Emmeline Pidgen, owner of Chorley-based Emmeline Illustration, explains why the business should win the marketing and PR category of the Guardian Small Business Showcase competition.
This summer I challenged myself to create an illustration of my outfit each day in July as a marketing project to promote my illustration work on my blog, increase my audience, refine my style and build valuable connections.
The What Emmeline Wore In July idea came about early in 2015 after a series of my What I Wore illustrations gained traction and feedback from viewers who said they would love to see more. I’m a huge advocate of getting involved in monthly challenges with my work, as they are a brilliant way to increase productivity, practice and exposure.
I realised the marketing potential for involving fashion brands by illustrating their designs in my outfits. So I pitched to a number of my favourite fashion companies asking if they’d like to be part of the project. I received an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response and worked with the likes of Clarks, Cath Kidston, Boden, Laura Ashley, Moheda, Wolf & Moon, Poppy England, White Stuff, Seasalt and People Tree.
It’s an unusual twist on the standard photography-based What I Wore blogger posts, and over the course of the month it gained traction on social media. The project had more than 75,000 views and thousands of likes and shares. My blog audience rose to over 85,000, averaging more than 11,500 unique views per month. I have built valuable relationships with the brands involved, developing potential for future collaborations and commissions.
All entries which meet the competition criteria are published and our judging panel select a shortlist of the three for each category. Winners are announced at an awards ceremony in summer 2016.
