Discuss the fun task of marketing a t-shirt shop. Where to advertise, local marketing tips, word of mouth, press releases, search engine marketing, keyword advertising, magazines, etc.
If you are a screenprinter, how you do market locally? Is word of mouth the most powerful? I am trying to expand our client list, and would like to cater to schools (little league, baseball etc.), organizations, and small business's. I am currently making a postcard to send to business's. Which also leads me to cost of postage. Do large companies such as OLD NAVY, pay 39 cents a flyer via Direct mailing? I am wondering if I need to pay 39 cents per postcard. If so, it's going to be real expensive.
I am on a countdown for the opening of my screenprinting & design studio. I have a warehouse with an office, but not a store front ( I dont think most printers have a store front, correct me if im wrong). I am having postcards printed and will send these via USPS. I will send them to small business's, schools, organizations, and other local places. I will also drive around and places them on business windows/door after hours.
Has anyone tried this and was it successful? How else do you get known around town besides word of mouth? I am new to the town and don't really know anyone.
I am on a countdown for the opening of my screenprinting & design studio. I have a warehouse with an office, but not a store front ( I dont think most printers have a store front, correct me if im wrong). I am having postcards printed and will send these via USPS. I will send them to small business's, schools, organizations, and other local places. I will also drive around and places them on business windows/door after hours.
Has anyone tried this and was it successful? How else do you get known around town besides word of mouth? I am new to the town and don't really know anyone.
Just a thought, but I think I would be annoyed if I came to work and found someone's flyer or postcard attached to my door instead of them taking the time to talk to me in person.
I would take a day off if you can and go talk in person to as many people as you can fit in that day telling them about the opening date of your new store. Then when you're open, you can do follow up calls and they'll know exactly who they're talking to.
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Hard labor kills, make t-shirts instead.
Sometimes as I am going by a store and see Tees in the window, I park, go to store, look around, and then ask. Do you have this type of shirt?. When the answer comes back as usual "no" I then proceed to tell them about our designs. I take a business card, and also leave them one. Once home I e-mail the company with a letter, and send a sample design, (course with sample stenciled all over) While some have show interest, none have ordered, but its just a matter of time. This past weekend, I did the same at a Flea market, and the women wanted to see what I have. I gave her a card, and scheduled coffee with her. She did see two of the designs and wants to sell for us.
A simple answer to marketing (and not limited to screen printers) is visit the stores you believe will be a place where your shirts could be sold either by appointment or by cold call and direct marketing. Be professional in your approach to both. Do not waste your time leaving fliers on doors.
In the last 3 months, I have spent many many 100's of $$ on postcards and postage. (postage for a postcard is .24) The dont work! We didnt get ONE call, or any boost to our website. I can only assume they all got tossed in the garbage cans. I hadnt sent the same postcard everytime either, different postcards, to different groups. Nadda, Nothing!
In all honesty the only thing that has consistently worked is cold calling. Every time we go out, we come back with at least one order.
I have found the only marketing that works for us is a good size ad in the Yellow Pages, Web presence and word of mouth. Marketing really only works if you constantly have your ad in the publics eye. In our industry, the average company or purchasing agent will not remember your add or use your add unless they are at that moment about to start searching for a t-shirt printer. We have run adds in local newspapers, events etc with little to no response. Adding your logo as a sponsor for event shirts, donating services for charitable orginazitions, etc. does more than an add in the Sunday paper.
Internet is huge for us and I have my info on every site possible. Local newspaper and television (news) Business sections, Chamber of commerce, BBB, Duns #. Outright peddling my services when standing in a line for lunch , etc. Word of mouth has been our biggest marketing money generator and its free. Web is a close second if not top of the list by now.
You shouldn't pay the full postcard rate if you're doing any bulk mailing. You can get a bulk mail account with the USPS for $175 a year (for one type of mail, at one post office), which will reduce the rate for sending out postcards (actually, I think up to letter size?) from 26 odd cents (now) to only about 15 cents per.
This could save a good chunk of change if you're sending out 1000s. Failing that (if you're not sending out quite as many), you might also look at contacting another company that already does bulk mailing. You might be able to use their bulk mail account (so you don't need to pay the $175 fee) at some middle-ground rate where they could keep the proft, say 20 cents a card.
Finally, I'd like to add that simply advertising in a newspaper (etc.) for a few weeks (or months) probably won't net you any real results. I think the main advantage you'll gain from this type of advertising is keeping it going for a long time, and on several different fronts (not just 1 source of advertising).
The purpose of this would be to keep your business in the minds of people; this is why big companies everyone knows (McDonalds for example) still advertise all the time. Basically, you want to be the first thing a customer thinks of when they think 'I need some shirts' =) (Note: I don't have any direct experience with this sort of advertising; this is just what I've gathered from my research.)
Local Marketing 
