorable

However, being bold has a fine line - it's important that you consider the timing of your stunt to ensure you don't come off insensitive or unethical. For example, timing may not be in your favor if you plan something during the general election, or in most recent cases, a global pandemic.

In order to measure the success of your stunt, it's important that you first determine your end goal, for example:

• Is the stunt aimed to raise money for your business or a particular organization?
• Is the stunt aimed to drive more traffic to your website?
• Is the stunt aimed to get more followers and engagement on Instagram?

Here are a few tips for creating a great publicity stunt:

• Research to ensure that there haven't been similar stunts done in the past by other businesses - this could easily turn off journalists and your audience.
• Make sure you can explain the stunt in one headline - this will help grab the media's attention. In other words, simplify!
• The stunt should be related to the product you are promoting. Even if the stunt is a success in terms of viewers, but it doesn't tie back to your original goal, then it's not useful.
• Keep the stunt visual with videos/images.
• Leverage the internet and social media platforms for your stunt by sharing your message across a variety of audiences. This will help with word of mouth and the overall success of your event.

To learn other strategies on how to get press, check out our full guide here.

🌱 How To Grow Your Shoe Brand

Consider Selling On Amazon

In addition to selling your products directly on your site, you may want to consider selling on Amazon to reach a wider audience and attract new customers.

Here are some pros and cons of selling on amazon:

Pros

• Easy and seamless process to get your product listed on Amazon
• There are roughly 100 million thoroughly committed prime customers, so you're bound to tap into new business
• Can help grow your business exponentially and reach new audiences

Cons

• You may encounter some "copycats" and counterfeit products
• Amazon owns the relationship with the customer (you lose control over product reviews + customer service)
• If you already have a low-markup, amazon may not wrth your while and you could end up losing money
• Commissions and listing fees are high - it's easy to lose control of your offering

Follow these instructions to get your product listed on Amazon or check out the video below on how to get started:

Consider Working With Instagram Influencers

Partnering with like-minded influencers (within your industry) is one of the most effective ways to grow your social media organically.

Industry influencers already have an established and loyal following. With one post, your product immediately establishes a connection with a brand new audience. It's that powerful.

When finding influencers to promote your product, do your research and make sure that their following will actually be interested in your product.

It's easy to be blinded by any influencer with a huge following, but if those followers don't resonate with your product, there may not be any value there... so make sure you do your research!

Experiment With Pay Per Click Ads (PPC)

Pay-per-click (PPC) is a performance-based marketing method that allows you to show specific ads for services or products oriented to a very defined target, with the goal that the user visits your website or landing page.

Here are some tips to consider:

• Consider connecting the ad to your corresponding landing page so that the audience receives the necessary information after clicking on the ad.
• Conversion Tracking: When running PPC campaigns, be sure to run the ads with conversion tracking.
• Focus on quality keywords, even if there are few as this will save you time and money. When assessing the performance of a keyword, it's important to track the expense, conversion, and cost per conversion, as well as the ROI.

PPC advertising can be a very important lead generator as long as it's done properly. Your PPC campaign is intended to drive traffic to your website and help the business scale.

Additionally, if the campaign is not having the desired results, you can make the necessary changes immediately to improve them.

Improve your SEO

SEO is not just about driving traffic to your site, it's about driving the RIGHT traffic to your site, and ultimately, converting leads into customers.

One of the most important aspects of SEO is understanding what your customers are searching for, otherwise known as "keyword research."

Here are some tools that can help you choose the right keywords for your shoe brand.

• Google Ads Keyword Planner invaluable for discovering search trends.
• Google Search Console is very helpful once your website is up as it shows you what words/phrases are generating traffic.
• Ahrefs and SEMRush are paid tools that allow you to look at results of your competitor's website.

Publish Great Content

Finding keywords is an important piece of the puzzle, but Google also ranks your site based on the actual content you produce, as this is what your customers are reading and engaging with.

There are various different "forms" of content that you may want to consider diversifying on your sites, such as blog posts, articles, studies, and videos.

So let's discuss what google considers "good content:"

• Length - This will vary depending on the page, however, generally having a sufficient amount of content helps search engines recognize that your site is a good source for a specific topic
• Engagement - The longer people stay on your website to read your content, the higher Google will rank your website. It's important to have informative and "thick" content that keeps people reading
• Avoid Duplicating Content - Google will recognize this and may consider your content to have low value
• Ensure pages load quickly - This will also help with engagement and time spent on your website
• Shareability - Create content that people want to share, and is easy for them to share, especially to their social media accounts (ie. "click to tweet" is a great example of this).

Another element of creating good content is creating consistent content.

If (and hopefully you are) publishing content frequently, it's important to stick to a schedule - this helps build brand trust and easy user experience with your customers.

Planning out your content with a content calendar is key to staying consistent.

Here are a few great content calendar tools that can help you:

• Trello
• Airtable
• If you prefer to keep it simple, your average spreadsheet is just as useful!

Backlinks

Backlinks are an important piece to SEO, as they allow for other websites to link to your content.

Search engines recognize that other sites are essentially "verifying" your content and essentially rank you higher because of this.

Of course, some links are more valuable than others and can affect your site in different ways.

For example, if a highly valuable and credible site like the New York Times links to a page on your website, this could be remarkable from an SEO perspective.

Aside from organically getting mentioned from other sites, there are other ways that you can increase and earn backlinks:

• Create infographics with relevant data that people want to share
• Promote your content on different sites/look into "guest blogging"
• Contact influencers/journalists/bloggers and ask them to mention you!
• Write testimonials for other sites in exchange for a backlink
• Leverage existing business relationships

Learn more about the fundamentals of SEO ➜ here and check out Neil Patel's 3 Powerful SEO Tips below

Build A Blog

One of the most effective ways to build brand awareness and grow your business is through consistently blogging.

We've outlined some useful tips for you to consider when creating content:

Consistency and Quantity

Quality is important, but it should be the standard for any content you publish.

What’s more important is consistency and quantity.

Consistency is as simple as committing to publishing and sharing a certain number of posts per week. For me, that’s three per week right now.

This kind of commitment is key, because one day, a random post will blow up, and you will have never expected it.

Oversaturation

The easiest mind trap is to think "I’m posting too much", and “I need to give my readers/audience/this platform a break”.

This is nonsense.

There is no such thing as oversaturation. Well, there is, but it is just someone else’s opinion.

For every person that tells you you are posting too much, there is another person that wants even more of your content.

You should ignore people’s opinions on how much you post.

Patience & Persistence

Keep posting, keep trying, and keep putting out good content on the regular. Your time will come, and when it does, it will change everything.

The only thing you have control over is your content.

You can’t control how people will react to it. You can’t control pageviews, likes, or shares.

So the only metric you should focus on is how much content you can put out in a week, month, etc.

Where to share your blog content

Mailing List

I know it sounds obvious, but the best places to share your content is on your mailing list. It is guaranteed traffic and it is a great way to get rapid feedback from your most loyal readers.

Send newsletters often. I have done once a week since starting, and I’m moving to twice a week soon.

Work on increasing your mailing list as well. Look into ways to increase your conversion rate to your mailing list. I added a flyout popup thing to my site and now I’m collecting ~30 emails per day.

An email newsletter is one of the most powerful assets you can have and it is worth its weight in gold.

Reddit

Reddit is one of my favorite places to promote content.

It is a very scary place because you will often get banned or heckled, but it can really pay off.

Create social media accounts for your blog, the main ones I use:

Twitter Facebook Instagram LinkedIn

Set up Buffer and share all of your blog posts to all of your accounts. All of these little shares really do add up.

Automate this as much as possible. I automated all of my social media for Starter Story.

Facebook Groups

When I started out, I put together a spreadsheet of relevant Facebook groups for my niche, and I would post to these groups whenever I had a big story I wanted to share.

Grow Your Email List

The more engaged list of emails, the more engaged customers, which ultimately leads to more sales.

One of the best ways to start growing your list is by providing your customer with something free (or discounted) in return.

This could also be anything from:

• Ebook
• Fascinating case study
• Video series
• Free week of the product
• Discount on the product

Learn more about how to grow your email list and improve email marketing ➜ here.

Add an exit-intent popup to your online store

A great way to double, or even triple, your email opt-in rate and to grow your list is to add an exit-intent popup to your site, and offering a discount or content upgrade for subscribers.

Here's an example of what that might look like:

Improve Your Email Marketing

Different types of emails

Here are the most common types of email campaigns you can send to your customers and their benefits:

• Welcome emails - the perfect way to provide information from the start with a clear CTA. Make sure to tell your customer everything they need to know about your product or service.
• Newsletters - a great way to give customers updates or send out your latest content
• Product launch emails - the quickest (and easiest) way to increase sales is by selling to current customers. Make sure they're the first on the list to know about your new product
• Promotional emails - promote discounts, deals coupons etc. Try and make this feel exclusive and for a limited time only
• Abandoned cart emails - give your customers a reason to complete their purchase!

Here's a great resource for finding curated email designs, for all types of email campaigns!

Abandonded Cart Flow

The abandoned cart workflow is one of the most effective strategies for turning your lead into a customer, and a powerful tool to have if you're an e-commerce business.

Think about all the times that you went on a shopping frenzy only to add items to your cart and then either forget or realize nows not the right time to pull the trigger.

Then, minutes later you receive an email saying "Hurry up! Your cart is waiting - and we want to provide you with 20% off your order."

Maybe that's the special touch (and discount) you needed to pull that trigger.

Implementing this workflow can automatically trigger this for your business every time a customer abandons their cart.

Here's a great example of an abandoned cart email from Brooklinen:

Things they do well:

• Showcase 5-star reviews from other customers
• Offer a small discount + free shipping
• Great design + clear call to actions!

Social Media Advertising

Social Media Advertising is one of the leading ways to get the word out when it comes to shoe brand.

There are various different Social Media platforms available to you. Some may be more critical for your marketing efforts than others, however, it's important to have an understanding of what's out there and available to you.

Let's talk about a few of the main platforms and what makes them unique:

• Facebook Advertising - more than 2 billion monthly users. Facebook is the best for lead generation + capturing email addresses for e-commerce businesses.
• Instagram Advertising - approximately 500 million monthly users and has a higher audience engagement rate than any other platform. Instagram ads are best for linking to a product page or landing page and reaches the 18-29 age group most effectively.
• Twitter Advertising- Small businesses typically use twitter ads to drive brand awareness, but the platform is meant more for organic engagement (and is not as heavily used for paid advertising)
• Pinterest Advertising - 175 million monthly users and most effectively reaches the female audience. Pinterest is great for promoting products without "promoted". The promoted pins have a way of blending right in.
• LinkedIn Advertising - 227 million monthly users and is geared towards the B2B market and generates the highest quality leads. Great platform for recruiters, high-end products and services that will help businesses

It's important to first define your goal/objective so that you don't waste time and money into the wrong platform:

Here are some different questions to ask yourself as it relates to your goals:

• Do I want to simply drive brand awareness?
• Do I want to drive users to my website to gather information?
• Do I want to increase sales and get my customer to take action?

From there, choose the platform that targets your audience best and start experimenting!

Learn more about social media advertising ➜ here.

Host A Social Media Giveaway

People love free stuff and love competition. Giveaways and contests are a great way to create awareness for your brand, grow your email list, and eventually convert leads into customers.

If your goal is to gather email addresses, make sure the entry criteria is to "enter your email." You can do this by leading customers to your landing page where they can then enter their email to be in the giveaway.

One of the most important aspects of promoting a successful giveaway is having an amazing prize. The better the prize, the more engagement you'll get.

This doesn't necessarily mean choosing an iPad or an expensive/trendy watch, but instead a prize that is actually relevant to your brand/target audience.

Build A Facebook Community

Building a community is a great way to grow your network and your business.

There are several different ways of building a community, one of the most effective (and simplest) ways is to build a Facebook group

Setting up the group page takes less than 10 minutes, and we've outlined ways the top 5 ways to create an engaging and successful group:

• Make the group exclusive. This may sound counter-intuitive, however, this ensures privacy and that the group will feel comfortable posting and engaging with members.
• Try to be warm and welcoming. A great way to do this is by having a "Member Monday" where you welcome new members and ask them to introduce themselves in the group
• Use polls/surveys. This is a great way to know your audience and see what people want more of in the group (more business tips, networking opportunities, etc).
• Include influential people & conduct AMA's (ask me anything). This is a great way to get members engaged
• Host an in-person (or virtual) event with members in the group. This will create stronger relationships and build a strong community.

🏃🏼‍♀️ How To Run Your Shoe Brand

How To Retain Customers For Your Shoe Brand

Retaining customers is one of the most effective ways to grow your shoe brand.

Oftentimes, it's easy to find yourself focusing on generating new customers, vs retaining your current ones.

Look at it this way - you are 60-70% more likely to sell a new product to an existing customer than you are a new customer.

That's not to say that finding new customers and revenue streams is not important, however, the easiest (and most inexpensive) source of new revenue is right there in front of you.

Here are some ways you can retain customers for your shoe brand:

• Responding to comments on social media
• Send discounts (or freebies) to loyal customers
• Provide valuable content, for free
• Write a hand written thank you note
• Provide awesome customer service and build relationships with customers

To find out more tips and tricks on retaining customers, check out this article ➜ here

Olguy Songolo, founder of the DIFFERENCE dives deep into the process of attracting and retaining customers:

Diversify Your Product Line

Adding new products to your business is a great way to expand into new markets and grow your business.

It's important to note that adding new products and diversifying may not be in the cards for you right this moment, and that's okay. You can always consider it down the road.

Here are some reasons you may want to considering adding/diversifying your product

• Meeting the needs of your customers
• Establish yourself as a top provider in your industry and stay ahead of the game with competition
• Resistance to downturns/trends fading
• Create new revenue streams

Build a Referral Program

Word of mouth is one of the best ways to get the word out about your business and acquire new customers. Especially when you are starting out, it’s important to build a solid referral program to encourage existing customers to help you find new ones.

A great way to do that is by offering a reward (ie. credit on your service or cash) to customers that refer you to their friends and family.

A fantastic referral program will help with clout, credibility, and establishing yourself in the space.

Authenticity

As a brand, you want to deliver an experience that authentic, honest and transparent.

Don't make the mistake of giving your audience less credit than they deserve.

Word of Mouth

The most tried and true way to grow a shoe brand is through word of mouth - some entrepreneurs would say it's more important than all social media.

Why you should focus on word of mouth:

• Consumers trust word of mouth above all other forms of marketing
• 92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising
• 64% of marketing executives indicated that they believe it is the most effective form of marketing

Learn more about word of mouth in our guide: 30 Ways Founders Grow Their Business ➜

Provide Great Customer Service

Providing exceptional care and creating relationships with clients is a great way to build your reputation and retain customers.

Whether you are an online business or a physical business, it's highly important to communicate with customers and make them feel like they are the priority.

Just remember: customer service represents your brand, values, vision and YOU as a person.

Resources

We put together the best resources on the internet to help you start your shoe brand.

Tools

• Platform tools such as Shopify, WooCommerce, Amazon, Etsy, eBay or Google Shopping
• Email tools such as MailChimp, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, G Suite, Whatsapp or WeChat
• Social media tools such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Reddit, Medium, Tiktok, Vimeo or Later.com
• Advertising tools such as Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, Google Adwords, Google AdSense, Twitter Ads, Amazon Ads or Google ads
• Design tools such as Canva, Adobe Suite or Affinity Designer
• Shipping tools such as ShipStation, Stamps.com, USPS, FedEx, Royal Mail, Amazon FBA, UPS, Canada Post or 2ship
• Analytics tools such as Google Analytics
• Productivity tools such as Google Suite, Dropbox, Slack, Asana, Microsoft Office 365, Notion, Doodle, NetSuite, WorkFlowy, Stickermule or Box
• Payments tools such as Paypal, Shopify Payments, Stripe, Amazon Payments, Square, Apple Pay or Venmo
• Customer service tools such as Zendesk, HelpScout or Tidio
• Blog tools such as WordPress
• Accounting tools such as Quickbooks
• Freelance tools such as Fiverr, Upwork or freelance.com
• Affiliate tools such as Refersion
• Crowdfunding tools such as Kickstarter
• App tools such as Gravity Forms
• Reviews tools such as Google My Business
• Web hosting tools such as GoDaddy
• Stock images tools such as Pexels
• Podcast tools such as Spotify
• Payroll tools such as Payworks
• Wholesale tools such as repzio or shopzio

Books

• How to Start Your Own Shoe Company: A start-up guide to designing, manufacturing, and marketing shoes. (How shoes are Made): Wade Motawi

• Designdirect - How To Start Your Own Micro Brand

• Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (Incerto)

• Stumbling on Happiness

• Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (Incerto)

Web Resources

• How to Start Your Own Shoe Brand | Bizfluent
• How to Start Your Own Shoe Brand | Small Business - Chron.com

Videos

• How to Start Your Own Sneaker Brand, Plus the History of Nike & adidas | From the Ground Up
• 'No.One' Creator Shares How To Start Your Own Sneaker Brand

Case Studies

• Xero Shoes: Growing A Shoe Brand to $460K/month
• How Tanya Heath Invented Stilettos With Removable Heels
• How I Started A Business Selling Vegan Sneakers
• How I Built A $300K/Year Online Flip Flop Shop
• How I Started A Boot Brand And Raised $61K With No Paid Advertising
• How I Started A $80K/Month Luxury Shoes And Accessories Brand
• On Starting A Shoe And Apparel Brand With Designs From People With Disabilities
• How I Started A $185K/Month Baby And Children Vegan Footwear Brand
• How We Created A $65K/Month Healthy Children's Footwear Brand That Sells Almost Everything On Launch Day
• How I Created A $12.5K/Month Patented Heelless Running Shoe

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