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.
Hay any members of this forum that has their own t-shirt busines printed up flyers as a marketing tactic? If so did you generate a good response? I am planning to have flyers printed up with my website to help build traffic and hopefully get orders and was wondering has any one had any success doing this.
I also was wondering if anyone knows the top three money making t-shirt businesses on-line, of course that are not brand name like Sean John or anything because we know they have the money it takes to bring in the big bucks. I am talking about just regular start-ups for tees like we are trying to do. For example, T-shirt hell, are they in the top three as far as popularity and money making tee shirt sites.
Finally, who would you say is our biggest competitor on-line and why?
My site is not up and running yet but I definitely plan on printing up flyers.
However, I think it's important to try and place them strategically. I remember leaving work a couple weeks ago and walking to my car which is parked in a paid lot. I was leaving late that day so only a handful of cars were in the lot. As I walked to my car I saw these very high-quality glossy flyers for a t-shirt site. They were everywhere -- I mean everywhere. I can't remember the site but it was for some edgy/punk/girl shirts. 99% of the people that park in the lot are executives, lawyers, managers, etc. I thought to myself, what a waste. I understand that if they got a couple of sales it would make up for the cost of the flyers but anyone could have seen that the majority of the flyers would be tossed and paid no attention.
Also, I'm pretty sure that T-Shirt Hell is the #1 t-shirt site on the net. The statistics they list on their site about their business is pretty insane. As for anyone else I couldn't tell you.
As far as competition goes I think that depends upon who your target market is. If you have a hardcore niche, like the guy who sells shirts to Ethopians living in America, then I would say he probably doesn't have a major competitor. If you sell shirts that feature different breeds of horses on them than T-Shirt Hell would not be a competitor of yours.
I don't think there is a list of the top selling t-shirt companies online because nobody really likes to publish how much they make (especially when you're at the top because your competitors really want to know). For those that do publish the information, there's no way to know if it's true since we have no way of verifying it as fact.
Even without knowing the top 3, you can see which t-shirt sites are mentioned pretty often (tshirthell, threadless, bustedtees, etc) if you are hoping to use the info as some sort of motivation.
Im my culture the barber shop is the place! I've sold many a shirt in the barber shops on Saturday mornings.
I've never had a problem with any shop owners because they like the positive message I'm bringing. It has gotten to the point now that some shop owners call me, telling me that customers are asking them "when is the guy with the t-shirts coming back by?".
Every shop I've been in, in around my city, the owners have told me that once my site is up and running, that they would gladly let me place flyers in the shop.
Also there are some locally owned restaurants that have special places for flyers for local businesses.
Advertising and competition 
Re: Advertising and competition 
