“We’ve worked with bloggers who have a huge number of followers and bloggers that have a smaller following, but we approach any collaboration in the same way," Stone told us, noting that those with around 30k to 100k followers - rather than the million-strong super influencers with whom followers feel less intimately acquainted - have the greatest impact on sales when they post something. "We only work with women who are dynamic and who we believe have great integrity in the content they produce. We’re not just looking for one Instagram post here and there; we want to build lasting relationships with women who genuinely love the brand and who can become brand ambassadors. I truly believe customers pick up on that honesty and we’ve seen the positive results – both in sales and in our growing social-media following. It proves that you can get the right exposure without having a massive budget."
Another aspect of social media that many brands site as a boon to their business: the ability to converse directly with their customers, is nothing new to Stone, however. She has long engaged one-on-one with her loyal band of shoppers: initially from a customer-service standpoint via phone or email, and latterly on Instagram.
"We’ve always had a really close relationship with our customers and we’re very lucky to have accumulated a loyal following over the years," Stone nodded. "Whatever feedback we get is always taken into consideration. That’s the great thing about social-media platforms like Instagram: they allow you to hold a continuous conversation with your customers. Now we find that when we post a cool image of a new product on our Instagram account, we’ll immediately get comments from customers asking questions like what size they should go for, or offering really valuable feedback."
Although it started life as a scarf label, Lily and Lionel - named after Stone's beloved grandparents - has experimented by adding categories over the years. Some, like swimwear, although popular with buyers and customers alike, didn't become core to the staunchly British brand: "It just didn't feel authentic to who we are," Stone explained. "Maybe if I lived in LA, but I like to work on things that really feel relevant to me, and to my customers' lives."
Something that has stuck is the new capsule ready-to-wear offering: vintage-inspired dresses, shirts and skirts - all bearing the company's signature feminine prints.
"We are, first and foremost, a print house," the designer asserted. "We have always placed our focus on creating prints that tell a story and that’s why customers come to us. We create heatmaps of our website, so we can see where customers are looking, and the most popular area of the site is our ‘Meet the Prints’ section. When Lily and Lionel was just producing scarves, we saw that customers were buying the prints for sentimental reasons – they got engaged in Paris, and so bought our iconic Paris print scarf as a memento, for example. When we moved into ready-to-wear, we had to work out a way of translating those prints on to clothing."
Still commercial in her focus, Stone ensures that popular prints are reordered or reworked - and still takes advice from the team she has built before going with her gut on major decisions.
"I was quite young when we started Lily and Lionel, and as I’ve grown older, my tastes have changed, as have the needs of our customer, and the brand has evolved as a result," she said. "What hasn’t changed is the desire to take chances and have conviction in what we’re doing. For instance, when we first launched our Seventies Maxi Dress, no one was interested in it, but I really believed in it. Now it’s our most iconic piece; a best-seller and a favourite with customers, influencers and press. Don’t play it safe: find that unique style that customers can’t find anywhere else."
Another aspect of social media that many brands site as a boon to their business: the ability to converse directly with their customers, is nothing new to Stone, however. She has long engaged one-on-one with her loyal band of shoppers: initially from a customer-service standpoint via phone or email, and latterly on Instagram.
"We’ve always had a really close relationship with our customers and we’re very lucky to have accumulated a loyal following over the years," Stone nodded. "Whatever feedback we get is always taken into consideration. That’s the great thing about social-media platforms like Instagram: they allow you to hold a continuous conversation with your customers. Now we find that when we post a cool image of a new product on our Instagram account, we’ll immediately get comments from customers asking questions like what size they should go for, or offering really valuable feedback."
Although it started life as a scarf label, Lily and Lionel - named after Stone's beloved grandparents - has experimented by adding categories over the years. Some, like swimwear, although popular with buyers and customers alike, didn't become core to the staunchly British brand: "It just didn't feel authentic to who we are," Stone explained. "Maybe if I lived in LA, but I like to work on things that really feel relevant to me, and to my customers' lives."
Something that has stuck is the new capsule ready-to-wear offering: vintage-inspired dresses, shirts and skirts - all bearing the company's signature feminine prints.
"We are, first and foremost, a print house," the designer asserted. "We have always placed our focus on creating prints that tell a story and that’s why customers come to us. We create heatmaps of our website, so we can see where customers are looking, and the most popular area of the site is our ‘Meet the Prints’ section. When Lily and Lionel was just producing scarves, we saw that customers were buying the prints for sentimental reasons – they got engaged in Paris, and so bought our iconic Paris print scarf as a memento, for example. When we moved into ready-to-wear, we had to work out a way of translating those prints on to clothing."
Still commercial in her focus, Stone ensures that popular prints are reordered or reworked - and still takes advice from the team she has built before going with her gut on major decisions.
"I was quite young when we started Lily and Lionel, and as I’ve grown older, my tastes have changed, as have the needs of our customer, and the brand has evolved as a result," she said. "What hasn’t changed is the desire to take chances and have conviction in what we’re doing. For instance, when we first launched our Seventies Maxi Dress, no one was interested in it, but I really believed in it. Now it’s our most iconic piece; a best-seller and a favourite with customers, influencers and press. Don’t play it safe: find that unique style that customers can’t find anywhere else."
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