Discuss the fun task of marketing a t-shirt shop. Where to advertise, link building, word of mouth, press releases, search engine marketing, keyword advertising, magazines, etc.
I've been using Myspace to promote my shirts. I got this program called MySpace Suite which automatically adds and sends a message to up to 3,000 people at a time in your criteria. Within a week of being on Myspace, I've got over 600 friends and over 3,000 views. I've also convinced a lot of people to put me in their Top 8, which is even better exposure.
The more friends you have on Myspace, the better the chances of someone coming across your page via someone else's profile. The more friends I have, the more lists I'm found on, and that means more visits. I've also been sure to add people who fit the image of the target of my shirts. And also, by being someone's friend, you can post comments on their page - another way I promote my new products - you can't do that if you aren't listed as someones friend. This also applies for posting Bulletins.
More friends = more reach which should theoretically = more sales.
I wouldn't abuse the bulletin system, though. Use it to announce new designs, products and actual news. Some vendors/designers are posting bulletins constantly - quizzes and nonsense - thinking that that's marketing/promotion. Instead all their bulletins just become "noise", psychologically - even ones with real content.
i didnt know that you could promote product on my-space for free, but i do know that my-space is a monster hit (especaily with the young urban crowd) right now. so if you have a shirt that appeals to that demographic, you cant go wrong with my-space.
I wouldn't abuse the bulletin system, though. Use it to announce new designs, products and actual news. Some vendors/designers are posting bulletins constantly - quizzes and nonsense - thinking that that's marketing/promotion. Instead all their bulletins just become "noise", psychologically - even ones with real content.
Exactly. I'm careful not to go posting bulletins every day with worthless announcements "Hey, check out my profile for no reason! Comment me!" but rather when I add a new design, or if I'm looking for bands to rep, announcing contests, or recently, when I redesigned the entire page from the bottom up. I've probably posted about 3 or 4 bulletins and each time they've brought in a lot of comments/views.
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i didnt know that you could promote product on my-space for free, but i do know that my-space is a monster hit (especaily with the young urban crowd) right now. so if you have a shirt that appeals to that demographic, you cant go wrong with my-space.
Yep, my designs are exactly that... for lack of a better definition I would say they're shirts that "emo kids" would wear - which is most of MySpace. There's also some shirts with some references to popular comedians from Myspace.
Sorry for a double post... but what you said is the beautiful thing about MySpace. Most people are so anxious to have as many friends as possible on their list so they seem more popular, that they'll happilly add you to their list. I won't lie and sit here and say its in no way similar to spamming but the whole mindset on Myspace is so radically different than say email marketing (or spamming if you want to go that far) that it's basically apples and oranges.
So in mechanics it's essentially no different, but because of the demographic it's actually (potentially) desirable, or if unwelcome then perhaps brushed off as part of the 'system'. Interesting.
Personally I really hate MySpace, but I've seen how successful (read: completely ubiquitous) it is amongst a certain highly moneyed/desirable young demographic, so I can't dispute it's usefulness.
So in mechanics it's essentially no different, but because of the demographic it's actually (potentially) desirable, or if unwelcome then perhaps brushed off as part of the 'system'. Interesting.
Exactly. I'm not glorifying it, but it's working. People advertise their own personal profiles (comment my pictures, send me a message, fill out this profile, write on my wall, etc) as much, if not more, than a lot of bands or other companies who SHOULD be doing all the advertising. Obviously I don't plan on using this method forever, but it's a good way to build a core audience for your stuff.
I've been using it a while and if you have a niche type product (mine is volleyball) it can be a good source. I haven't done any mass addition of "friends" but I do set aside some time each week to add people in volleyball groups and alot of their friends then write to me to be added. I have almost 200 people - drop in the bucket I know, but with a few exceptions they are all into vball so its pretty much totally my market.
One thing I've done is make up some volleyball myspace layouts that I host on the dotcom - and I include "layout by vc" in the code as a link. That way if someone uses the layout & thier friend views it and likes it, they'll see where it came from & hopefully will check out the site. I try to use designs from the shirts on the layouts and then include a link to the item in the store in the column next to the codes too. I've also made a few comment graphics with the .com included that I post for birthdays or congratulations, etc. and usually get more friend requests after they're up.
I have used the bulletin to announce new designs but don't do it too much - I know I don't read half of the ones I get - so no need to bombard people. I'm not sure how many sales I've gotten, but I do know I get additional traffic to the site from ms, so the effort, at least to me, is worth it.
Re: Promoting your site via MySpace.com 
