Guyana, home to the spectacular Kaieteur Falls, the largest single drop water fall in the world, is a country in the South-American continent. Somewhere in the country capital, Georgetown, is the home and work studio of a Nigerian born fashion designer. She has managed to build and grow a fashion empire, despite the poverty rate in the country. Dr, Deborah Oluwadara Kehinde is a doctor, a fashion entrepreneur and blogger. She left Nigeria for Guyana about seven years ago to study Medicine. While studying, she decided to pursue her love for fashion. She started a fashion brand, Rhoda Doxa, which focuses on creating and promoting Afrocentric products. She sells Ankara fabrics to natives of Guyana and her other international customers. She uses the coloful ankara fabrics to create her fashion products, as her target audience are “people of color”. In the space of 4 years, she was able to bring her brand to a point of international recognition. She expanded her brand to include a beauty line a year ago.
Rhoda Doxa, Deborah, and Facebook
Mauvelli had an exclusive and extensive chat with the her and one of her first comments was on social media, she said, “I must say God has used social media to bless me”. She explained that because her workspace is contained in her apartment, her only way of reaching out to customers has been through the social media. She has successfully been able to build a network of customers who patronise her frequently via social media. On particular tips that helped her build her brand online, she pointed out that you must be intentional about the social media platform that is most preferred in your geographical location. For her, Caribbean people use facebook more, so she focuses on facebook the most to push out her content. She advised that having a Whatsapp Business account is good for the brand, especially for sending important broadcasts and keeping in touch. Overall, consistency and having giveaways every now and then has endeared her to her consumers.
Creating content for a brand’s online platform
Originality can not be done away with in developing online content, according to Deborah . People should be able to tell when they see contents or products that belong to you anywhere, even if it has been copied. This will tell if your audience has a good connection with the brand story you portray through your content. Your brand image has to be clear, with good pictures that depict your brand with your logo on it where necessary.
Retaining fashion customers
Mauvelli understands that starting out is the easy part, while maintining and keeping the audience is not as easy. So, we asked Deborah how she keeps and manages her customers. She shared that she engages a lot of her customers through direct messages. That has made her relationship with them more personal. This affirms the notion that customers want to be noticed , they want to know that you think they matter. Once your customers feels at home, almost nothing can take them away. One key take away from the chat with the CEO of Rhoda Doxa, is that starting a brand should also be about creating a relationship with the target audience. This way, the brand is bound to have and retain a good growth rate.
